Local Breastfeeding Mishap - Pearls From Sand

We've all heard the stories in our own areas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgmbJso-2-o

"I was nursing my baby when our server came up and asked me to cover up. When I told her I was fine, but thanks for the concern, she picked up my napkin and tried to drape it over my babies face"...

"I was nursing in Target on one of the benches near the dressing rooms. The sales associate asked me to go into the dressing room to nurse. I told her I was fine where I was and my 2 and 4 year old's wouldn't do well in such a small space. She kept insisting and then even left to get a manager to try to get me to move. You could tell she was uncomfortable with my nursing my 2 month old"...

"I was breastfeeding my 4 week old when a nearby patron glared at me, wrinkled their nose in disgust, and told me I should have more class than that. She went on the complain to her friend that I was being slutty and wanted attention. I tried to ignore them but it hurt. Then, to add insult to injury, the manager came up and asked me to please, 'at least' cover up for the comfort of everyone else in the restaurant."

But here's a story of another sort... this morning I saw a story circulating in my feed of a local Houston woman who says she was asked to leave when nursing her baby at a local restaurant. So she moved her nursing into the bathroom.. but the server supposedly followed her in and asked her to leave. So she left to her car. Supposedly. But we don't have necessary information, and rumors abound...

Rumors are swirling that it didn't happen at all.. or that she was trying to nurse in the 21+ club area... or that she was unhappy with her meal... regardless though....

Why do I say supposedly?

• Because the original person it involves is MIA. No one knows who it is.
• The screen shot circulating is "my friend" or "an acquaintance of mine" and then the story"... no actual story from the horse's mouth
• Other breastfeeding mamas have come forward and said they have never had a problem nursing there
• The owners themselves, the woman used to be a breast milk donator for the Texas Children's Hospital Milk Bank
• Employees and security footage supposedly tells another story, and the owners are willing to share it and set the record straight... 

But the biggest reason I don't necessarily believe this really was a situation that even happened? Or at least not the way it was portrayed on social media?

The owners of El Patio ("club no minors") have set up an event to set the record straight, reestablish how family friendly they are, promote breastfeeding education and awareness, show how breastfeeding friendly they are, and give back to their community all in one fell swoop.

From the event's details:

Join us along with pro-breastfeeding community in Houston to help bring awarenes to the importance of breastfeeding and its importance in early childhood.
Breastfeeding is an important start to a child's life. There is a lot of misinformation around breastfeeding and its importance, as well as the support for Mom's to meet their goals. It's hard work!

Many moms don't breastfeed because of their fear or embarrassment of nursing in public, even though they have a legal right to do so. Mothers are frequently shamed when they breastfeed in public.

When word of an incident gets shared, fellow moms and caregivers band together to stand up for them. Mothers are a fierce group! Rarely, stories get twisted and confused, and aren't accurate.

El Patio, recently experienced one of these incidents where our 50 year reputation as a family restaurant was challenged. We are taking the opportunity to give back and help create awareness to this issue. 

Join us for a "Feed In" from 11-3pm on Sunday, December 13th. El Patio will donate 20% of all sales during this time to Mothers' Milk Bank at Austin to support their Houston outreach and efforts.

Please bring your families and friends to help support all mothers in Houston!

To read more information or to attend the event, see here.

I'll update this post as I hear more information, but in the meantime, I have to say, I love this businesses response! They could have simply refuted it and showed their evidence. They could have just made a public apology. They could have just made a public statement... but they are giving back to their community, taking this opportunity to educate their community, and give to a very worthy organization.

So bravo El Patio! I hope to see you on Sunday!

UPDATE:

So I've gotten some disgruntle-mail, people calling me a victim-blamer and a non-supporter of breastfeeding. This is the furthest from the truth... I have been to many nurse-ins, help women breastfeed and extended breastfeed, etc... the problem is that this isn't the norm.. I've never seen a woman not willing to stand by her word that she was attacked for breastfeeding and shamed. I've never seen a case where everyone else is so fired up from a second-hand account. This is classic 'telephone' (you know, the game we played when we were kids).

I believe that one of these is the case:

• there is no woman, someone just wanted to start something
• there IS a woman, but she hasn't come forward because she made it up or the issue wasn't breastfeeding and she was just finding something to complain about (i.e. trying to take a baby into the 21+ section and upset she couldnt)
• there IS a woman, but since making that first accusation, she found out she was wrong and it was a misunderstanding
• there IS a woman and she hasn't come forward yet because she's getting her legal ducks in a row

All that said, even if there IS a woman and this DID really happen, since when is someone guilty until proven innocent? Until I hear it 'from the horses mouth' it's just a second hand story and you cannot refute that.

UPDATE #2: 

So, the restaurant has surveillance footage and testimony from the waitstaff that night. There WAS a woman who had an infant who tried to access the 21+ area, but there wasn't an 'issue'... that same woman was also harassed by someone who was not employed by the restaurant (a patron) for nursing. That person did follow her in the restroom and did come across authoritative. The woman has recanted her story, saying that she thought the patron was a member of the waitstaff. She never intended for the information to get on social media and the friend who's screenshots were shared all over social media never wanted or intended for her information to be shared outside of their private parenting group..

I feel badly for the mom that a PATRON had such an air of authority that she felt shamed from doing something that SHE HAD the authority to do. I feel badly that she UNINTENTIONALLY set off a firestorm. I'm sad that the business was hurt by this story and that there was such a wildfire siege on their business from angry (mislead but understandable) breastfeeding mamas. I am SO HAPPY that they are all choosing to do right - the mother has rescinded her story, the friend has made an apology in the private group, and the business has decided to make the best of and do the most that they can for this incidence. Beauty from ashes, pearls from sand.. I am in love with humanity right now; now if only the people who have made yelp and FB reviews would rescind them.... 

The FDA is Having a Pool Party

www.richmondmidwife.com

And we weren't invited.

This morning I got onto Facebook to read that Barbara Harper posted a note. The information within it floored me.

The FDA has confiscated a shipment of birthing pools and is holding them.

These pools were destined for a company that sells many home birthing supplies that are medical and non-medical, where they would then be distributed to the women who purchased them for a water birth..   

The directives are clear: they will be destroyed or shipped out. Their reasoning? They are stating that birth pools are medical equipment.

The FDA says that birth pools are unregistered/unapproved medical equipment... really? REALLY?

"Got a kiddie pool in your house?  Watch out!  The FDA may be coming after you!   No… seriously, they might be knocking on your door to seize your unregistered medical device! No joke!" - Danielle from Being Pregnant

I think we should flood the FDA with requests to approve all other 'medical equipment', including: birth stools, my kitchen chair, washcloths, regular baths, shower heads, fish nets, submersible pumps, toilet, breast pump, bed, dining room floor, kitchen floor, rocking chair, sofa, ice maker, rice sock, Tingler, rebozo and husband... oh, and let's not forget ME! (not really, but this is my knee-jerk reaction).

"And therefore since one arm of the U.S. government believes that pregnancy is an illness and birth is a medical event and anything that is used during this time is considered a device that needs to be approved by the FDA, what is the next option/choice to go?" - Childbirth Today

This just fumes me... and I hope it does you too!

So, the federal government now consider birth a medical event... As far as I knew, it was state by state whether legislature considered childbirth a medical event or not (i.e. midwives practicing medicine without a license or simply providing a service).

Additionally, the very DEFINITION of medical is: Relating to the science or practice of medicine...

Likewise, the definition of medicine is: The science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease (in technical use often taken to exclude surgery), or a drug or other preparation used for the treatment or prevention of disease...

So MEDICAL EQUIPMENT means: equipment related to the science or practice of the science, or practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, of DISEASE!...

uh... childbirth is NOT A DISEASE!

Laurel Ripple Carpenter quickly got a blog post up and running, seeking to inform others about this issue and to rally support.

According to Barbara Harper, author of Gentle Birth Choices and founder of Waterbirth International, the FDA has seized a shipping container of AquaBorn birthing pools at a dock in Portland, Oregon, and have ordered agents to “inspect and destroy.”

“They claim they are unregistered medical equipment, but they are not providing a way or means to get them registered. In other words, if the medical authorities can’t stop waterbirth, then just have the FDA take away the birth pools,” she explains in a lengthy discussion that began yesterday.

While birth pools are imported to Canada under the category “paddling pools” and some are imported here in the U.S. under the category “sitz baths,” they have no legal standing as medical equipment at this time.

But why would they?  They are purchased or rented for personal use in private homes.  Barbara’s conversation with an FDA official may shed some light on this as a clash of perspectives.  She explains that she was told, “Pregnancy is an illness and birth is a medical event. Therefore, a pool that a woman gives birth in should be classified as medical equipment.”   So what about our toilets, our bathtubs, our showers?  Kiddie pools, horse troughs, hot tubs?  Oh, and what about the fact that pregnancy is *not* an illness?

What the FDA Wants
Martha Blackmore Althouse, owner and manager of Waterbirth Solutions in Beaverton, Oregon, has been interacting with attorneys and the FDA on the issue.  She explains:

The FDA is requiring a 510(k) – PreMarket Authorization – to be turned in for each Inflatable Birth Pool. The problem is that there is no Pre-existing Medical Device – “Predicate” – already approved by the FDA. Hence, potential of years of clinical trials and legal fees that can cost up to a million or more. Obviously not feasible.

One potential loop hole is a “PreAmendment Status” product. If there was anyone in the US using birth pools (yes, troughs, tubs of any kind) prior to May 1978, we can get “Birth Pools” grandfathered in to the FDA as an approved Medical Device. Waterbirth would have permanent legitimacy and could not be questioned any further.

So it seems that there could be a solution to this, but not before enduring a long process full of red tape and bureaucracy.

How to Help
Martha and Barbara need help – specifically, a high profile attorney and support from any midwives who were practicing waterbirth before 1978.

“If you know of anyone practicing waterbirth prior to 1978, please let them know we could use their help,” Martha pleads.  That would be the only way to establish birth pools as eligible to be grandfathered in.  Also, “We need a high profile attorney to highlight the ludicrous nature of this attempt at taking away women’s choices for comfort in labour,” explains Barbara.

This whole thing seems pretty baffling, and I still find myself wondering if it could possibly be real.  But evidently, according to several trusted names in the birth world, it is.  So let’s get on it–Facebook, Twitter, and your whole Rolodex full of powerful connections.  Hit ‘em up.

See the original note here. See the follow up here, then go to Enjoy Birth's Blog to vote on if birth pools should be considered 'medical equipment'.

UPDATE: Here is the followup post. Please help us take what positive action we can to get these birth options back into the hands of the women who need them.

Say what?!?

What would you think if those who were entrusted to protect our children's health and uphold our children's physical integrity decided that it was ok to remove part of your daughters sexual organs if it saved them from another surgery to remove part of those same sexual organs in a less sterile and thus, more risky, procedure in another country that would allow it.

It doesn't matter that it is wrong, it doesn't matter that it is not the girl's choice because she has been indoctrinated to believe it is necessary, that she is old enough to say no. It doesn't matter that it is a permanent procedure that alters her body with very real and possible risks to her childbearing and overall health long-term, not to mention the emotional scarring: distrust, sexual disfunction, and so much more...

What would you think if the American Academy of Pediatrics condoned this?

Well, it's real.

Immigrant families that wish to preserve their local traditions sometimes approach Western doctors to perform FGC on their daughters. In its new report, the AAP advises doctors to inform families that the procedure is medically unnecessary and even dangerous. Should the families be resolute, the AAP raises the idea of legalizing a less-severe ritual cutting - akin, the policy statement says, to an "ear piercing" - to dissuade parents from sending their daughters to be circumcised in their home country, where medical conditions are likely to be far worse.

Even the title of the article irks and sickens me... 'Nicks' that are likened to an 'ear piercing'??? C'mon, call it what it is: genital mutilation... or, to be a little more PC, we can call it female circumcision.. because, as we can tell from their reasons for FMG, the cultures and religions where this is routine practice will not be quelled by a 'ritualistic nick'..

Thankfully, the entire piece is not a rally to show support of this proposition.

"Encouraging pediatricians to perform FGM under the notion of 'cultural sensitivity' shows a shocking lack of understanding of a girl's fundamental right to bodily integrity and equality," says Taina Bien-Aime, executive director of the human rights organization Equality Now. "If foot-binding were still being carried out, would the AAP encourage pediatricians to execute a milder version of this practice?"

It angers and sickens me. Sure, it's barbaric, but it's also unsafe... so let's just make it more safe and less barbaric, that makes it ok!!?!

I am left. just. speechless. Thoughts?

For further reading:
FGM Network
IRIN

ACOG, Misinformation, and the VBAC debate

Amber Craig didn't like what was going on in the world of medicine regarding policy and standards of practice. In response to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' stand on VBAC, Ms. Craig wrote a well-thought letter to the president of the ACOG, citing sources and medical studies pertinent to the conversation at hand. In it, she suggested that they reverse their restrictive policies on VBAC - which, as a result, encouraged many hospitals and practices to "ban" women from seeking VBACs.

Well, she received a response. The ACOG wrote back, in a letter full of misinformation. So, Craig wrote back again, gently correcting them with cited resources, from their own medical publications.

The ball is in their court... Where it will go from here, who knows... But, if you are a VBACtivist, if you are a childbirth educator, doula, obstetrician, midwife, or woman, I recommend taking a look at these letters. Here you are (start at the bottom and work your way up).

Pregnant in America

What a power trailer. PLEASE take a look at this upcoming movie. The trailer itself moved me to tears. I look forward to seeing this when it is released and believe many of you will too! Link it, please, and spread the news. I just happened to be on another bloggers page when I saw the link for Pregnant in America. It is a movie about birth practices in the USA. It promises to be "a film that will expose the underside of the U.S. childbirth industry and help end its neglectful exploitation of pregnancy and birth". As she said, and I hope, this could really stir up American Women and the business of birth in America.

While on this subject of birth practices in America, there is another noteworthy trailer/doc that I think is worthy of our attention as women and birthers. It comes from The International Museum of Women and is called Born in Brazil. It discusses the fact that, in Brazil, the section rate is 65-85%. While the "average" first labor is 6-18 hours by stats, in Brazil it is only 4 hours before a c-section is done. An eye opener, this COULD WELL BE our future, America, if we cannot get it together and change some birth practices here in the land of the free!!!

Check these sites out and I will post more on the IMOW soon. PLEASE post me your opinions on both trailers/documentaries.

Cesarean Art and Awareness

There have been a number of recent articles and studies published both in medical journals and the public media about cesarean awareness, it's risks, new findings, and unnecessary and unjustified cesareans. I am encouraged.

Not encouraged that women are subjected to major surgery unnecessarily, but that the public is being made aware of these things. Cesareans, though I am glad that they are available for true emergencies and necessitative situations, are overused and abused. For too long, the Obstetrical field has disregarded the risks that are associated with Cesareans; not only physical but emotional. Now that the public is being made aware of these, they cannot hide the facts or disregard them any longer - and as a result, my hope is that we will see a decline in elective, 'emergency', and repeat cesareans.

In general, many women know the physical risks of cesarean, as any surgery, include:

• Infection
• Hemorrhage
• Adverse reactions to medications
• Suture rupture
• loss of organ (in this case, hysterectomy)
• hypovolemia
• heart attack
• blood clots/stroke
• and death

In addition to these risks, there are cesarean-specific risks:

• higher incidence of future pregnancies resulting in miscarriage
• higher incidence of future pregnancies resulting in ectopic pregnancy
• higher incidence of future pregnancies resulting in still-birth
• higher incidence of newborn and neonatal death
• higher incidence of placental abnormalities in future pregnancies (previa, abrutio, etc..)
• Uterine rupture
• Uterine prolapse in later life
• breastfeeding problems
• Newborn complications (depressed respiration, jaundice, infection, severe subluxations, spinal cord trauma, etc...)
• and more

On the flip side, women are slowly becoming aware of the emotional risks associated with cesareans. These include:

• higher incidence of postpartum depression
• Maternal bonding difficulty
• Long-term PTSD
• and others

We have been led to believe that surgery, as it is 'controlled', is safer and easier - more effective. The problem that we have found in this faulty logic is that life is not controllable - neither throughout our livelihoods, nor at our births and that of our children. The risks far outweigh the benefits - and our cesarean stats in the United States are in a frighteningly high position to be coming to this conclusion. The US has the highest rate of cesareans in all of the developed countries - 30% in 2005. More frightening still is, once a woman is given a cesarean, she is discouraged from having a vaginal in most states (no-VBAC policies).

Thankfully, grassroots programs are sprouting up all over the country to combat this growing infection - the most notable and extensive is the Internation Cesarean Awareness Network. There, you will find information on legal issues, federal laws that protect women from hospital and state policies who try to cite no-VBAC, studies on VBAC success and risks, information on Cesarean risks and ways to lower your chances of recieving an iatrogenically-necessitated surgery, and support. In addition, midwives, natural childbirth educators, and holistically minded medical professionals are speaking out about these studies and risks. On the homefront, women who have had cesareans are beginning their own groups and webspeils to bring awareness and education to other women.

One of my favorite, yet most distrubing, findings that delves into the emotional turmoil that many women find themselves in after cesarean is the Cesarean Art page. This beautiful woman expresses, through her art, the attitudes, frusterations, anger, and hurt many women find themselves in after going 'under the knife'.

Help spread the word - Cesareans hurt women. Unless there is a medical indication for it, this practice should be avoided at all costs. That means that we need to lower the risks of unecessary cesareans at the roots - by educating women and demanding that medical practices advocate that routine medicalization of the event of childbirth increases cesarean rates through introduction of risks that would otherwise not present themselves.

Links of interest:

Voluntary C-Sections Result in More Baby Deaths

The Mommy Uprising

10-Year Study on Uterine Rupture

Enfording and Promoting the Rights of Women Seeking a VBAC

Best Evidence: C-Section (includes a downloadable booklet on "What Every Pregnant Woman Needs to Know"

Birthing From Withins C-Section Awareness Page

VBAC.com

The CPM in Illinois

I went to an amazing meeting on Saturday night of women in the underground circuit of midwifery here in Illinois. Not surehow much you know, but homebirth is legal in Illinois, but LMs(DEMs) and CPM's are illegal. So, a woman has to find an OB, FPMD,or CNM who does homebirths, or choose the u/a route.

Just find one of them and all is well and good, right?

It gets worse.

Out of 101 counties in Illinois, only 5 have ANYONE who is legally licensed (see above) to do homebirths. Because they are credentialled with a medical board, Illinois law states that OBs andCNMs cannot do breech, multiples, VBACs, or 41+ week homebirths.

FPMDs have even more rigid criteria to fullfill.

There is one CNM out of them all that 'breaks the rules' and two of her OBs are of the 5 OBs that will break the rules.

So, in essence, though it is not illegal to have a homebirth, Illinois is taking away the fundamental right of women to have safe and effective health care by limiting their options and ignoring the studies. This group I went to is a grassroots group hoping to lobby and change the laws here in Illinois. Since this law was passed 5-ish years ago, the 100+ CPMs in thestate of Illinois have gone underground. About 1/3 have been prosecuted by the state. It is a witchhunt. I was priveledged to meet a few of the ladies who still practice in the ug circuit. There are not many who still will take that risk. They both want me to start attending with them, as a labor support person, and later,when we HAVE changed the laws in Illinois, they want me to apprentice under them (earlier if I am willing to take the risk,they say).

Even though you aren't Illinois citizens, If you want to get moreinformation on this group, support them in any form, or contactfriends/family in Illinois to make them aware of the legal issues surrounding hb, feel free to check out this website:www.homebirthishealthy.org (oh, BTW, if you join as a member, you get this cool bumpersticker and invites to rallies/lobbying parties).