RGV Mother & Baby Coalition
Join a new and important network...
The RGV Mother & Baby Coalition
We are a network committed to improving access to options for women and families in the RGV. Become a member and be a part of spreading the word to every Valley mother and family about the valuable resources and support they have right here in South Texas. Join with us in promoting and protecting maternal and child health, prenatal care, "normal birth," childbirth education, doula services, breastfeeding, nutrition, parent and child bonding, recreation, and much more.
OUR MISSION:
To empower, support, and advocate for families in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. We aim to provide women and their families the tools to help them make informed decisions about pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and the postpartum experience. To provide woman and their families compassionate support throughout the childbearing, birthing, and parenting experience. To help woman build confidence and trust in themselves, their body, and birth. To help them embrace pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and the postpartum time. To help promote, support, and protect normal childbirth and breastfeeding.
Everyone in the community is welcomed to join and be a part of this wonderful local mother & baby support network. You don't have to be a mom or have a baby! We need support from people all over the community! Your participation can be as involved as you would like, and will be much appreciated.
At the moment the group will be started online, but will eventually become an active coalition. We will be having meetings and a newsletter starting in 2009!
Please consider joining today and pass on this information to others.
To join, click here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rgvmotherbabycoalition/
This Yahoo group allows subscribers to post messages and discuss mother & baby issues and provides a sense of community among citizens who support Valley families.
Thank you!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Take back birth
Trying to Take Back Childbirth
Growing Number of Women Want Birth to Be a Natural Process, Not a Medical One
By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
July 28, 2008 —http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ReproductiveHealth/Story?id=5462833&page=4
Pregnant with her first child, Julie Speier prepared to deliver with the help of a midwife at a New York City birthing center. But in June -- three weeks before the due date and 600 miles from home -- her water broke.
Speier gave birth at a Cincinnati hospital, where she and her fiancé tried desperately to keep the birth natural -- a vaginal delivery without pain medication.
"I believe in the power of nature and that creation is next to perfect," said Speier, a 34-year-old yoga teacher. "I knew what I wanted and I had the confidence."
But as labor pains increased and Speier asked about breathing techniques, the doctor replied, "How do I know? I've only ever done two [natural childbirths]."
Today, natural childbirth is a medical anomaly in the United States, so much so that doctors are often thrown off guard by a determined woman like Speier.
A small but growing number of women who seek to avoid aggressive medical techniques like induced labor, epidural blocks and Caesarean sections find they are a lone voice among their friends and doctors.
"All of my friends think I am a little nuts," Speier said. "They say why would you do it natural?"
Speier said her own mother told her traumatic stories of her brother's breech birth. "Everyone I know has an 'I can top you' gory birthing story."
Pre-planned Caesareans are also in vogue. Women want to avoid future complications of multiple vaginal births, like uterine or bladder collapse. And today's body-conscious women worry needlessly about loss of muscle-tone.
'Too Posh to Push'
With the latest feminine plastic surgery rage -- so-called "pimping the vadge" -- some women prefer what the British call the "Posh push," referring to the planned Caesarean births of soccer celebrity David and Victoria Beckham's three boys.
Like the generation that pioneered the first wave of feminism in the 1970s, women like Speier want to take an active role in their health care. They view childbirth a normal, healthy process that requires time, patience, strength and endurance.
But in the decades since, new technologies, the rising cost of malpractice insurance and even the changing attitudes of women have all contributed to the near-demise of natural childbirth.
"It's a little tsunami," said Dr. Ben Sachs, chief of obstetrics at Tulane University in Louisiana. "All these forces are coming together at the same time."
Both doctors and midwives have been hit hard with the high cost of liability insurance. All agree they must take on more patients to keep their practices lucrative, giving them less time to wait out a long labor.
Doctors more frequently induce labor, using synthetic hormones like pitocin to strengthen and quicken labor, an intervention that was once used only as a "last resort."
But induction also heightens the pain of labor and can precipitate the use an epidural -- an injection in the lower back that blocks the pain of contractions while the woman is awake. And some say that, in turn, can delay the pushing mechanism and even trigger the need for a Caesarean.
Induction rates rose 5 percent in 2005 to 22.3 percent of all births -- double the rate since 1990, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Caesarean deliveries have also jumped -- to more than 30 percent of all births, a 46 percent rise in the last decade and a 4 percent increase over the 2004 record.
Hospital Costs Spiraling
So, too, have hospital costs spiraled, and doctors say the first cuts are in obstetrical care. Hospitals in many parts of the country can now be sued for malpractice, further eroding support for what is perceived as the economic risk of natural childbirth.
"Childbirth doesn't get the attention and respect it should," Sachs told ABCNews.com.
But he said it isn't only doctors driving the medicalization of pregnancy, but women themselves.
Many women are having their babies older, necessitating more Caesarean sections for high-risk pregnancies. Younger women who fear the pain or the cosmetic consequences of a vaginal birth pre-plan a Caesarean with their doctor's blessing.
"The question is, has it done harm to women or the experience of childbirth?" Sachs asked. "Positive things are coming out of this. There is a concentration on patient safety and reducing medical errors."
But a national survey by Childbirth Connection found just one incidence in 1,600 of a planned c-section, for no underlying medical reason. The non-profit also said the rate of Caesareans is going up in all groups of birthing women.
"The American healthcare system is increasingly dependent upon medical interventions to address what is, most often, a normal and safe physiological process," said Rebecca Benghiat, executive director of the New Space for Women's Health in New York City, where the Caesarean rate has just hit 31 percent of all births.
"Quite often, women are not fully informed of the risks associated with commonly performed obstetrical interventions, nor do they know there are options beyond hospital birth," she said.
But, childbirth advocates say that for women with uncomplicated and low-risk pregnancies, a natural birth can be safe.
"This is a big mess and no one is sure how we got there," said Erica Lyon, director of the education center RealBirth in New York City and author of the "The Big Book of Birth."
"We had a wonderful movement in the 1970s when women wanted to take control of their bodies," she told ABCNews.com "When we got to the eighties, we assumed it was fixed. But it wasn't."
Today, about 95 percent of all births occur in hospitals, 3 percent in birthing centers and only 1 percent at home, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. About 6 percent of all births are attended by midwives, but those numbers are dropping as their liability insurance rises.
Natural childbirth experts say they have seen a modest increase in interest in natural childbirth following a recent film by actress Ricki Lake, who gave birth at home with the help of a midwife.
Lyon charges that hospitals have "no standards of practice," bowing to the demands of overburdened doctors and women who don't understand the benefits of natural childbirth -- quicker recovery time, better baby bonding and more successful breastfeeding.
"It's good technology, but we do it over-aggressively," she said. "What we tend to do is treat it as an absolute rather than with a tiny bit of healthy skepticism."
But natural "means different things to different people," according to Dr. Lauren Streicher, an obstetrician gynecologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, who said current medical practices are safe and what women want.
'Go Ahead and Medicalize It'
"Most women say go ahead and medicalize it," she told ABCNews.com. "Low-intervention birth is on the decline because people are no longer interested. They say, 'I want an epidural and a C-section is fine for me.'"
Streicher opted for "zero pain" in her own pregnancy and planned to get an epidural even before her first contraction. But when her water broke weeks early, her anesthesiologist was on a ski holiday and her obstetrician was having a hysterectomy.
"I didn't panic," she said. "I had three or four very painful contractions, but after that it was a very lovely, easy labor and I pushed her [daughter] out."
She also agrees with women who say "there's no shame in doing a C-section."
But Dr. Louis Weinstein, chair of the obstetrics and gynecology department at Thomas Jefferson University, points out that although the mortality rate is "very low," a Caesarean is 6 to 20 times more dangerous than a vaginal delivery.
Though he will agree to an elective Caesaean, he makes sure the woman is informed and understands all the risks.
Weinstein also warned of the misuse of induction hormones, which he says studies show are the second most common source of medical errors.
Still, he said the use of epidurals, which carries its own risks, is safe when properly administered. "With all due respect, labor is uncomfortable and the reason someone coined it is you are working your rear end off," he told ABCNews.com. "Labor is very, very uncomfortable."
"I believe in choice, but this is a women's issue," Weinstein said. "We get more nasty letters that we didn't have time to put in the epidural."
But midwives say women are not encouraged by their doctors to explore alternatives such as birthing centers, where low-risk women can give deliver naturally, balancing technology with a home-like environment. There, no pain medication in administered, but women receive the support of a trained midwife and an assistant, who work with doctors to ensure safety. A warm and intimate environment -- and sometimes hot tubs and whirlpools -- provide a soothing atmosphere to experience the birth naturally.
"Most women don't know about their choices," said Asya Portnaya, 29, and a certified midwife from the Brooklyn Birthing Center in New York. "They are only aware of a hospital birth and just go as the doctor tells them to."
Midwives Show Lower Caesarean Rate
According to the Public Citizen Health Research Group, certified nurse-midwives have a Cesarean section rate of 11.6 percent compared with a national average of 23.3 percent.
"In a hospital, you get lost in the system, even as a midwife," she said. "If you take a child birth class in the hospital, they don't talk about natural birth as much. They talk about the epidural and the whole system supports an unnatural birth. You can't fight that."
Meanwhile, Julie Speier fought hard to see that the Cincinnati hospital team respected her wishes for a natural childbirth.
When the doctor seemed unable to guide the process, Speier's fiancé called a midwife friend and relayed her instructions to the doctor.
"At one point, the baby's head came out and the doctor pulled, but I said, 'Don't pull the baby, wait!'," she said. "Every doctor and nurse we spoke to knew it was important for me to have a natural childbirth. It was hard for them, but they stood back."
Despite the initial drama, Aine Joy, now 7 weeks old, was born healthy. Now ensconced in the joys of parenthood, Speier said she feels more empowered after going through the birth naturally.
"I have more faith in my body than in medical systems," she said. "This is what a woman's body is meant to do."
Cloe Shasha contributed to research in this report.
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
Growing Number of Women Want Birth to Be a Natural Process, Not a Medical One
By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
July 28, 2008 —http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ReproductiveHealth/Story?id=5462833&page=4
Pregnant with her first child, Julie Speier prepared to deliver with the help of a midwife at a New York City birthing center. But in June -- three weeks before the due date and 600 miles from home -- her water broke.
Speier gave birth at a Cincinnati hospital, where she and her fiancé tried desperately to keep the birth natural -- a vaginal delivery without pain medication.
"I believe in the power of nature and that creation is next to perfect," said Speier, a 34-year-old yoga teacher. "I knew what I wanted and I had the confidence."
But as labor pains increased and Speier asked about breathing techniques, the doctor replied, "How do I know? I've only ever done two [natural childbirths]."
Today, natural childbirth is a medical anomaly in the United States, so much so that doctors are often thrown off guard by a determined woman like Speier.
A small but growing number of women who seek to avoid aggressive medical techniques like induced labor, epidural blocks and Caesarean sections find they are a lone voice among their friends and doctors.
"All of my friends think I am a little nuts," Speier said. "They say why would you do it natural?"
Speier said her own mother told her traumatic stories of her brother's breech birth. "Everyone I know has an 'I can top you' gory birthing story."
Pre-planned Caesareans are also in vogue. Women want to avoid future complications of multiple vaginal births, like uterine or bladder collapse. And today's body-conscious women worry needlessly about loss of muscle-tone.
'Too Posh to Push'
With the latest feminine plastic surgery rage -- so-called "pimping the vadge" -- some women prefer what the British call the "Posh push," referring to the planned Caesarean births of soccer celebrity David and Victoria Beckham's three boys.
Like the generation that pioneered the first wave of feminism in the 1970s, women like Speier want to take an active role in their health care. They view childbirth a normal, healthy process that requires time, patience, strength and endurance.
But in the decades since, new technologies, the rising cost of malpractice insurance and even the changing attitudes of women have all contributed to the near-demise of natural childbirth.
"It's a little tsunami," said Dr. Ben Sachs, chief of obstetrics at Tulane University in Louisiana. "All these forces are coming together at the same time."
Both doctors and midwives have been hit hard with the high cost of liability insurance. All agree they must take on more patients to keep their practices lucrative, giving them less time to wait out a long labor.
Doctors more frequently induce labor, using synthetic hormones like pitocin to strengthen and quicken labor, an intervention that was once used only as a "last resort."
But induction also heightens the pain of labor and can precipitate the use an epidural -- an injection in the lower back that blocks the pain of contractions while the woman is awake. And some say that, in turn, can delay the pushing mechanism and even trigger the need for a Caesarean.
Induction rates rose 5 percent in 2005 to 22.3 percent of all births -- double the rate since 1990, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Caesarean deliveries have also jumped -- to more than 30 percent of all births, a 46 percent rise in the last decade and a 4 percent increase over the 2004 record.
Hospital Costs Spiraling
So, too, have hospital costs spiraled, and doctors say the first cuts are in obstetrical care. Hospitals in many parts of the country can now be sued for malpractice, further eroding support for what is perceived as the economic risk of natural childbirth.
"Childbirth doesn't get the attention and respect it should," Sachs told ABCNews.com.
But he said it isn't only doctors driving the medicalization of pregnancy, but women themselves.
Many women are having their babies older, necessitating more Caesarean sections for high-risk pregnancies. Younger women who fear the pain or the cosmetic consequences of a vaginal birth pre-plan a Caesarean with their doctor's blessing.
"The question is, has it done harm to women or the experience of childbirth?" Sachs asked. "Positive things are coming out of this. There is a concentration on patient safety and reducing medical errors."
But a national survey by Childbirth Connection found just one incidence in 1,600 of a planned c-section, for no underlying medical reason. The non-profit also said the rate of Caesareans is going up in all groups of birthing women.
"The American healthcare system is increasingly dependent upon medical interventions to address what is, most often, a normal and safe physiological process," said Rebecca Benghiat, executive director of the New Space for Women's Health in New York City, where the Caesarean rate has just hit 31 percent of all births.
"Quite often, women are not fully informed of the risks associated with commonly performed obstetrical interventions, nor do they know there are options beyond hospital birth," she said.
But, childbirth advocates say that for women with uncomplicated and low-risk pregnancies, a natural birth can be safe.
"This is a big mess and no one is sure how we got there," said Erica Lyon, director of the education center RealBirth in New York City and author of the "The Big Book of Birth."
"We had a wonderful movement in the 1970s when women wanted to take control of their bodies," she told ABCNews.com "When we got to the eighties, we assumed it was fixed. But it wasn't."
Today, about 95 percent of all births occur in hospitals, 3 percent in birthing centers and only 1 percent at home, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. About 6 percent of all births are attended by midwives, but those numbers are dropping as their liability insurance rises.
Natural childbirth experts say they have seen a modest increase in interest in natural childbirth following a recent film by actress Ricki Lake, who gave birth at home with the help of a midwife.
Lyon charges that hospitals have "no standards of practice," bowing to the demands of overburdened doctors and women who don't understand the benefits of natural childbirth -- quicker recovery time, better baby bonding and more successful breastfeeding.
"It's good technology, but we do it over-aggressively," she said. "What we tend to do is treat it as an absolute rather than with a tiny bit of healthy skepticism."
But natural "means different things to different people," according to Dr. Lauren Streicher, an obstetrician gynecologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, who said current medical practices are safe and what women want.
'Go Ahead and Medicalize It'
"Most women say go ahead and medicalize it," she told ABCNews.com. "Low-intervention birth is on the decline because people are no longer interested. They say, 'I want an epidural and a C-section is fine for me.'"
Streicher opted for "zero pain" in her own pregnancy and planned to get an epidural even before her first contraction. But when her water broke weeks early, her anesthesiologist was on a ski holiday and her obstetrician was having a hysterectomy.
"I didn't panic," she said. "I had three or four very painful contractions, but after that it was a very lovely, easy labor and I pushed her [daughter] out."
She also agrees with women who say "there's no shame in doing a C-section."
But Dr. Louis Weinstein, chair of the obstetrics and gynecology department at Thomas Jefferson University, points out that although the mortality rate is "very low," a Caesarean is 6 to 20 times more dangerous than a vaginal delivery.
Though he will agree to an elective Caesaean, he makes sure the woman is informed and understands all the risks.
Weinstein also warned of the misuse of induction hormones, which he says studies show are the second most common source of medical errors.
Still, he said the use of epidurals, which carries its own risks, is safe when properly administered. "With all due respect, labor is uncomfortable and the reason someone coined it is you are working your rear end off," he told ABCNews.com. "Labor is very, very uncomfortable."
"I believe in choice, but this is a women's issue," Weinstein said. "We get more nasty letters that we didn't have time to put in the epidural."
But midwives say women are not encouraged by their doctors to explore alternatives such as birthing centers, where low-risk women can give deliver naturally, balancing technology with a home-like environment. There, no pain medication in administered, but women receive the support of a trained midwife and an assistant, who work with doctors to ensure safety. A warm and intimate environment -- and sometimes hot tubs and whirlpools -- provide a soothing atmosphere to experience the birth naturally.
"Most women don't know about their choices," said Asya Portnaya, 29, and a certified midwife from the Brooklyn Birthing Center in New York. "They are only aware of a hospital birth and just go as the doctor tells them to."
Midwives Show Lower Caesarean Rate
According to the Public Citizen Health Research Group, certified nurse-midwives have a Cesarean section rate of 11.6 percent compared with a national average of 23.3 percent.
"In a hospital, you get lost in the system, even as a midwife," she said. "If you take a child birth class in the hospital, they don't talk about natural birth as much. They talk about the epidural and the whole system supports an unnatural birth. You can't fight that."
Meanwhile, Julie Speier fought hard to see that the Cincinnati hospital team respected her wishes for a natural childbirth.
When the doctor seemed unable to guide the process, Speier's fiancé called a midwife friend and relayed her instructions to the doctor.
"At one point, the baby's head came out and the doctor pulled, but I said, 'Don't pull the baby, wait!'," she said. "Every doctor and nurse we spoke to knew it was important for me to have a natural childbirth. It was hard for them, but they stood back."
Despite the initial drama, Aine Joy, now 7 weeks old, was born healthy. Now ensconced in the joys of parenthood, Speier said she feels more empowered after going through the birth naturally.
"I have more faith in my body than in medical systems," she said. "This is what a woman's body is meant to do."
Cloe Shasha contributed to research in this report.
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
Friday, April 18, 2008
Stretch Marks
This is a subject I get asked about all the time when I worl with new mothers. Here is some information.
Stretch Mark Treatment Alternatives
Stretch Mark Treatment Alternatives
By Valerie Garnier
After your child is born, stretch marks will not disappear instantaneously. They may stay for a very long time, and you won't get rid of them before at least 6 months after you have your baby.
Usually, stretch marks will disappear with time, and if you followed the advices on how you can prevent stretch marks you can actually be fine with the results of the natural fading. There are several scar solutions that will, if used faithfully in the first months after pregnancy, help your scars cure even more.
Not everyone is satisfied with natural curing as a stretch mark solution, and many women seek more effective stretch mark removal options.
Luckily there are several options available for people who are wondering how to get rid of stretch marks, although results vary as do the prices associated with them. Stretch marks imply absolutely no health risks and don't interfere with your organism's ability to work and therefore stretch mark removal is considered a cosmetic intervention. In all but strong weight loss cases, most insurance companies won't cover the cost of cosmetic interventions.
If you couldn't prevent stretch marks from forming, before going through any medical intervention, please study the risks and issues carefully. Surgeries, by their very nature, are an invasive intervention. Always visit a specialist and review their references. There have been many women who have gone to 'discount' surgeons, or travelled to other countries to have surgeries done at a cheaper cost than they could at a certified specialist, with disastrous results. There are a number of cases of misaligned belly buttons, a minor complaint compared to extensive scarring, infections, and even death that others have experienced.
Surgical Stretch Mark Removal
Stretch mark surgery (commonly known as 'plastic surgery') is the best solution to make stretch marks go away.
Abdominoplasty, commonly called 'tummy tuck', will remove skin under the belly button (which happens to be where the majority of stretch marks occur during pregnancy), and, as a result, eliminates the stretch marks completely. Plastic surgery can be performed any where there is excess skin (thighs, upper arms, etc.) As with all surgeries, a tummy tuck will leave scarring of its own, which will disappear the first year after surgery. The surgical incisions are commonly done low in the abdomen so that they can be covered by bikini bottoms or other clothing.
Most insurance companies do not cover the cost associated with a plastic surgeon making a surgery to remove a stretch mark. Prevent them from forming if you can, because the cost of the surgery depends on where you have the surgery done (some specialists and hospitals charge more than others), but a good estimate of cost would be somewhere from $4000 to $7500.
A new skin care product is now available to alleviate all kind of skin blemishes. Elaborated with natural ingredients, it ensures a scarless healing and the recovery of your old skin.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Valerie_Garnier
http://EzineArticles.com/?Stretch-Mark-Treatment-Alternatives&id=1117219
Change Your Parenting Forever
This Will Change Your Parenting Forever
By Dr. Ray Hawkins
What I am about to tell you is Life-Changing. Ground-Breaking. Earth-Shattering. If you do this one thing your parenting (and quality of life) will improve dramatically - immediately.
So what is it?
Be nice.
"What? That's the life changing idea? Just be nice? Wow thanks for that Doc."
It's simple I know and you've heard it a thousand times but it's 100% true: Just be nice to everyone as much as possible. Your children, spouse, co-workers, cashier, lawn guy and everyone else. So why am I telling you something you already know?
It's very simple: most people aren't very nice.
Some of you are, but a lot of parents (me included) are not genuinely and consistently nice enough to make a real difference. Nice must become an "all the time thing", not a "when I feel like it" thing.
By just being nice more often you become more approachable and easy to deal with for everyone around you - especially your children. This will open up the lines of communication and your relationship will improve dramatically.
Plus, nice people are more enjoyable to be around. So, instead of your children hiding from you when you get home from work they may just be waiting to hang out with you.
I know it's easier said than done and it's hard to be nice to everyone all the time. It takes work and commitment to change a behavior like this. But the benefits you will get are well worth it. So all I ask is to try being nice to your spouse and your children today. Just one day.
Then try it again tomorrow.
You won't be able to be nice all the time. It is just not humanly possible.
But take it one day at a time and eventually you just might be able to be nice to that annoying co-worker or mean neighbor too.
Dr. Ray Hawkins, a nationally recognized parenting expert, is a Licensed Professional Counselor and an AAMFT (American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy) Approved Supervisor that has been helping parents since 1982.
To learn more go to Dr. Ray On Parenting.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Ray_Hawkins
http://EzineArticles.com/?This-Will-Change-Your-Parenting-Forever&id=1111500
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