Monday, July 7, 2008

Spiritual Midwifery

OK...I am enjoying this book so much. It's farout and totally hip man. :) I really respect the way that Ina May deals with local physicians and hospitals, it seems as though she is slowly winning them over and they respect her work. I am also impressed with the amount of self educating that they do, reading medical texts and asking Dr's advice...they are trying to approach birthing totally different, but with wisdom. Great combination.
I do not buy into the pain free labor with making out sessions. It sounds as though there might have been some other external elements not mentioned to ease the pain of "rushes." ;) I do like the breathing technique explained...holding your breath at the top of the contraction, rather than pushing all you air out.
Interesting.
More on Ina May later.

Moon Cup Review

Ok...so I ordered this and I am not so sure about it. It went in just fine, but the removal is the tricky part. I thought for sure my uterus would be sucked out with it! LOL! After some wiggling and moving, I broke the suction and all was well. This will take some practice for sure.
Overall...love it.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The Business Of Being Born

I so enjoyed watching this documentary produced by Rikki Lake. She is also working on changing legislation for midwives and promoting home birth through, "The Big Push."
I read a comment posted on a Rikki blog and had to share it...

"I am so glad that someone is able to bring this national shame to light. As a nurse who has worked in L&D, I have watched the medical community "guilt" countless numbers of women into having a surgical delivery instead of letting the body take it's time to do the work that it was meant to. I have had 3 vaginal births without medical intervention, but it took determination to do so. I have fought for my laboring patients to be allowed more time to deliver from below, and not always been successful. In today's health care scene of short staffing, I have to admit that sometimes it is easier to just be silent and "get the baby delivered" instead of being the patient advocate that I should ALWAYS be. It's also not fun being labeled "difficult and argumentative" and having this show up on a job evaluation, when you do take a stand. The insurance industry has to take a lot of blame for this situation, as the doctors have to always think about a possible lawsuit for "birth trauma" if they do not immediately call for surgical intervention at the first "non-reassuring" fetal monitor strip, whether it is an external monitor, or direct scalp monitoring. I could go on, but I'm sure you can tell this is something I am very passionate about."

I thought this was so interesting, and it reminded me of my sister, a surgical tech who insisted on 2 natural births. She had seen the effects of drug induced deliveries and epidural mishaps. I often wonder if the medical world is secretly thankful for midwives, hoping that someday they will be able to stop this business of birth.
I highly recommend this movie to all.