Why delay cord clamping?

Science and Sensibility, the research blog from Lamaze, has an excellently evidence based article on the practice of delayed cord clamping. The article is structured by listing objections, which is a great way to go about learning the benefits, as well as to be prepared to answer to someone's concerns about this practice. Delayed cord clamping is becoming so much better understood and common place. Many Ob and midwife practices in Brooklyn and NYC do this as a matter of protocol. 

Read the full article here. 

Home Birth: The Latest Article with Some Statistics

If you haven't come across it before, Lamaze's blog, Science and Sensibility, is a great way to stay up to date on recent studies and new information in the maternal/perinatal health world. I recently came across this article and wanted to share it.

New Evidence: Give Women More Time in Labor.

This one is so simple, so straight forward. Give women a bit more time to labor and we can reduce the cesarean rate. This is of course assuming that everything points to the mother and the baby being in good health. As long as everyone is doing find, and the mother is game, let's create the space and be encouraging and supporting to women who want to labor just a bit longer and potentially avoid a c-section. This recent study showed that giving mothers just one more hour of time can cut the Cesarean rate in half. That's big. Here's the article you can read to learn more:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-evidence-that-we-just-need-to-give-women-more-time-to-labor_us_56ec4f66e4b084c672203418

Advanced Maternal Age

What does this mean? In the U.S., women who are 35 years and over who are giving birth are considered "Advanced Maternal Age" (AMA). According to the research, only about 15% of women who are giving birth are 35 years are older, however it's hard not to believe that rings true in NYC. I would estimate that about 1/3 of my clients could be categorized as AMA. The important thing to know about this, if you are 35 or over, is that your care provider may apply different policies to you than if you were under 35. Please read this very important article from Evidence Based Birth by Rebekkah Dekker, Mimi Niles, and Alicia Breaky for some well-rearched info on what AMA means in pregnancy:

The Evidence on Advanced Maternal Age

Ina May Gaskin Documentary

Looking for a birth-related movie to watch? Here's one: a documentary on the famous Ina May Gaskin, author of Ina May's Guide to Childbirth.

Birth Story Ina May Gaskin and The Farm Midwives ( 2013 )

"Ina May Gaskin and The Farm Midwives captures a spirited group of women who taught themselves how to deliver babies on a 1970s hippie commune. Today as nearly one third of all US babies are born via C-section, they fight to protect their knowledge and to promote respectful, safe maternity practices all over the globe. From the backs of their technicolor school buses, these pioneers rescued American midwifery from extinction, changed the way a generation approached pregnancy, and filmed nearly everything they did. With unprecedented access to the midwives' archival video collection, as well as modern day footage of life at the alternative intentional community where they live, this documentary shows childbirth the way most people have never seen it--unadorned, unabashed, and awe-inspiring."

Placenta: Essential Resuscitation Equipment

When people hear "placenta" these days, they may tend towards thinking about placenta encapsulation. What about the placenta's role and potential as the baby is born? This is fascinating article on the placenta, delayed cord clamping, and newborn resuscitation. It's a little bit birth-nerdy, but if you are interested in cord clamping and your newborn's transition to breathing on her/his own, please have a read!

Read the full article here from Midwife Thinking.

The Truth About Your Due Date

Get some perspectives on your due date, or "EDD" (estimated due date), as well like to call it. Read what a midwife, a doula, an OB, a labor nurse, an acupuncturist, and a pediatrician have to say about. it And in case you didn't know already, only about 5% of women give birth on their due date. The rest of us tend to naturally go somewhere from week 37 (full term) to week 42. There are exceptions to this, of course - as always, with birth. My best advice on the "due date" situation is to consider it your due month, and when people ask you when you are due, you give them the month, not the date :)

Read the article on due dates from Well Rounded NY here.

Home Birth in the News

Fox News covering home birth!

Watch the video here.

Evidence Based Care for Pregnant Women

Ever wonder what evidence-based care is? This great free video series by Rebecca Dekker, PhD of Evidence Based Birth does an excellent job of explaining what evidence-based care is and how to get it. A must watch video series for expecting parents - even if you are not pregnant yet! In fact, the sooner parents-to-be have access to this kind of information, the better. Whether you are interested in a natural birth, home birth, hospital birth, cesarean birth, birth with a doula, or birth without a doula, midwifery care or medical care model, this video series is for you! There's also a great video on the evidence for birth plans. Very enlightening. Enjoy!

Click here to watch the Evidence Based Birth video series: Do Birth Plans Really Work?

YOUR BIRTH, YOUR CHOICE!

Seriously! As a doula, I support my clients' personal choices. Only each woman can know what is right for her when it comes to choosing a birth location, a care provider, and what type of care she would like to receive. There are so many different ways to give birth, which is wonderful, because there are so many kinds of women!

I love this quote from this recent article that explains some of the current controversy going on in the birth world:

How and where and whether someone has a baby is, by and large, every bit as personal as the business that led to conception in the first place.

Isn't that the truth?

Read the full article here.

Understanding the Risk of Hemorrhage During Childbirth

I hesitate to put articles up like this on my blog here because if you are pregnant, the last thing you need to read is a scary stuff about giving birth. However, there's a fine line between that and being educated. Personally, I veer towards knowing more, but I know that's not everyone's cup of tea. So read on if you want to know more about this topic, but skip on if you don't!

Read the article: Understanding the Risk of Hemorrhage During Childbirth