Birth and Babies

If you’ve heard the news, chances are good you’ve heard about this.  Here is a CNN video on it http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/06/20/cho.teen.pregnancy.pact.wcvbwhdh

My heart aches for these girls.  Supposedly a number of these girls made a pact to become pregnant together so they could raise their children together.  What is the real reason behind having a baby so young?  Do they not have a stable environment at home?  Do they have a low self esteem and need to feel important, or a part of something?  Not one of these girls is older than 16.  The decision to get pregnant together so they can raise their kids together shows their immaturity and their inability to see reality.  Teen pregnancy happens.  There are some amazing teen parents out there.  But more often than not, teens are not ready to become parents.  When they thought about raising their children together, did they consider how they would be able to finish school, keep a well paying job, find a good child care situation, and still have time to spend with their child?  What about the stability of family relationships - will this child know its father?  Will its father be an active part of their lives?  Are these teens on the edge with their parents, and will the baby be around constant fighting and stress?  Will these teens live with their parents, or find another housing situation to get out on their own?  If they stay at home with their parents, will they have their parents raise their child so they can go out often and have a good time, like teenagers who don’t have children are supposed to do or will they take responsibility and give up a typical teenagers life to raise a child?  Are these teens in committed relationships, and can it stand the stress of a new baby so young?  Are they expecting the experience of parenting a baby so young to be a fun, easy experience?  When they’re older, will they regret giving up the last part of their ‘childhood’ to raise a child?  There are so many questions to ask - and sure, anyone planning a baby or expecting a baby can ask themselves these questions.  But in many cases, when you’re just a bit older and planning a baby more of your life has already fallen into place.  You can focus on other things.  Teens have to question and focus on things that pertain to their age range… There are a lot more issues at play, a lot more to deal with emotionally, and a lot more challenges.

Teen pregnancy is a growing concern.  Many teens are becoming pregnant at a very young age and while I don’t hold anything against teen parents and feel many of them become awesome parents, it’s hard to hide the fact that there are also many more (more so than adults?) that shirk their responsibilities, continue to party and bring bad influences around their children, don’t have the experience or maturity to properly train and discipline, and make immature and irrational decisions based upon a fairy tale perception on life rather than reality. 

I’ve worked with some great expectant teens who WANT the best for their children.  After talking to them after they’ve had their baby, it turns out life isn’t what they expected it to be.  It’s harder.  It’s harsher.  There isn’t much anyone can tell them about life after having a baby until they’ve lived it themselves.  But they continue to learn.  They grow up real fast.  Life changes dramatically.  They miss out on a lot of their teen ‘rites of passage’ so to speak because they have a baby depending on them. But they make it work.  I love working with these teens.  They give me hope.  I hope their influence will inspire other teens who are stuck in that “I know it all” mindframe (we’ve all been there, no?) to let themselves learn and most importantly, fall in love with their baby. 

I pray that these girls are the type that want to learn, have the desire to dig in and do whatever it takes for the baby they are bringing into this world, and make sound decisions. 

In case you haven’t heard about this yet…

*For Immediate Release*

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*Insurance Companies Rejecting Women with History of Cesarean*

*Some Companies Require Surgical Sterilization for Coverage; *

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*Trend Gives New Imperative to Learn Ways to Avoid Unnecessary Cesarean*

Redondo Beach, CA, June 1, 2008

– As reported in today’s New York Times, ICAN has begun tracking an alarming new trend of insurance companies refusing to provide health insurance for women with a history of cesarean surgery. In some cases, women are being rejected for coverage outright and in other case they are being charged significantly higher rates to obtain the same coverage as women without a history of cesarean. With over a million women each year undergoing this surgery, this practice has the potential to render large numbers of women uninsurable.This trend surfaces as the rate of cesarean surgery, including unnecessary cesareans, continues to rise. In 1970, the cesarean rate was 5%. In 2007, it was 30.1%. Experts often cite the incentives within the health care system for driving up the rate of cesarean unnecessarily, including physicians’

medical malpractice fears, better reimbursement for surgery, and lifestyle conveniences for care providers and staffing efficiencies in having more “9-5″ deliveries.

“Women are caught in the middle of a dysfunctional system. Doctors are telling them they need surgery, even when they don’t, and insurance companies, who are tired of paying the bill for so many frivolous surgeries, are punishing women for the poor medical care of doctors,” said Pam Udy, President of the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN).

The trend is highlighted in the cases of women like Peggy Robertson of Colorado. When she applied for health insurance coverage with Golden Rule, her husband and her children were accepted, but her application was denied.

After multiple inquiries directed to the insurance company, she was finally told that she was denied because she had delivered one of her children by cesarean. “It was shocking. I assumed that as a woman in good health I would be readily accepted,” said Robertson. “When I finally found someone who would explain why my application was denied, they had the audacity to ask me if I had been sterilized, stating that this was the only way I could get insurance coverage with them.”

As the incidence of cesarean increases, the evidence of the downstream medical complications for women and babies, and the associated medical costs, becomes increasingly apparent. Risks of cesarean in later pregnancies include increased incidence of infertility, miscarriage, fetal deformities, overgrowth of scar tissue leading to bowel problems, and potentially deadly placental abnormalities in subsequent pregnancies.

And though most women with a prior cesarean are being encouraged and often coerced into having repeat cesareans by their doctors and hospitals that have banned vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), a pair of recent studies done by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Maternal

–Fetal Medicine Units Network demonstrates that women who deliver vaginally after a cesarean fare significantly better than women who deliver by repeat cesarean. (Obstetrics & Gynecology 2008;111:285-291, Labor Outcomes With Increasing Number of Prior Vaginal Births After Cesarean Delivery, Mercer et al, and Obstetrics & Gynecology 2006;107:1226-1232 Maternal Morbidity Associated With Multiple Repeat Cesarean Deliveries, Silver et al.)”Most women are looking to avoid cesareans. But physicians often make surgery difficult to avoid by insisting on non-evidence based practices,”

said Udy. Practices that fail to improve the outcomes for mothers and babies and increase the risk of cesarean section include inducing for going post-dates, inducing for suspected large baby, requiring fasting during labor, requiring women to be confined to bed for continuous fetal monitoring, and failing to offer continuous support to a mother in labor.

“These care practices serve the system well, but not mothers and babies” Udy added.

In fact, women and their babies may be paying a higher price than being denied health insurance. Last August, the Centers for Disease Control reported that, for the first time in decades, the number of women dying in childbirth has increased.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr55/nvsr55_19.pdf Experts note that the increase may be due to better reporting of deaths but that it coincides with dramatically increased use of cesarean. The latest national data on infant mortality rates in the United States also show an increase in 2005 and no improvement since 2000. 

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/prelimdeaths05/prelimdeaths05.htmInternationally,

the U.S. ranks 41st in maternal deaths and has the second worst newborn death rate among industrialized nations.

Women who are seeking information about how to avoid a cesarean, have a VBAC, or are recovering from a cesarean can visit

www.ican-online.org for more information. In addition to more than 90 local chapters nationwide, the group hosts an active on-line discussion group that serves as a resource for mothers.Women who want to reach their lawmakers can visit

http://www.votesmart.org/.Women who want to reach their state insurance commissioner can visit

http://www.naic.org/state_web_map.htm .*About Cesareans: **ICAN recognizes that when a cesarean is medically necessary, it can be a lifesaving technique for both mother and baby, and worth the risks involved. Potential risks to babies include: low birth weight, prematurity, respiratory problems, and lacerations. Potential risks to women include: hemorrhage, infection, hysterectomy, surgical mistakes, re-hospitalization, dangerous placental abnormalities in future pregnancies, unexplained stillbirth in future pregnancies and increased percentage of maternal death. *

http://www.ican-online.org/resources/white_papers/index.html*Mission statement: **ICAN is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve maternal-child health by preventing unnecessary cesareans through education, providing support for cesarean recovery and promoting vaginal birth after cesarean. There are 94 ICAN Chapters across North America, which hold educational and support meetings for people interested in cesarean prevention and recovery.*

Contact: Gretchen Humphries (734) 323-8220

I had abandoned my blogs over the past month due to a long move that involved unexpected injuries and hospital visits for my husband, and a lot more work than I had planned on doing being pregnant!  But, it had to get done so I did the brunt of it.

We’re in south Toledo now, having moved from our apartment to a 4 bedroom house.  Business is continuing as usual and I am now offering free breastfeeding and cloth diapering classes from my office, which is now located within my home.  Classes are available to anyone from Toledo, and anyone willing to travel here. 

I’ll be getting back to blogging here shortly!  I just wanted to post a short note here to let you know I’m not gone for good, I haven’t left the blog forever and as things start settling down I’ll be getting back into the normal swing of things.

You’re about to hear my jaw hit the floor.  Yep, there it goes.  Did you hear it?

Alright, that was a slightly delayed reaction because we’ve known for a few weeks now but I figured becauase this is a birth and baby blog, that this was the more appropriate area to announce the news.  Yes, we’re pregnant again and due in November!  We are planning another homebirth (this will be our third homebirth, my first was born in the hospital), and will not know the sex until s/he is born.  Exciting times lay ahead (and certainly many chaotic ones also).  My goal is to continue nursing through my pregnancy (have never been able to do that, but my other babies were ready to wean themselves anyway.  My youngest is only 8 months old so I want her to continue nursing).  One up side to nursing is that come labor day, nursing can be used to help labor progress - nipple stimulation in general will help labor.  My pregnancies have all been closely spaced but this is the closest spacing so far - 16 months apart.

Anyway, back to blogging the topic at hand.  Things have been pretty quiet on the blog and I want to start another series like I did back with cesareans and epidurals.  Maybe the process of birth?  Intervention helps and risks?  What’s on your mind?

We’re looking for a few good people – maybe one, maybe several – who would be interesting in helping us develop a really good parenting Web site. We have a print publication called Monroe Parent, with a companion Web site, Monroeparent.com. We’re working on improvements to the print publication and want to dramatically improve the Web site, too (if you go to it now, you’ll see that it’s mostly broken, awaiting its rebirth).There are a lot of good “Mom” or “Parenting” Web sites developing around the country, and we’d like for ours to be right there with the best. One thing it needs is a “champion” or a group of “champions” who would give it the care and nurturing it needs. This person or persons would lead a blog or forum discussion, surf the net for useful links to good articles and Web sites, and work with our staff to pull the best content from our print publications.The idea is to give parents a place to exchange ideas – maybe in a slightly more orderly way than on MonroeTalks – and find good information. The “discussion leader” would need to be knowledgeable enough to pose good questions and steer the conversation, but would not have to be an expert with a degree in child development. The work could be done at home at any hour.We’re not talking about a full-time job – just a few hours a week. We haven’t decided yet what we’ll pay, if anything. It depends on how many people show interest and how much interest and how involved they get in the site, beyond just blogging/discussion leading.

Anyone who is interested should contact Dan Shaw at danshaw@monroenews.com or at 734-240-5749.

What are your favorite things about babies?  What stage is your favorite?  The part of a baby’s body you feel is the most precious thing?  To my grandmother, spit-up is to be considered precious (my husband got spit up on, to which my grandmother replied “oh, but it’s precious!”)  Not too sure I’d agree?

My favorite things about babies: Those adorable fingers and toes! The smell of a newborn.  The toothless smiles.  The scrunch-squeal-stretch of a brand new newborn (then the look of pure contentment). The warmness you feel in the hands and feet of a sleeping baby.  The nose!  The feeling of a little body cuddled close, who trusts you completely and relies on you totally.  The raspberries and coo’s (that produce a LOT of drool).  The sight of a happy baby rolling, stretching, scrunched and throwing arms and legs around as it plays with toys on the floor.

My youngest is almost six months old.  I can’t believe it.  I’ve been doing a lot of baby watching lately, taking it all in, enjoying every minute,  knowing that tomorrow she’ll be another day older and will never be the age she is today ever again.

Man those babies grow up way too fast.  This is our third and you’d think I’d be used to the whole growing up fast thing by now.  Nope.  Gets me every time!  My oldest is about to turn 4 this month also.  I find myself thinking about her baby days a lot also, trying to imagine how that itty bitty 6lb baby turned into this beautiful little girl.

Great article here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/82550.php

Curious about birth?  Need some encouragment for your upcoming birth?  Check out these video clips and slideshows available online: http://www.themidwife.net/index_files/homebirthmidwifestudentwomanshealthvideos.htm

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this here before, but wanted to throw out a helpful hint for nursing moms who want to stay modest while nursing.

Take an old undershirt and cut out circles where your breasts are.  Wear this shirt under your normal shirt, and when you have to pull up your top shirt to nurse, the undershirt stays down and keeps your tummy and sides covered. 

If it helps, keep a note of things to try on your fridge.  Having a baby that is crying for what seems to be no reason can be stressful.  Remember that adjusting to life outside the womb can be stressful to your baby, too.  If you’ve tried the basics - try to feed, change diapers, and make sure baby isn’t too hot/cold, isn’t overstimulated (take baby into a quiet, darkened room), etc. there are some more ideas.

1. Suck.  Your baby may not be hungry, but they are calmed through sucking.  You can try to nurse, use your finger (pinkie, pad side up, no long nails please!), or a pacifier.

2. Swaddle.  Newborns especially like to be swaddled because the tightness of the blanket keeps them near the same position they were in while in the womb.  Don’t be afraid to swaddle snugly!

3. Movement.  Babies thrive on movement.  Try rocking, standing and swaying or lightly bouncing, swinging your baby from side to side (or if need be, use a baby swing if you have one, but babies would prefer a human in many cases).

4. Patting.  Babies like rhythm and patting their bottom or back at a regular beat can be calming.

5. Lay your baby on their side or stomach while you’re holding them. This, too, can be comforting.

6. Sing or “shush” to your baby.  Your voice can be very calming and comforting, and shushing can also be comforting (along with white noise).  Mom or dad may have the best luck just singing or talking to their newborn because baby is already programmed to your voices from hearing them in the womb.