What are We Doing?

Quote from the US CDC: "The cesarean delivery rate rose to a record high of 32.9 percent in 2009, up from 32.3 in 2008. The cesarean rate has increased every year since 1996, when the rate was 20.7."


All our advancing technology in birth sure has made a world of a difference, right? Only all these cesareans are not actually saving lives; the U.S.'s  Maternal and Infant Mortality rates are not going down, despite this increasingly upward trend of major abdominal surgery.

We have a ways to go to make birth safer in the U.S.

Mom of Twins Experiencing Prodromal Labor

So, I am a little late in posting this, but as of 8:12 this evening, there was no announcement on Natasha's blog that prodromal labor had culmanated into the birth of her twins, so I'm going to post this, thinking she is most likely still experiencing PL.

Read this post from last week and if you are inclined, encourage this mommy that she won't do this forever.  Prodromal labor has its challenges, and discouragement can be one of them.   Hopefully, someone who visits the post will not only encourage her, but her story will encourage a reader in the future that prodromal labor is not all for nothing.

I hope she updates when she gives birth, and I'll link from here.


*Updated to add: Natasha had her twins via c-section on the 17th!  Read here about "the twizzlers'" arrival and Natasha's coming to terms with a surgery she didn't want.

U.S. Prematurity and Antibiotics (unrelated to one another)

Thanks to my news-surfing hubby:

Premature Births: U.S. gets a failing grade (New Mexico earns a D!)

http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/17/u-s-earns-d-for-premature-births/?hpt=T2

This article has a link to the March of Dimes where you can see a map of the US and how all the States measure up.  Take a look.  I was surprised at how many states got an F.

Ear Infections and Antibiotics:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/16/antibiotics.ear.infections/index.html?hpt=T2

Good to know my kids’ pediatrician is ahead of the game here, by reserving antibiotics for when they are truly necessary (which has been once so far).

Here’s a bonus link about breastfeeding moms and sleep from a few days ago (courtesy of my local La Leche League!):

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6A84EF20101109

When Montgomery-Downs and her colleagues asked 80 new mothers to report how often they woke up and how rested they felt, and to wear sensors that measured how long and efficiently they slept, they found no significant differences between those who relied on breastfeeding, formula, or both. They report their findings in the journal Pediatrics.”

More on Birthing Sounds

Some comments to one of my recent posts made this link seem just the thing for diferentiating helpful v. not helpful birthing sounds.  (This link comes compliments of a fellow Bradley instructor on the teacher forums. . . which, by the way, have been a-buzzin' lately. . . I hope to be free to write about this soon!)

If I Were Truly "On" Face Book, I'd "Like" This

Sarah, from here, said this:

Many people are vaguely aware that "too many cesareans are being done," but they are unaware of the cause-and-effect that lead to preventable cesareans and other interventions. I know this because almost every woman who has had a cesarean, thinks that *her* cesarean was necessary/life-saving/not preventable. Statistically, over half a million preventable cesareans are performed annually in the US, so SOMEBODY'S cesarean was preventable.

(Contented sigh as I revel in reading the thoughts of others that validate my own.  Someone else said it.  I can't be that crazy. :)

The Price of Natural Childbirth

This post is for CM, MB and CC; friends who have recently given birth naturally.  They made it look easy.  But it wasn’t.  It just appeared that way.  If you can relate, this post is for you, too.

Lately, I’ve been directed to some YouTube birth videos.  The kind where the woman is screaming or, at the very least, protesting each contraction.  She’s in pain.  It’s more than obvious.  The comments that follow the video are sympathetic.  The woman is commended for having gone through the horrific experience.
One of my fellow teacher’s comments (about one of these videos) on our teacher forums got me thinking.  She’d posted the link along with the phrase: “NOT a Bradley mom!”  After watching only seconds of the video of this woman in early labor, I smiled at the validation that for once, someone else had the same perspective.

What’s your perspective?  Let me give you two examples.

Example one:  A contraction hits Mom; she writhes in pain.  Her face contorts.  Her hands grasp the bed sheets.  She screams.  She thrashes.  It is clear to any observer: she’s in agony.

Example two: Mom has a contraction.  She breathes deeply; sighs.  Her sounds are low.  She sways.  Her face is relaxed and peaceful.  It isn’t apparent that she’s experiencing difficulty.  An onlooker may not even notice she’s contracting.

What is your first thought? (Believe it or not, your answer to this reveals a lot about your preconceptions about labor and birth.)

If you said that the second woman had a higher pain tolerance or an easy labor, you have the perspective of the majority of Americans.

If you said the first woman is having a harder labor, if you said she was experiencing more pain, you may be right.  But not the way you might think.

I’ll give you my perspective: Mom #1 does not know (or is not proficient) in pain-reducing techniques.  She is not aware that her pain is exacerbated by her behavior.  She does not realize that position, tension, perceptions and expression can lend to more pain than she may otherwise have.  She is experiencing unnecessary pain.

Mom #2 is well-versed in comfort measures for labor.  She knows that doing all she can to get out of the way and allow her body to work unhindered will reduce her pain and finish the work ahead of her.  She works with the pain she does experience, and she sees it as good: the baby is coming.  Though her appearance is that of rest and tranquility, she is working.  Hard.  To relax.

This is how I see it.  This is how my fellow teacher saw it.

This is not how the general public sees it.

A woman who wants to give birth naturally might want to consider what it will cost her.  In order to assure the most success in her endeavor—indeed, the most enjoyment—she will need to give up her right to have a dramatic labor.  The better a woman stays relaxed and tension-free, the more it will look like she’s not even in labor (that is, from the perspective of the untrained eye).

Unknowing friends and acquaintances will not recognize all the work that went into the birth.  After the fact, whether her labor was long or short, word may get around that she just “showed up and had a baby.” Her providers may also be under this impression.  Even her husband may not realize how hard she was working.
It may be assumed that she is just “tough.”  Or worse, that she had it easy.  After  all, she wasn’t complaining.  And she didn’t look that uncomfortable.  It must have been easy for her.  She must be one of the lucky ones.

The woman who gives birth under the honed skills of relaxation may be despised by onlookers, hearers and naysayers.  She may reap the spite of other women; women will tell her they “hate her” for having an easy time of it.

Yes, natural, enjoyable birth has its asking price.  A price that is worth the time and effort necessary (necessary for all but the smallest percentage of women), but a price, none-the-less.  A woman would do well to consider and accept this likelihood when she starts on the path toward. . .

Enjoying birth.

Most woman can.  Few desire it.  Fewer succeed.

To my friends and loved ones who worked hard to prepare and educate yourselves for safe and satisfying births, I believe you.  I believe it was hard work.  I believe it wasn’t easy.  Congratulations on making it look so easy that people assume it was.

10/12/10 Edited to add this awesome link on birth sounds.

When Labor Becomes Birth, I’ll Alter My Plans

 Though I have not been keeping an official record, prodromal labor continues.  Over the past couple weeks, contractions are generally 10 or less minutes apart and about a minute long (some more, some less—again, not keeping an official record) about 3-5 days of the week.  On the other days, ctx are more spaced out and may not be as strong.  As a general rule, they’re about a minute long no matter what.
From Monday to Wednesday of last week, ctx were 10 min or less apart, day and night.  Then I had a great break for Thursday (when I had arranged w/a friend to clean house).  Ctx were present, but not as close or strong.  I had another day or two of “the usual” ctx pattern after that.
This past Monday, ctx were spaced 10 minutes all day until around 7:30 p.m. to 1 a.m., where they were 2 minutes apart (1 min long).  The next morning, they had tapered down in intensity and spacing.
Then, yesterday morning around 4 a.m., I began having ctx 2 minutes apart, one min. long, and very crampy.  (Crampy ctx are not usual for me in this pregnancy like they were last time.)  I was dreaming I was in labor and kept wondering why the contraction never ended.  When I came out of the haze of half-sleep, I realized it was because there was only about a minute break between ctx.  It just seemed like one ongoing contraction from my sleepy perspective.
Casey’s alarm went off a little after 5 a.m. and I told him what was going on.  We decided he would stay home in case it turned into anything.  At his prodding, I put my laptop down (was checking e-mail for 1/2 hour) and we took a nap after he read me a Psalm and prayed with me.  Contractions continued 2 min apart and a minute long, and very strongly crampy.  Baby was moving around a lot, too.  Even so, we got some good rest until the girls awoke.  Case went downstairs with them to give me a little more time to rest (because of heartburn the night before, I’d had about a 3-hour window of sleep before contractions awoke me in the morning).
Some time in that nap, the contractions really tapered off in intensity.  By 9 a.m., they were back to my usual contractions—not as crampy.  By 10, they were also not as close together.  So Case headed off to work around 10:30, as my friends arrived to take the girls for a few hours (we’d arranged this last week) so I could get some organizing done around the house.  In comparison to the early-morning contractions, I hardly noticed the ones I had the rest of the day.  This is the pot-of-water in full effect.  These contractions weren’t weak, they just weren’t as demanding as the others had been.
Late that afternoon, my midwives arrived for the home visit.  They re-checked my blood, as last week, we discovered that I was anemic (crit level of 32.  Twenty-five is when a transfusion is called for).  No wonder I’ve been so tired!  Since Saturday, when MW 2 called me, I’ve been taking 150 mg of iron 3x a day along with 500 mg vitamin C.  I also upped the red raspberry leaf ratio in my pregnancy tea (doubled it) to help strengthen my uterus.  I’m also taking black-strap molasses (ick) and chloroxygen (for better iron absorbtion).  The only difficulty that has come of this is that it is best for me to take the iron on an empty stomach, but I can’t do an empty stomach for very long before getting nauseated, so I’ll try to wait an hour before eating or taking Tums (which is the only way I can keep from throwing up from the heartburn I get at night).  We’ll know in a couple days what my iron levels are, and then we’ll discuss if it would be wise to give me a shot of Pitocin immediately after delivery.
Around 3 a.m. this morning, contractions again presented strong enough that I had to sleep between them.  Crampiness wasn’t immediate, but rather built up.  Something I noticed with the few contractions I actually timed is that only about half of the contraction is crampy (maybe till the peak—about 1 minute), and the rest is just the usual rock-hard belly contracting.  So, they’re longer (2 min long) but only half is really strong.  And this morning, ctx are between 4 and 7 min. apart, so they don’t seem as bad because of the break in between.
True to the frog-in-the-pot-of-water perspective, this time, I told Case to go ahead into work—I’d call if things picked up or changed.  I am also planning to continue with today’s commitments: a friend from church is having the girls and I as well as another woman and her children over for lunch.  They live about 1/2 hour away.  I figure if I get too uncomfortable, we’ll head home, and if things get really crazy, I’ll call Case and ask him and the midwives to meet us there.  I’m not going to cancel my plans every day for the next week or more until contractions turn into birth.  It truly messes with the mind to sit around waiting to see if contractions will continue/intensify/close in.  Not going to do it.

*Update: the next day, I posted this on my other blog.