Archives for Childbirth - Page 2
Birth Centers are Safe, Satisfying, and Cost-effective
Aurora Birth Center, Oregon; Thanks to Susie Corcoran, CNM, MS According to a study conducted by the American Association of Birth Centers and published in the Journal of Midwifery and…
Home Birth in the Netherlands: The System and Its Safety
The Netherlands has a system of pregnancy and birth care that is unique in the Western world. The majority of Dutch midwives work independently from obstetricians, are the sole care…
Why Is Labor Longer? and How Long is “Normal” Labor, Anyway?
Reported in an article by KJ Dell'Antonia in the New York Times on April 2, 2012, "births during the last decade take longer than they did in the early 1960s;”…
Pain Relief During Labor and Birth
As an expectant mother approaching your due date, a concern that looms large in your mind is the pain that you expect to experience during labor. Will you be able to cope? (more…)
Do It Yourself Labor Induction!
In an original study, researchers in Malaysia found that women who reported having sexual intercourse during the last month of pregnancy were more likely to go into labor before 41 weeks gestation…
Doulas
As many midwives have found, a doula can be an invaluable resource to a laboring woman and to a new mother. A doula is a professionally-trained supportive companion for a…
Cesarean on Demand – What Do Obstetricians Think?
In 2007, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists published an important and interesting study asking practicing obstetricians about their knowledge, beliefs, and practices regarding the risks and benefits of…
Cord Clamping – Please Wait!
There are suggestions that the practice of early cord clamping may have far-reaching detrimental effects on the infant, such as autism, infant anemia, childhood mental disorders and hypoxic ischemic brain…
“Natural” Cesarean?
This is fascinating - although an oxymoron (natural cesarean?), it immediately and instinctively appealed to me as a midwife. (Photo is of a cesarean in rural Nepal) In recent years,…
Home birth rate increases in US from 1990-2009
A 2012study from the US CDC National Center for Health Statistics found that home birth is on the rise in the US. (more…)