Missouri has their own midwifery drama

I thought the Utah legislative adventures were dramatic, but in Missouri things have been even more interesting. Last year, a senator tagged a brief amendment onto a health insurance bill allowing "tocological certification." No one looked twice at it. The word tocological was suggested by a homeschooled kid whose family was lobbying for the bill. Tokos is Greek for childbirth, tocology means the practice of midwifery or obstetrics.

The new law, after it was "discovered" by its opponents, was challenged in court. The Missouri Supreme Court recently found the law to be constitutional, so certified professional midwives (CPM) can now be lisenced in that state! Up until now, it has been a felony to practice midwifery (I'm assuming hospital-priveleged CNMs are legal).

See the Friends of Missouri Midwives site for more details.

Past Workshop Information

So, of the workshops that have been offered in the past, which did you love, and which did you miss and would like the information for? This blog would be a great place to cover those topics. Here's a partial list; please feel free to offer suggestions and ask questions in the comments.

cloth diapering
extended breastfeeding
dads only
breastfeeding during a disaster
babywearing
homebirth
doulas
waterbirth
emotions during pregnancy affecting the baby
childern's books about babies
elimination communication
chiropractic treatment for infertility, breech, etc
postpartum depression
Happiest Baby on the Block
circumcision
infant massage
vaccines

What do you say?

~S~

Homebirth in the news

On a whim, I did a google news search on homebirth. Of course, most of it was a result of the AMA's recent resolution regarding place of birth, and Riki Lake's film The Business of Being Born. Overall, though, the tone of each news story was fair and positive. How nice is that?

South Dakota has had a new law that allows certified nurse midwives (CNMs) to attend home births. I'm not sure what the ramifications are to that, whether other professional or unlicensed midwives have the right to attend homebirths or not.

On a news-gathering website called Finding Dulcinea there is a page on recent news and opinions on the AMA and homebirth.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a short column on the Mayo Clinic's site by a CNM that advocates a parent's right to choose birth place and attendant.

There were also stories about homebirth in Arkansas and North Carolina.

My favorite line from the whole batch:

“Babies should be born where they are conceived,” said Prentice, who has delivered more than a 2,000 babies.

~S~

The Birth Survey

The Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) has launched a Birth Survey. It's a fairly new thing; your participation would help it grow. Their admirable goal is to "promote a wellness model of maternity care that will improve birth outcomes and substantially reduce costs. This evidence-based mother-, baby-, and family-friendly model focuses on prevention and wellness as the alternatives to high-cost screening, diagnosis, and treatment programs." The main purposes of the Birth Survey are to "share information about maternity care practices in their community while at the same time providing practitioners and institutions feedback for quality of care improvement efforts."

The project so far has concentrated on New York City, but next month will be collecting data nationwide in earnest. You are welcome to fill out a survey yourself. They are also asking for volunteers to help spread the word and make this information available.

There's a tab at the bottom of the main page called "View Intervention Rates." Isn't that great? Being able to see what a facility or practitioner does is so important in making informed decisions surrounding birth, and is part of what CIMS calls Bringing Transparency to Maternity Care.

Go explore and contribute. It seems like a much needed project.

~S~

MOST BABIES NOT GETTING BREAST-FED BY 6 MONTHS

Although women generally recognize the many benefits of breast-feeding and most -- 77 percent -- willingly try it, only a third of 6-month-old babies are breast-fed. And at the one-year point recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, only 16 percent are breast-feeding, according to BYU researchers.

FULL STORY: http://deseretnews.com/article/1%2C5143%2C700244978%2C00.html

Beate of Childrensneeds.com brought this story to our attention. ~J~

The Amish

The Amish are fighting to for their right to choose where and how to give birth.

http://features.csmonitor.com/backstory/2008/07/22/a-home-birth-midwife-returns-to-practice/

To learn more about the Amish and the way they choose to birth, read A Wise Birth by Penny Armstrong. I believe the Logan Library has it, as well as the Logan La Leche League library. Though the book is worth buying, it is so fascinating and enjoyable to read.


A Wise Birth, Penny Armstrong and Sheryl Feldman. Compellingly, the author tells her own story. When she was first trained as a Certified Nurse Midwife she answered a call to assist Amish women at home. Little by little, the perspective that had become a part of her during her schooling began to shift and change. As she witnessed birth after relatively easy and uncomplicated birth, she began to wonder about the differences between these births and the births she had observed in the hospital during her training.

~J~

Book Review: Ina May's Guide to Childbirth

A long overdue update of her Spiritual Midwifery, this book is packed with solid information on how mothers birth babies, and what support will enable the safest births for mothers and babies. It's not the normal hospital routine! I'm not big on birth stories, but for those who are, that first half of the book is stories. The appendix has stats for the Farm's decades of births, and they have amazing results, even including "high risk" mothers. Great information for people who think...more

A long overdue update of her Spiritual Midwifery, this book is packed with solid information on how mothers birth babies, and what support will enable the safest births for mothers and babies. It's not the normal hospital routine! I'm not big on birth stories, but for those who are, the first half of the book is stories. The second half is well-documented information on how birth works. The appendix has stats for the Farm's decades of births, and they have amazing results, even including "high risk" mothers. Great information for people who think homebirth is crazy and unsafe. My favorite part is her ending thought:

"Remember this, for it is as true as true gets: Your body is not a lemon. You are not a machine. The Creator is not a careless mechanic. Human female bodies have the same potential to give birth well as aardvarks, lions, rhinoceri, elephants, moose, and water buffalo. Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively about your body."

You can read others' reviews on this book here and here. If you have read this, head on over and review it yourself!

ISBN-10: 0553381156
368 pages
2003 Bantam

~S~

Utah Birth Network

I was thinking about putting together a post that described the birth choices in Utah, and found this wonderful group called Utah Birth Network.

I'm not acquainted with most of the board members, but anyone who's been involved in protecting homebirth (hence birthplace choice) the last several years is a hero. Kudos to them all.

The terrific feature on their website is the referral list of midwives (CNMs and direct entry), birth centers, lactation specialists, support groups, doulas, etc. I encourage you to head on over if you've had experience with any of those sort of birth support people and leave your two cents!

~S~

Breastfeeding in Public

So, what do you think about seeing a mom nursing her baby? Is it a sight you enjoy, applaud even? Is it something you never see at all? Do you appreciate the thoughtfulness of a mother who covers herself and her baby?

Have you been nursing your baby out and about and gotten that invaluably encouraging smile from a stranger? Have you gotten the frown?

Nursing in Public is a recurring topic; every time a nursing mother is asked to leave a restaurant (!) or asked to cover up at the poolside (!!) or disembark an airplane (!!!) we hear a little blurb on the news, and the message boards and blog-world are a-buzz about the resultant nurse-in.

It's rather strange to me that it's an issue at all. I eat wherever I want. I'm allowed to take a picnic to the park and don't have to put a tent over my head to eat it! (Isn't that a great image.) But it is an issue for most, which makes it an issue for the rest of us.

What brings this up is a bill in the UK, meant to protect a mother's right to breastfeed in public, but the protection is only extended for infants up to six months. "WHAT?" you say? Yup. Check out these commentaries about the bill; the comment sections on both these posts bring up some interesting points.

What do you think?

To end on a positive note, I discovered the most wonderful websites: one about nursing in public, and one about breast perception. The latter woman has written a book, has a great page on breastfeeding in public, as well as some international feedback, but most surprising and wonderful was her photo gallery of "normal breasts." Enjoy.

And please leave a comment if you are enjoying this little blog of ours. It would be nice to hear your voice!

~S~

Amazing Mom

For those of you who missed this little bit of positive news surrounding that huge earthquake in China back in May, there was a woman, a police officer by profession, a mother by heart, who nursed babies who were either orphaned, or whose parents were unable to feed them. At one point, she was nursing 9 infants! Her own little one was in another town, being cared for by family.

Links here and here.

~J~

Mountain Climbing analogies

Last night I was watching a travel show in which the hostess climbed the Matterhorn. Her guide was this terrifically patient, wise and kind gentleman (who couldn't have been younger than 50 !! imagine mountain climbing every day for a job at 60!!). His demeanor and gentle encouragement made me think of one thing: a doula.

Challenge after difficulty, he would say to her, "gentle, gentle, slowly, slowly; no need to rush." He made sure she was ready the day before, respected her abilities and encouraged her when she thought she would never make it. There's a whole breed of mountain climbing guides, I guess, who have been up and down the mountain countless times; they know what it takes, and that ordinary, but prepared, people can do it. That's exactly what a doula does. Birth works, but many of us need a "guide."

The other birth analogy that hit me was a quote she used at the end of the show. I've searched high and low and can't find either the TV episode, nor the exact quote online, so if you know what it is I'm trying to say, let me know where to find it! She said something *like* this:

"We who go scrambling mountains do it for this reason: after we've worked so hard and done the impossible, we come back to everyday life ready to live it more fully, for we know what we're capable of."

Of the myriad birth choices that get the most attention (natural birth, homebirth, etc), it seems the nay-sayers accuse women who choose these things of wanting to be martyrs, implying that they're killing themselves for no good reason. But there are many reasons to choose to take ownership of your birth, whether that means skipping or waiting longer on the epidural; waiting until the last minute to go to the hospital or to simply have the baby at home; to invite only positive and supportive people to the pregnancy care and birth, rather than who everyone expects you to. When we work so hard for something, and do all we can do, we are often amazed at what we're capable of, and come back to everyday life ready to live it more fully, because the journey and experience and power of birth are transformational. In a good way.

~S~

Oh, My!

Check out this new documentary, Orgasmic Birth.

~S~

Here's some evidence FOR Natural Parenting

This link is to a study defending natural parenting. It's pdf, and a little long, but easy reading. Here's the abstract:

"This review examines an age-old approach to parenting recently rediscovered in Western industrialized societies and known by names such as natural parenting, attachment parenting, and instinctive parenting. Its leading principle is utmost sensitivity to the child's innate emotional and physical needs, resulting in extended breastfeeding on demand, extensive infant carrying on the caregiver's body, and cosleeping of infant and parents. The described practices prevailed during the evolutionary history of the human species and reflect the natural, innate rearing style of the human species to which the human infant has biologically adapted over the course of evolution. An overview of research from diverse areas regarding psychological as well as physiological aspects of early care provides evidence for the beneficial effects of natural parenting. Cross-cultural and historical data is cited to reveal the widespread use of the investigated parenting style. It is concluded that the described approach to parenting provides the human infant with an ideal environment for optimal growth both psychologically and physiologically. It is yet to be determined how much departure from this prototype of optimal human parenting is possible without compromising infant and parental wellbeing. The review also invites a critical reevaluation of current Western childrearing practices."

It comes out of Helsinki, Finland, researched by R. A. Schön and M. Silvén, and was published by Evolutionary Psychology. You can find it here.
~J~