Choices In Childbirth

I’m currently prepping for tonight’s Childbirth Ed class on Variations and Complications in labor.  We talk about many of the situations couples encounter in the few weeks before and during labor, and we spend a lot of time discussing their options in each of these situations.
Some of these situations we cover are  not necessarily dangerous [...]

In the past few weeks, Illinois has released its Public Health Hospital Statistics. Today the Tribune ran a brief piece on Cesareans, the reasons behind them and the rates of some of the local hospitals. You can view Julie Deardorff’s article here: Illinois Hospital C-section rates

Looks like hospital regulators are trying to reduce first-time cesareans and to-early inductions.

Check out the AP’s article here.

This is a great thing for mothers and babies:

This past February, I had the privilege of supporting a couple who were planning a VBAC for their second birth.    Jennifer’s first birth was an induction at 9  days past her due date.  There was no medical indication for the induction – she was simply post-date (for a great post on post-dates check out The [...]

There is a great article published this week outlining many of the benefits of having a midwife attend your birth.  The first and most important is that it is safer for you and your baby if you are healthy and low risk (close to 90% of pregnancies can be cared for by midwives).  [...]

Becoming parents for the first time or adding another new life to your family is full of decisions and choices about your health care – during the pregnancy, the birth, and beyond. This video looks at pregnancy and childbirth through a broad lens advocating practices that best serve moms, babies, and families nationwide. [...]

Just saw on UnneCesarean a post about a free online film being released on July 26th: Reducing Infant Mortality and Improving the Health of Babies.  It highlights the sad fact that too many babies are dying in the U.S. around the time of birth.   As health care is debated on Capitol Hill this summer,  this [...]

This is an excellent article written describing how due dates can be very misleading:
The Lie of the EDD: Why Your Due Date Isn’t when You Think
How the 40 week pregnancy myth came about and why it’s totally wrong.
Just another reason to sit back and not fiddle with mother nature. It’s crazy to think that if  [...]

As I work in the birth world as a childbirth educator and a doula I see many women who are frustrated because they find that their options are limited.  Not because their provider does or doesn’t handle  a certain situation in a certain way but more often than you’d think, because their insurance or medical [...]

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that a friend of mine was trying for a VBAC.  She was amazingly successful and I would like to share a few things I learned from her journey:
1. Her choice of careprovider made ALL the difference.
She was induced 9 days after her due date with her first baby [...]