Category Archives: Homebirth

71% C-Section Rate at Hospital in Miami

Posted on June 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

When I spoke with Barbara Harper last week, she casually mentioned that one hospital in Miami-Dade County has a 73% overall caesaerean rate.  Uhmm, excuse me?

71% of Births are C-Sections at Kendall Regional Medical Center in Miami - Photo by Grendellion

I’m originally from Miami, and my partner and I flirt with the idea of moving our family back there one day.  So when I imagine being pregnant again, back home in the tropical circus that is South Florida, I keep getting a visual image of 73% flashing across my daydreams.  So I called Kendall Regional Medical Center.

The first nurse I spoke with was sincerely confused by my question about their caesarean rate.  She tried to explain to me what a c-section was, and eventually referred me to another nurse.

This second nurse explained that the hospital doesn’t actually have a caesarean rate, but rather the individual doctors do.  Absurd.  She also made sure to point out that, “Anywhere you go in Miami is going to be a high c-section rate.”  Awesome.

After persisting a bit about the hospital’s percentage of c-sections, nurse #2 admitted, “We know our doctors here who are quick to cut, and some who aren’t.”  She stated that some care providers at the hospital have individual rates of 5%, whereas some are 20%.  While I appreciated her effort to give me an answer, it didn’t jive at all with Barbara Harper’s mention of 73% or The Unnecessarean‘s published 2008 statistic of 71%. Continue reading →

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Posted in Birth, Birth Activism, Homebirth, Midwifery

FDA Returns Birth Pools, Warns ‘We’ll be back’

Posted on May 27, 2011 | 16 Comments

The seized birthing tubs have now theoretically been returned to their owners, but this fight is far from over.  Barbara Harper, author of Gentle Birth Choices and founder of Waterbirth International, outlined the situation to me this morning.

Is this birth tub a piece of medical equipment? Photo by BirtherSage

Two of the four major U.S. distributors of birth tubs have recently received warning letters from the FDA, thus halting their sales and shipments.  A shipping container of birth tubs was temporarily held at U.S. Customs in Portland, OR earlier this week, and underwent FDA inspection before being released to the distributors.

But Barbara says the FDA made it clear that even though the distributors were allowed to take their shipments to their own warehouses, the FDA is still in control of the property.  She says their attitude was, ‘We own it.  You can’t sell it, you can’t ship it.’  They came in, inspected and counted the birth tubs, and left with a ‘We’ll be back.’

An Attack on Birth Choices?

The public response to this story seems to have been either along the lines of ‘This is one more battle in the government’s war on water birth and birth choices in general,’ or ‘The FDA is just doing their jobs trying to protect birthing women from harm.’  Perhaps the reality is somewhere in the middle.

“If there is an effort to take away water birth,” Barbara explains, “We have to enlist the hospital midwives and obstetricians.  It’s not just about home birth,” since many hospitals are allowing water births these days, with some even using portable, inflatable birthing tubs such as the ones seized in this FDA fiasco.

If this situation truly turns out to be about eliminating water birth as a choice for pregnant women, Barbara adds, “How long do you think it’s going to be before they put yellow caution tape on every hospital bathtub?” Continue reading →

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Posted in Birth, Birth Activism, Doula, Homebirth, Midwifery

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Birth Story: A Home Birth at the Hospital

Posted on May 19, 2011 | 3 Comments

Susannah and her husband spent months planning & preparing for a homebirth. they hired a homebirth midwife, hired me as their doula, took natural childbirth classes, ordered a birth kit, and got their house ready for the birth and the baby. then, in her third trimester, the almighty dollar sign reared its ugly head, and they realized that their homebirth would be financially impossible.

if they went to the hospital to give birth, Susannah’s health insurance would pay all of the $10,000+ bill, whereas a homebirth would be less expensive ($3,000) but they’d have to pay the entire bill themselves.  Susannah grieved the loss of her fantasy homebirth, but had to quickly move on and embrace a new fantasy of the perfect hospital birth with homebirth-style care.

when her baby’s birth-day finally came, Susannah’s fantasy came true.  she labored beautifully at home late into the night, until transition, often the most difficult part of labor. most women rush themselves frantically to the hospital long before this advanced stage of labor, but instead Susannah and her mother and i sat quietly in the darkness of her home, massaging and reassuring and hydrating and timing, for hours as her body prepared her to meet her baby.

it was beautiful to watch her disappear inside her mind with each surge of pressure & pain, and then re-awaken to our voices as the contraction passed.  Susannah’s mother held her tightly, loving being needed, and Susannah loving being cared for.  we created a quiet, calm, and safe space for the mother inside Susannah to begin to emerge, and we waited. Continue reading →

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Posted in Birth, Birth Stories, Doula, Homebirth, Midwifery, Placenta Medicine

‘Guerrilla Midwife’ Now Available for Purchase Online

Posted on February 26, 2011 | 1 Comment

Ask and you will receive!  After many months of folks wondering where they can purchase a copy of the Guerrilla Midwife documentary, it’s now available online at The Parenting Space for $24.99 USD.

Winner of over 25 film festivals worldwide, this film is a must see for anyone interested in birth culture and midwifery.

Back in March 2010 I blogged about the new film, and then in October I had the privilege of seeing it with Ibu Robin Lim at the 2010 MANA Conference.  Now you can see it for yourself!  Purchase your own copy, and consider holding a film screening as a fundraiser for Bumi Sehat!

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Posted in Birth, Doula, Homebirth, Midwifery, Pregnancy

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Outlaw Midwives #2 is here!

Posted on January 27, 2011 | 2 Comments

Outlaw Midwives #2 is here!  Thanks to the work, vision, intention, manifestation, joy, and rage of Mai’a Williams and the swarm of incredible folks involved in this zine.  Read it online here, and read Maia’s intro here:

I love volume 2 of outlaw midwives.  I love it because it is full of personal stories from the frontlines of birth work and mothering.  As I printed out the articles and sat on the floor with glue stick and scissors, stapler and paper, I could hear the air crackle around me as the electric heater burnt slowly.  These pages are pointing to a path of liberation and magic.  To a place where justice = love.

These stories run the gamut, from supporting women’s access to abortion to discovering that breastfeeding can be painful and exhausting.  From questioning who homebirth is really for, to mamas discussing marginal identities in the natural birth community.  There are visions for what midwifery could be, should be, and what it should never have become.  Stories about death.  And yes, stories about birth.  Most of all, these are stories, our stories, that we need. Continue reading →

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Posted in Birth, Doula, Homebirth, Midwifery, Oppression, Zine

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Midwifery 101 Online with Gloria Lemay

Posted on December 14, 2010 | Leave a comment

Childbirth guru Gloria Lemay is offering an exciting new online series of courses she calls MIDWIFERY EDUCATION 101. 

Whether you’re an ambitious doula or an aspiring midwifery student, the 16 remaining classes (the series started November 25) will be jam-packed with info we can all use. 

 

Get together a study group or invite your birth junkie friends over to hear the lectures & see the Powerpoints.  Here’s the class schedule:

  • Dec 16 Prenatal Clinic visit
  • Jan 6 Palpation, Blood pressure
  • Jan 13 Rh negative blood type
  • Jan 20 Fetal circulation
  • Jan 27 Pregnancy Induced Hypertension
  • Feb 3 Cervix—effacement, dilation
  • Feb 10 Confident nutrition counseling
  • Feb 17 Gestational diabetes prevention, screening
  • Feb 24 Anemia and blood work
  • March 3 Water birth
  • March 10 Genetics for midwives
  • March 17 Perineum, preventing tears
  • March 24 Newborn exam
    March 31 Placenta (cut and clamp cord, examining)
  • April 7 Twins and breech presentations
  • April 14 Teaching childbirth education

Classes are $7.99 for 60 minute sessions and you can choose individual classes or the entire series.  Check out Gloria Lemay’s blog for details and to register.

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Posted in Birth, Doula, Homebirth, Midwifery, Placenta Medicine, Pregnancy

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Hathor the CowGoddess as The Perfect Radical Mama

Posted on November 17, 2010 | 1 Comment

Hathor the CowGoddess seems to be an outright representation of the perfect radical mama…and, of course, she’s a cartoon.

 

She uses attitude and wit to advocate for homebirth, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and attachment parenting–all the things on the top of the to-do list for the mama who wants to ‘do things right.’  She’s egalitarian and compassionate; she likes to take deep breaths and “wallow around” with her children. But it’s important for the rest of us to remember that she’s only perfect BECAUSE she’s a cartoon. 

Hathor’s creator, Heather Cushman-Dowdee, explains that “a good portion of the time the comics are wishful thinking, how I want to behave.”  So she draws her ideal into the form of Hathor the CowGoddess.

“I think that there are tremendous advantages to homebirthing, breastfeeding and attachment parenting our babies….you can’t homebirth if you didn’t know it was an option. You won’t choose it if you didn’t know it was safe. You’ll have trouble breastfeeding if you don’t think of it as normal, do-able, watch it in action. That’s why I cartoon. To share.”

And before you start railing on me for even mentioning the idea of ‘the perfect radical mama,’ please back off.  She’s a two-dimensional cow.

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Posted in Breastfeeding, Feminist Art, Homebirth, Radical Parenting

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Ina May Gaskin’s Keynote Address

Posted on October 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

I want to share some highlights from Ina May Gaskin’s keynote address this morning at the 2010 MANA Conference.  And by the way, she’s hilarious!

She was discussing her own history, and referenced the 1970′s school bus caravan that launched her midwifery career:

“That trip where Steven went, ‘Y’all come on with us.  Ya gotta get off welfare, ya can’t deal.  Paint your bus nice, don’t be scary.”

Which naturally led to a story about legal troubles in Oregon, and having to leave a ‘grandmother sized’ peyote button behind.  To this day she wonders what happened to that enormous hunk of peyote.

She discussed the current state of over-professionalism of medicine, to the point where empathy and compassion have all but disappeared.  She described in depth the old practices of ‘family doctors,’ who thoroughly cared for generations of families.

“I’m so sorry about what happened to medicine.  And I think midwifery is going to help them get back to that.”

She also went into the history of medicine and the lack of true understanding of women’s bodies that doctors seem to have.

“We’ve gotta teach medicine about oxytocin.  Not the kind that comes in a vial, but the kind that flows in your body.”

I also loved hearing her talk about how someone had to actually convince her mother that Ina May was not disgracing the family by becoming a midwife.  It’s mindblowing to me to think of midwifery as anything but honoring.

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Posted in Birth, Birth Activism, Doula, Homebirth, Midwifery

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Announcing the Full Spectrum Doula Network!

Posted on October 10, 2010 | Leave a comment

There are unique challenges to being pro-choice, feminist, queer, or a person of color in a doula world that is predominantly none of those things. FullSpectrumDoulas.com seeks to change that!

This website is a brand new online networking community for Full Spectrum Doulas and Radical Doulas. Create a profile (don’t worry, it’s all free!) and take a look around–there are forums, blogs, photos, videos, and event announcements, all filled with engaging information.  From critical analysis of the state of reproductive health care, to processing and debriefing from your experiences as a doula, to weekly blogs on placenta medicine and herbs for reproductive health.  FullSpectrumDoulas.com is the place to develop your understanding of doula support and create community with other radical reproductive health advocates.

The intent of FullSpectrumDoulas.com is to create a safe space to share insight and experiences of our work within the whole continuum of reproductive health care. This site also serves to build community within the radical doula movement, embracing the diversity of our own personal identities as doulas and reproductive health advocates.

Let’s get this radical doula party started!  Check out the website, and consider doing the following:

1) Post about yourself in the ‘Introductions’ forum
2) Add yourself to the ‘Member Map’
3) Upload Photos & Videos - of your amazing birth experience, you with clients, your volunteer doula group doing a training, etc.
4) Comment on or add a Blog Post
5) MOST IMPORTANTLY, Participate in a few discussions in the Forums, or post a couple new ones, etc.  This is where the real action is!
6) Join or start a Group
7) Add Events

Please disseminate this announcement far & wide!  Forward, re-post, blog about it, and join us on Facebook.

FSDN’s current sponsor is Confluence Media Collective, an independent radical publisher.  We need more sponsors!  For a $30 donation, sponsors have their ad/logo and link placed on the site for a month.  Please consider sponsoring this fantastic community resource.

www.FullSpectrumDoulas.com

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Posted in Abortion, Activism, Birth, Birth Activism, Doula, Feminism, Full Spectrum Doula Work, Homebirth, Midwifery, Placenta Medicine, Pregnancy, Queer & Transgender Activism

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Getting Ready for the MANA 2010 Conference

Posted on September 27, 2010 | Leave a comment

I’m super blessed this year with an opportunity to attend the 2010 Midwives of North America Conference, where I’ll get to network with hundreds of midwives and birth workers from all over the world. 

MANA 2010 Conference: Returning to Our Roots, Sowing Seeds for Our Future

This year’s conference is being held in October in Nashville, just miles from The Farm, and features a roast of Ina May Gaskin and the Farm midwives, hosted by Ricki Lake.

Yes, you read that right–a roast of Ina May Gaskin. 

This’ll be my first time at an event with her, and  I fully expect it to be an hilarious and historic night.  There’ll even be a cash bar serving “midwife concoctions,” and every time I read that in the event materials, all I can think of is a bunch of ladies with a witches brew pot, stirring together some amniotic fluid and castor oil.

Workshops & talks I’m especially psyched about:

  • Screening of the new documentary film Guerilla Midwife
  • Disaster Relief Midwifery with Robim Lim, CPM
  • Women’s History of Medicine and Midwifery with Ina May Gaskin, CPM
  • Trauma, Discrimination and What Makes People Choose Homebirth with Mickey Sperlich, CPM
  • Midwifery as Artisinal Work with Barbara Katz Rothman, PhD
  • Big Bad Wolf with Robbie Davis-Floyd, PhD
  • What Really Matters: Memoirs of 25 American Midwives with Geradine Simkins, CNM
  • Placenta, the 8th Chakra with Robin Lim, CPM

I’m considering live-blogging from the roast, but we’ll see what happens.  Whether live or not, I’ll definitely be blogging about the roast and the workshops I attend, and all the mindblowingly fantastic experiences I’m guaranteed to have.  And I hope to get a chance to see The Farm while I’m there, too.

I owe a huge shout out of love and appreciation to the amazing Robbie Davis-Floyd for helping make this trip possible, and for being insanely great.  Thanks Robbie!

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Posted in Birth, Birth Activism, Doula, Homebirth, Midwifery

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The Whiteness of Homebirth

Posted on April 21, 2010 | 4 Comments

It’s a subtle thing that you may not notice right away, or even after years involved in birth work.  But when I watched a beautiful photo slideshow this morning of an African-American woman giving birth in water at home, what jumped out at me the most was the realization that I had never before seen the visual image of a Black woman giving birth at home. 

After watching the beautiful series of photos of this strong mama’s labor and birth, in the comfort of her home with her partner and children all there to support her, my mind was swimming with all of the questions and possible answers as to why this woman’s birth is so unique.  It’s no secret that Black women have less access to quality, affordable reproductive healthcare across the U.S., and that women of color have a higher likelihood of living in poverty during their pregnancy than white women.  When Medicaid covers the entire cost of your hospital birth, but a homebirth costs you up to $4000 out-of-pocket, do you really have the freedom to choose where and how you give birth?

As an advocate for safe, affordable childbirth options for every woman, I’m sitting here dumbstruck right now at what to do about this lack of access to homebirth for women of color.  I’d love to see some statistics about the diversity of the homebirth population, if anyone knows where to find such a thing.  Perhaps women of color in the US are giving birth at home more than I realize, but even if so, the public image of homebirth still has a white face.  If you do a Google image search for “home birth,” only 1 of the first 21 images appears to be a woman of color.

Congratulations to the birthing mama’s success at having the peaceful homebirth she wanted.  My thanks go out to doula Patrice London, who serves the NE and Central New Jersey areas, for sharing these photos on her website.  Patrice is also an unschooling mama of 3, and the author of the book Empowered to Birth Naturally, a memoir of her 3 birth in experiences in a hospital, a birth center, and her home.

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Posted in Birth, Doula, Homebirth

Birthing in the Mediterranean Sea

Posted on April 16, 2010 | 2 Comments

In this Israeli video, a Russian woman travels to the Mediterranean Sea to give birth, and does so with courage, dignity and grace.  She swims calmly and powerfully throughout labor, pushes spontaneously under water, and delivers her baby herself amidst the evening’s gentle waves.

Watching her emerge from the Sea, with the sunset behind her and her minutes-old baby in her arms, I am awestruck.  And jealous as hell.  I can’t imagine the confidence and trust in birth this took. Continue reading →

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Posted in Birth, Birth Stories, Homebirth

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Home Birth Increase Shown in CDC Report

Posted on April 8, 2010 | 1 Comment

It’s about time!  I was glad to see in yesterday’s Midwifery Today E-News that occurrences of home birth are on the rise, for the first time in more than a decade.  It’s reassuring to know that all of the hard work being done to normalize and de-stigmatize home birth is beginning to pay off.

The report, titled “Trends and Characteristics of Home and Other Out-of-Hospital Births in the United States, 1990–2006,” was put out by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.  It states that despite a steady decline from 1990-2004, the occurrence of out-of-hospital births increased 3% by 2006, and home birth specifically increased by 5% in 2005.  What a fantastic shift of events, for a government agency to investigate home birth and find positive results!

Some of the findings:

  • The most likely consumers of out-of-hospital birth options were white, married women older than 25, who have had previous children.
  • 61% of the home births in the report were attended by midwives.
  • The home births in the report were “less likely than hospital births to be preterm, low birthweight, or multiple deliveries.”
  • The states with the highest rates of home birth were Montana and Vermont at 2%
  • The states with the lowest rates of home birth were Nebraska and Louisiana and Nebraska at 0.2%

Congratulations to the midwives, birthing women, and activists who have worked so hard to bring back the tradition of birthing where you want to.  Let’s keep going!

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Posted in Birth, Doula, Homebirth, Midwifery

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Book Review: Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin

Posted on March 16, 2010 | 4 Comments

The book Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin serves as an inspirational read for those called to birth work, a basic handbook for the beginning midwife, and an intimate glimpse into the birthing culture of the 1970’s.  The inclusion of innumerable first-hand birth stories, written by the childbearing women themselves, lends the text an authenticity that is genuine and unquestionable.  It is fantastically written, emphasizing language outside of the clinical jargon normally used to describe childbirth, and bringing an elusive topic back into the realm of the accessible.  The author was courageous in publishing a text that was such a dramatic departure from the established norm in the childbirth professions of the time.

The book is basically divided into two sections, the first of which contains seemingly endless pages of first-hand accounts of childbirth.  These pages of honesty and colorful experience are Continue reading →

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Posted in Birth, Birth Stories, Book Reviews, Homebirth, Midwifery, Reviews

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film review: the business of being born

Posted on May 11, 2009 | Leave a comment
the recently released docu-drama The Business of Being Born is a must-watch for anyone with a uterus, or anyone who loves someone with a uterus. it’s hard to imagine a film living up to all the hype that preceded it, but somehow, this one does.
i think it’s important to mention that this film is far from objective. BUT, i don’t think that’s a bad thing. it tells a story that so many thousands of women can identify with, to the point of tears. i am a doula, an ardent reproductive rights and natural childbirth advocate, and a staunch feminist tough-girl. and yet watching these women’s experiences brought me viscerally close to having to actually address the trauma of my own birth experience.
i would’ve been ok wih a little less on-camera Rickie Lake, but hey.

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Posted in Film Reviews, Homebirth, Reviews