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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That I am pregnant again is an act of either incredible optimism or mind-blowing amnesia. As the sonogram technician squirts jelly over my abdomen for my 20-week checkup, I think it’s the latter. Watching this baby, who the tech tells me is a boy, I am not caught up in visions of his future; I’m caught up in visions of mine. All of a sudden, I know with a certainty I haven’t allowed myself to confront before: Somehow, I am going to have to deliver this baby.
Obviously, you say. But my first birth was traumatic, and although my son and I emerged fine, I lost a year seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and all the depression, fear and anger it brings. I imitated mothers who seemed normal to me, cooing and tickling my son. In truth, I was a zombie, obsessing about how I had ever let what happened happen.
What happened is this: In my 39th week, I am induced because of high blood pressure. At the hospital, I am given Pitocin, a synthetic form of the labor-inducing hormone oxytocin, and Cervidil, a vaginal insert used to dilate the cervix. Within two hours, my contractions are one minute apart. I had lasted as long as I could without an epidural because I had read that they sometimes slow dilation. That’s the last thing I need: I’m at a pathetic 2 centimeters. My doctor comes up with a solution for the pain: a syringe full of a narcotic called Stadol.
“I have a history of anxiety,” I tell the nurse who has brought in the syringe, as I always warn any medical professional who wants to give me drugs. “Is this drug OK for me?” “It sure is,” she says.
It is not. Within 10 seconds, I begin hallucinating. For five hours, I hallucinate that I’m on a swing that’s soaring too high, that houses are flying at my face. My husband has fallen asleep on the cot next to me, and I’m convinced that if awakened, he will turn into a monster — literally. I’m aware this notion is irrational, that these images are hallucinations. But they are terrifying. I buzz the nurse. “Sometimes that happens,” she says …
By noon the next day, 24 hours after I had arrived, I am only 3 centimeters dilated. The new nurse, a nice lady, tells me the induction isn’t working. “Your blood pressure isn’t even high anymore,” she says. “Tell the doctor you want to go home.”
When my OB comes in, I say, “I’d like to stop this induction, if that’s possible. I’m worn out. I hallucinated all night … I just don’t think this is working out.”
“OK,” he says. “Let me examine you. If you’re still not dilating, we’ll talk about going home.”
My previous dilation exams had been quick and painless, if not entirely pleasant. This one takes a long time. Suddenly, it hurts. “What are you doing?” I scream. “Why does it hurt?”
No answer.
“He’s not examining me,” I scream at my husband. “He’s doing something!” My husband grips my hand, frozen, unsure.
I scream to the nurse, the nice one who had suggested I go home. “What is he doing?” She doesn’t answer me, either. I writhe under the doctor’s grasp. The pain is excruciating.
The first sound I hear is the doctor’s directive to the nurse, in a low voice: “Get me the hook.”
I know the hook is for breaking my water, to speed my delivery by force. I scream, “Get off of me!” He looks up at me, as if annoyed that the specimen is talking. I imagine him thinking of the cadavers he worked on in medical school, how they didn’t scream, how they let him do whatever he wanted.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he says. He breaks my water and leaves. The nurse never looks me in the eye again.
Eleven more futile hours of labor later, I am exhausted and terrified when the doctor comes in and claps his hands together. “Time for a C-section,” he says. I consider not signing the consent form, ripping off these tubes and monitors, and running. But the epidural I’d finally gotten won’t allow me to stand up.
It’s nearly midnight when I hear a cry. My first emotion is surprise; I had almost forgotten I was there to have a baby.
I was desperate to find someone who could tell me what had happened to me was normal. To say, “You hallucinated? Oh, me, too.” Or “My doctor broke my water when I wasn’t looking. Isn’t that the worst?” Nothing …
Now, I’d never loved my doctor … I’d found him patronizing — “Normal!” he’d shout at me, when I asked a question — I thought his assuredness might be a good antidote to my anxiousness. It seemed to work, until it didn’t.
… I also didn’t have a birth plan … Sure, I had a plan for the birth: Have a baby using whatever breathing method I’d learned in the hospital’s birth-preparedness class, maybe get an epidural. But I didn’t have the piece of paper that so many of my friends have brought to the hospital with them … in my opinion, the very act of creating such a contract was to ignore what labor is: something unpredictable that you are in no way qualified to dictate.
… people who hear my story ask … Did I consider a home birth? A midwife instead of an obstetrician? … The answer is no. I am not holistically minded. My philosophy was simple: Everyone I know has been born. It can’t be that complicated.
The women who ask me about my preparations for my first son’s birth — who imply with these questions that I could have prevented what happened to me if I’d been more diligent — are part of an informal movement of women who are trying to “take back” their birth — take it back from the hospital, the insurers and anyone else who thinks he can call the shots.
But hospitals aren’t so interested in giving women back their birth … stipulations dealing with labor and delivery (“I want only one medical professional in the room at a time”) garner barely a glance. University OB/GYN in Provo, Utah, even has a sign that reads, “…we will not participate in: a ‘Birth Contract’, a Doulah [sic] Assisted, or a Bradley Method delivery. For those patients who are interested in such methods, please notify the nurse so we may arrange transfer of your care.”
… This question of whether I could have prevented my trauma has lingered in my mind since that day; now that I am pregnant again, it has become deafening. I have a chance to do it all over. Would I benefit from thinking more holistically? Should I bother taking back my birth?
During my pregnancies, friends gave me two books; their spines are still barely cracked. The first is called “Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth.” … The other book is “Your Best Birth” by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein; it’s an offshoot of their 2008 documentary, “The Business of Being Born.” Their urgent message is that women who want to deliver vaginally can do so if no one intervenes. Instead, doctors and hospitals are doing all they can to “help” the laboring woman along … and failing. Inductions like mine, epidurals given early in labor, continuous fetal-heart monitoring — all of them have been associated with a higher risk for cesarean section. The result is an epidemic — 32 percent of U.S. births were C-sections at last count, the highest rate in our history. Individual surgeries may be medically necessary, but as a matter of public health, the best outcomes for mothers and babies come with a rate of no more than 15 percent, according to the World Health Organization.
Sam … was five months pregnant when watching “The Business of Being Born” convinced her that hospitals could be dangerous and a home birth would be more meaningful. She and her husband found a midwife … and spent the rest of the pregnancy preparing.
After 24 hours of labor, Sam’s contractions were two or three minutes apart, yet when her midwife examined her, she was only 3 centimeters dilated. The midwife gently told her that she was nowhere close to delivering, despite her contractions, exhaustion and pain. Sam asked to be taken to the hospital.
The change of scenery did her good. “At that point, I had been in labor for 40 hours,” she says. “I entered the relaxed zone. The epidural took the edge off … It was a sacred space.”
After her son’s delivery, Sam passed out, having lost 50 percent of her blood volume in a postpartum hemorrhage. Needless to say, she was relieved that she was in a place where blood transfusions were readily available … she believes she will want midwife care at a hospital next time.
… Bialik’s first birth didn’t go the way she wanted. After three days of labor at home, she stalled at 9 centimeters, one short of the goal. Her midwife suggested they go to the hospital, where after a natural childbirth, Bialik’s son spent four days in the neonatal intensive-care unit. “My son was born with a low temperature and low blood sugar, which isn’t unusual in light of the fact that I had gestational diabetes,” she explains. “I understand doctors need to err on the side of caution, but there was nothing wrong with my child. All of our plans for bed sharing, nursing on demand, bathing him — gone.”
The experience was scarring. “I felt a sense of failure that I had to call my parents from the hospital,” Bialik continues. “Yes, I know vaginal birth in the hospital is the next best thing to a home birth.” …
I point out that natural childbirth in the hospital — her “failure” — was my best-case scenario. But I also understand when she says, “Everyone is allowed her own sense of loss.” She realized her vision when her second son was born at home.
The second time around
I don’t consider myself a candidate for a home birth. The risk of uterine rupture from an attempt at vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) makes it unthinkable … I’m also not really interested in a home birth … But I’m also not interested in another C-section …
So I’d like to attempt a VBAC, but I know that it doesn’t always succeed. I have a new doctor — the 10th I interviewed following my son’s birth — at a new hospital, and he has agreed to help me try. But my primary goal is more modest: not to be retraumatized. Even now, my heart pounds at the sight of hospital receiving blankets, the antiseptic smell of the maternity ward.
The common thread in Bialik’s and Sam’s stories that impressed me was how supported and safe they felt with their midwife …
In an e-mail Bialik sends after our meeting, she goes back to my idea that some women weren’t meant to have babies the holistic way. “There are those among us who believe that if the baby can’t survive a home labor, it is OK for it to pass peacefully,” she writes. “I do not subscribe to this, but I know that some feel that … if a baby cannot make it through birth, it is not favored evolutionarily.”
I think about my appendectomy, back in 2003. Had I not made it to the hospital in time, I would be dead. What would it be like to refuse medical intervention? I’d call my family, say my good-byes. “I’m sorry,” I’d say. “But I’m not evolutionarily favored. It’s time for me to go.”
This attitude, that everything was better back when there were no doctors, seems strange to me. C-sections, although certainly done too often, can save lives. Orthodox Jews still say the same prayer after childbirth that those who have been in near-death experiences say — and with good reason. A birth that leaves mother and child healthy may be commonplace, but it’s also a miracle every time.
As the weeks pass and my belly grows, I can’t stop thinking about Sam. Her pregnancy was a sacred time, and she had truly looked forward to labor. Is that what I should try for — a meaningful birth, as well as an untraumatic one? At what point had people like Sam and me learned to feel entitled to a meaningful birth?
“I think that birth should be a beautiful experience,” says obstetrician Kimberly D. Gregory, M.D. She’s the vice chair of women’s health care quality and performance improvement at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A. “It should be exactly the way you want it, and doctors should intervene only to preserve the health or life of you or your baby.”
Naturally, one would assume that Dr. Gregory advocates birth plans. When I ask her this, she laughs. “We always say, ‘If you show up with a birth plan, just get the C-section room ready,’” she says. “You get everything on that list that you don’t want. It’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy.” Dr. Gregory led an unpublished study that compared women who took traditional hospital birth classes with those who employed Bradley-like training and a birth plan. The birth-plan group trended toward a higher C-section rate and more interventions. “There’s a certain personality type that tends to be more anxious. Maybe the anxiety hormones themselves put them at risk,” Dr. Gregory theorizes. “It seems that being open and honest and choosing the right doctor is probably a better option than writing everything down. Walking in with this list appears to set up an antagonistic relationship.” …
… In the past three weeks, I’ve had the same dream. I’m in a field (I believe at Ina May Gaskin’s Farm), and women in braids are dancing around me as my baby is born, painlessly, joyously. As I reach down, I notice my C-section scar is gone.
I wake up upset. Am I truly under the impression, subconscious though it may be, that taking back this birth will undo the damage of the last one?
“I don’t understand this phrase ‘take back your birth,’” nurse-midwife Pam England, creator of “Birthing From Within,” … tells me. “Who took it? What would a woman tell herself it meant about her if she failed to meet the criteria she made up for ‘taking back’ her birth? I am concerned that this phrase, meant to generate action and a feeling of empowerment, may actually be generated by or feeding the victim part of her.”
England is right: Having a childbirth that I deem successful this time will not change what I haven’t overcome from the first. I try to find a way to make what my doctor and nurses did to me OK, but my mind rebels. I feel loss — no, theft — of an opportunity for me to have a baby the way so many other women do: a carefree pregnancy, a labor that could still go any way.
Maybe I’m not so different from the women I spoke with, after all. Bialik had a successful natural childbirth but felt like a failure because it was in the hospital. Women who had a C-section also used words like failure. Perhaps part of the problem is that our generation of women is so ambitious, so driven, that we don’t know how to do anything without quantifying it as a success or failure.
According to Dr. Gregory, women are now requesting a C-section for their first birth, even without indication. “A lot of people are uncomfortable with the unknown,” she says. Plenty of people are wary of C-sections by choice, from holistic moms to obstetricians. But isn’t this, too, taking back your birth? Refusing to be out of control seems to me the epitome of taking it back. You don’t have to have an unattended birth in the woods to be considered a real woman.
Deciding that you can’t control the uncontrollable — and committing to that decision when you are, in fact, out of control — is also taking back your birth. It’s what your grandmothers did. It’s what their grandmothers did.
With this, I realize that I have already taken back my birth, but not as part of any movement. I have stopped judging women who take extra precautions as defensive and started to understand that everyone has to find her way.
I don’t know how this story ends. I’m still not convinced my body was made to deliver vaginally. But here’s what I do know: I will insist on kindness. I will insist on care. And I hope I will be open to being treated kindly. It’s harder than it seems.
I have another hope, too. I hope there will be a moment when … I will look down at my baby — whether he is handed to me on my belly or from behind a curtain as my body is sewn shut — and I will remember what I’ve known from the beginning, when I looked down at that plus sign and we were alone together for the first time. Before these questions wrapped around my neck, choking me for answers. I will know that I am his mother and he is my son. And maybe, in that moment, I will be ready to say that the only success and failure is the outcome of the birth, that we are healthy …
I’m concerned that birth is defined in terms of success and failure, and that after this author’s journey, she has determined that health is the only important factor. In this day and age, it is entirely possible to have a safe VBAC – a safe birth experience as well as a satisfying one. The vast majority of women who choose VBAC will be successful provided that they choose the right care provider.
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448
Tags: birth, Birth choices, birth debriefing, Birth trauma, Caesarean, Complicated pregnancy or birth, continuity of care, CTG, Epidural, fetal monitoring, Home birth, hospital birth, intervention, midwife, Midwifery, Normal Birth, Obstetrics, Public and private hospitals, VBAC
Posted by Melissa Maimann on Jun 15, 2010 in
Birth,
Midwifery Interested in home birth, hospital birth or private midwifery care? Questions or comments? Email Melissa Maimann or call 0400 418 448.
I came across this interesting article detailing an American woman’s experience of giving birth in an American hospital: Mom fires OB during birth when threatened with a cesarean! The woman writes:
… I let myself be pushed into inducing. We were at 42wks … My family was all becoming quite impatient and there was a lot of pressure to have her out. I agreed to be induced and get things started.
… 6 am we were at the hospital. I took a ton of food in with me, because I was not going to do this with no fuel. We got settled, the first nurse got us all checked in did all the paperwork and started the IV. They had a change of shift, so the next nurse, Anna, come-on and she was wonderful.
Anna spoke with us and I told her how things were going to go. To call the doctor if she needed but I was the one birthing a healthy baby, and unless the stats of baby changed, this is what I wanted …I told her we would be doing the pit slowly. I only wanted an increase every 45 min to an hour, not the every 15 the Dr. had ordered. She called the Dr and it was agreed. So off we set. We had a cervical check and I was barely dilated 2 and my cervix was very posterior.
I had no idea how the pit would work on me and baby so we just waited. Annabella was so squirmy, they couldn’t keep her on the monitors, Anna had to hold them on and move with her …
After awhile the Dr came in and wanted to look for Annabella and when she couldn’t find her well stated the baby was breach and we needed to go have a c-section. I looked at this woman and told her no, baby had not flipped I would have felt it, and I was not getting a c-section today. That if baby had turned, then we would turn off the pit, and I would go see my Chiropractor to help move her around again. I don’t think the Dr liked me. I didn’t care. So she ordered an ultrasound just to see, and I was later told she knew baby was breach and had started the paperwork to send us on.
Annabella was in fact not breech. She was head down just not really engaged. I felt so good knowing I was right. All this happened about 11am. There had been no increase in the pit for awhile … We started upping it again.
During these times since Annabella wasn’t staying on the monitor anyway, I was up. I walked and rolled on the ball. I leaned over the ball to do pelvic tilts. Pretty much anything I wanted. I really enjoyed that. I was eating and drinking … At 2pm I declined another cervical check …
I was standing and rocking my hips back and forth during the waves, and they were nice. Just these waves, they never were uncomfortable. I didn’t feel I needed to go in to off during them so I just stayed in center moving as I felt I needed to. Anna would come in and check baby with a Doppler, and the let us do our thing.
About 4 the Dr was back, she wanted to see where we were so we checked. I was 4cm, and my cervix was no longer posterior, about 70% effaced.
• The Dr. said I was not where she would like to see me by now. She wanted to break my waters and move things along.
• I told her no thanks; I felt we were doing fine. Baby was fine, so was I.
• She didn’t look surprised. She did get quite nasty though, and told me if I didn’t do things the right way this will land in a c-section and was putting myself and child at risk. That she was going off shift and there would be someone else.
• I … looked her square in the eye and told her that my child in fine.
• I am not having a c-section to please her that if she had not noticed this was MY birth. I was the one doing things, until someone can show me that my child was unsafe I would do this all night if needed. That was the RIGHT way.
• Also that it was a good thing that she was going off shift, because she was fired. I didn’t want her back in my room. I didn’t need any one in there being negative. I was sure there were other people around who could catch this child, and if not I would do it myself.
• She left the room in a quick hurry, and as I turned around again, my husband and … the nurse were all just kind of staring at me.
My husband was stunned, and asked if I could do that, firing the Dr. I told him I didn’t care if I could or not, she wasn’t coming back to my room …I don’t know how things happened from there, but another Dr. came in and introduced himself about 45 min. later and was way more respectful than that woman had been.
We continued, at 7pm the waves were more intense and almost on top of one another … I started to shake and shiver but I wasn’t cold. I vomited all over, and then with the next wave I felt pushy. soon there after my waters broke during one of the pushy waves.
… My body had taken over, I had no choice but to push … Annabella was born at 8:06pm 7lbs 10oz. 21 inches long. She cried for a bit but was so awake and alert. She is just perfect. She latched on and nursed minutes after birth. I am so happy with this birth. I did it the way I wanted even if it didn’t start the way I choose. I wish the dr had been more supportive. But you can’t have it all.
Let’s consider this case from the perspective of private midwifery care after July 1, 2010. This woman went to 42 weeks. The ACM Guidelines stipulate that at 42 weeks, the midwife must refer the woman to an obstetrician for opinion. No doubt the opinion will be that induction is warranted. The woman may accept or decline this advice. If she declines, and if the obstetrician does not agree to the midwife’s continued care of the woman, the woman will be left without care under the Government’s insurance policy. On the other hand if the woman agrees and accepts induction, this will take place according to the obstetrician’s preferences or hospital policy. As the story above shows, the woman advocated for herself throughout. She declined a caesarean, artificial rupturing of her membranes, a vaginal examination and continuous monitoring. Currently, women can birth in a hospital with their private midwife and their midwife can advocate for them provided that the woman has a birth plan that clearly states her preferences. After July 1, our continued involvement in the woman’s care will be dictated by the obstetrician in attendance or with whom we have a collaborative agreement. In the interests of maintaining a collaborative agreement and ongoing income, the midwife will need to remain silent when the woman is outside of the ACM Guidelines and does not agree to the care being suggested. After July 1, women must fend for themselves if the care being suggested is at odds with their preferences.
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448
Tags: birth, Birth choices, Caesarean, Complicated pregnancy or birth, continuity of care, hospital birth, intervention, midwife, Midwifery, Midwifery services, Normal Birth, Obstetrics, Public and private hospitals
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 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 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 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
Posted by Melissa Maimann on May 11, 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.
There is no standard of events for women who give birth at home. Homebirth care is always individualised to the needs of the woman and family.
The following information can help you to understand what may happen in labour, to give you a sense of your options and lessen any surprises. When you birth at home, you can expect to:
- Wear whatever you like in labour
- Have vaginal examinations when / if you want them. Your midwife may suggest an examination if she feels it is needed, which is not very often as we know that babies are born whether vaginal examinations are performed or not and many women prefer to avoid them wherever possible.
- To have your temperature, blood pressure and pulse taken when it is necessary to do so – sometimes this is not done at all
- Have your baby’s heart beat listened to with a hand-held doppler that allows you to remain in the bath or shower.
- If additional fluids are needed, you can expect your midwife to offer you lots of drinks – this will also help to keep up your energy levels. In fact, your midwife will probably offer food and fluids regularly throughout your labour anyway.
- We don’t use ID bands at home. Not for Mum, not for baby. No chance of anyone getting lost, everyone knows who’s who, and no mother is handed the wrong baby!
- Your waters are very unlikely to be broken at home.
- You can expect to give birth in the position that’s most comfortable to you at the time. For many women, this is kneeling (so you can catch your own baby) or all fours (and your partner can catch the baby).
- Waterbirth is a common birth method at home.
- While “pain relief” is not offered, your midwife will make suggestions to assist your level of comfort such as position changes, hot packs, bath, shower, massage and so on.
- You will find that your body will push instinctively when the time’s right.
- Many women will not tear and episiotomy is very rare at home.
- Placentas usually come of their own accord, in their own time provided that the blood loss is not excessive.
- Your baby’s cord will be cut after the placenta is born, and some women prefer to leave it intact and have a lotus birth.
- There is no separation of mother and baby.
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448
Tags: birth, Birth choices, continuity of care, fetal monitoring, Home birth, midwife, Midwifery, Midwifery services, Normal Birth, waterbirth
Posted by Melissa Maimann on Apr 23, 2010 in
Birth,
Caesarean,
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.
Link
… maternal mortality is on the rise in the U.S … two of the four preventable pregnancy-related deaths were associated with cesarean section-the failure of hospital staff to pay attention to worsening vital signs after women have the operation, and the staff’s inability to respond appropriately to hemorrhage resulting from a cesarean. The two others are uncontrolled high blood pressure and undiagnosed fluid build-up in the lungs of women with pre-eclampsia … by following the principles of the evidence-based Ten Steps of The Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative (MFCI) and giving low-risk women access to midwifery care mothers’ lives could be saved.
… The Initiative is an effective wellness model of maternity care that offers safe choices to overused and costly high-tech birth interventions that often lead to avoidable cesareans …
… compared to maternity care provided by physicians to low-risk women, women cared for by professional midwives have a lower incidence of hypertension and pre-eclampsia, fewer hospital admissions for complications during pregnancy, fewer cesareans and more VBACs … the risks of maternal mortality are increased with repeat cesarean section compared to vaginal birth after a prior cesarean …
The Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative:
1. Offers all birthing mothers:
• Unrestricted access to the birth companions of her choice, including fathers, partners, children, ¬family members, and friends;
• Unrestricted access to continuous emotional and physical support from a skilled woman—for ¬example, a doula,* or labor-support professional;
• Access to professional midwifery care.
2. Provides accurate descriptive and statistical information to the public about its practices and procedures for birth care, including measures of interventions and outcomes.
3. Provides culturally competent care—that is, care that is sensitive and responsive to the specific beliefs, ¬values, and customs of the mother’s ethnicity and ¬religion.
4. Provides the birthing woman with the freedom to walk, move about, and assume the positions of her choice during labor and birth (unless restriction is specifically required to correct a complication), and discourages the use of the lithotomy (flat on back with legs elevated) position.
5. Has clearly defined policies and procedures for:
• collaborating and consulting throughout the perinatal period with other maternity services, including communicating with the original caregiver when transfer from one birth site to another is necessary;
• linking the mother and baby to appropriate community resources, including prenatal and post-¬discharge follow-up and breastfeeding support.
6. Does not routinely employ practices and procedures that are unsupported by scientific evidence, ¬including but not limited to the following:
• shaving;
• enemas;
• IVs (intravenous drip);
• withholding nourishment or water;
• early rupture of membranes*;
• electronic fetal monitoring;
other interventions are limited as follows:
• Has an induction* rate of 10% or less;†
• Has an episiotomy* rate of 20% or less, with a goal of 5% or less;
• Has a total cesarean rate of 10% or less in community hospitals, and 15% or less in tertiary care (high-risk) hospitals;
• Has a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) rate of 60% or more with a goal of 75% or more.
7. Educates staff in non-drug methods of pain relief, and does not promote the use of analgesic or anesthetic drugs not specifically required to correct a complication.
8. Encourages all mothers and families, including those with sick or premature newborns or infants with congenital problems, to touch, hold, breastfeed, and care for their babies to the extent compatible with their conditions.
9. Discourages non-religious circumcision of the newborn.
10. Strives to achieve the WHO-UNICEF “Ten Steps of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative” to promote successful breastfeeding:
1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff;
2. Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy;
3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding;
4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within a half-hour of birth;
5. Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation even if they should be separated from their infants;
6. Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk unless medically indicated;
7. Practice rooming in: allow mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day;
8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand;
9. Give no artificial teat or pacifiers (also called dummies or soothers) to breastfeeding infants;
10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from hospitals or clinics.
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448
Tags: birth, Birth choices, Birth trauma, Caesarean, childbirth education, Complicated pregnancy or birth, continuity of care, CTG, Epidural, fetal monitoring, hospital birth, intervention, midwife, Midwifery, Midwifery services, Normal Birth, Obstetrics, Public and private hospitals
Posted by Melissa Maimann on Apr 15, 2010 in
Birth,
Caesarean,
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.
home birth: how messy is it
Homebirth generally isn’t messy. Many women labour and birth in a birth pool and any bodily fluids are easily contained. Towels and plastic sheeting come in handy and midwives are very good at leaving the house as it was found. Plastic bags collect any garbage, the placenta is collected in a bowl or container, and sheets and towels can be washed.
midwives home birth still legal
Yes, it’s still legal and it will remain legal after July 2010.
how many hours a day do you spend breastfeeding
Breastfeeding can take a long time! Some women spend about 50% to 2/3 their time feeding, especially if it’s a newborn baby. Newborns can healthily feed every couple of hours for an hour at a time. This feeding pattern is helpful to encouraging the mother’s milk supple, allowing bonding to occur, help the baby’s palate and jaw muscles to form well and assist the baby’s digestion.
i would like a private midwife but im giving birth at a public hospital
Women may take private midwives with them to pubic hospitals. Women may book into hospital, have all their pregnancy care with their private midwife, birth in hospital with their midwife and hospital staff, and then return home to continue care with their private midwife.
in home birth, what happens if emergency c-section is needed?
In homebirth, midwives are always on the look out for any signs of things not going well in the pregnancy or labour. This allows for women to be seen by doctors or transferred to hospital before true emergencies occur. Most “emergency” caesareans are not in fact emergencies in that they are life and death situations. They most commonly occur because a labour is not progressing and the baby will not come out any other way. However, in the event that a caesarean is needed, the midwife and woman simply transfer to hospital and are offered the best obstetric and midwifery care possible in the circumstances. planning a homebirth does not commit the woman to birthing at home if circumstances make it that hospital would be safer.
what’s the difference between a midwife and obstetrician
Obstetricians are doctors who have completed a degree in medicine and a degree in surgery. They then complete several years of internship and residency before going back to specialise in obstetrics. An obstetrician is a highly trained and educated doctor who specialises in the care of pregnant and birthing women, mostly dealing with complications. Obstetrics is a surgical specialty.
Midwives are qualified to care for women throughout pregnancy, birth and postnatal. They care for healthy women who are experiencing normal pregnancies. If a woman’s condition warrants consultation with an obstetrician, this can be arranged without fuss. Midwifery care generally affords women lengthier consultations, more personalised care and a greater satisfaction with the birth experience. Women who
are attended by midwives are more likely to experience a normal birth, to breastfeed and to receive fewer interventions in their pregnancy and labour such as induction, epidural and episiotomy.
water birth private hospital
Good luck! Private hospitals (in Sydney at least) do not allow for water births. If anyone knows of a private hospital that allows waterbirths, please let me know! Nabmour allows waterbirths but it is not in Sydney.
how to avoid hospital birth
Well, if you don’t go to hospital, you can avoid a hospital birth. I guess the question is – how can you prepare well for a homebirth so that you minimise your chances of needing to go to hospital? I think an excellent approach is to book with a midwife and explain that you would really like her to help you to birth at home.
how to choose a midwife
See here.
limitations of using a private obstetrician for maternity care pregnancy
1. You’re more likely to have intervention in your pregnancy and labour
2. Your obstetrician is likely to work with other obstetricians, sharing on-call over the weekend. So it’s possible that your obstetrician will not be available to you when you’re in labour.
3. You will be attended by hospital midwives in labour and postnatally who you may not have met.
Melissa Maimann, Essential Birth Consulting 0400 418 448
Tags: Birth choices, Breastfeeding, Caesarean, continuity of care, Epidural, Home birth, hospital birth, intervention, Normal Birth, Obstetrics, Public and private hospitals
