A friend of mine posted this wonderful ad from Austrailia on her blog. Enjoy!
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
DONA Doula Training a Success!
I just arrived home from a wonderful DONA International Doula Training, taught by DONA International President Debbie Young. It was held at Birthroot Midwifery, a beautiful birth clinic in Fayetteville. A group of 13 women from around Northwest Arkansas, and from as far away as Tulsa, OK attended the 3-day training that will prepare them to complete their certification or recertify as birth doulas. Attendees learned skills such as comfort techniques for labor, the emotional stages of labor, prenatal and postpartum support, communication techniques, marketing of services, and care of women with special needs. The training culminated in a surprisingly accurate simulation of a birth, where all of the trainees were able to practice their new skills on "Britney," a teen mom in labor (played by trainer Debbie Young).
What a wonderful opportunity to mingle with women who want to care for other women! There was a lot of talent, wisdom, heart in this group. I'm convinced they will make a real difference for many women in our area.
In order to finish their certification, new doulas must provide labor support to three mothers and receive positive evaluations from each. If you are looking for a doula, or know someone who would like one, please have them email me (douladay@gmail.com) and I'll be happy to connect them with one of the doulas-in-training.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Sesame Street - Buffy Nurses Cody
Chapter Co-leader, childbirth educator, and student midwife Carie Means found this sweet vintage Sesame Street video that shows breastfeeding in a very positive light. Thanks Carie!
Woman in Residence
Kay Smith, a local childbirth educator and leader in the NWA birth community sent me this beautiful excerpt. . .
"Here is an excerpt from Dr. Michelle Harrison's book Woman in Residence. She is a family doctor who did residency training in OB/GYN. This book describes her experiences as a resident. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all OBs adopted this point of view?"
Kay Smith
“Imagine dancers on a stage. Once, doing a pirouette, a woman sustained a cervical fracture as a result of a fall; she is now paralyzed. We try to make the stage safer, to have the dancers better prepared. But can a dancer wear a collar around her neck, just in case she falls? The presence of the collar will inhibit her free motion. We cannot say to her, “This will be entirely natural except for the brace on your neck, just in case.” It cannot be “as if” it is not there, because we know that creative movement and creative expression cannot exist with those constraints. The dancer cannot dance with the brace on.
In the same way, the birthing woman cannot “dance” with a brace on. The straps around her abdomen, the wires coming from her vagina, change her birth.The birthing woman plays in an orchestra of her body, her soul, her baby, her loved ones, her past and her future. And we do not know who leads the orchestra.
Doctors cannot lead the orchestra, because they are not within the process. Unable to hear the music, trained only in modalities of power and control, they can only interfere with the music being played.What should they be able to do? They should stand ready to help the player in trouble to get back into rhythm. Instead, they take over. Instead of supporting the mother, they say, “Okay, you have failed. It’s our piece now.”
How do you get a 30 percent Cesarean rate? You orchestrate it. You write a piece in which the third movement is a Cesarean, then build the first two with that in mind. You write in a different language; you write in terms of centimeters of dilation, external fetal monitor, internal fetal monitor, pH, scalp electrodes, Cesarean birth experience, arrest of labor, protracted labor, fetal distress, episiotomy, prolapse, cephalopelvic disproportion, ultrasound waves, amniocentesis, “premium baby,” post-mature (when the baby stays too long in the uterus), “maternal environment” (formerly known as mother). Those are the words, the notes, while the piece is played to the rhythm of fear."
Here is another excerpt:
“Often I don’t like the women I've delivered. I don’t like them for their submissiveness. When I make rounds in the morning I ask, “When are you going home?” They answer, “I don’t know when my doctor will let me.” They have let themselves be imprisoned. For me, the submissiveness of one woman becomes my own, as though we were all one organism. . . . I used to have fantasies at Doctor’s Hospital about women in a state of revolution. I saw them getting up out of their beds and refusing the knife, refusing to be tied down, refusing to submit—whether they are in childbirth or when they were forty and having a hysterectomy for a uterus no longer considered useful. Women’s health care will not improve until women reject the present system and begin instead to develop less destructive means of creating and maintaining a state of wellness.”
"Here is an excerpt from Dr. Michelle Harrison's book Woman in Residence. She is a family doctor who did residency training in OB/GYN. This book describes her experiences as a resident. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all OBs adopted this point of view?"
Kay Smith
“Imagine dancers on a stage. Once, doing a pirouette, a woman sustained a cervical fracture as a result of a fall; she is now paralyzed. We try to make the stage safer, to have the dancers better prepared. But can a dancer wear a collar around her neck, just in case she falls? The presence of the collar will inhibit her free motion. We cannot say to her, “This will be entirely natural except for the brace on your neck, just in case.” It cannot be “as if” it is not there, because we know that creative movement and creative expression cannot exist with those constraints. The dancer cannot dance with the brace on.
In the same way, the birthing woman cannot “dance” with a brace on. The straps around her abdomen, the wires coming from her vagina, change her birth.The birthing woman plays in an orchestra of her body, her soul, her baby, her loved ones, her past and her future. And we do not know who leads the orchestra.
Doctors cannot lead the orchestra, because they are not within the process. Unable to hear the music, trained only in modalities of power and control, they can only interfere with the music being played.What should they be able to do? They should stand ready to help the player in trouble to get back into rhythm. Instead, they take over. Instead of supporting the mother, they say, “Okay, you have failed. It’s our piece now.”
How do you get a 30 percent Cesarean rate? You orchestrate it. You write a piece in which the third movement is a Cesarean, then build the first two with that in mind. You write in a different language; you write in terms of centimeters of dilation, external fetal monitor, internal fetal monitor, pH, scalp electrodes, Cesarean birth experience, arrest of labor, protracted labor, fetal distress, episiotomy, prolapse, cephalopelvic disproportion, ultrasound waves, amniocentesis, “premium baby,” post-mature (when the baby stays too long in the uterus), “maternal environment” (formerly known as mother). Those are the words, the notes, while the piece is played to the rhythm of fear."
Here is another excerpt:
“Often I don’t like the women I've delivered. I don’t like them for their submissiveness. When I make rounds in the morning I ask, “When are you going home?” They answer, “I don’t know when my doctor will let me.” They have let themselves be imprisoned. For me, the submissiveness of one woman becomes my own, as though we were all one organism. . . . I used to have fantasies at Doctor’s Hospital about women in a state of revolution. I saw them getting up out of their beds and refusing the knife, refusing to be tied down, refusing to submit—whether they are in childbirth or when they were forty and having a hysterectomy for a uterus no longer considered useful. Women’s health care will not improve until women reject the present system and begin instead to develop less destructive means of creating and maintaining a state of wellness.”
Monday, October 8, 2007
The Business of Being Born
We are working hard to pull together the details for a special "kickoff" event this December. We will be hosting a special benefit screening of Ricki Lake's new documentary, "The Business of Being Born." We've reserved White Auditorium at Northwest Arkansas Community College (more details to follow) which seats 250 people. Let's fill those seats!
I'm very excited about the attention that is increasingly being paid to the real state of affairs in maternity care today. I recently was introduced to the head of obstetrics of a local hospital and I told her about BirthNetwork and a little bit about the film. It's definitely a difficult subject to talk about with a member of the medical establishment. It's easier talking about the "woes" of care that isn't mother-friendly or evidence-based to people who already feel the way I do. But as birth activists and advocates, we really need to bring this conversation out into the public forum. We need to learn how to talk to CEO's of hospitals and heads of nursing and obstetrics and labor and delivery. We need to do more than encourage women to stand up for themselves. We need to be willing to put on our best "dress for success" suits and walk into those hospitals and advocate for women directly.
The conversation really revolves around transparency in maternity care. Women have the right to full access to information about risks and benefits of procedures, rates of intervention for hospitals and providers, and they need to be informed of all their options without pressure to choose more intervention. Women won't be able to do what's best for them and their babies until they know that choosing a care provider is much more than just finding the hospital with the nicest birthing suites. I hope that this benefit screening will finally open up the conversation here.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Jennifer Block speaks on being "Pushed"
Jennifer Block, author of "Pushed" recently spoke out again in a great op-ed piece in the LA Times. Her book and the article are helping to expose a major public health risk - the C-section epidemic, the rising rate of maternal mortality in the US, and the role that modern obstetrical practices are contributing to the problem. Listen to her talk about the issues. . .
The issues Block addresses are especially relevant here in Northwest Arkansas where the C-section rate is double what is considered safe by the World Health Organization. (The WHO has determined that anything above 15% risks mothers' and babies' lives and health unnecessarily.) What's more, women are being denied the option of VBAC and are being led to believe that it's actually illegal in the state of Arkansas to have one. Do women here know that their rights are being violated and that a ban on VBAC is the only thing that's really illegal here? I was asked recently, "If it's illegal for hospitals to ban VBAC, why is the ban allowed to persist?" I believe the answer is simple. Not enough women have raised their voices to say, "This is wrong and we have had enough."
The issues Block addresses are especially relevant here in Northwest Arkansas where the C-section rate is double what is considered safe by the World Health Organization. (The WHO has determined that anything above 15% risks mothers' and babies' lives and health unnecessarily.) What's more, women are being denied the option of VBAC and are being led to believe that it's actually illegal in the state of Arkansas to have one. Do women here know that their rights are being violated and that a ban on VBAC is the only thing that's really illegal here? I was asked recently, "If it's illegal for hospitals to ban VBAC, why is the ban allowed to persist?" I believe the answer is simple. Not enough women have raised their voices to say, "This is wrong and we have had enough."
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Networking and Working Together
I just arrived home from a wonderful Open House hosted by Birthroot Midwifery in Fayetteville. Maria Chowdury and Jennifer Creel have done so much to bring the birthing community together in Fayetteville. They had a beautiful spread of flowers and organic food, and it was wonderful to see all the families and children mingling together who had benefitted from Maria and Jennifer's experience and passion for birth. There was a feeling of wholeness and happiness there--confidence in the power of women to birth in dignity and power.
One vision I have for BirthNetwork of Northwest Arkansas is that it will not only include professionals in the birth community, but the parents who have a vested interest in ensuring that their choices in childbirth only increase and that more women and families in Northwest Arkansas and the surrounding area are supported in achieving healthy, normal births. What a force they would be!
One vision I have for BirthNetwork of Northwest Arkansas is that it will not only include professionals in the birth community, but the parents who have a vested interest in ensuring that their choices in childbirth only increase and that more women and families in Northwest Arkansas and the surrounding area are supported in achieving healthy, normal births. What a force they would be!
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Welcome to the Birth Options Regional Network
Most of you visiting this blog for the first time will be professionals concerned with the care of mothers, babies, and families during the childbearing year in Northwest Arkansas. We look forward to this group growing rapidly in the next year. Already, I've seen the idea build quickly in momentum, almost with an energy of its own. When I started speaking with other doulas, midwives, and childbirth educators about the idea several months ago, I knew that when the time was right, this organization would experience organic growth and take on a life of its own. I found that there are so many of us who are passionate about improving birth for women, babies, and families here.
This blog will serve as a great place for us to inspire each other, share important news in the world of birth, and share with the community the positive change we see as a result of our efforts. We all know that at the moment, the norm of maternity care in Northwest Arkansas is often far from mother-friendly. I've often felt frustration and even anger at how difficult it is for women to have the kind of birth they want. Alone, each of us can only do so much to shift the paradigm in this area. But as we organize and combine our talents, expertise, and passion, we can't help but make an impact!
When BirthNetwork of Northwest Arkansas was just a little "zygote", I found a quote that I wanted to share with you. It speaks to the attitude we must have as we go forth in this work.
"You are here to aid in the great expansion of consciousness. You are not here to cry about the miseries of the human condition but to change them when you do not find them to your liking through the joy, strength, and vitality that is within you; to create the spirit as faithfully and beautifully as you can in flesh."
-Seth
Jane Roberts’ The Nature of Personal Reality
Thank you for being a part of BirthNetwork. I'm so excited to see how this thing grows over the next few years.
This blog will serve as a great place for us to inspire each other, share important news in the world of birth, and share with the community the positive change we see as a result of our efforts. We all know that at the moment, the norm of maternity care in Northwest Arkansas is often far from mother-friendly. I've often felt frustration and even anger at how difficult it is for women to have the kind of birth they want. Alone, each of us can only do so much to shift the paradigm in this area. But as we organize and combine our talents, expertise, and passion, we can't help but make an impact!
When BirthNetwork of Northwest Arkansas was just a little "zygote", I found a quote that I wanted to share with you. It speaks to the attitude we must have as we go forth in this work.
"You are here to aid in the great expansion of consciousness. You are not here to cry about the miseries of the human condition but to change them when you do not find them to your liking through the joy, strength, and vitality that is within you; to create the spirit as faithfully and beautifully as you can in flesh."
-Seth
Jane Roberts’ The Nature of Personal Reality
Thank you for being a part of BirthNetwork. I'm so excited to see how this thing grows over the next few years.
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