I had a cluster of four mamas I was on-call for in June, and the last one had her baby yesterday.  It was a dreary 4th of July day and the hospital seemed empty.  No scheduled sections or inductions.  It was a great day to have a baby!

H had a long and challenging labor.  It wasn’t at all like the parents hoped or expected - including not getting the doctor they expected!  Birth is so unpredictable- I suppose accepting the unknown and unexpected challenges of labor and birth are one of the first big lessons in parenting.  his couple rolled with th unches beautiflly.  I felt so lucky to be working with such a sweet couple and wonderful family.

The laboring mother’s own mother was wonderful.  A doula in disguise!  I felt like everyone would have been *fine* without me there.  I really like that feeling, actually!  I think part of being a doula is learning what to do with feeling like you have to earn your keep.  Sometimes, often even, and if you have done your job prenatally, there isn’t much to do on labor day.  And sometimes, there is another family member who can support your client beautifully.  This was definitely the case yesterday.  Ideally, doulas wouldn’t have jobs.  Mothers, sisters, grandmas or other female friends and relatives used to trust and know birth and support each other through the process.  While thats less true now, when it does happen you realize that professional support can never replace familial support and love.  After 26 hours or so H and B welcomed a little boy into the world.

Welcome to the world, June and July babies!

Rixa Freeze who writes the blog Stand and Deliver is working on a breech research study.  It sounds great:

Research goals:
Breech research is often aimed towards health care providers and tends to focus on maternal and fetal health outcomes. Our research explores women’s experiences and feelings about carrying a breech baby; their decision-making process when discovering that their baby was breech; their care providers’ recommendations and protocols for breech birth; and the birth options available to them, from vaginal breech birth to elective cesarean section. We will present the results at the Second International Breech Conference in Ottawa. We also hope to submit an article to a peer-reviewed journal. Participation is confidential.

A client who was due June 19th had her baby this afternoon.  A lovely, lovely unmedicated hospital birth with a fantastic physician.  We labored at home for several hours, and although she was 7cm when we arrived at the hospital it was still quite a few hours before she and her husband got to meet their sweet babe.  Such strength and grace!

Reflecting on patience and the wisdom of mamas and babies, as always.  I really like this article on the myth of the Due Date and feel so grateful that my 10 month mamas this week were spared inductions and possibly c-sections.  Both has healthy, physiological labors and healthy, not over-cooked babies.  Both women had STRONG family histories of longer than average gestation.

I have one client due on the 5th, and then am looking forward to a couple weeks where I am not on-call.  We may even take the train to Chicago!

I was hoping to get in the habit of updating this blog, but its hard to remember!  I’ve had a busy spring and summer with gardening, birth and babies (mostly boys!)

I was honored to help welcome four sweet boys in April and May.  So far in June I have helped at the births of two babies - one is a 5 pound 15 oz boy and the other a 10 pound 8oz baby girl!  Healthy, normal, term babies come in many sizes :)  Both mamas had intense, fairly short labors.  One at home, one at the hospital. Both normal, natural and uncomplicated.  I feel so honored, as always, to be invited to these these wonderful births.

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/03/09/prl20309.htm

This article mentions the legislation in Missouri that legalized Certified Professional Midwives, which is why I am posting it.  But it is a discussion of the conflict between *all* non-physician health professionals and physicians.  Its not surprising that the AMA is interested in maintaining a status quo where there is very little overlap in the SOP between different kinds of care providers.  So the article is not surprising, but its interesting, and I think its important for midwives and midwife supporters to remember that we are in this legal and cultural battle with Chiropractors, herbalists, physical therapists, massage therapists, homoepaths, naturopaths, CNMs, Nurse Practitioners, Nurse Anesthetists and really any other non-doctor who heals and supports health.

Physicians have had a monopoly on the health care system for a very short time.  Hopefully we will be able to look back on the last 150 years or so as a cultural hiccup.  I really hope we can bring together the technology that prevents disease and saves lives and couple it with community based, culturally sensitive prevention oriented non-physician primary care.  I look forward to the day when we still have highly trained physicans, but we need fewer of them.  That would be a smaller, more elite field of surgeons.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/141525.php

I’ve been researching pre-term labor over the past few days.  This article on a new study in the BMJ showed up in my google-reader today.  I am fascinated by the fact that there is no clear benifit to the drugs used to stop pre-term labor.  Nor does there appear to be much evidence that they work, if the goal is to improve outomes.

A couple interviews with perinatologists I read suggests that they believe that its too little, too late.  I don’t really understand how something can prolong pregnancy but not improve outcomes, but that seems to be the case.  I am also frustrated by the fact that BV correlates with pre-term labor, but treating it (in the literature this is with abx of course) does not seem to improve outcomes or prolong pregnancy or lower incidence of premature rupture of membranes.

I imagine this must be an incredible frustrating thing to specialize in, and the temptation to “do something” despite the evidence must be incredibly strong.

I am slowly working on getting this blog better integrated into my site.  I know that when that happens, I will post more regularly.  I am hoping that this will be a place for me to blog about local and national birth news and also to write a little about the families I work with (with permission of course!)

So,  please feel free to subscribe - I plan to start posting in earnest soon!

A doula client welcomed a baby girl into the world last week.  It was a sweet birth for me, and I will share a few details if I get permission from the family.  I am enjoying a couple weeks not on-call, and looking forward to a busy March.

There will be two showings of the documentary Orgasmic Birth in January.  Proceeds from both showings will go toward efforts to keep Missouri CPMs legal - which they are, barely.

You are invited to a special screening of Orgasmic Birth,
a documentary that examines the intimate
nature of birth and the powerful role
it plays in women¢s lives when they are
permitted to experience it fully.

SATURDAY,
JANUARY 17, 7:00 P.M.
ETHICAL
SOCIETY OF ST. LOUIS
9001 CLAYTON
RD, ST. LOUIS (1/2 MILE WEST OF GALLERIA)
www.ethicalstl.org

AND

SATURDAY,
JANUARY 24, 7:00 P.M.
THE
CHIROPRACTIC WELLNESS CONNECTION
111 O¢FALLON
COMMONS DR, O¢FALLON, MO
www.wellnessconnection-ofallon.com 

$10
ADVANCE TICKETS
$15
AT THE DOOR or $12 WITH CURRENT STUDENT ID
Register for
tickets online at www.freethemidwives.org
For orders by
phone, call Angie at (314) 378-4927.

ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT
EFFORTS TO LEGALIZE 

PROFESSIONAL MIDWIFERY IN MISSOURI.

"...When
women give birth in a supportive environment, pleasure and ecstasy are
possible."
- Jennifer
Block, author of Pushed

Also, tonight:

Orgasmic Birth will be a featured segment on ABC-TV’s “20/20″ this
Friday December 12, at 9 PM Central Time

Visit the ABC website to read more about Orgasmic Birth and share your
comments on the film.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=6120045&page=1