Mother and Baby Come Back to Life After Dying in Birth

I am sure many of you have heard this story. A mother went to the hospital with contractions at 33 weeks gestation, and during her labour she died and after no success at reviving her, the doctors performed a C-section right in the birthing room. Her son was born limp, with a very low,and weak heart beat. Her heart had been stopped for approximately 4 minutes when she came around and was taken to the OR to finish the surgery. Her son became stronger while his father held his little body.

This story sounds very frightening and stories like this frighten women out of childbirth. The truth is though, this incident was caused by the interventions that are commonly placed upon pregnant women and their babies.

After the original news article about this scary incident, new information has come out. The woman has had 2 previous births, both natural with no medications of any sort. This birth however was handled differently. She went into the hospital with contractions at 33 weeks gestation (several weeks too early), for some reason the doctors gave her artificial oxytocin (pitocin in the US, syntocinon in Canada) a drug used to make contractions stronger and longer and meant to make labour quicker. Then she was given an epidural for the pain caused by the induced contractions. As soon as she received the epidural, she stopped breathing, we know this because it has been reported that the anesthesiologist was the one performing CPR on the woman.

What bothers me most about this is that the hospital has stated that they don't know what caused her heart to stop and that tests have been inconclusive. But to anyone who knows about natural childbirth, it is pretty obvious what happened. This woman had an adverse reaction to the epidural. It isn't common but it does happen, it is just one of the many things that we don't hear about. Learn more about epidurals and their risks here http://www.healing-arts.org/mehl-madrona/mmepidural.htm#medical_risks_epidurals_rates

Stories like this should remind us that childbirth is a normal, natural part of life and needs to be treated that way. It isn't something that needs to be controlled or managed, it is a special part of human life that needs to be respected. I hope that this family can move on from this and have a wonderful life, raising their beautiful children.

Much Love,
Marissa

Link to first new article http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/msnbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=23164083

Unexpected Support

(First meal)

Since my daughter was born in May 2008 I have been very lucky to have a ton of great support. Support comes in all shapes and sizes, and from all different walks of life. My family, being from England and Scotland, are used to homebirths and were wonderfully supportive (my dad is a worry-wart, but he warmed up the idea quickly), and my Grandmother instilled in me how birthing (and placentas) are completely natural and not "gross". I would have to say though, that one of my biggest, and most unexpected support, has come from my husband's Grandparents on his father's side.

They are typical Grandparents, with great stories to tell, and even if you have heard it before, you just want to make sure you don't miss a single word. Grandpa has been struck by lightning twice in his life (seems to run in the family, his father was struck aswell), and Grandma raised 7 children with only 12 cloth diapers, a borrowed crib and without an electric washing machine for years. Not to mention she had to walk 6 blocks to the hospital to give birth to one of her babies, but 20 minutes later she had a baby in her arms.

After my daughter was born, we went over to their house for the first visit with her Great-Grandparents, she was almost a week old. I remember sitting in Grandpa's lazyboy chair trying to nurse my little baby. We had a very hard time breastfeeding at first, she wouldn't latch properly and my nipples were awfully sore and bruised. I really needed to make sure I could see what I was doing, so there were no blankets to cover her or me, but no one seemed to care. His Grandma just kept talking to me about her experieces as a mother while I tried to feed my little one. After a little while, once I had her latched, my husband's Grandpa came over and said to me " I know this may sound wierd. But how is she nursing? Has your milk come it?" and then he proceded to tell me "this is the best thing for her, it is so good for her". It was so comforting to hear that. Having someone being so supportive of something I really wanted to do, but was really struggling with. And to know that his Grandma had gone through the same pain as me but assured me it would get better.

I love going over to their house, because I feel comfortable feeding my daughter there and I don't have to worry about negative remarks or looks or being avoided. They always sit with me when I nurse, and look me in the eyes, or watch my daughter nurse.They also always seem to have a story to tell me about a woman they saw on TV who was treated poorly for feeding her baby in public and think people should just look the other way if they don't like what they see. Today, Grandpa said "If they don't like it, why are they looking? This is how babies are fed". I feel safe and comfortable nursing my baby there.

As my daughter gets older and I am continuing to nurse her, it is getting harder to find good support. I have started going to Le Leche League meetings to find some extra support. Many people feel she is "too old" to be nursing at 19 months but I was happy to find out today, while visiting, that my husband's Grandparents are still very supportive of my choice to continue breastfeeding.

Support comes in all shapes, sizes and ages. The most supportive in my life have been my Grandmother, and my husband's Grandparents. They understand that babies need milk to survive thrive and in their time the only milk for baby came from the mother. I want to thank them for all the support they have given me and continue to give, it has really made a huge difference in my life. Thank you all so much.

Much Love
Marissa

Some Help Please!

I know tons and tons and tons of information on breastfeeding and breast milk and the benefits. I am trying to make a pamphlet that will be passed out to expectant parents or parents who are having a second, third or forth (...) and want to get some more information about how to be successful with breastfeeding.

What I need from you readers is help. I have no idea what to put in there. There are hundreds of benefits to breastfeeding, literally, don't believe me check this out.http://www.promom.org
Click on the "101" at the top and just start reading.

As new parents or if you are planning to breastfeed or helping someone who is breastfeeding, what kind of quick tips do you want to know about breastfeeding?

Thanks for your help everyone.

Marissa

Letter from AHS

After posting information about the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative, and realizing even though the facilities in my city have the sign posted in their birthing units that we come no where near reaching the requirements, I sent a letter to the Alberta Health Services to enquire about just one part of the requirements, a Breastfeeding Policy.

As of right now there is no policy, and I am hoping to get the ball moving so they can be close to achieving a breastfeeding policy. Having this policy in place can make sure that all their staff is knowledgeable in current breastfeeding practices, the importance of breastfeeding, importance of keeping the mother and baby(ies) together and if possible skin-to-skin immediately after birth, and is able to fully educate a woman on the importance of breast milk for the baby(ies) and for herself. Just by having all staff members that will be in contact with new mothers and babies will help increase the rate of breastfeeding in our city.

Here in the letter I sent them.

I was wondering what your policies were for breastfeeding. If you have a policy, what is it and is it communicated to your staff regularly?

Are all staff members that are in contact with mothers and their newborns skilled and trained in breastfeeding and lactation?

Thank you for your time.

Letter from AHS(don't be surprised that they didn't answer all the questions I asked);

Dear Ms. Dean,

Thank you for writing to Alberta Health Services on November 26, 2009 regarding breastfeeding.

Alberta Health Services does not have a policy on breastfeeding, however a policy usually offers guiding principles and may not deal with something that specific.

If you can let us know more about why you are asking your questions, we can provide information that better matches your need. For example, are you planning to have a child and are enquiring on your own behalf? Have you got a particular concern about breastfeeding?

Again, thank you for contacting Alberta Health Services.


So, as of right now our hospitals have no Breastfeeding policy to help our new parents, and we are not sure if the staff who are in direct contact of these women and their newborns are even trained, skilled or knowledgeable about breastfeeding and lactation. That isn't good enough for this city.

I have sent them an email in response and asked them to either start moving towards meeting the requirements of the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiatve and the Baby-Friendly Initiative or to remove all their signs from their birthing facilities. So now we have to wait and see what happens.

CHANGE IS COMING!

Much Love
Marissa

Ultrasound Dangers!

There has been a bit of debate recently (well not just recently) about whether or not ultrasound use in pregnancy poses any risks to the baby. Many doctors still believe it is extremely safe, to the point that they do it regularily to their family members, and usually come back with the statement "If it wasn't safe, I wouldn't recommend it" or "There are more forms of radiation in our everyday lives that are worse than ultrasounds". Well the fact is, studies are proving them wrong. And directly applying the ultrasound or doppler to the womans body to "check" on the baby is the strongest form of radiation an unborn baby will ever experience.

Recent studies on pregnant rodents and non-human primates have shown that exposing the unborn babies to ultrasound waves, have very distinct behavioural issues, such as social withdrawal. On a physical level, these babies were born with lower birth weights and poor muscle tone. One study, using Guinea pigs saw an increase of temperature in the brain tissue near the bone by up to 5.1 degrees Celcius. Routine scans are performed on healthy women, with normal pregnancies at around 18 weeks gestation, imagine if the baby's brain tissue is increasing in temperature by that much during such an important part of development, that baby could have damage to the brain tissue that is irreversible, such as neurological disorders.

Ultrasounds are being used to detect abnormalities in the baby, but with a possible +5000 chromosomal abnormalities, only a few can be detected. Before just sending a woman for scan I think it is important to know what she will do with the information. If she isn't going to abort the pregnancy, no matter what the scan says, then why bother sending her. And if there is a complication, mulitiple scans could be putting that baby at an increased risk.

The bottom line is, if there is a complication, an ultrasound can't fix it, and it probably won't even catch it. So is it worth the risk for everyone.

Much Love
Marissa

ps. here are several links to some articles and studies on the effects of ultrasound.
http://www.sarahjbuckley.com/articles/ultrasound-scans.htm
http://www.aims.org.uk/Journal/Vol11No4/ultra2.htm
http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/ultrasound.asp
http://www.greenhealthwatch.com/newsstories/newslatest/latest0701/ultrasound-hurt.html

check them out.

Hospitals Lying to Pregnant Women

You remember last week when I posted about this sign that is in a hospital where women birth in Utah? Well, this sign is pretty awful, but at least these care providers have the guts to be upfront and honest about how they view birth and want to take control of the situation. Here in my city, we have a similar problem, an out right, blatant lie, posted in our Labour and Delivery Wards. A sign saying they are part of the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative, when they definatley aren't even close.

So, I ask you, what is worse? Posting a sign saying your facility will respect a mother, and allow her to birth the way nature intended and has an Cesarean rate of 15% or less, when the acutal C-section rate is at 30%? or, a sign as crude and awful, but at least honest, as the one in Utah?

I personally think lying to pregnant women to gain their trust in the facility is far worse. Women think they are making a good decision based on this knowledge just to find out while in the throws of their own birthing experience that their hospital of choice doesn't even come close to matching the requirements of the MFCI.

It is time for a change. If you want to write to the Alberta Health Services, here is their link to their contact information.http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/contact.asp

Much Love

Marissa

10 Steps of the Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative

A Mother-Friendly hospital, birth centre or home birth service:

1. Offers all birthing women:

• Unrestricted access to birth companions of her choice, including fathers, partners, children, family members, and friends;
• Unrestricted access to continuous emotional and physical support from a skilled woman- for example, a doula, or labour support professional;
• Access to professional midwifery care

2. Provides accurate descriptive and statistical information to the public about its practices and procedures for birth care, including measures of interventions and outcomes.

3. Provides culturally competent care - that is, care that is sensitive and responsive to the specific beliefs, values and customs of the mother's ethnicity and religion.

4. Provides women with the freedom to walk, move about, and assume the positions of her choice during labour and birth (unless a restriction is specifically required to correct a complication), and discourages the use of the lithotomy(flat on back with legs elevated)position.

5. Has clearly defined policies and procedures for:

• collaborating and consulting throughout the perinatal period with other maternity services, including communicating with the original caregiver when transfer from one birth site to another is necessary;
• linking mother and baby to appropriate community resources, including prenatal and post-discharge follow-up and breastfeeding support.

6. Does not routinely employ practices and procedures that are unsupported by scientific evidence, including but not limited to the following:

• shaving;
• enemas;
• IVs (intravenous drip)
• witholding nourishment or water;
• early rupture of membranes;
• electronic fetal monitoring;

other interventions are limited as follows:

• Has an induction rate of 10% or less;
• Has an episiotomy rate of 20% or less, with a goal of 5% or less;
• Has a total cesarean rate of 10% or less in community hospitals, and 15% or less in tertiary care (high-risk) hospitals'
• Has a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) rate of 60% or more with a goal of 75% or more

7. Educates staff in non-drug methods of pain relief, and does not promote the use of analgesic or anesthetic drugs not specifically required to correct a complication.

8. Encourages all mothers and families, including those with sick or premature newborns and infants with congenital problems, to touch, hold, breastfeed, and care for their babies to the extent compatible with their conditions.

9. Discourages non-religious circumcision of the newborn.

10. Strives to acheive the WHO-UNICEF "Ten Steps of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative" to promote successful breastfeeding:

• Have a written breastfeeding policy this is routinely communicated to all health care staff;
• Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy;
• Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding;
• Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within a half-hour of birth;
• Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation even if they should be seperated from their infants;
• Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk unless medically indicated;
• Practice rooming in: allow mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day;
• Encourage breastfeeding on demand (or cue feeding);
• Give no artificial teat or pacifiers (also called dummies or soothers)to breastfeeding infants;
• Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from hospital or clinics.

This and more information can be viewed on their webiste.http://www.motherfriendly.org/mfci.php

Much Love,

Marissa