Semetics of Birth

Semantics of Birth

 

Brittany Sharpe McCollum, CCE(BWI), CD(DONA)

Language has incredible potential to build community, strengthen concepts and definitions, and create empowerment. With these great strengths comes the conflicting  potential to to segregate, disempower, and induce fear. Just recently in a class I facilitated, an expectant dad brought up the hypocrisy of the term “natural birth.” As a class, we chuckled and briefly discussed what reality would be like if birth was the norm and interventions were not. People would be coming to class, heading to hospital labor rooms, preparing for birthing, actually interested in “birth” and looking to avoid “intervention birth.”

The way we discuss contractions as pain and tension, versus discussing waves as sensation and release are building a framework for how one approaches these challenges of labor. When asked what labor feels like, legendary midwife Ina May Gaskin states “Contractions are intense sensations that require all of your focus.” Pain brings on feelings of tension, the term contraction builds a tightness in the pit of the belly. When we open the mind to new terminology, we approach a new space of understanding, perspective, and, ultimately, ability.

When I practice visualization techniques with my clients, one of  my main goals is to help them recognize the control they have over their bodily response - the great impact the mind has to positively affect bodily function. We dive into green pastures, softly cresting and ebbing waves, and the rustle of leaves surrounding us but not before, first, thinking intently upon our favorite treat. Imagine warm, slightly fudgy, chocolate cake, layered with whipped dark chocolate frosting that careens down the side and forms soft peaks overtop. The smell of cacao that wafts up when the fork sets slowly through the pillow of cake and draws it upwards to the mouth. The sensation of chocolate and fudge blanketing tastebuds. The final tongue swipe that pulls the last bit of icing from the lips.  You may already have watering of the mouth which  is a bodily response showing how powerful language can be.

As a society, as a culture, if we are able to reorganize the language norms surrounding labor, we gain the ability to approach birth fearlessly, with empowerment, relaxation, and excitement.  Yes, birth is challenging,  and yes, birth can be uncomfortable.  Birth is not all roses, but discomfort is manageable. Tightness is temporary. And the ebb and flow is exhilarating.

Let’s say for a moment that larger society phrased things differently - midwives catch babies, women give birth, couples are clients. The empowerment, sensation, and potential that comes from the change in perspective that language can offer is astounding. When we discuss our births with our children and our friends and in our birthing circles, let’s talk about waves, and sensations, and challenges. Let’s leave behind contractions, pain, and tension. In doing so, we can further encourage women to embrace their births and their bodies, rise up to take back the fluidity of labor, and settling in to enjoy birth as an extraordinary rite of passage.

Keeping a Heathly Skepticism with Medical Procedures in Birth

Keeping a Healthy Skepticism with Medical Procedures in Birth

I have been involved with childbirth for many years now.  When I had my children, a cesarean was still an emergency and I didn’t hear much about induction of labor.  Even epidurals were rather uncommon.  I remember having an x-ray taken to see that my daughter was in a single footling breech presentation

Today this has changed. Cesareans have become more commonplace and are no longer always considered emergencies and inductions and epidurals are performed so frequently that women associate them as a way to give birth. And the risks of x-ray are well known and thus not used  in birth today, having been replaced by ultrasound. Ultrasound produces an image on the screen by moving sound through a liquid medium.  Sound is vibration and vibration has heat.  We don’t know the effects of these bursts of heat on the fetus.

As a physical therapist, I worked many years in the public schools with special needs children. I was also teaching BirthWorks childbirth preparation classes.  In both areas of work, in the early 1990s I began hearing about more inductions being performed.  At the same time, I also began hearing more about a rising incidence of autism and was treating more of these children in the schools as many had low tone and delayed gross motor skills.  I wondered if there was any relation between induction and autism.

If you go to Dr. Michel Odent’s primal health database (visit www.birthworks.org) and click on primal health research, a number of studies can be found exploring possible connections between obstetrical drugs and medical procedures in birth and autism. One such example is the study from Japan titled “Autistic and developmental disorders after general anaesthetic delivery.” (Hatton R et al. Lancet 1991;337:1357-1358) The abstract of this study states that:

Children born in a certain hospital in Japan were more at risk of becoming autistic.  In this hospital, children were usually delivered by the “KitasatoUniversity method” which is characterized by a complex combination of sedatives, anaesthetic agents and analgesics together with a planned delivery induced by oxytocin or prostaglandins a week before the expected date of delivery.

Then just this past September, CNN announced concerns that induction and augmentation in labor may be associated with an increased risk of autism. They were careful to say that this is not cause and effect but only concern.  Here is what they said:

Pregnant women whose labors are induced or augmented may have an increased risk of bearing children with autism, especially if the baby is male, according to a large, retrospective analysis by researchers at Duke medicine and the University of Michigan.  The findings, published in JAMA Pediatrics on August 12, 2013, do not prove cause and effect, but suggest the need for more research, particularly as labor induction and augmentation have been used more frequently in recent years.  Expediting deliveries has benefitted women with health conditions that pose a risk to them and their unborn children.

In this study, the researchers looked at records of all births in North Carolina over an eight-year period and matched 625,042 births with corresponding public school records, which indicated whether children were diagnosed with autism.  Approximately 1.3 percent of male children and 0.4 percent of female children had autism diagnoses.  In both male and female children, the percentage of mothers who had induced or augmented labor was higher among children with autism compared with those who did not have autism. 

The findings suggest that among male children, labor that was both induced and augmented was associated with a 35 percent higher risk of autism, compared with labor that received neither treatment.

I maintain a healthy skepticism towards the use of obstetrical drugs and medical procedures used in birth today.  There are certainly good reasons for their use in very specific instances when the mother and baby are truly at risk, however their routine use needs to be decreased.  We simply know too little about the human body, especially a fetus, to completely understand how obstetrical drugs and medical procedures may affect the delicate physiology that composes the human body. We must remember that birth is sacred and a baby is a miracle and not interfere with a process thousands of years old, unless absolutely necessary.  

Childbirthing Class coming soon!!!

BirthWorks International is bringing a Childbirth Educator Workshop to Garnerville, NY!!!!

Dates: March 28, 29, 30, 2014

BirthWorks has been educating women and offering childbirth classes for over two decades and doula certifications and services for over one decade.  We place a high value on empowering women through the process of birth helping them to experience transformation into motherhood. 

Call 1-888-TO-BIRTH to sign up!

Autobiography

Debbie Reiners

It was 1979.  I was in my last semester of college browsing the bookstore.  The book Immaculate Deception by Suzanne Arms caught my attention and I was changed forever.  I was naturally aligned with the ideas in this book and I knew I was to walk in the childbirth field, a field of ancient arts, women, midwives, human rights, activism, and timeless wisdom.

The world of nature, magic, truth, and justice was my realm.  In childhood, animals, rocks, and bugs were always important; I sought them and collected many.  As I grew I yearned to hear the voices of the downtrodden, victims of social injustice, the weak, the sick, the voiceless. 

After college I had seasonal work with Colorado Outward Bound.  I led a high school group to Mexico, sailed Belize for three months, was a Colorado horse ranch hand, assistant manager of a natural foods store, an apprentice with midwives in Missouri, and potato sorter on The Farm in Tennessee.  I was a barista in Santa Fe, and lone caretaker of a mining claim at an altitude of 9,000 ft, 12 miles from the road, off the grid for four months.  During these adventuresome years I sought out midwives and progressive families everywhere I went.  I read voraciously and studied hard.  I was invited along the way to “coach” or assist at homebirths. 

While helping at a birth above Aspen, the midwife left for a bit during a long labor.  I was the only one present with any knowledge, albeit small, and Mom looked at me and said, “This baby is coming.”  Her eyes shone and she had a luminous quality about her.  I remained calm and managed the roomful of people, trying to exude Peace and Love, and find calm in my racing brain and heart.  The baby arrived.  I placed her on Mother’s belly.  The placenta came and the bleeding began.  I had only book knowledge of the physiology of birth, and calmly, but with authority, asked the Mother’s friend to suckle on her breast to help the uterus contract.  Baby was resting.  The bleeding stopped.  The room was joyous.  The birth angel watched over us.  I was 21.

It has always been inherent in me, to respect nature, and to know that the design of childbirth is perfect.  I married Tom, had four homebirths, and during that time taught my own and a midwife’s childbirth classes.  My favorite classes were made up of home, hospital, and birth center couples/singles.  I shared risks and benefits of each location and good conversations ensued.  Sometimes they changed their birth place.  I have always had respect for mothers choosing what is right for them.  Where do they feel safest giving birth?  No one size fits all.  There are too many complexities at work: emotions, fear, trauma, grief, a  couple’s relationship, self-trust, and misinformation, to just name a few.  I cannot ever purport to know what is best for anyone else.  I do know that love, peace, and respect help support this grand design.  I led La Leche League meetings for three years.

I volunteered as a Doula at a Milwaukee hospital for several months.  I spent 12 hours thought each Saturday night, in scrubs, attending nurses’ shift change meetings, and assisted where needed.  I witnessed loving care as well as cruel and abusive care.  I witnessed outstanding care at the hands of physicians as well as much harm.  Observing the hierarchy of the nursing staff, residents, and attending physicians, helped me understand my M.D. husband better.  It also illustrated why teaching hospitals sometimes have the worst childbirth outcome statistics.

In the 90’s I attended a new direct entry midwifery school in Madison, Wisconsin that had an innovative 80% experiential learning model.  I apprenticed locally in Wisconsin and I attended births of all risk levels at Victoria Jubilee Hospital in Jamaica with Shari Daniel.  In Madison I assisted with the next class of midwifery students.  The head of the school asked me to partner in her homebirth practice which I did for a year and then had my own practice for two years.  I taught classes for my own clients.  After 20 years and nearly 300 births, I walked away from my calling.

In 2012 our grandson was born at home.  My daughter-in-law, an airline pilot, had a precipitous delivery with substantial blood loss.  She then developed a vaginal hematoma requiring weeks of bed rest.  She had excellent, skilled clinical care.  I stayed with them for weeks and balanced many roles: in-law, mother, grandmother, postpartum doula, and former midwife.  While I have forgotten many facts, I was overjoyed to discover a luminous glow of instinct and knowledge living inside of me.  With this renewed inspiration I choose to teach again.

I believe that Birthworks’ experiential, interactive approach to teaching, addresses the complex needs of adult learners.  I appreciate the Professional Standards of Practice and am aligned with the Statement of Beliefs.  I love the academic and emotional content of the curriculum.  I was an average educator, although student evaluations were great.  I want to be an excellent teacher and I believe that with BirthWorks, I can fulfill this goal.

 

Debbie Reiners

TEACH

EMPOWERING

CHILDBIRTH CLASSES

BIRTHWORKS INTERNATIONAL IS BRINGING

A CHILDBIRTH EDUCATOR WORKSHOP

TO YOUR AREA…

MARCH 28, 29, 30, 2014

GARNERVILLE, NY

BirthWorks has been educating women about birth and offering childbirth

classes for over two decades and doula certification and services for over one

decade. We place a high value on empowering women through the process of

birth helping them to experience transformation into motherhood.

KEY TOPICS INCLUDE

• Holistic healthcare - Importance of nutrition, exercise, birth

plans, postpartum, breastfeeding

• Writing a birth plan and choosing a birth team

• Comfort measures for the laboring woman and her partner

• Pelvic bodywork and effective positions in labor

• Physiology of birth

• Minimizing neocortical stimulation

• Integration of the mind body and spirit when giving birth and

parenting

• Practicing human values to build confidence when giving birth

• Risks and benefits of medical procedures

• Vaginal birth after cesarean and cesarean decision making

• Grieving and Healing

• The importance of positive thinking and re-framing techniques

TO JOIN GO TO: WWW.BIRTHWORKS.ORG

Click on WORKSHOPS

EMAIL: INFO@BIRTHWORKS.ORG

CALL: 1-888-TO-BIRTH (862-4784)

“If someone had reminded me

that my body already knows how

to give birth, I would have felt

more confidence during labor.”

“The workshop was truly

transformational and

challenged many ideas and

thoughts that I previously had

about birth. It has helped me

develop more faith and

confidence in birth and in

women’s bodies to birth as

well as in myself to serve

childbearing women and their

families.”

Fear In Labor

by Cathy Daub, BWI President

A few weeks ago when I was seeking donations for the silent auction at our recent Celebrating Birth event, I walked into a store. The woman at the counter was about seven months pregnant with her first baby. We started talking about her plans for giving birth. As I was leaving, I mentioned, “Just remember to keep moving in labor as much as you can.” She looked back at me with tears and a quivering voice saying, “I’m so afraid of labor.” I was only in her store for about eight minutes.

I remember that my due date for my first child fell on the date of the Boston snow storm in 1978 that shut down the entire city of Boston for three days. No traffic could move on the roads so if I went into labor, I wouldn’t be able to travel. I would have to walk a number of blocks to a hospital nearby and enter as a walk-in. To further complicate matters, my daughter was breech. In spite of all of this, I don’t remember being afraid of labor. I had confidence that I could handle whatever happened. My body ended up being wise by going into labor three weeks later.

What has changed since then? Back then, a cesarean was still considered an emergency procedure. The epidural and induction rates were much lower but the rates of episiotomy were much higher. Today episiotomy rates are much lower and epidural and induction rates are much higher. Of greater concern, however, is a changing societal belief that a cesarean is safer, easier, and more convenient than a vaginal birth. Some women opt for cesareans to avoid possible damage to their pelvic floor musculature.

Birth has become an industry that is governed more by economic, financial, and legal incentives, rather than true medical reasons. For example, what would be the reason for administering an epidural to a woman fully dilated and with the baby’s head crowning? I was with a woman in labor walking the hallways of the hospital with her. Not many women are walking the halls in labor. But then as the contractions began to become stronger, she requested an epidural and the nurses weren’t surprised – in fact they were expecting it. With many hospitals today having 90% epidural rates, the medical team may have seen few if any women laboring and birthing normally without medical procedures or obstetric drugs.

In BirthWorks we empower women by reminding them that they were born with the knowledge about how to give birth and that birth is instinctive. What is instinctive doesn’t need to be learned. Rather, we help them to have more trust and faith in their body knowledge that already knows how to give birth. This is a unique approach and one that decreases fear and increases confidence. If you want to help empower women in birth, become a part of the solution by joining our childbirth educator and/or doula programs. Become a respected childbirth educator and/or doula in your community and help pregnant women become more confident about their ability to give birth.

I have recently been hired to teach childbirth preparation classes at our local hospital where there are about 5,000 births a year. Their rates of cesareans, epidurals, and inductions are very high. They currently have two childbirth preparation classes, one that is two hours in length and the other that is four hours in length. I am bringing in an eight week (16 hour) course. It is in the proposal stages now and will take some months but when I begin, I’ll let you know how it goes.

What is Primal Health?

By Mali Schwartz

Michel Odent, pioneer of Primal Health

In thinking about how birth has been viewed throughout the ages, it wasn’t that long ago that childbirth was considered a mystery – one that engendered both fear and joy. The process of how an embryo developed in the uterus or how the actual birth could impact the development of the baby was not known but guessed at. Slowly the feeling of awe that the birth process was held in was peeled away layer by layer as modern technology and scientific research paved the way toward a clearer understanding of this process.

Today the mystery of birth has been uncovered. In our country it is common to have the doctor schedule an ultrasound where prospective parents can find out the gender of their baby, although some elect not to find out and to be surprised at the actual birth. While finding out the sex of your child is one of the outcomes of modern technology, wouldn’t you like to have access to even more essential information regarding the future health of your baby?

The subject of primal health has been the focus of birth activist Michel Odent who sits on the advisory board of BirthWorks International. The definition of primal health is that our health is to a great extent shaped at the very beginning of our life. Odent’s primal health research can be accessed by going to the Primal Health Databank.

A series of event helped Odent pursue his interest in primal health when in the early 1980’s he was asked to speak in Oxford by McCarrison Society for Nutrition and Health. Odent shared the message that a new kind of research was needed to test the hypothesis that our health is to a large extent shaped at the very beginning of our life. When Odent met Niko Tinbergen, a pioneer and Nobel Prize Winner in the field of ethology who had explored the risks of autism in relation to how a child was born, it encouraged Odent to write a book entitled “Primal Health” the first edition of which was published in 1986.

The advent of advances in computer sciences helped to facilitate a new generation of research. Odent’s objective was to compile all studies in the medical and scientific literature that belong to the framework of primal health research. Odent explains that while there have been other studies conducted in this area, “one of the main differences is that our key word is “health” instead of “disease”. My first preoccupation has been to understand the genesis of a good health.”

In 1998 Odent created www.wombecology.com, a website that has as its objective “to convince anyone that prenatal ecology is the most vital aspect of human ecology, and that the period inside the womb is the life period with the highest adaptability and vulnerability to environmental factors.” Scientists are currently questioning the critical time periods for genes-environment interaction. A new concept called ‘gene expression’ has helped to clarify why some of our genes express themselves, while others become silenced.

This new avenue for scientific research has created a new function for the Primal Health Research Database. The database has become a unique tool to provide clues regarding how the critical time period of conception and fetal development in the womb relates to the state of health, pathological conditions, and personality traits of an individual into adulthood. Primal health research can even impact the naming and classification of diseases which before was mostly based on descriptions of symptoms, on altered functions or on altered organs.

Primal health is an avenue of research whose time has come. I invite you to read up on this important topic to find out about the connection between womb ecology, various birth methods, hormones such as oxytocin and what influence these variables can have on a baby’s health throughout its life span.