Posted by Melissa Maimann on May 31, 2010 in
Birth,
Home birth,
Midwifery,
Normal Birth Interested in home birth, hospital birth or private midwifery care? Questions or comments? Email Melissa Maimann or call 0400 418 448.
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Aromatherapy is being offered to women in labour at Southmead Hospital as a natural pain relief … midwives have been trained to mix a range of oils to ease symptoms for women giving birth at the hospital and in their own homes.
The oils … have been found to have therapeutic effects and are used in massage, in a bath or dropped onto a smelling stick.
Bergamot, jasmine, lavender, peppermint, grapefruit, clary sage and frankincense are being used by the midwives to ease symptoms such as nausea and back pain.
… being more relaxed during labour generally helps the birth progress more smoothly.
… a woman who had planned a natural birth and opted for the essential oils could turn to an epidural afterwards should they need it.
… It is hoped that offering women aromatherapy will support the drive from the Department of Health for more women to give birth naturally.
The oils will generally be used in lower risk births … which is generally the criteria for women giving birth in their own homes or in the birth suite at Southmead, which is run by midwives rather than doctors to make it a more relaxed environment.
Previously midwives had only been able to offer women gas and air in their own homes but the aromatherapy provides more options.
Essential oils costs less than 50p per person …
It would be great if this could be implemented across Australian hopsitals – public and private. It seems that the UK has a huge drive at present to increase the rates of normal, natural birth. What is preventing Australia from following suit?
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448
Tags: Birth choices, Home birth, hospital birth, midwife, Midwifery services, Normal Birth, Public and private hospitals
Posted by Melissa Maimann on May 30, 2010 in
Birth,
Caesarean,
Midwifery Interested in home birth, hospital birth or private midwifery care? Questions or comments? Email Melissa Maimann or call 0400 418 448.
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Obesity increases the risk of needing to deliver a baby by Cesarean section. That in turn leads added risks from major surgery, potential for serious complications, and additional recovery time …
… obesity can interfere with a woman’s ability to get pregnant …“Obese patients have no good options,” … they are at increased risk of complications from a C-section, such as clotting in the legs associated with a pulmonary embolism, and increased risk of wound breakdown.
“Obesity decreases fertility and increases the chance of losing the baby, of hypertension and pre-eclampsia, which kills a lot of women around the world,” … because fertility drops with rising obesity, many women seek help in conceiving from fertility treatments, which increases the chance of having multiples (twins and triplets) and therefore increases the chance of having a C-section.
Obesity is a risk factor in C-sections independent of other factors, but it goes hand in hand with other serious complications, like diabetes and cardiovascular disease …
Ideally, women will attend preconception care where issues such as lifestyle, stress, nutrition, exercise and health can be addressed prior to becoming pregnant.
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448
Tags: Caesarean, Complicated pregnancy or birth, Preconception care
Posted by Melissa Maimann on May 29, 2010 in
Birth,
Caesarean,
Normal Birth,
Obstetrics Interested in home birth, hospital birth or private midwifery care? Questions or comments? Email Melissa Maimann or call 0400 418 448.
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A recent study showing that the rate of cesarean sections performed at hospitals across … Canada, varied between less than 15% and more than 27% — with only 2% requested by the women — prompted researchers to recommend “revising the current guidelines” on when it is appropriate to perform a c-section … Difficult labor was found to be the most prevalent cause for a c-section …
It will be interesting to read what the new guidelines say. Certainly, some factors promote vaginal birth such as staying at home for as long as possible in labour, planning a homebirth, receiving midwifery care, being well prepared – emotionally, mentally and physically – for birth, reading widely about pregnancy and birth to be well-informed and more comfortable with the process and having the continued support of a midwife who is experienced in supporting women through natural birth.
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448
Tags: birth, Caesarean, Complicated pregnancy or birth, Normal Birth, Obstetrics, Public and private hospitals
Posted by Melissa Maimann on May 28, 2010 in
Birth,
Home birth,
Midwifery,
Normal Birth,
Obstetrics Interested in home birth, hospital birth or private midwifery care? Questions or comments? Email Melissa Maimann or call 0400 418 448.
framework for privately practicing midwives
The Quality and Safety Framework is not out yet in its final version. A final draft has come out and it is now in the hands of the Nursing and Midwifery Board to accept or reject the Framework in whole or in part. I will update this blog once I know more details about the QSF.
Midwifery in the home nsw legal
Yes, midwifery is – and will remain – legal at home.
Private health insurance, private midwifery care, australia
Yes, Private Health Insurance may cover the cost of private midwifery care. Some health funds are more generous in their benefits than other funds so it’s worth doing your homework before becoming pregnant so you can get the cover that’s most advantageous.
Private midwife vs obstetrician
The role of the obstetrician is to provide care for women with complicated pregnancies and births, so they’re called in to manage things that are not seen to be progressing normally. The role of the midwife is to take care of healthy, well pregnant and birthing women (and their babies) and to refer to obstetricians when it’s necessary. Private midwifery care is holistic in nature, so women can expect that their midwife will be interested in getting to know them, they can expect their pregnancy consultations to be very thorough and to last for 1-2 hours. Private midwives attend the whole labour and birth, we do not just attend for the end of birth. Private midwives take on a much lower caseload – you’ll be hard-pressed to find midwives with more than 4 births a month, so we’re more available to our clients.
Water birth experts australia
That would be a midwife! More specifically, a private midwife or birth centre midwife. We regularly attend waterbirths.
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448
Tags: birth, Birth choices, continuity of care, Home birth, hospital birth, Maternity Services Review, midwife, Midwifery, Midwifery services, Normal Birth, Obstetrics, Public and private hospitals
Posted by Melissa Maimann on May 27, 2010 in
Birth Interested in home birth, hospital birth or private midwifery care? Questions or comments? Email Melissa Maimann or call 0400 418 448.
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… Previous research has found rates of depression in new dads that range from 1 percent to 25 percent, but a new meta-analysis … found that an average of 10.4 percent suffered from depression sometime between the first trimester of their partner’s pregnancy and the child’s first birthday.
Rates of paternal depression were highest three to six months after birth (25.6 percent) … All of these numbers are considerably higher than the annual rate for adult male depression, which is 4.8 percent …
… Extreme examples of parental depression can lead to suicide or to harm or neglect of the baby, but even mild to moderate depression in fathers has been shown to have lasting negative effects on their children for years to come.
… “there’s a general cultural myth that men don’t get depressed,” … “Because of that cultural myth, men oftentimes think they shouldn’t get depressed, and when they are depressed they try to hide it.”
… for people who have clear cases of clinical depression, there are cues beyond typical parenting troubles, such as persistent detachment, feeling hopeless or worthless, or thoughts of death.
… doctors and pediatricians usually see new fathers less often than they do new mothers … Even though screening for depression in mothers is far from perfect, it is much easier to do given their more regular contact with the health care system …
… The sleep deprivation that comes along with being a new parent can alter neurochemical balances in the brain, making some people with underlying risk factors more vulnerable to depression …
… A personal history of depression puts both mothers and fathers at a higher risk, as does a sick baby, financial strain or relationship problems. Add to that list the changing expectations pushing dads to become more involved parents … and many new fathers are left feeling overwhelmed and at greater risk for anxiety and depressive symptoms.
… Like mothers who are depressed, fathers who suffer from depression can have negative impacts on their children’s development years down the road.
“When Dad is depressed, Dad tends to interact less with the child and bonds less with the child,” …
… “depression in fathers during the postnatal period was associated with adverse emotional and behavioral outcomes in children aged 3.5 years.” …
… children whose fathers had been depressed during their early infancy were more likely to have behavioral problems by the time they were school age …
Depression in dads also seems to correlate with depression in mothers. Although the relationship is not one-to-one, having a partner with this sort of depression seems to increase an individual’s likelihood of having it, too …
… Paulson recommends investigating treatment that focuses on whole families, addressing depression “as a family problem, not an individual problem.”
Courtenay proposes ways to help prevent paternal—and maternal—depression from becoming a problem in the first place. With a growing checklist of risk factors … the best thing to do is address any of them “before the baby comes along.”
… The first step … is improving awareness that paternal prenatal and postpartum depression exists and is likely to affect about one in 10 fathers …
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448
Tags: postnatal depression
Posted by Melissa Maimann on May 26, 2010 in
Birth Interested in home birth, hospital birth or private midwifery care? Questions or comments? Email Melissa Maimann or call 0400 418 448.
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… Delaying clamping the umbilical cord … allows more umbilical cord blood volume to transfer from mother to infant and, with that critical period extended, many good physiological “gifts” are transferred through ‘nature’s first stem cell transplant’ occurring at birth.
… [In] Western medical practice, early clamping … remains the most common practice … perhaps because the benefits of delaying clamping have not been clear. However, waiting for more than a minute, or until the cord stops pulsating, may be beneficial …
Birthing methods have also changed over the last century. Throughout human history and currently in cultures and areas where delivering mothers squat to deliver, gravity helps speed the stem cell transfer …
… the relationship between cord clamping time and the transfer of stem cells needs to be understood through the early weeks of the perinatal period and the process of ‘hematopoiesis,’ the formation of blood cells that begins as early as two weeks into pregnancy. A transfer of pluripotent stems cells continues throughout pregnancy, however, and for a time through the umbilical cord following delivery.
…”In pre-term infants, delaying clamping the cord for at least 30 seconds reduced incidences of intraventricular hemorrhage, late on-set sepsis, anemia, and decreased the need for blood transfusions.”
Another potential benefit of delayed cord clamping is to ensure that the baby can receive the complete retinue of clotting factors.
… many common disorders in newborns related to the immaturity of organ systems may receive benefits from delayed clamping. These may include: respiratory distress; anemia; sepsis; intraventricular haemorrhage; and periventricular leukomalacia. They also speculate that other health problems, such as chronic lung disease, prematurity apneas and retinopathy of prematurity, may also be affected by a delay in cord blood clamping …
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448
Tags: Babies, Birth choices, Normal Birth
Posted by Melissa Maimann on May 25, 2010 in
VBAC Interested in home birth, hospital birth or private midwifery care? Questions or comments? Email Melissa Maimann or call 0400 418 448.
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Deaths and severe complications in pregnancy and childbirth are increasing in the United States … More pregnant women today are older and obese, and childbirth practices have changed greatly over the past two decades with more cesarean sections and induction of labor …
Why is having a baby today less safe than it was two decades ago? Two studies … make suggestions for addressing the crisis …
… vaginal birth after cesarean is “a reasonable choice for the majority of women.” … although both elective repeat cesarean section and VBAC are highly safe, maternal death was higher for elective repeat Cesarean sections (0.013% versus 0.004% for a trial of labor). The rates of hysterectomy, hemorrhage and transfusions did not differ between the two groups. Uterine rupture — the complication that is usually given for discouraging VBACs — was rare but higher in the trial of labor group (0.47% compared with 0.03% in the repeat C-section group). Infant death was higher in the trial of labor group (0.13% compared with 0.05% in the repeat C-section group).
About one-third of all births today in the U.S. are cesareans, and the most common reason for needing a C-section is that the mother has already had one. But recent studies show that two or more cesareans increase the risk of dangerous complications of the placenta that may be contributing to the increase in maternal deaths in recent years. That complication may prove to be more significant than the risk of uterine rupture in a woman attempting a VBAC …
It’s time to start reversing C-section rates in part by allowing VBACs …
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448
Tags: Birth choices, Caesarean, Complicated pregnancy or birth, midwife, Midwifery, Midwifery services, Obstetrics, VBAC
Posted by Melissa Maimann on May 24, 2010 in
Caesarean Interested in home birth, hospital birth or private midwifery care? Questions or comments? Email Melissa Maimann or call 0400 418 448.
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The number of Cesarean sections performed at hospitals across British Columbia is highly variable, Canadian researchers have found.
Even when accounting for differences in women’s preferences and conditions that could complicate vaginal delivery, C-section rates varied from less than 15 percent to more than 27 percent of all births.
“Thus, our results illustrate what we believe to be ‘unwarranted variation,’” … noting that mothers requested C-sections in only 2 percent of the cases.
… earlier studies have found marked variation in the United States as well. Both Canadian and US experts agree that the current Cesarean rate — in the US, one-third of all births — is too high …
We have a similar situation in Australia where caesarean rates vary widely between public and private hospitals and midwifery-led services and obstetric-led services. Our National caesarean rate is also around 1 in 3.
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448
Among the more than 100,000 deliveries that they analyzed, the most common reason for C-section was difficult labor, which accounted for one-third of the surgeries, and was also highly variable between different areas.
As a result, the researchers write, “we suggest that revising the current guidelines regarding the management of (difficult labor) may be a good starting point on the road to decreasing unwarranted variation in cesarean delivery and assisted vaginal delivery rates.”
Tags: Birth choices, Caesarean, Obstetrics, Public and private hospitals
Posted by Melissa Maimann on May 23, 2010 in
Home birth Interested in home birth, hospital birth or private midwifery care? Questions or comments? Email Melissa Maimann or call 0400 418 448.
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After having her first child in a hospital, Lorra Jacobs decided it was an experience she did not care to repeat.
She had two more children, and she chose to have both of them at home.
“When I had my first child in the hospital … It wasn’t a real positive experience,” … “It was a stark, very impersonal feeling, treating me like I was sick and not pregnant.”
Jacobs explained she believed she had more control over many aspects of the birth when it took place at home, including whether she got to be with the baby after delivery and having the siblings there at the birth.
“Doing a home birth, I felt like I had a say,” said Jacobs. “This is not the hospital’s baby. This is my baby.”
… the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that a very small but slightly growing number of women are making the same choice that Jacobs did. While less than 1 percent of all births in the United States take place outside the hospital, the number of those births taking place at home has increased by 3.5 percent between 2003-04 and 2005-06 …
… the most recent trend might be a negative reaction to a hospital birth experience, since the majority of mothers choosing a home birth have had children before.
… “It certainly suggests it’s an experience they don’t want to repeat.”
“I suspect that economic issues are not the main issues,” … “I suspect consumers are becoming more informed … and seeing home births are a safe alternative for healthy women with a qualified provider.”
… a likely cause of any increase is a desire to avoid the interventions hospitals perform, ranging from cesarean sections and epidurals to controlling when the mother is with the newborn.
… Home birth advocates have cited several studies supporting the safety of home births among low-risk women …those studies have taken place in the Netherlands and Canada … its unrealistic to apply the findings to the United States.
“Those are highly regulated, highly integrated systems. Their system is prearranged — it’s very different from the systems available in the United States,” he said.
The same can be said for the generalisability of these studies to Australia, however that is no reason not to implement a system that can provide safe private homebirth services.
… “The mothers who are having these home births are not crazy, unaware people,” said Declercq. “They plan carefully, they think about this all the time. They think they’re better off not having the interventions that they feel will happen unnecessarily at hospitals.”
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448
Tags: Birth choices, Birth trauma, childbirth education, continuity of care, Home birth
Posted by Melissa Maimann on May 22, 2010 in
Birth,
Home birth,
Midwifery,
Normal Birth,
Obstetrics Interested in home birth, hospital birth or private midwifery care? Questions or comments? Email Melissa Maimann or call 0400 418 448.
Exorbitant prices with Sydney obstetricians, alternatives?
There’s a great alternative: private midwifery care. While private midwives may not be cheaper than private obstetricians, the service is experienced by women to be more personalised, thorough, caring and supportive. Consultations are one to two hours in duration, so there’s plenty of time you to get to know your midwife and to talk through all fears and anxieties. All questions are answered thoroughly and there’s time for things like birth planning, childbirth education as well as the clinical things. Of course, if any problems are detected, midwives refer to obstetricians who can provide obstetric care.
How much will it cost me to access a private midwife as my care giver
The fees vary and in Sydney you’d be looking at anywhere between $4000 and $6000.
Refusing to be induced at hospital
All women have the option to accept or decline interventions. The hospital will want to ensure that you understand why they want to induce you, the risks of not inducing, and that you’re accepting responsibility for your decision. You’re perfectly within your rights to refuse interventions and to birth at your chosen birth place with support.
How to have a baby naturally in a hospital
In short, take a private midwife with you! the most important decision you will make in your pregnancy will be choice of care provider. Typically, midwives have lower rates of intervention than do obstetricians. Private midwives have even lower rates of intervention than do hospital-employed midwives. Safety is never compromised.
Home birth fetal auscultation
Yes, this is common-place in homebirths. Your midwife will have with her a doppler which may be used in the water if you are planning a waterbirth. It is common place for midwives to check your baby’s heart rate every 30 minutes in labour and more often if they feel that there is a problem. If your midwife suspects that your baby is distressed, she’ll arrange for you to be transferred to hospital where she will remain with you every step, providing advice, reassurance and support.
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448
Tags: birth, Birth choices, Complicated pregnancy or birth, continuity of care, fetal monitoring, Home birth, hospital birth, intervention, midwife, Midwifery, Midwifery services, Normal Birth, Obstetrics, Public and private hospitals, waterbirth
