3.13.2010

Childbirth In the News


For coverage of this last weeks excitement regarding VBAC information (the most talked about news this week) see here.

In other news, CNN , Time, and the Guardian reports on Amnesty Internationals report of US Maternal Mortality rates doubling, regardless of our countries 'advancements'. I wish that someone would see the benefit of having Medicaid cover home birth midwives in all 50 states. These 'underprivileged women' would get the one-on-one care that they so desperately need, there would not be as long a wait to get in to see a professional, and they would get the lower-interventive care that would better their odds of having a vaginal birth rather than surgical. GASP! Go figure, possibly fix all of the problems in one fell swoop?

A Miami Herald reporter, and mother, talks about how to avoid a cesarean in South Florida, particularly Miami, where the cesarean rates are upwards of 51%.

A woman in Georgia is charged with 2nd degree cruelty to a child after circumcising her 10 month old daughter. This is rather timely, after a recent post. I don't really have anything to say except that it pains my heart and fumes my maternal instinct.

A London newspaper stews over hospitals allowing sales reps and photographers access to newly postpartum women's rooms immediately after birth... all for commissions and referral incentives. This act is under scrutiny not only by the general public, but also the National Childbirth Trust - citing how unethical it is to 'hit someone up' through solicitations when so vulnerable, not to mention the breach of privacy.

Finally, an Australian elephant defied medical odds and, 2 days after veterinarians pronounced her calf dead in the womb, an elephant matriarch gave birth (unassisted - *snicker*) to a live calf.

6 comments:

Sarah M said...

I'm so happy for the elephant. She gets to have her baby. And I think it's funny that you put "unassisted." I'm pretty sure if animals can do it, so can people. Thanks for the interesting articles to keep me busy.

Nicole D said...

Sarah *snicker*, yeah, I thought it was funny that they made sure to note in the article that the mama birthed her calf without any help from humans (gasp!!! That's not safe!).

As Laboring Under The Allusion puts it - unassisted birth has at least one (if not more) purpose in our culture - to remind us how normal and natural birth is.

Meghan said...

The article from Miami, I thought the comments were interesting. One (hospital worker? in Jackson, FL) said her/his hospital is better b/c they ONLY have a rate of 28%...As most everyone knows the WHO recommends a rate of no higher than 15%. 28% is better than 37%, but still nowhere near 15%.

Kelli said...

This has been a happening week. Thanks for the post. I do agree with you on the homebirth topic. The difference in care for me was tremendous.

Kelly said...

I just returned from a 6 day midwife assistant workshop at The Farm in Summertown, TN. Ina May Gaskin taught several of our classes in that workshop. One class was on Maternal Mortality and she shared her Safe Motherhood Quilt project with us. www.rememberthemothers.org Please check it out if you are interested in remembering the women that die (and the majority are uncounted in the U.S.).

Anonymous said...

My copy of International Doula arrived in the mail yesterday - great job on the "Read This, Not That" article. :)

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