"Do NOT feel like a failure. You are a mother and just created a beautiful life!"Being involved in the natural birthing world, there certainly is a lot of pressure put on women to have a vaginal birth. We need to also be supportive of women who need to birth via cesarean.
"I told him something wasn’t right as I cried. I didn’t want surgery but I knew I needed to."Sometimes it is easy to get so caught up in the idea that cesareans are pointless, evil, and something we would not wish upon our enemies. We have to remember that there is a reason they exist. To save lives.
"It’s their birth, it’s their way, we’re just going along for the ride."I love reading stories of breech birth. Birthing a breech baby has become a lost art. Thanks in part to insurance companies, OBs in America are quick to cut (even before 39 weeks!) if the baby presents as breech.
"Compared with a placebo, daily use of Prochieve by women with short cervixes reduced births before 28 weeks - when death and disability are most likely - by half."In an age where more are more women are growing suspicious of interventions during pregnancy, this may not be a bad idea. This study shows a benefit for women whose cervix prematurely shortens, or "ripens" between 19 and 24 weeks of pregnancy. The results not only reduced preterm birth before 28 weeks, but there were also fewer preterm births at any gestational age.
"Neonatal seizures and permanent CNS or brain damage has been reported."Like all drugs, there are risks as well as benefits. Now, I admit I did point out the most disturbing side effect in the list. My point is that no drug taken during labor (or ever, really) should be taken LIGHTLY. I declined pitocin both before and after the birth of my child. I must add that I was educated on natural birth and knew that it was most certainly not necessary in my case. There are times when pitocin is warranted, but don't believe that there are no risks to using it, even if you are told otherwise.
"Medical induction of labour seems to increase the risk of amniotic-fluid embolism. Although the absolute excess risk is low, women and physicians should be aware of this risk when making decisions about elective labour induction."The overall risk of AFE is very low, it can easily fatal if not properly diagnosed. One easy way of reducing the risk is to avoid unnecessary inductions. According to this study, the risk of AFE was DOUBLED when the mother was induced.
"Our [sic] of the 51 states in The United States, only excluding Puerto Rico, there are 19 states with no freestanding birth center option."I have heard many times over the benefits of using a free-standing birth center. It would actually have been my first choice in location to deliver my baby. Unfortunately, (I foresee this word popping up in almost every one of these posts...) this simply wasn't an option for me, and it isn't an option for a large portion of the population. I won't get in to specifics about reasons for choosing different types of birth, that's another topic. I do want to point out, that even if you know what kind of birth you would strive to achieve, you are still limited to the resources around you--and those resources can be limited. The numbers are sad: 19 states have no birth centers, it is illegal for Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) to practice in ten states and are unregulated in three, five states have no other option besides hospital births. Women need options. Industrialized countries where 70-80% of the births are attended by midwives have lower rates of infant and maternal mortality. Proof that hospitals and OB's do not improve outcomes for low-risk pregnancies.
