Birth Forecast: Cloudy w/ a Chance of Cesarean: dragging butt

Sunday, March 28, 2010

dragging butt

...on getting this blog up and running, ...missed some important stuff to blog about....namely, the NIH consensus statement on VBAC....the highlight being the debate stirred when this happened: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCZY_AZQMbw (forgive me, not good at the hyperlinking yet) Yeh, that's my friend Shannon :) of BirthAction ( www.birthaction.org ) ....she's awesome... so....there was much debate stirred up, thankfully....and maybe just maybe if I get my butt really in gear, I'll post more on the above, with some various blog posts and links.

also some awesome blog posts from OB RN friend, Jer: http://jerwillow.blogspot.com/
and also midwife-in-training and almost full term friend Jessica: http://jessica-anne010.livejournal.com/

the other thing coming up is Cesarean Awareness Month in April.....and in honor of it, I've been asked to speak at our local Birth Network meetings that month on cesarean prevention and VBAC prep. Nervous, but excited. AND...I'll be starting the Wiregrass chapter of ICAN :) woohooo...big things coming....so stay tuned.

Better Birth for Bama, Better Birth for the U.S.A

Today's birth climate, in Alabama and the country, is bleak, and most people aren't even aware of this. The maternal mortality rate is rising (and was too high to begin with) and the infant mortality rate is higher than some 3rd world countries. The national cesarean rate is 31.8% as of 2007. The World Health Organization has maintained for years that the cesarean rate for ANY country should be NO higher than 10 - 15% AT MOST. So over half of cesareans are unnecessary. And cesareans are MAJOR abdominal surgery, with all of the risks that entails. They are not simply another "birth choice." They are miracles, when truly necessary and prudent. But they are harming women, and I was one of the women harmed by them, forever scarred. Who is to blame? Everyone points the fingers at someone else. Doctors? yes, but they say it's the women requesting the cesareans or it's the threat of malpractice that leads them to do more cesareans (never mind they hippocratic oath) or it's because women have gotten "lazy" or "fat" or..XYZ. Women? yes, they need to get educated about their options, about their bodies, about the facts. It's not about being "brave" or not, if you go "natural" (ie, no drugs/epidural) or about "just an experience" if you choose out-of-hospital birth (studies suggest it's just as safe as hospital birth.) Get INFORMED. Insurance companies/health care in America? yes, we need reform. Societal attitudes about birth? yes.... all of these things and more...the birth "climate" is just bleak. But I am fighting for safer birth in America. Safer birth, Better birth...for our daughters. Please join the fight.

Birth Forecast: Cloudy w/ a Chance of Cesarean

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Sunday, March 28, 2010

dragging butt

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