Birth is NOT a medical situation

It never was. It never should have been made into a medical event. The events surrounding birth certainly can be enhanced by the benefits of medical science, but normal pregnancies do not require medical intervention. It has been shown more than adequately that birth is actually hindered by medical interventions.

This is clearly not accepted by the AMA. In yet another step of "doctor knows best" Big Brother behaviour, the AMA has recently released it's intention to introduce legislation outlawing homebirth, criminalizing the mothers who have their babies at home.

Grandma? Great Grandma? You're crooks, hear me? What were you thinking???

Here is the text from the Big Push for Midwives Campaign:

CONTACT: Steff Hedenkamp, (816) 506-4630, RedQuill@kc.rr.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, June 16, 2008
Father Knows Best Meets Big Brother Is Watching
Physician Group Seeks to Outlaw Home Birth—Is Jail for Moms Next?
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 16, 2008)—Just in time for Father’s Day, at its annual meeting last
weekend, the American Medical Association (AMA) adopted a resolution to introduce legislation
outlawing home birth, and potentially making criminals of the mothers who choose home birth with the
help of Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) for their families.
“It’s unclear what penalties the AMA will seek to impose on women who choose to give birth at home, either for religious, cultural or financial reasons—or just because they didn’t make it to the hospital in time,” said Susan Jenkins, Legal Counsel for The Big Push for Midwives 2008 campaign. “What we do know, however, is that any state that enacts such a law will immediately find itself in court, since a law dictating where a woman must give birth would be a clear violation of fundamental rights to privacy and other freedoms currently protected by the U.S. Constitution.”

Until the AMA proposed ‘Resolution 205 on Home Deliveries,’ no state had considered legislation
forcing women to deliver their babies in the hospital or limiting the choice of birth setting. Instead, states have regulated the types of midwives that may legally provide care. Currently, 22 states already license and regulate CPMs, who specialize in out-of-hospital maternity care and have received extensive training to qualify as experts in the types of risk assessment and preventive care necessary for safe and high quality care for women who choose give birth at home. Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs), who are trained primarily as hospital-based providers, are licensed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The resolution did not offer any science-based information for the AMA’s anti-midwife or anti-home birth position. “Maternity care is a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States,” said Steff Hedenkamp, Communications Coordinator for The Big Push for Midwives. “So it’s no surprise to see the AMA join the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in its ongoing fight to corner the market and ensure that the only midwives able to practice legally are hospital-based midwives forced to practice under physician control. I will say, though, that I’m shocked to learn that the AMA is taking this turf battle to the next level by setting the stage for outlawing home birth itself—a direct attack on those families who choose home birth, who could be subject to criminal prosecution if the AMA has its way.”

The Big Push for Midwives (http://www.TheBigPushforMidwives.org) is a nationally coordinated campaign organized to advocate for regulation and licensure of Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and to push back against the attempts of the American Medical Association to deny American families access to safe and legal midwifery care. Media inquiries should be directed to Steff Hedenkamp (816) 506-4630, RedQuill@kc.rr.com.

The AMA website itself does not display this latest resolution, but they do proudly post their amicus briefs in the court battle against midwifes in MO last year. It's legal to practice midwifery there now, so they lost that fight. Now, I suppose, it's time for another tactic.

I don't believe this will pass. It's a publicity stunt in response to all the good press homebirth has been receiving, namely via Ricki Lake. What annoys me most in this is that, akin to homeschooling, where most teachers you speak to privately think homeschooling is perfectly appropriate and efficacious, most doctors I have personally spoken to think homebirth is fine. The professionals in those fields have their ideas and have concerns I may not share, but they acknowledge on the whole that within certain parameters, life at home is just....life at home. It's safe. It's when you get the advocacy groups, the lobbyists together, that we have a problem. The associations perceive any stray sheep as an assault on their supremacy, an attack their bottom line. The groupthink at their conventions drives us all into an us vs them mentality that is just unnecessary. See http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/18587.html for the horse's mouth; they even released yesterday that they were simply copying the ACOG resolution from last year. Groupthink!

Last I checked, I stand sovereign as an American Citizen. Patriot Act bedamned, I am not willing to sacrifice my rights, and the rights of my children, to groups of employees. Your paychecks will not be guaranteed by constraining our freedoms. We the people will not stand for it.

Cross Stitch

This is a phrase my Grandma says often and it still warms my heart, especially now that I have children and really understand it.

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait for tomorrow,
For babies grow up, I've learned, to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust, go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep.
(Ruth Hulburt Hamilton)

The reasons we do...

Everyone thinks her child is beautiful. Everyone.
I realize this, and here I am about to wallow in it.

My baby just turned three. He is very likely my last child, despite the last few months' surcease of my "I am so done!" ranting. With his physical demands on my body easing, with his behaviour turning from maniacal toddler to a child of my recognizable tribe, my heart has tempered its resolution to never bear another child. This is not to say I ever will. But at least now I wouldn't cry. A lot.

~I digress.~

I was looking for pictures of the very, very fine sweater and came across many of D-baby as a baby. Before the maniacal toddler-- the child we called "Perfect." This particular set always makes me smile because I remember it so clearly. As the third child in a pretty close family, D-baby never belonged wholly to me like the other two did. I never was able to spend a lot of non-nursing, non-diapering time with him, just he and I. I had other children to attend, and he had siblings who doted on him. The older children, as small as they were, really did participate in caring for this little guy. Who knows what his worldview is, having that intense belonging? I can't even begin to imagine.

Anyway, on this one day when he was about 15 months old, he and I got to take a walk together. That's it. It wasn't all that long, and we only went around the neighborhood, but on this day he and I were able to go together, alone, and I brought my camera. He's such an infant in these pictures, clearly still "toddling," and the vibrant colors of the Spring here just accentuate how tiny and young he really is. I love them.

I love him.



And then, I had to release him back to the family.

More Babyness....

We have a new niece!

Brynn Noell was born on the first day of Hanukkah.


This is number three for Mom and Dad, our very dear friends. Dad said to P-daddy "OK, the ball's in your court now, and I hope you guys stop the game!" He also mentioned a trip to TN, for the 2-for-1 vasectomy deal. This is the kind of weirdness you can expect when you have that many children between you!

I had a very clear dream last night

In which I delivered an unassisted footling breech on the back porch in a windstorm.

It was another precip labor, where I had only realized that "this is IT" minutes before. Frustrated that dh wasn't listening to me about it (proof of a dream state-- dh is all over any labor alarm and would never behave that way), and doubting myself too much to call the midwife, I went outside to take a breather. As the wind whipped up, I moved from the yard up to the first step on the porch, cold in a sleeveless shift. I had a nasty contraction, one of those that comes from your thighs, through your back and straight into electrifying your cervix. That's when I felt the baby in the birth canal; out popped one foot, then another.

In the dream, I remember my rapidly cycling emotions, moving from panic to resolve to fear to determination. I remembered reading (during planning my UC-that-didn't-happen with ~N~) about how to deliver in a footling breech situation on Laura Shanley's site, and I tried to adopt the proper posture. I couldn't decide whether to continue climbing the stairs to get some help from my husband, and noticed the neighbor's gigantic bull mastiff crossing from their yard into ours. Smelling the birth situation, he was coming to investigate, and I didn't want him anywhere near me or the helpless, dangling child.

I remember thinking even if she didn't suffocate, she had to be FREEZING, hanging there in the cold wind. By the time the dog got to me, she was free. I reached over to smack him away, and that effort jerked me enough to push her out the rest of the way.

I scooped her up, tucked her into my bodice and rushed through the house (which was not my real house on the interior, but my Grandmother's) to my bedroom, placenta still inside. I clawed my way under the covers and kangarood the baby, layering both of us with too many blankets. She was looking at me with a quizzical "what? what just happened?" expression when my dh came into the room for the shock of his life.


What

the heck

was that about????????

Farm Day Again

And my produce is still in the van. At least the van is in the garage, and it is not so different a temperature from the barn. I can get it in the morning. Another sunny day, after a stretch of grey.

I have lots I could write about, but I am pretty engaged in actually living it all instead of reflecting on it enough to have something germane to say. Even my pictures of late have been boring. Or maybe we're just so busy that I don't focus on them just now. I miss lunch on Wednesdays.

All I want to do is write about the kids' accomplishments and the days we spend with our friends. This week I got to intentionally see three different friends three days in a row. When I was in Toddler Land (the lifestyle ruled by playdates with other Moms with toddlers and babies, no dayplanner required), that was a pretty standard happenstance. In Taxi-Land (Reeciebird has congratulated me on graduating to the time-honored status of Mom-Taxi), time with my friends is much more precious. It has been worth it in the trade-off, though. I am watching my kids bloom yet again, and that's a sparkle I like.

Babies. Maybe I can write about babies. I wrote "sparkle," envisioned G's face, and saw her glowing. Not because she got her third black stripe in karate, or passed her swim test or finally conquered her fear of The Big Red Slide, but because she was holding a baby again. This family desperately misses babies. We love them so. I am really happy where we are in our own family, but I told that Baby's Momma that it was a curious feeling. Before I had the desire to stop procreating, I assumed that once I was done having babies, I wouldn't like babies anymore. That's so not the case. I love them just as much; love rocking, diapering, dressing, singing to them etc. They're just as precious, just as wonderful as they ever were in my eyes. How amazing to me, then, that all the cuteness of my baby and others doesn't set my ovaries to fluttering anymore!

Adventures in weaning

“OK,” I said cautiously, “you can come sit on my coffeetime lap if you want to cuddle,” weighing the word cuddle meaningfully.

“OK,” D-baby said sweetly, nodding with eyes as big as he could make them. Up on the lap, up into my arms. For a brief moment I was able to enjoy the little legs and arms, the soft tufts of toddler hair. Then the wiggling and the arching began. Ah the true Machiavellians, the toddlers.

“Noooo D-baby,” I admonished, “we only nursey once a day, not right now!”

“YEEEEEEESSSS! NUUURSSSSSEYYYYYYY!” the stutter-temper-cry started, tensing me instantly.

“D-baby, D-baby,” I said calmly, straightening him up, “You’ll be THREE soon, and three year olds don’t nurse!” I silently prayed for forgiveness as I left off “in my house.”

“I a BABY!” he retorted. Choosing not to respond to that, I said “WHAT are we going to do for your BIRTHDAY party? You’ll be THREE soon!”

Blink blink.

“Do you want a pool party? A pizza party?”

“Noooooooooooooooooooo,” he grinned.

“Do you want a party together with Nomi?”

“NOOO! It’s MY ONE! Nomi can’t have my party!” he shouted indignantly.

“Well,” I asked again, “What kind of party do you want?”

He grinned mischievously…. “A NURSEY party! A BOOBY party! At the ComPOOTER party!”

AGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Too much to sensibly update.

Especially since it hurts to sit at the computer right now. Lots good, some bad. It's life, you know?

My friends and I officially decided to pretend we're a homeschool group since, as Niki points out, we already are. But we're really an exclusive group. Totally selective. You must have three children, live in the Puget sound area and have an ongoing struggle with food allergies. So far there are four of us families, all of whom have tongues firmly planted in cheek.

3/4 of us attempted IKEA earlier this week. We're nuts, I guess.

My back is on the mend after deciding to go on strike. I went speed-hiking in the woods with Birk clogs but no socks. I expected to only venture a little ways in, but Neighborgirl hijacked one of mine and two of Mack's boys on our Wednesday lunchfest and took them to the &^@ beach cliff. SO out of her boundaries, SO out of my boundaries, and completely on the down low from her mother. I was livid when I finally found them-- coming down the path from the cliff and past the turnoff for home. She was leading them on to the gulley in another far off section of the woods. I don't usually yell at other people's children but I did that day. Our boys were in the back picking berries-- Pickles didn't even have on shoes or a shirt-- when she said she'd take them to "see a waterfall." I am growing more than weary of Neighborgirl issues.

Can't go to Renny fair today because while I have range of motion 70% back, I won't risk that kind of event with a toddler and G-girl. P-Daddy has N off fishing with buddies from work, so I am happy to see that happen. We did however, go to the GH Farmer's Market for a trial run of my back. I made it through, but just, and the kids got their faces painted. Very cute. the artist was an artist, so the pictures on the little guys were very good. D-baby didn't move at ALL while he was being painted.

One of G's crabs died, for no explainable reason, and she was heartbroken. She doesn't want a replacement crab because these crabs were from Santa, and the ones from the store are just too mean.

Plucked another zucchini from our bush in the dry garden, and a spaghetti squash from the big garden. The acorn squash are coming along nicely and apparently I forgot to plant cucumbers.

I am excited to try to win Jubilant Tulip over to the world of stove top espresso makers. I am making a latte now as a matter of fact.

And most importantly of course:

Flipping the switch

I talked to my Danny today. The second she answered the phone, I could hear it in her voice; I knew.

"You sound like .... you!" I exclaimed

Not one to beat around the bush, she replied "Yes, yes I do!!!!"

"When did it happen?" I asked.

"Sometime last week...it's like someone flipped a switch."

It is so good to hear her coming out of her postpartum haze. Talking with Danny and listening to her newborn ew-glahing in the background, I felt my heart swell with joy and love. It's so strong, and even those of us dedicated to embracing that hibernation for it's best natural intentions (babymoon!!!!) still get overwhelmed by the sheer power of it. It makes us think funny things, feel odd emotions that are so out of sync with our perceived realities. It makes us say things that make no sense and make choices we won't understand later. I remember it in my life and I see it in the friends around me. I can't be there to bring her cookies or make crude jokes that make her laugh in spite of herself, so it was wonderful to hear her come full circle.

I have felt that switch flip, and I am glad it happened for Danny. I see it in others and I have to admit my heart aches, waiting for that switch to flip in another I hold so dear.

Newborns

heavy little
soft hot sandbags

schnurfling
cooing

using their voices

looking for nipple

listening for love

Babies and Rainwater

From MamaMidwifeMadness' blog:

I'm so impressed with mamas who homebirth their first babies. they make me wish that I had enough knowledge and sense to find a midwife and do the same almost 5 years ago instead of stepping into the shitstorm which was my first pregnancy and birth with OB's and hospitals.

Best question today was from a primip (expecting her first baby) who is figuring out how to have a waterbirth when she has no mains water supply and depends on small rain water tanks...

"Is it safe to wash babies in rain water?"

If that doesn't put a smile on your face, nothing will.

What a beautiful life you have to be living to even ask that question. Marvelous!

And I agree so much with the sentiment of first-time homebirths. I truly wonder sometimes how much different our lives would be had we just had the babies at home, especially with Nick, when we did know better. I am so proud of Danny. So proud.

Heaven's Awake, Again!

or

my family grew by one this morning

or

now I know why I couldn't get to sleep last night at all-- I stayed awake until Danelle went to sleep, cuddling with her newborn baby girl.

Mom, Dad and baby are doing well. Carmen Marie was born at home, 2.48 am May 28th. She weighed 9 pounds 10 ounces and was 21 inches long.

This morning, my family got to listen to their family. It's so wonderful, hearing those baby coos. Congratulations, my new inductees into the world of blissful baby parenting. We love you so much!

I am here

Just back from a delicious, busy week. We went camping and had a fabulous time. The kids are just as into it as we have ever been, and ~N~ is a fishing addict. Wow. While we were gone, Tamera had her baby, and when we got back I helped host a mother blessing for yet another Momma.

While I worked really hard before we left to make sure the house was clean when we got back, today you'd have a hard time telling that. Now, at the 5 o'clock hour I am back to no dirty clothes and no dirty dishes, but oh dear the kids have strewn all over. I don't care. It's been a lovely day; their laughter was worth it and hey, Stargate Atlantis was on all day.

I never watch that much TV but it helped me get through the laundry! :)

Baby #1 is out!

Congratulations to our niece LaLa. Mazel Tov!

LaLa HAD HER BABY BOY AT 1:30 A.M.
MONDAY THE 14TH.
8 LB. 1 OZ AND 22 INCHES LONG.


Personally, I am thinking my great-nephew had better be one rockin' awesome toddler to compensate his Mom for laboring all day and still missing a mother's day birth by an hour and a half!

(LaLa and my dd ~G~ look just alike)

Mother's Day Indeed

We don't make a large spectacle of Mother's Day here, largely because my own matriarchs are far away, my kids are too small to DO the big stuff and I would never want to participate in the take-Mom-out for overcrowded, over-priced brunch and give her an over processed, over-priced bouquet. I love flowers as much as anyone, but as Nikay noted in her rant on the subject, I personally don't "love watching flowers slowly wither and die in a vase on the kitchen counter." While I don't share her consternation for the day, I do prefer the celebration it brings in our house: little faces glowing with the anticipation of doing something for Mommy on "Happy Muvver's Day!" I love the hand-drawn cards and tightly knotted bead necklaces; the clumsy cuddles and kisses, and the happiness I see when I tell them the same true story every year, that I wouldn't be a mother if it weren't for them.

Furthermore, I fully enjoy the free pass from changing poopy diapers.

I have two distinct Mother's Days that stand out for me so far: 2002 and 2006. In 2002, I woke up very early to birth a baby by 7.21 am. It's quite impossible ever to top that.

In 2006, P-Daddy colluded with the children to purchase three rose bushes. I love roses, and to have one for each child just thrilled me. He gave me a card that would look kitschy to anyone else, but was beautiful to me. So last year was nice. Traditionally I garden on mother's day, but this year we ended up just going to Rosedale gardens and tooling around there, me sporting my newest necklace, of course.


Mother's Day indeed. Today, our niece labors in a hospital in Michigan with her waters broken. Another friend has pink-tinged CM. I don't really hear from another friend due this month, so I don't know how she's doing, but my Danny in Charleston, due tomorrow, is showing no signs of impending labor.

I wished her a Happy Mother's Day anyway.

Nursing fashions

Click the link above to see more. I love these paintings.

Mother Rising

We had a mother blessing yesterday for Snaygirl. I'd never been to one before, much less planned it. It was beautiful. It was a perfect collection of mothers, too, to bolster her before her new journey begins. We read this to her:

Within you the tree of life

within us

springs the very

seed and substance

of life itself

within us

lives the mighty

faith and power

to heal ourselves

within us

the heart of true love opens

breathes and nurtures

the soul of the world

within you

flows the luminous

essence and presence

of divine wisdom

within you

your awakening spirit

illumines the holy path

of personal transformation

within you

the tree of life blossoms

creates and gives birth

to radiant living miracles

-Shiloh Sophia McCloud

There is such a power in intention. Given the love and care that went into the preparation for this, both from the planners and the participants, I had expected things to go well for Snaygirl, no matter what actually transpired during the blessing. What I did not expect was a blessing for me as well. I was able for the first time ever to cook for and plan an event for a personal situation. I have worked with others professionally, but never with another friend as a friend for a friend. I have made beautiful tables before, even worked brought in another chef to do so, and then had to walk away, satisfied with the work but idly wondering what the participants would say and do. I was joyfully.....blessed....to enter a new phase in my own life where, yes, I can work well with others. This was done in a circle of filial love and trust and respect. It was awesome.

It's April

It is officially April.

Next month, five people I know will be giving birth.

Next month, two of them will experience their entire perceptions of life, law, gravity and the universe change.

Mother Blessing

something I painted for a friend....

Homestyle Defenders

A cool op/ed piece from up there. I had to include this!

Matt Ramsey, The Province
Published: Sunday, February 18, 2007

Some things -- like stripping naked, making breakfast and sipping coffee in the buff -- are better done at home.

Comfort and privacy, not to mention nonstop nude coffee action, are the primary reasons Euphemia and I are opting for a home birth assisted by midwives.

Now, if it's your desire to have a hospital birth, with or without midwives, then power to you. Whatever floats your boat on the amniotic sea is your business.

Unfortunately, domestic delivery for anything more than a pizza is often viewed with a skepticism bordering on reproach, which is why I find myself in a position potentially as hazardous as buck-naked bacon making -- Homestyle Defender.

Home birth is dirty, we are told, dangerous for mother and baby, you'll have to sterilize the house, boil the cats in bleach, etc., and even then you're taking a huge risk. It hurts too much to do it without drugs. Plus you'll annoy the neighbours. You're a crazy hippie, global warming is a myth and your mother dresses you funny.

Here is what a year-long study comparing outcomes between home and hospital births among B.C. women who were able to choose between the two found in 1999: nothing.

Fewer interventions during labour for home birthers, fewer maternal infections, fewer episiotomies and no significant differences in perinatal mortality. Oh, and because women who are able to birth at home typically stay there, homestyling is cheaper for the system, too.

The study concludes: "There was no increased maternal or neonatal risk associated with planned home birth under the care of a regulated midwife."

Studies in New Zealand, the U.K., U.S., Switzerland and the Netherlands have made similar conclusions -- home birth with qualified caregivers is as safe as birthing in a hospital. Just last week, another study showed women who choose caesarean section without medical justification face a five-fold risk of postpartum cardiac arrest over natural births and the wound infection rate was five times higher. The old-fashioned way, vaginal delivery, is actually safer than a C-section.

That may be surprising, but so are many accepted elements of birth we just assume are correct.

For example, lying down with feet up is the worst position imaginable for a labouring woman, like standing on your head and attempting a bowel movement. The beetle-on-the-back position grew popular only after Queen Victoria decided in the late 1800s that chloroform was precisely her cup of tea. Vicky huffed and puffed on the stuff while birthing so was naturally unable to stand up. The upper classes must have assumed she was on to something good, adopted the recumbent pose as fashionable and the rest is history.

Victoria also married her first cousin and claimed she smoked cigarettes to keep the flies away, but who doesn't?

Pregnancy is not an illness and we are not going to treat it as such. If we need to go to hospital to safeguard mother or baby's health then we will go and do whatever is needed. In the meantime, the coffee is on and the curtains are drawn at home -- where women gave birth long before there were hospitals.

mramsey@png.canwest.com

Matt "Homey" Ramsey, whose wife Euphemia is due March 20, writes regularly about The Grub's impending birth in Unwind.