Interference

I was thinking about my blog regarding my niece’s birth and I felt the need to clarify some things. Women need to make informed decisions about their births. Their births will be affecting them the rest of their lives… that experience is paramount according to the studies on how they will mother that infant and see themselves as strong or weak later on.

A woman is not classified in active labor until she is dilated to three centimeters and contracting regularly- stronger, longer and closer together. Usually that means at least an hour of contractions lasting at least a minute for at least an hour. Now I don’t know what my niece’s labor was like. But I do know that the studies show that when a mom stays at the hospital with her water intact and under 3 centimeters dilated, she increases her chances of a cesarean by 30%. So the intervention train is boarded- after all, you are at the hospital to have the baby. So, their job is to help you get the job done. What? At what cost? (more…)

instinctive vs Compliance

My niece had a baby this weekend. She considered childbirth classes late in the game I am guessing since she told my sister she could not find a class- they were all full… So she went into labor- sorta- lost her plug and her doctor listened to her breathe on the phone and said come in. But she was only 1.5 cm dilated so they had her walk… eventually they put her on the medical roller coaster- not sure what happened when but she had her water broken, had an epidural and got pitocin I am sure. Well thank the dear Lord, she did end up with a vaginal birth. She told my sister she was sure the nurses would help her in her labor. She originally thought she would go natural. She was unprepared and did not.

Nursing was not going smoothly- so since she also did not take any breastfeeding preparation class, she again told my sister that she was sure the nurses would help her. Well- they convinced her on day two after the birth that she did not have enough milk. They encouraged her to give the baby some formula. Then one nurse told her that was a good thing since she obviously was not causing the baby to be full and he had been screaming! So, although her plan was to breastfeed, the formula is something she now sees as the thing that her baby will need due to her deficiency.

She felt this would all come naturally- instinctively. (more…)