Mother's Circle

Empowered Childbirth Classes

Offered at the Greenhouse Birth Center

1831 Newman Road

Okemos, MI 48864

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In The News

Recently, birth has been in the news a bit more frequently. This page will feature updates and news items to keep those interested in the world of birth apprised of what is happening. To read the full article please click on the title of the article. This will take you to the correct website with the full article. If I have missed an item you believe should be posted for others to see, please send details to motherscircle@gmail.com.

October 8, 2008

Evidence-Based Maternity Care: What It Is and What It Can Achieve

The title above is that of a newly released report by Childbirth Connection, The Reforming States Group, and The Milbank Memorial Fund. It is a 113-page report that outlines what maternity care could look like in this country if suggested policy recommendations are implemented, resulting in a cost savings of billions of dollars in healthcare for our country. Peruse the articles from USA Today and Consumer Reports if the full 113 pages seems overwhelming. 

July 1, 2008

Docs to Women: Pay No Attention to Ricki Lake's Home Birth

The American Public Health Association and the American College of Nurse Midwives support women choosing home birth. The British OB/GYNs have read the research, too, and have this to say: "There is no reason why home birth should not be offered to women at low risk of complications... it may confer considerable benefits for them and their families. There is ample evidence showing that labouring at home increases a woman's likelihood of a birth that is both satisfying and safe..."

Because if U.S. women are to have real birth choices, everybody needs to be working together to provide them.

*NOTE: It seems time to acknowledge that some women are more comfortable in a hospital setting while some prefer a out of hospital setting. As this article notes, there is room for both option and women and their families should have the right to birth in whichever setting they wish.

May 22, 2008

Breastfeeding hero

A Chinese policewoman is being praised for breastfeeding earthquake-stricken babies. She has fed up to nine babies, five of them orphans and the others with mothers whose milk supply was effected by their lack of food and water for days.

May 21, 2008

Gentle Birth: The Science and the Wisdom


Sarah J Buckley, MD, family physician, mother of four and author of the internationally-acclaimed book Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering will present Gentle Birth: The Science and the Wisdom, a series of lectures on the natural processes of birth, and the impact of interventions in pregnancy and birth on mothers and babies. These will be online presentations. Please see the link above for more information.

April 14, 2008

Capital Area Birth Network's First Parent Topic Night

On April 23rd, the first BirthNetwork meeting will be held in our area.  The topic will be The Truth about Cesarean Section and VBAC and practitioners as well as those who have experienced cesareans and VBAC's will be present to share their experiences. BirthNetwork Parent Topic Nights are held on the 4th Wednesday of each month. Please see the link for more details on upcoming monthly meetings.
Time: 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Location: First Christian Church 1001 Chester Rd. Lansing, MI
 

February 19, 2008

The Business of Being Born Special Community Screening*

Join the Greater Lansing Area this Saturday and Sunday, February 23-4, to watch a documentary film about the maternity care in the U.S. and get informed. In an effort to educate our community about birth and maternity care in the U.S., a group of women have come together to create this event. This film examines and questions the way American women birth their babies. The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and interesting statistics about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein discovers she is pregnant during the making of the film, the journey becomes even more personal. This event will be open to the community, so if you have ever been pregnant or hope to be pregnant one day, please plan on attending. For more information about the film, please see The Business of Being Born website or follow the link above.

*On Sunday, special guest Jennifer Block, author of Pushed: The Painful Truth about Maternity Care in the U.S. will be with us for the screening, discussion panel and a book signing afterwards.

February 18, 2008

1-in-3 births is c-section (video)

CNN's Elizabeth Cohen reports on the increase of c-section deliveries in the United States during the past decade.

January 30, 2008

"The Business of Being Born" in Newsweek

There are many births in the documentary film "The Business of Being Born," including a scene of former talk-show host Ricki Lake giving birth naked in her tub. But the image that viewers may find most shocking is that of a baby being cut out of a woman's abdomen via Caesarean. This, according to Lake, the executive producer of the film, and Abby Epstein, the film's director, is the right reaction: one of their messages is that C-sections should only be performed when needed to guarantee the well-being of the mother and infant, and should not be a first choice for healthy mothers. New research into the risks associated with elective Caesareans supports their view.

January 13, 2008

The Business of Being Born

If you hadn't heard of this film before last week, chances are that you have heard about it now. This film was produced by Ricki Lake and documentary filmmaker Abby Epstein, and focuses on natural birth. Between Ricki Lake's appearances on the Today Show and the cover (shown below) of the current issue  of Mothering magazine, the film has been getting a good amount of press.

While images of emergency births  and medicated births dominate most media, this film highlights natural birth and home birth as real options for healthy low risk pregnancies. Interested in viewing this film? Keep your eyes peeled for details on the screening that will take place in East Lansing in February 2008.  More details will be posted here and on The Greenhouse Birth Center website.

    To listen to the interview with Ricki Lake, see the Mothering magazine website.

January 5, 2008

What is Natural Pregnancy? *

Being pregnant and giving birth are natural life experiences for which a woman’s body is well designed. A woman’s body is innately prepared with the strength, stamina, and ability to nourish a safe and natural pregnancy and childbirth. By supporting the body’s own instinctive knowledge, unnecessary medical intervention can often be avoided.

Natural pregnancy includes creating an internal and external environment of healthy, positive elements: healthy eating, appropriate exercise, listening to positive birth stories, gathering knowledge, planning the ideal care, and partnering with a caregiver who can lead you through each step safely and confidently.

*Excerpted from the Mothers Naturally website. Please click the headline to be directed to that website.

Transparency in Maternity Care Project: The Birth Survey


It has been easier to get consumer satisfaction and quality information about a car than about maternity care services - but no longer.

CIMS has developed www.TheBirthSurvey.com, a consumer feedback website where women provide information about the maternity care they received with specific doctors, midwives, hospitals, and birth centers. Families choosing where and with who to birth can utilize this consumer feedback, along with data on hospital and birth center intervention rates and practices, to make informed health care choices. This data can also be used for quality of care improvement efforts by facilities and providers.

For further information about The Birth Survey, to help collect facility-level intervention data, to help "get the word out" about the project in your area, to volunteer in another capacity or to inquire about how The Birth Survey can be used for quality improvement, please e-mail info@thebirthsurvey.com

Women Can Improve Childbirth Outcomes By Seeking Care Providers with Low Cesarean Section Rates

Despite continued reports in the medical literature of harm caused by cesarean surgery, the U.S. cesarean section birth rate has increased to 31.1% for 2006, an historic high, according to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Lamaze International is alarmed by this rate, which should be no higher than 15 percent, and encourages women to seek care providers and birth settings with low cesarean surgery rates in order to improve health outcomes for themselves and their babies.

Research indicates that where and with whom a woman gives birth are two of the most important factors affecting her likelihood of having cesarean surgery. Regardless of her health status and risk factors, a woman who chooses a provider or birth setting with a low cesarean rate is less likely to have a cesarean. Research also has shown that providers and facilities can lower their cesarean section rates without compromising health outcomes.

Expectant parents should interview care providers and carefully select one based on criteria that will optimize the chance of a safe and satisfying outcome, including the frequency with which that provider uses interventions that carry risks.

November 19, 2007

Maternal and neonatal individual risks and benefits associated with caesarean delivery

Researchers with the World Health Organization published a huge study this week in the British Medical Journal finding that women are twice as likely to suffer serious complications or death if they give birth by cesarean section, even if it is planned prior to labor, and they are five times more likely to have a postpartum infection. Babies, too, are more likely to die or to be so sick that they require a week-long stay in intensive care if they are not born vaginally.

 

The study of nearly 100,000 births excluded women or infants with underlying health complications or distress during labor so that the outcomes are associated with the method of delivery alone. Researchers found that for women undergoing cesareans, “compared with vaginal deliveries, the risk was three to five times higher for maternal death, four times higher for hysterectomy, and twice as high for being admitted to intensive care and hospital stay more than seven days.” Researchers found that infant death shortly following birth was also more likely among cesarean babies, except those who were breech* (presenting bottom-first rather than head-first).

 

November 10, 2007

 

The trouble with a "due date"

 

One of the biggest obstacles to natural birth is misunderstanding your "due date." A due date does not mean there is only one safe day for your baby to be born. It is meant to establish a range of time that your baby is mature and safe to be born. Because modern obstetrics narrows this to a specific day, unnecessary interventions, like inducing labor, come into practice.

In a well-nourished, low risk pregnancy it is normal for your baby to be born between 37 and 42 weeks gestation*. Many natural events take place within your body during the last weeks of pregnancy to prepare you for labor. Allow time for the natural process to occur.

November 5, 2007

AICR report recommends breastfeeding to prevent cancer

American Institute of Cancer Research has just released the new study on diet and cancer and includes specific recommendations to breastfeed...and be breastfed. The evidence on cancer as well as other diseases shows that sustained, exclusive breastfeeding is protective for the mother as well as the child. This is the first major report concerned with the prevention of cancer to make a recommendation specifically on breastfeeding, to prevent breast cancer in mothers and to prevent overweight and obesity in children. Read Chapters 6 and 8 of the 500 page report for more information.

October 23, 2007

Survey Seeks Women Who Have Ever Been Pregnant

The cesarean rate is skyrocketing. And rather than predicting that the tide is turning, some experts believe that in less than 10 years more than half of the births in the US will be surgical births. When you consider the potential ramifications on the health of babies and mothers from this possibility, it is very frightening. The good news is that there is something very simple that can be done to help change directions—prevention of the first cesarean.

As a childbirth educator, doula, mother and author, Robin Elise Weiss, LCCE, is pouring her heart into finishing a book about cesarean prevention. Her intention is not to create a book of useless facts, but to provide a true guide for mothers in navigating the system of maternity care that so often leads them astray.

What Weiss needs are personal stories to help put a human face on the cesarean epidemic. To that end, she has created a survey for ANYONE who has been pregnant—you do not need to have had a cesarean to respond. You can find the survey at: http://www.birthactivist.com/node/154   

For more info on Robin Elise Weiss, LCCE, see:
http://birthactivist.com
http://robineliseweiss.com

This was found on Mothering Magazine's Activism Alert webpage.
 

October 20, 2007

pushedbirth.com

Pushedbirth.com is the sister site for Pushed, the book, and was created to provide women with uncensored, unsweetened information about U.S. childbirth care. Author and journalist Jennifer Block spent years researching why so many labors are begun by induction, why so many births end in cesarean section, and how modern maternity care is impacting women and their families. This site provides key findings — a quick read for a better birth.