Maternal Death rates at 30 year high

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DYING_FROM_CHILDBIRTH?SITE=OHCOL&SECTION=HEALTH&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-08-25-07-20-10

There is a lot in the news lately it seems about childbirth in the USA. Maybe with all of the new documentary's coming out, it is actually shedding light on the topic. It is up to the people to make a change. It is time to start putting humanity back into our culture and take a bit of the greedy money makers out. What do you think?

C-Section article on Cnn

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/08/23/ep.csection/index.html

Now my question is what is the US Government doing to work so hard to make this better? What are they doing???? First of all insurance companies should start refusing to pay for elective cesareans. It IS safer to VBAC than to have a repeat c section. Stop inducing unless MEDICALLY necessary. Big baby is a crock for a reason to induce.....did you know that ultrasounds can be off 2lbs either way on weight? Since when did women become inable to birth babies 30% percent of the time???? We all need to be writing to our senators, congress, Alvin Jackson with the Department of Health for Ohio(director), US Dept. of Health, and started demanding better birth options. Arg......

It has been awhile!

Sorry I haven't written in awhile! I have had a few births over the summer, but with the kids home, and vacations, and everything else, it has just been busy! I have recently attended my last birth as a doula, maybe forever. In June I began my apprenticeship to be a midwife. I am currently apprenticing Kathy MItchell from Heath/Newark. She is one of a few independent midwives in the area..sad really, which is why I studying to become a midwife as well! One of my biggest reasons for taking a slight career change is that I am just saddened by our birth climate in Central Ohio. Hardworking people end up paying hundreds of dollars out of pocket to hire a doula, who can help them labor at home as long as possible and try to advocate for their clients as much as possible in the hospital...and really it is quite difficult. Since when did women giving birth to babies naturally and trusting their bodies become so difficult? Why do women have to be on such a time table? The way birth is treated around here is really almost barbaric. Some docs believe that in the not so distant future, most women will be having c sections. So now I am on my path to Midwifery. I am really very excited to serve our community. So wish me luck and I'll be posting about my experiences! Thanks for reading! ps, if you would like to know more about homebirth, please feel free to join our yahoo group at http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/blessedbybirth/.