Archives for Childbirth
The Length of Second Stage of Labor Is Not Related to the Incidence of Anal Sphincter Injury
Anal sphincter disruption (sometimes referred to as a fourth-degree laceration or laceration from the vagina through the circular muscle that surrounds the anus) is a birth injury that can have…
How Long After First Birth Do Women Wait to Have Sex Again?
A 2013 study from Australia, reported in the online edition of the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, looked at the timing of resumption of vaginal intercourse after first birth…
Do Bigger Babies Do Better in School? and By the Way, Are We Getting Too Much Healthcare?
There is an interesting and thought-provoking article by David Leonhardt and Amanda Cox in The New York Times Sunday Review (October 12, 2014). The article describes research done on a…
Newborn Mortality Higher with Midwives at Home than with Midwives in the Hospital
In an article published online in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology (March 24, 2014), the authors examined newborn mortality in relation to birth settings and birth attendants in…
Honoring Doulas
The Praeclarus Press has written an accolade to doulas for the wonderful work they do to keep birth normal and to assist and advocate for mothers before, during, and…
How Long Is Too Long?
Is Time Running Out? Maybe Not So Fast A new study from the University of California, San Francisco, reported in the New York Times by Catherine St Louis (Feb 5,…
Misoprostol – Saving Mothers’ Lives with a Simple Intervention
Rangkhani, a village in Baglung District, Nepal I am writing this from Nepal, where I have spent 4-8 weeks every spring for the past four years working with One Heart…
Why Are Some Innovative Ideas in Maternity Care Embraced While Others Are Ignored?
In a New Yorker article (July 2013) titled Slow Ideas, the surgeon and journalist Atul Gawande asks why some innovative ideas in medicine are adopted so quickly, while others are…
What is the Definition of a “Term Pregnancy?”
For years, obstetric opinion (shared by nurse-midwives) has been that "term" pregnancy refers to one at from 37 to 42 weeks completed gestation, starting with the date of the last…
Having Your Baby at Home, or Thinking about It?
Thanks to Susan Moray, CPM, LDEM Home birth is increasing in popularity in the United States, although it still accounts for a small percentage of births overall - less than…