Here are some of the stories I found interesting on the Web this past week. The focus of the articles are on Birth and health related stories that completely impact Natural Family Living.
Induced Labor Tied to Fatal Birth Risk
“Drug-induced labor increases the risk for a very rare — but often fatal — delivery complication known as amniotic-fluid embolism, a new study confirms.
Researchers in Canada concluded that labor induction doubles a woman’s risk for developing the complication, which is a leading cause of delivery-related maternal death.
About one in five births in the U.S. involves medical induction, and the researchers believe the practice may be responsible for as many as 40 cases of amniotic-fluid embolism and 15 deaths each year in this country”
The article went on to say that most inductions were medically necessary, but that is totally bogus. Most inductions are done because “my doctor is going out of town” type of reasoning, or the fear of the baby getting “too big”.
Types of labor induction, including the off label use of Cytotec also cause some serious problems in the mother and the baby. Nurses refer to Cytotec as “Cytoblast” because of the effect it has on the labor.
Mother’s Stress May Slow Baby’s Growth in Womb
“Cortisol – the hormone released by the adrenal gland in times of stress – appears to be the responsible factor, Dr. Miguel A. Diego of the University of Miami School of Medicine and colleagues conclude in their report in medical journal Psychosomatic Medicine.”
Then WHY do doctors give stressed out mothers Anti-Depressants which can DOUBLE the level of cortisol in the blood with ONE DOSE of the drug?
Mothers need plenty of restful sleep, good healthy food, and gentle exercise to build a healthy, full term baby of adequate size.
FDA Won’t Ban Mercury in Vaccines
“Since 2001, all vaccines given to children 6 and younger have been either thimerosal-free or contained only trace amounts of the preservative. Thimerosal has been phased out of some, but not all, adult vaccines as well.
Most doses of the flu vaccine still contain thimerosal, though manufacturers produce versions free of the preservative for use in children. The FDA said it was in discussions with those manufacturers to increase the supply of thimerosal-free flu vaccine.”
Not True – not one dose of vaccine was pulled after it was determined that mercury was causing problems in children being vaccinated. All of the vaccine “on the shelf” was used up and children continued to get high doses of mercury from the vaccines for the past several years.
Survey Examines How Americans Handle Flu
“But as the survey probed more consequences of containment measures, people began to realize what hardships could await them.
Millions of people live with no other adult who could care for them if they fall ill, Blendon noted. Communities need to plan how to provide emergency in-home help, perhaps through properly trained charity groups.
Then there were practical survival issues. More than 40 percent of those surveyed said they would run out of diapers, baby formula or medications if they had to stay home for even a week.”
I personally believe that with a massive flu outbreak the law of the jungle would kick in pretty quick and it would be every family for themselves. Check out this Flu Article I wrote a couple years ago for ideas about how to deal with a pandemic without any outside help.
And some more positive health news and information:
Ecstatic birth – nature’s hormonal blueprint for labor
“Giving birth in ecstasy: This is our birthright and our body’s intent. Mother Nature, in her wisdom, prescribes birthing hormones that take us outside (ec) our usual state (stasis), so that we can be transformed on every level as we enter motherhood.
This exquisite hormonal orchestration unfolds optimally when birth is undisturbed, enhancing safety for both mother and baby. Science is also increasingly discovering what we realise as mothers – that our way of birth affects us life-long, both mother and baby, and that an ecstatic birth — a birth that takes us beyond our self — is the gift of a life-time.”
The basic philosophy of La Leche League is summarized in the following statements:
“Mothering through breastfeeding is the most natural and effective way of understanding and satisfying the needs of the baby.
Mother and baby need to be together early and often to establish a satisfying relationship and an adequate milk supply.
In the early years the baby has an intense need to be with his mother which is as basic as his need for food.
Breast milk is the superior infant food.
For the healthy, full-term baby, breast milk is the only food necessary until the baby shows signs of needing solids, about the middle of the first year after birth.
Ideally the breastfeeding relationship will continue until the baby outgrows the need.
Alert and active participation by the mother in childbirth is a help in getting breastfeeding off to a good start.
Breastfeeding is enhanced and the nursing couple sustained by the loving support, help, and companionship of the baby’s father. A father’s unique relationship with his baby is an important element in the child’s development from early infancy.
Good nutrition means eating a well-balanced and varied diet of foods in as close to their natural state as possible.
From infancy on, children need loving guidance which reflects acceptance of their capabilities and sensitivity to their feelings.”
Autonomous Pregnancy and Birth
“Who is responsible for you having a healthy baby?
Many people would say, “My doctor is responsible for seeing that I have a healthy pregnancy and a safe birth.”
Most people do not see how absolutely IMPOSSIBLE this is. No one can take responsibility for your healthy but YOU.
“But I don’t know anything about pregnancy or birth. It’s just easier to let the doctor handle everything, since he has been trained to take care of me.”
WRONG again. Your doctor has NOT been trained to take care of healthy women. He has been trained to take care of sick people. Your pregnancy is not a disease or a sickness. Your doctor will treat your pregnancy as if it is a disease to be managed. But you have hit the nail on the head when you say that it’s EASIER to let the doctor handle everything.”
WHY? Twelve Continuous Weeks of Bradley® Classes
“Twelve weeks, 3 months, the last trimester of pregnancy. The standard series of classes for a Bradley® class is 12 continuous weeks for many reasons. First of all it works. Our statistical analysis shows that students who attend a full 12 week class series are more likely to have an unmedicated birth. In looking at renewal information we have found that the fewer the weeks of classes the higher the rate of medication.
There are many reasons for this and perhaps the first is that there is a difference between learning information and preparing the body physically for an athletic event. No one would go out for an Olympic event with less than 3 months of training. Shortening the time of preparation for birth is like being in a rush to prepare pasta for a dinner party and cooking it for only half the time. Pasta takes time to cook and the human body takes time to prepare for birth.”
Orgasmic Childbirth (Warning – this post contains pregnancy nudity)
Dr. Bradley was the first to introduce the idea of orgasmic childbirth into my mind. Reading his book Husband Coached Childbirth was my first introduction to the idea that childbirth should and could be filled with hormonal ecstasy.
As I read the parenting literature during my years of childbirth training and teaching, I was surprised to read mothers compare typical hospital drug and surgery birth to the most horrific rape, and gentle holistic birth to the most wonderful, loving sexuality between married couples.
It is for this reason that I decided to throw all of my birthing education efforts into teaching parents about unassisted childbirth. Only in the privacy of ones own home could the fullfillment and hormonal ecstasy of sexual birth come to fruition.
I wonder what would shift in our society if instead of mothers turning to their husbands after birth and blaming them for the pain, agony, and suffering of bringing a child into the world if instead they were to lovingly say to their eternal companion, “honey, birthing your child just gave me the greatest sexual fulfillment of my life!”
Some may ask how I as a mormon could openly talk about sexuality as it relates to childbirth. I acknowledge that the risk of talking about sexual childbirth opens me up for all sorts of crazy scrutiny and shaming by those prudes in our society who may be uncomfortable with the realities of the whole spectrum of female hormonal facts.
Yet, when I see the couples in my community who have experienced birth rape, and watch the ripple out into society that comes from mothers being tortured and brutalized in ways that are a thousand times worse than the most violent gang rape, I just want to yell from the housetops…..
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO EXPERIENCE THAT SORT OF ABUSE!!!
So, yes, it emboldens me, and it makes me want to write and share and link and educate my sisters with the facts, rather than see the constant display in our society of what is becoming the norm in childbirth.
I watched that Discovery Health Birth show yesterday. All those premies, twins, and c-section babes just being pulled from their mommas wombs, with the drugs, mom on her back while giving birth, the gushes of blood, cutting, and drugging. It just sickened me.
Then, late last night I was watching the O’Reilly factor on Fox and Bill is spewing about the increasing violence of our young people, watching violent movies, being drawn to carnage and blood, and darkness, and I thought….”wonder how long it is going to be before Bill and those like him connect the dots in their own minds.”
When babies are born under the knife, and the early imprint of their lives is hazy drugging, being poked with needles, cut up during surgery (either mother or babe), and intense bright lights, with all sorts of interventions and procedures the “norm”….well, why should we be surprised that those children who have been so born are drawn to the darkness in our culture?
How dark does it have to get before we realize that we are killing the future with the drugs and surgery?
Jenny Hatch
