betterbeginnings

Thursday, July 5, 2012

RESOURCES: Water for Labor & Birth

The Benefits of Water for labor & Birth
Greater comfort and mobility. The mother has much greater ease and freedom to move spontaneously and to change position to assist the descent of the baby. Read more...

Cochrane Summaries: Immersion in water for Labor and Birth
This review includes 12 trials (3243 women). Water immersion during the first stage of labour significantly reduced epidural/spinal analgesia requirements, without adversely affecting labour duration, operative delivery rates, or neonatal wellbeing. One trial showed that immersion in water during the second stage of labour increased women's reported satisfaction with their birth experience. Read more...

Waterbirth and GBS
The literature provides a single case of early onset newborn Group B Strep (GBS) among 4432 waterbirths, suggesting that low-risk women who give birth in water may have a far lower rate of newborn GBS than women who have a dry birth. Read more...

Waterbirth International

Support in water is one of the most beneficial things that can be offered to a woman in labor. The water provides a calming influence and a peaceful relaxed atmosphere. Women report that they enjoy their labors and find that the water allows complete freedom of movement and deep concentration. Read more...

A note about our "Resources" pages: We offer these resources as one step of your informed decision-making process. Each mother and each circumstance are unique. There is no one "right" way. One article or study does not an informed decision make. Read more. Research more. Talk openly with your carefully chosen care provider and those who will support you. Then, make the decision that is right for you.

RESOURCES: Newborn Protocols

Newborn Protocols

Clamping the Umbilical Cord
Academic Grand Rounds Presentation on the benefits of delayed cord clamping. Watch video here...
Understanding blood volume and cod clamping Watch video here...

The First Bath
"The power of vernix is truly astounding. Its main benefits are its various antimicrobial properties, which help protect a newborn against a wide variety of infections. A secondary benefit is that vernix is highly moisturizing." Read more here....

Maternal Separation Stresses the Baby
A woman goes into labor, and gives birth. The newborn is swaddled and placed to sleep in a nearby bassinet, or taken to the hospital nursery so that the mother can rest. Despite this common practice, new research published in Biological Psychiatry provides new evidence that separating infants from their mothers is stressful to the baby. Read more...

Effect of Delivery Room Routines on Success of First Breastfeed
72 infants delivered normally were observed for 2 h after birth. In the separation group (n = 34), the infant was placed on the mother's abdomen immediately after birth but removed after about 20 min for measuring and dressing Read more...

RESOURCES: How Birth Happens

Babies aren't simply pushed out, they must make several turns to make it through mother's pelvis, called "Cardinal Movements" see more...

Emotional Map of Labor
If any of you have ever read any books on the Bradley Method for childbirth, you may have heard of the emotional signposts that a woman experiences during labor. Unfortunately, this is a concept that is not very widespread, and I think that it should be because it’s extremely valuable! What are the emotional signposts of labor? Read more...

The Labor Environment
The June 2009 issue of Birth contains the results of a pilot study gauging the effects of modifying the labor room to encourage mobility, reduce stress and anxiety, and discourage routine medical intervention. Investigators randomly allocated 62 healthy women in spontaneous labor to either a modified room or the standard labor room. Read more...

Pain in Labour: Your Hormones Are Your Helpers
Researchers such as French surgeon and natural birth pioneer Michel Odent believe that if we can be more respectful of our mammalian roots, and the hormones that we share, we can have more chance of a straightforward birth ourselves. Read more...

RESOURCES: Breastfeeding & the Law

Mississippi Laws

Miss. Code Ann. § 13-5-23 (2006) provides that breastfeeding mothers may be excused from serving as jurors. (SB 2419)
Miss. Code Ann. § 17-25-7/9 (2006) prohibits any ordinance restricting a woman's right to breastfeed and provides that a mother may breastfeed her child in any location she is otherwise authorized to be. (SB 2419)
Miss. Code Ann. § 43-20-31 (2006) requires licensed child care facilities to provide breastfeeding mothers with a sanitary place that is not a toilet stall to breastfeed their children or express milk, to provide a refrigerator to store expressed milk, to train staff in the safe and proper storage and handling of human milk, and to display breastfeeding promotion information to the clients of the facility.
Miss. Code Ann. Ch. 1 § 71-1-55 (2006) prohibits against discrimination towards breastfeeding mothers who use lawful break time to express milk.
Miss. Code Ann. § 97-29-31 and § 97-35-7et seq. (2006) specifies that a woman breastfeeding may not be considered an act of indecent exposure, disorderly conduct, or disturbance of the public space.

Federal Law
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Affordable Care Act”) amended section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to require employers to provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for one year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk. Employers are also required to provide a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk. Read More...

RESOURCES: Going Past Your "Due Date," Post term

Post Term

Low Fluid Levels. "Oligohydramnios occurs in 4% of pregnancies, according to Medscape. This is in fact, a fairly rare condition. However, it is one of the big reasons we hear so often for "necessary" induction. Why is something that is in fact fairly rare so common?" Read more....

What will it take to stop the inductions for too little amniotic fluid? This is largely a wrong diagnosis based on ultrasound. Women are having their births wrecked by midwives and doctors who believe that Biophysical Profile is a valid testing method. Read more....

The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG)
What to Expect After Your Due Date? A postterm pregnancy is one that lasts 42 weeks or longer. The most common cause of postterm pregnancy is an error in calculating the due date. Read more...

ACOG Practic Bulletin
Postterm pregnancy, by definition, refers to a pregnancy that has extended to or
beyond 42 weeks of gestation (294 days, or estimated date of delivery [EDD]
+14 days). Accurate pregnancy dating is critical to the diagnosis. Antenatal surveillance and induction of labor are 2 widely used strategies that theoretically may decrease the risk of an adverse fetal outcome; maternal risk factors for postterm pregnancy also should be considered. The purpose of this document is to examine the evidence and provide recommendations about these 2 management strategies. Read more...

RESOURCES: Doula

From Lamaze
In most cultures, women do not labor alone. Throughout time, women have welcomed other women—mothers, sisters, trusted friends or experienced childbirth attendants—at their births. In recent time, birthing women in the United States also have welcomed the presence and support of their partners. Have you considered who you would like to have at your birth? Read More...

I Challenge You to a Doula (funny, from a dad's perspective)
Unless you live in Berkeley you could probably use a refresher on what the deal is with doulas. Fair enough. Read more...

Continuous support for women during childbirth - Cochrane Summaries Continuous support in labour increased the chance of a spontaneous vaginal birth, had no harm, and women were more satisfied. Read more...

RESOURCES: Pregnancy

RESOURCES: Pregnancy

Lamaze Your Pregnancy Week by Week: The little life growing inside of you will change yours in an exciting and beautiful way, and you’ll spend the next nine months getting to know him or her more until you finally meet face-to-face. Lamaze wants to be your trusted partner in this experience, providing you with weekly emails that guide you through a natural, healthy pregnancy and a safe childbirth. Read more...

Childbirth Connection
The week by week development of your baby inside of your body during pregnancy is an amazing process. View the development of your pregnancy at milestone weeks to see how your baby is developing. Read more...