In Part 1 we looked at some routine procedures that you might reconsider (routine ultrasound and cervical exams, for example) that, although common, have been repeatedly proven to be either unreliable, or possibly even harmful to your or your baby. You can find Part 1 here. Next in the trilogy are some interventions that are so commonplace in the management of labor and birth, that many parents don't even realize that they have the option to decline them! Many of them are "standard of practice", despite never being proven useful or applicable to ALL or even MOST women. One study looked at practice recommendations and the evidence behind them, and found “Among the obstetrics recommendations, level A evidence (defined as "good and consistent scientific evidence") was noted for 24.6% of the diagnostic recommendations." (bolded type mine). Did you get that? Less than 1/3 of obstetric practice recommendations are based on good and consistent scientific evidence. I decided during my first pregnancy that I had to take responsibility for researching some of these practices myself, and I'm sharing some of my findings here. Please also keep in mind that this research generally replies to physiological birth; labor that does not include drugs to induce or augment labor, or epidural pain relief. These interventions increase the risk of fetal distress, and necessitate other interventions. You still have some options in your care, but you may not be able to safely decline some of these procedures. Without further ado, Part 2.
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This one is kind of a quickie. I'm going to get back to the "pregnancy interventions" series later this week, but I thought that it might be helpful to give some tips on HOW to include some "sacred foods" from these traditional cultures into your preconception or pregnancy diet. Not all of us are ready to jump into liver and onions; I know that I wasn't!! It's okay to go slow, but including at least some of these foods can only be helpful to your body and to your baby. And don't forget Dad! Cultures that prized these foods also included the father in the preconception period; he was also expected to eat liberally of whatever food was prized in fertility for his particular area. I'm going to start with homemade bone broth. Broth is incredibly nutritious and healing, and may even be palatable if you are coping with morning sickness in your pregnancy. Please keep in mind that the quality of bones is important; healthy animals will produce a more nutrient-rich, tasty broth. Buy local or pastured as much as possible, especially if you will be using the bones. A Little Back-Story I thought I'd change up the topic from purely birth-related information to something else that I feel strongly about- preconception and prenatal nutrition. I started out my first pregnancy like the majority of Americans...I absolutely believed the majority of mainstream health advice and thought that a low-fat, mostly vegetarian diet would be healthiest and help me to maintain a healthy weight and avoid cancer, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses. I exercised faithfully and consumed way too much cereal and tofu (I sincerely believed that tofu was delicious! Perhaps because it had been so long since bacon, haha). Despite my strict adherence to this dietary dogma, I found myself with a very slow metabolism and increasingly worse anxiety over really unimportant things. I tend to be a calm individual, so I felt this wasn't really "me". A doctor that I visited suggested that I had PCOS, which I didn't believe, although he assured me that "I have seen many cases of PCOS, and that's what you have. Where would you like to pick up your prescription?". Yes, he really said that, without a verified blood test or anything. I declined and a week later received an email admitting that I did not have PCOS and that I must just have "a slow metabolism". Go figure. Thanks for nothing. The tests did establish that my cholesterol was VERY low. The doctor thought this was good, but I wasn't so sure. SURPRISE! 3 weeks later I find out that I really stink at Fertility Awareness Method (I had been using it for a whopping 5 months) and I'm pregnant! Another nail in the coffin for PCOS. I very fortunately had no morning sickness and spent the first 12 weeks of the pregnancy in denial, but when I saw the tiny baby on the ultrasound screen at that first 12 week appointment, I knew....I NEED TO LEARN ABOUT BABIES. I had never planned on having children. I never even babysat. My daughter was the first newborn that I had ever held. I was woefully unprepared. I jumped into researching and discovered cloth diapers, elimination communication, normal birth, and everything else I could find. I also noticed that I started craving foods that I didn't usually eat. Butter. Eggs. Bacon. Whole milk. I had lived most of my lives using these foods very sparingly, but I couldn't deny that I now needed those foods. And when I started allowing myself those foods during pregnancy...I became happier than I had been in a long time. Turns out there is a good reason for that. Nutrient-Dense Food Makes You Happy and Healthy My body was craving eggs and butter because my low-fat diet had deprived me of a lot of nutrients that need FAT to be properly utilized by the body. The depletion of these nutrients was likely contributing to my anxiety, because your body needs fat and cholesterol to regulate hormones and mood. Building a baby requires a LOT of nutrients. My body knew that I needed to beef up on natural vitamins A, D, and K. Most people know that if the mother is deficient in certain nutrients, the body will steal these from the mother's body to preserve the baby as much as possible. But many women now have been on low-fat, processed food diets for ten years or more! A woman who is having a baby at 25 may have been dieting (as I had been) since she was a teenager. Many women are now waiting until after their careers are established to start a family, and may have been dieting for 15+ years before conception of a child. This absolutely can affect the health of the mother during pregnancy, AND the baby's development. Dr. Chris Masterjohn summarized some of the common denominators in prenatal and preconception diets of traditional cultures studied by the dentist and researcher Weston A. Price. (Interestingly enough, Weston Price expected to find that healthy groups isolated cultures would be eating mainly vegetarian or even vegan diets. Instead, he found that the groups with the healthiest reproduction, resistance to disease, and minimal cavities consumed diets balanced in vegetables, properly prepared grains, and nutrient-dense animal products). Here is an excerpt of a very detailed article that you can read in it's entirety here. "All groups that had access to the sea used fish eggs; milk-drinking groups used high-quality dairy from the season when grass was green and rapidly growing. Some groups used other foods such as moose thyroids or spider crabs, and African groups whose water was low in iodine used the ashes of certain plant foods to supply this element.5 These foods were added against the backdrop of a diet rich in liver and other organ meats, bones and skin, fats, seafood and the local plant foods." Did you get that? Fish Eggs Whole Raw milk from grass-fed dairy (including butter and cheese) Thyroid glands Shellfish Organ meats Bone broth Local plant foods and grains Sounds crazy, right?? Gross, even? Why were these foods so important? Weston Price stated that all of these peoples would go to great lengths to obtain these foods for their pregnant and nursing mothers. They couldn't run to Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. Sometimes they would travel for days to procure fish and shellfish. Turns out that these foods contain large amounts of vitamins D, A, K, and other nutrients such as calcium, phosphorus, sulfur, iodine, and zinc. All of these are necessary for optimal development of the baby's brain, skeleton, reproductive system, eyes...everything! Liver and other organ meats are a great source of Folate, which is known to prevent many varieties of birth defects. Although some studies have shown that too much folic acid can contribute to some cancers, folate is the natural form of this nutrient and is essential for developing babies, and there is no known harmful limit. Vitamin A deficiency has been shown in numerous studies to contribute to birth defects, and plants contain a form that is not utilized effectively by many individuals. Preformed vitamin A is found abundantly in organ meats, shellfish, fish eggs, and raw, grass-fed dairy. The advantage to using whole foods, no matter how foreign to us personally, over prenatal vitamins, is that foods generally contain a balance of essential nutrients, as opposed to a high concentration of one or the other. Take fish eggs, for example. Dr. Masterjohn explains: "Fish eggs are especially rich in cholesterol, vitamin B12, choline, selenium, calcium, magnesium, and omega-3 fatty acids. They contain a modest amount of most fat-soluble vitamins but their vitamin K2 content is unknown." All of those nutrients are available from one tablespoon of fish eggs! If you're not a fish egg person, try a free-range, local chicken egg, which provides most of the same nutrients. I have grown to love egg yolks and I'll add them to pretty much anything for an instant, natural multi-vitamin boost. Now I know why I craved eggs during my pregnancy! I'm glad that I gave into those cravings for whole milk and eggs, because despite my previous low-fat diet I did have a healthy baby, and my moods stabilized. I am never looking back, and guess what? My addition of butter, ghee, whole raw milk, and plenty of eggs to my diet have not packed on the pounds. I'm basically the same size I was before, but about 10 pounds lighter. The joke was on me. Whole foods keep you healthy, and your baby healthy! (Also, they taste really good!)
There is WAY too much to write on this topic; this article doesn't even scratch the surface. If you want to learn more about foods and nutrients that can help you during your pregnancy and for optimal development of your baby, stay posted for future blog posts or give me a call. I can talk about this stuff ALL DAY. I also recommend reading Dr. Masterjohn's entire article, Vitamins for Prenatal Development, Conception to Birth. You may also be interested in this book, Beautiful Babies. I initially started by wording this question, "What routine interventions should I opt out of at the hospital," then I realized that this question is really about a lot more than what just goes on once you get to the hospital. So, I'm going to point out a few interventions that are likely more harmful than helpful
What You Can Opt Out of During Pregnancy Cervical exams, including membrane sweeps. At your prenatal appointments towards the end of your pregnancy it is expected that when you get into the exam room, you will take your clothes off and the doctor does a pelvic exam to check the length and dilation of the cervix. WHY? If you are not having contractions, this is largely a useless, but also potentially harmful practice. Randomized controlled studies show that it's not even helpful to predict or prevent preterm labor, much less to predict when normal labor will begin or not. The cervix is NOT a magic 8 ball! It cannot tell you, or anyone else, when you will go into labor. Let me repeat this, because even most doctors and nurses may not tell you this. THE CERVIX IS NOT A MAGIC 8 BALL. Why is this important to remember? Imagine this: A woman goes in at 37 weeks and the doctor finds that her cervix is dilated to 2cm and starting to thin out. The doctor says, "Congratulations! You're going to have a baby within a week!" But a week goes by...and another....and she's still pregnant. When he offers an induction at 39 or 40 weeks the chances are high that she will take it, because, after all, she should have had her baby already! Maybe her body can't even go into labor?! What would you do if this were you? Remember that the end of pregnancy is a very vulnerable time, and it's easy to get discouraged by the suggestion that your body is not "preparing" for labor. The opposite scenario can be just as damaging. What if a woman went to all of her last few appointments and cervical checks revealed that she was not dilated at all as she neared her due date. She might start to feel like "nothing is happening", "my body can't do this on it's own." Again, if the care provider brings up induction for any reason, she may accept out of resignation, thinking that her body just isn't progressing fast enough. This is simply NOT TRUE. A woman could be not dilated at all at her appointment, but have a baby that night, or walk around at 4cm, 5cm, or MORE for weeks! I have personally talked to women who experienced all of these scenarios, so please don't worry about what your cervix is or isn't doing! Or, as the OB told me during my first pregnancy. "Just keep your pant on when you come in if you don't want cervical checks". Good advice. Membrane stripping/ "sweeping" is commonly done during cervical checks to "get things moving". The membranes that make up the amniotic sac are literally teased away from the cervix. However it's worded, this is an intervention that is done to start labor. This is known as INDUCTION. It may or may not work, and there is conflicting evidence of it's safety, but it is absolutely an intervention that you do not have to consent to unless you choose to. Here is a midwife's perspective on this common practice, and why you might want to think seriously before accepting this intervention. This study found that 70% of women found the procedure to be very uncomfortable, and 30% described it as "significantly painful". Labor started, on average, one day sooner with the group that received the membrane stripping. My own personal observation is that membrane stripping can be uncomfortable (even painful), and if labor does not start, the mother can experience painful contractions that rob her of comfort and sleep in an otherwise already uncomfortable time in her pregnancy. If labor does begin, she may be very tired and worn out psychologically, and if it doesn't, she has been put through such discomfort for nothing. Membrane stripping may be something to consider if the mother is being threatened with a more medical induction, since it certainly has less risks than cytotec or pitocin.
Multiple ultrasounds, especially as you near your due date I've already written one blog post about this, but just to review a few of the reasons why late-term ultrasounds are almost completely unhelpful and might even cause false alarm. There are no studies that show that ultrasound in a low-risk pregnancy can accurately predict size of the baby, state of the placenta, or health of the baby, including amniotic fluid levels. Yet these are the measurements that are frequently used towards the end of pregnancy to justify induction of labor. I can't possibly go into all of these excuses for induction in this blog post, but I can provide links. Here is a great evaluation of the lack of evidence for induction due to low fluid in a term pregnancy. Here is why induction for a "big baby" is also not supported by ACOG OR evidence. Ask yourself, "What am I hoping to see on ultrasound, and what will I do with that information?" "What will my doctor want to do with that information?" The basic fact is that unless there is indication of another problem (bleeding, preterm labor, reduced fetal movement, etc), ultrasound provides generally unreliable information, and is not without risks. I'll have to leave the next set of interventions for my next blog post! I should have known that this would be super long. Next week- What You Can Opt Out of During Labor
What You Can Opt Out of After the Birth
If you're not from Charlottesville, this might seem like a really strange question! But, if you have lived here for any length of time, you'll likely understand why I'm writing on this topic. In this area we are privileged to have two good hospitals. They both have their advantages and disadvantages, and BOTH are becoming more and more "natural birth" friendly. University of Virginia hospital, for example, is now delaying clamping the umbilical cord at all births, even cesarean births! Although evidence-based and safe, this practice has been slow to be adopted in many hospitals, so I am SO happy that even mothers and babies who require cesareans will be able to benefit from delayed cord clamping if they are at UVa Hospital.
Martha Jefferson Hospital has the reputation of being more natural-birth-friendly, and they have the advantage of a brand new (as of last year) hospital and birthing wing, set to beautiful scenery above Charlottesville. No kidding, I was recently told by a husband that they considered a home birth, but went to Martha Jefferson Hospital for the view! You can see a picture of the labor tubs here. This hospital does have a relatively low epidural rate (around 60%), so I can understand why it has the reputation of being THE place to go for a natural birth, but does that mean that a doula wouldn't be helpful, or just a waste of your resources? NOT AT ALL. Here's why. Choosing a doula lowers your risk of surgical birth. Your chances of cesarean are still much higher at a hospital than at home or a birth center, no matter the hospital. In 2010 the cesarean rate at MJH was 34.2%, compared to 30.7% at UVa hospital, despite the higher rate of unmedicated births at MJH hospital. See the numbers for yourself here. UVa also had double the percentages of VBAC births of MJH. (The local birth center here, The Birth Centre of Charlottesville, has a 3% cesarean rate as of last year). Randomized trials found that the use of a doula reduced a mother's chance of c-section by 28%! There are a few hypotheses as to why doulas are so effective, and you can read more about them here. Nurses have lots of other things to do, they cannot fill the role of a doula. They also change shifts. While there are many great nurses out there that wish they could be as supportive as a doula, they are limited by the rules, policies, and other duties that they must perform as a nurse. Some of these include charting, taking blood pressure, checking in on other patients, putting orders into the system, and communicating with other staff and doctors. Even in a hospital like MJH where there is a "one-to-one" nurse to patient ratio, this is typically guaranteed only during "active" labor. Continuous labor support is one of the most important factors in an empowering and healthy birth experience, and nurses cannot be continually with their patients, even if they wanted to be. They also are limited by the clock. You may have a nurse that you really "click" with, and who loves to help couples who desire a low-intervention, natural birth, but when the shift changes, the next nurse may not be so comfortable with your plans. I've certainly read stories of nurses staying past their shift to help out a special couple...but the reality is that nurses are not paid to be on-call! You doula is, though, and she will be with you for the entire labor and birth if at all possible. Your doctor's policies and practices are even more important than the hospital that you choose, especially at a private hospital. A public hospital like UVa can enact hospital-wide policies (like delayed cord clamping) and it's likely that all doctors, residents, and nurses will implement this. At a private hospital your care can vary more depending on the practices of the individual physician. If you choose this physician, for instance, your chance of a c-section would be 33%! However if you chose this physician, your chance would be lower, at 21%. (The Virginia Department of Health seems to not have updated this data since 2008, so this data may not be representative of these providers' current rates, but my point about variability stands.) Other policies may vary, also. One doctor may allow intermittent monitoring for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean), but another might want continuous monitoring. One may enforce a strict 12-hour time limit on labor after membranes have ruptured, and another might be more comfortable waiting longer. Some obstetricians may be quicker to induce for "post-date" pregnancy than others. These interventions increase the risks of instrumental birth, fetal distress, and cesarean section no matter which hospital you are at! A doula bridges the gap and evens the playing field by providing support and evidence-based information so that mom and dad can decide which interventions they are comfortable with at the time. I do believe that you can have an empowering, healthy birth experience in the hospital. But, a hospital is a hospital no matter how pretty it looks on the outside (or inside). Having a doula ensures a certain continuity of care- you know that your doula is supportive of your plans, will not change shifts, and can help you to navigate hospital or provider policies. Together, you can have a great birth, no matter where it takes place! First of all, in the words of one of my favorite authors Douglas Adams, Don't Panic! Okay, so what next? There are a few things to think about before rushing to the hospital or to call your doctor. While most women experience their water breaking on it's own during active labor, about 20% of women will experience their water breaking before labor really begins. It's best to be informed of your options and the risks and benefits of waiting for labor to begin on it's own, just-in-case you are one of the 20%! Your water breaking DOESN'T necessarily mean that labor has begun. If your doctor wants to admit you to the hospital before labor is established, you are at a higher risk of complications associated with inductions- higher use of epidural anesthesia, fetal distress, and cesarean, among others. Inducing labor should not be taken lightly, especially if you are a first-time mother. Please know that you do have options in your care even if your water is broken before labor. Research has shown that it is SAFE and not more risky than induction to wait as long as 72 hours between water breaking and contractions, as long as there are no signs of an infection. 95% of women will go into labor within 24 hours of rupture of membranes, so you have plenty of time! "But my hospital or OB says that I only have 12 hours to go into labor! WHY?" I can't really speak for them, but this Cochrane review of the available studies indicates that although more babies were admitted to the NICU when labor was allowed to start (expectant management) vs. induction, there were NO higher rates of infection for babies. So some babies were admitted most likely because membranes had been ruptured for longer than "normal". My feeling about this hospital policy is that it has simply become easier for doctors to admit a mother to the hospital and to induce labor rather than wait for contractions to start on their own. It's also probably tempting from a provider standpoint to do something rather than reassure an anxious pregnant woman that she can relax. So what should you do? Take your temperature every 4 hours or so just to make sure that you're not getting an infection. Think positive thoughts. Relax. Take a shower. Connect with your baby and your body.
What should you not do? Don't put anything in the vagina! That means no sex for stimulating labor, although you might try nipple stimulation if you're so inclined. Also, cervical checks should be kept to an absolute minimum, even (especially) in the hospital. The factor that increases the risk of infection for you and your baby is lots of vaginal exams due to introduction of bacteria into the birth canal, and you are well within your rights to refuse them if you wish. What is the bottom line? You can safely exercise the option to WAIT for regular contractions to begin before heading to the hospital. You have a 95% chance or so of going into labor within 24 hours, but up to 72 hours has been studied and not risky. Do think positive thoughts, relax, and enjoy these final moments with your baby. You'll never get them back! Most of all, Don't Panic!! For an even more detailed discussion of this topic, see Midwife Thinking's Blog here. "Your baby is measuring much larger than normal."
"Your baby appears healthy but we are worried about his size; he may not be growing." "Your amniotic fluid is low". Generally all of these statements are probably followed by "We'd like to induce you". But you've had a perfectly healthy pregnancy! You've been planning to go into labor on your own. Your baby appears to be happy, how did you get to this point? Should you trust this commonly-used technology to guide decisions about your pregnancy and birth? Many women find it amazing to see their baby on ultrasound. During my first pregnancy I had 3 ultrasounds, the first at 12 weeks to verify pregnancy, one at 17 weeks for gender, and another at 22 weeks to check anatomy. I was a low-risk, first-time mother. Women with any other risk factors such as gestational diabetes, hypertension, "advanced" maternal age (over 35), suspected genetic abnormalities, or clotting factors may find themselves with many more ultrasounds. As I continued in the pregnancy, however, I became more and more sure that I wanted to avoid an ultrasound late in my pregnancy. Why? Cue the music.. Late. Term. Ultrasounds. What are they good for? Absolutely. NOTHING. (almost) It seemed to me that ultrasounds in late pregnancy are more often than not used to scare the caregiver and the mother into thinking that something is wrong. It's common knowledge that ultrasound measurements can be, and frequently are, inaccurate. But when it comes down to it...the doctor will usually want to "err on the side of caution". There have been several studies on ultrasound after 24 weeks gestation in low-risk pregnancies, like this one, a Cochrane review of studies totalling over 25,000 mothers and babies: Read more here. The authors concluded that "routine late pregnancy ultrasound in low risk or unselected populations does not confer benefit on mother or baby. There is a lack of data about the potential psychological effects of routine ultrasound in late pregnancy, and the effects on both short and long term neonatal and childhood outcome." This study finds that late-term ultrasound estimates of weight are not particularly reliable, and "must be applied with extreme care". So there are no proven benefits to row-risk pregnant women and their babies, but what about risks? Risks A interesting study published in 1993 selected a group of women (sample size 2,834) to either receive "intensive" ultrasounds (5 from 18 weeks to 38 weeks), or "normal", which was only one scan at 18 weeks. There was a statistically significant increase in the intensive group of having a baby with a birthweight below the 10th and 3rd percentile. The irony here is that in my experience, late-term ultrasounds dramatically increase the chances of your baby being diagnosed with IUGR, whether or not the baby's birthweight is actually low at birth. Could the overuse of ultrasound be CAUSING the IUGR? The authors of the study found it "plausible". Perhaps because another study just a few years before had found a similar negative effect on growth and hypothesized that repeated ultrasound exposure most likely affects bone growth, not soft tissue growth. The good news is that a follow-up study found that this difference in growth seemed to disappear by age 8. But the authors of this study recommended that ultrasound use in late pregnancy be restricted to "those women to whom the information is likely to be of clinical benefit." Rather open-ended, but can we find more information on who these women might be? GreenMedInfo published a blog post entitled "When Do the Benefits of Ultrasound Outweigh the Dangers?" I highly recommend reading the entire article! The author states that the evidence points to several instances where an ultrasound may have some benefit, among them locating the placenta to clear a women to attempt a TOL for a VBAC, when trying to turn a breech baby during an external version, and when utilizing reproductive technology such as IVF. Not included are: Measuring large for dates Maternal age greater than 35 Measuring small for dates To measure the amniotic fluid Diagnosed Gestational Diabetic Factor Five Leiden or other clotting abnormalities Measuring the "thickness" of a uterine scar internally before a woman attempts a VBAC The author also points out that there are only a handful of issues that an ultrasound might help to diagnose and then treat before the birth of the baby, as well as a high false-positive rate with abnormal ultrasound diagnoses (I will be working on an article on fluid levels soon!), so the possible benefit to most mothers and babies is slim indeed. Even more concerning is that very few large, epidemiological studies have been performed since the allowable acoustic limits for ultrasound machines was increased in 1992. Part of the problem is that finding a control group of unexposed babies would be quite difficult because ultrasound use has become so common! Although most other studies have been performed on mice, other possible adverse effects of late-term ultrasounds (based on evidence) include: Damage to the neurological system Thermally induced teratogenesis (the formation of congenital birth defects) Left-handedness (in men) For more studies on the possible adverse effects of routine ultrasound, please see GreenMedInfo's database here. What is the Bottom Line? Although ultrasound has been used in the care of pregnant women and babies for several decades now, there isn't much evidence to support it's routine use. There are many animal studies that suggest exposure to ultrasound increases the risk of abnormal neurological development in the brain and for growth restriction of the skeleton. A few women may benefit from ultrasound screening, but the possible risk of repeated exposure should certainly be discussed so that an informed decision can be made. Part 2 will discuss some of the emotional issues that women may face because of the use of ultrasound, and how it may affect them and their care providers throughout the mothers' pregnancies and births. Birth is the culmination of a process that really begins before a woman is even born. Even as a baby girl is being formed within her mother, that environment is shaping the woman that she will become. The mother's feelings, fears, health, and diet affect the baby that she is carrying, and this relationship carries on through the birth process and breastfeeding relationship. A healthy, happy, nourished mother most often births a healthy, happy, nourished baby who thrives and grows into a healthy child. Of course this is a difficult and rare achievement in the world that we live in. Regardless of race, income, or social status, nearly all women face a variety of stresses, and many even fear on a daily basis. Health and nutrition advice is also confusing and often misleading, and at the very worst, dangerous for mothers and their babies. Even before a woman finds out she is pregnant, there is a fear that pervades much of modern society surrounding birth, to the point that a few women attempt to bypass the birth process altogether by planning a cesarean. At least, the majority of women chose to labor numb from the waist down to avoid the pain and trauma that they have been told inevitably comes with birth. Then she actually sees the little blue line, and then the fear-mongering really begins. "NO alcohol- you don't want your baby to have birth defects, do you?" "No sushi- you know there's bacteria in that, right?!" "Make sure you microwave all lunch meat" (Just to make sure there's nothing left of value..) "Just get the epidural as soon as you can; you know that 35% of mothers NEED a c-section, so you'll probably want the epidural just in case." "Why would you give birth at HOME? What if SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS?" "Breastfeeding really hurts and lots of women don't make enough milk. Try, but don't feel badly if it doesn't work out." "Never put your baby to sleep in your bed! You might roll over on him! Plus, don't you want TIME ALONE with your mate?" Something is missing in this picture...how about some COMMON SENSE and confidence that until proven otherwise, a mother knows what is best for her baby, and can give birth intuitively and without intervention? And that she can also feed the child that she birthed without assistance and complicated schedules and contraptions? And that women have been birthing healthy babies for thousands of years without minute directions on what to eat and what not to eat before, during, and after pregnancy? I hope that through this blog and talking to mothers in person that I can help to convince you that women are made to give birth and be wonderful mothers to their children, and that most do not need the fear based propaganda masquerading as helpful information that seems to dominate birth in our culture and in the media. I would also like to share some of the findings of Dr. Weston A. Price and other researchers who realized that nutrition is one of the keys to a healthy pregnancy, baby, and child, so that mothers can do all in their power to take their health and that of their children into their own hands. Mothers need support during the birth process, but also before and after this momentous event. I hope that I can provide this for many women and their babies! |
Author- Sara
I look at birth from the perspective that our bodies are wonderfully made, and if we really believe that and work with the birth process and nourish our bodies properly, they will function optimally, most of the time! Archives
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