NUCHAL CORDSEmilyjj75I have been disturbed at the number of women I am seeing recently who are being told that the reason for their c-section was the cord wrapped around the baby's neck, and that if it wasn't for the c-section, their baby would have died! Even more upsetting are the women who have suffered the tragedy of a stillborn baby, and have been told the reason the baby died was from a cord around the neck.THIS IS NOT TRUE.First you must understand the anatomy of a fetus, as opposed to an adult. We breathe through our necks, and so the appearance of "strangulation" alarms us....

Pushing Positions by Connie Banack, CLD Current obstetrical practices during second stage were developed with the attendant, rather than the birthing mother, in mind. The lithotomy position, with a mother flat on her back and her feet in stirrups, was once the standard position in hospitals for women to give birth and in some hospitals it still is. This was believed to be the ideal position for doctors to deliver the baby while sitting or standing in attendance. The doctor had easy access to watch, to help with delivery if needed, and to intervene when he or she felt it ...

Hey Ladies, For any of you that care or that may miss me ;) I've been MIA due soley to the fact that I am way too wrapped up in this election to even THINK about anything else lately. Hopefully I'll be back to my "natural birth advocating" self once this is all over LOL! Miss you all Love-J

A Healthy Baby Isn’t All That MattersBy Christy Fiscer (Birthkeeper) Midwifery Today Issue 87There are so many details of my cesarean that I have either left unwritten, or have written in fragments in various locations. A reply back to an online thread regarding the “safety” of a cesarean; or to a mom who is being told that her baby will be too big and she needs to have her baby surgically removed. But you see, my story doesn’t just end when we brought our son home from the hospital on Palm Sunday in 2004. My journey began when I found out I was pregnant in 2003, and it...

"I think it's absolutely criminal to give mercury to an infant." - Boyd Haley, Ph.D., Chemistry Department Chair, University of Kentucky "The committee accepts that under certain conditions, infections and heavy metals, including thimerosal [mercury preservative in vaccines], can injure the nervous system." - Dr. Marie McCormick, Chairperson and co-author of the 2004 Institute of Medicine Report often cited by journalists that mercury in vaccines is somehow "safe".•PutChildrenFirst commissioned a survey by Zogby International of more than 9,000...

 Written by Wendy46121I think it does...What basically got me into writing it was being told that "we are the ones too stupid to know what happens when you have a baby" and I thought to myself "Oh, we KNOW what happens, we know whats SUPPOSED to happen, and when we get to that hospital something 100% completely DIFFERENT happens."Once the baby is ready to come out, the babies lungs secrete a chemical called surfactant, this tells moms body that baby is ready to be born into the world.  At this point other chemicals start being made by both mom and baby, which...

Douglas H. Kirkpatrick, MDThe American College of Obstetricians and GynecologistsPO Box 96920Washington, DC  20090-2188 Dear Sir: I am a practicing OB/ GYN in southern California and Fellow of ACOG and recently was informed by midwife colleagues of your recommendation and encouragement for the AMA to lobby Congress for a law banning out of hospital birth. Funny that I had to hear of this decision from outside sources and was never approached by my college to see how I or my local colleagues felt about it. I have grave concerns regarding my organization taking such a stand. I...

Don't you want a doctor?...This essay was written by Marcela Valle and was posted to ICAN online 5/19/07. It was written after she'd had a coversation in which she explained why she was choosing a midwife for her second birth.It is reprinted here with her permissionDon't you want a doctor?...It is a question I have been asked, "Don't you want someone who can handle *anything*?" When I heard this question, so many feelings boiled inside me so fast that my answer constituted: "No, because I don't want someone waiting for the slightest opportunity to cut me...

Article taken from:http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2374970.ece How to have a sensual, drug-free birth Forget epidurals. Midwives say they can train women to have births that are not only drug-free, but pleasurable - and even orgasmic. Anastasia Stephens reports Published: 20 March 2007 For Katrina Caslake, giving birth was not the terrifying, painful ordeal most women experience. Far from it. The midwife, from Wallington, south London, says she...

 I thought this was an absolutely beautiful article and wanted to share it with all that wish to read it. Only for the desire of its beauty to touch another. Not with the intent to start a debate. If you disagree please move on. If you love it as much as I did feel free to comment and please pass it on.   Not Among Strangers by Valerie El Halta, CPM© 2003 Midwifery Today, Inc. All rights reserved.[Editor's note: This article first appeared in Midwifery Today Issue 50, Summer 1999.]How important is the impact of the birth environment upon achieving an optimal outcome...