served by picapp.com

V is also for:

Vacuum extraction: Sometimes, if the baby is not coming through the birth canal as expected and there seems that there may be problems, doctors may choose to use suction to help guide the baby’s head out of the birth canal

Vagina: The canal from the cervix down.

VBAC: Vaginal birth after C-section

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Don’t forget:

Baby Emergency Handbook – Review and give away

The give-away ends August 7, 2008.

Post from: Blisstree

ABCs of pregnancy: V is for…

1. Mom and babies playing in the sprinkler – non human!
2. Cat fight over birthing techniques and safety
3. New mass market target – your baby’s umbilical cord blood
4. The mothering instinct of animals
5. Radio show: Kosher and Halal vitamins for pregnancy
6. Pregnancy after infertility
7. Ectopic pregnancies
8. Eating disorders and pregnancy
9. VBAC: vaginal birth after Caesarian – worth the risk?
10. Pregnancy myths – busted!

Do any of these surprise you?

Post from: Blisstree

10 most popular posts for the week ending July 25

Unfortunately, because of the ever increasing risk of being sued, many doctors don’t want to do VBACs and – some are more economically minded and prefer to know when they need to be around and they can time C-sections much more easily. For this reason, even without a medical reason for discouraging VBACs, some doctors are just refusing to do them.

I found this article at Midwifery Today, 50 Ways to Protest a VBAC Denial, which you may find interesting.

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Post from: Blisstree

Have you been told you can’t have a VBAC?

Meredith, our resident doula (Womb Within has its very own doula) sent me this “President’s editorial” fro the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA). I am publishing it with permission. It’s a very interesting answer to the AMA’s close-minded point of view.

AMA Seeks to Deny Women Choices in Childbirth

*President’s Editorial *

July 11, 2008

Geradine Simkins
president@mana.org
888-923-MANA (6262)
info@mana.org
http://www.mana.org

One wonders what process the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates used to determine that *”Resolution 205 on Home Deliveries”* was a prudent and reasonable proposal to adopt. AMA Resolution 205 attempts to outlaw a woman’s choice to birth at home or in a freestanding birth center by calling for legislation to establish hospitals and hospital-based birth centers as the safest place for labor, delivery and postpartum recovery. Further, Resolution 205 seeks to establish that hospital-based midwives who work under the control of physicians are the only safe midwifery practitioners.

The Midwives Alliance of North America, which has represented the profession of midwifery since 1982 and whose members are specialists in homebirth, finds AMA’s Resolution 205 to be arrogant, patronizing and self-serving. We have three major objections to Resolution 2005. First, Resolution 205 patently ignores the vast body of scientific evidence that has documented homebirth to be a safe, cost-effective and satisfying option for women who prefer this alternative to hospital birth.

 Click here to read the rest: MANA editorial regarding “AMA Seeks to Deny Women Choices in Childbirth”

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Post from: Blisstree

MANA editorial regarding “AMA Seeks to Deny Women Choices in Childbirth”

Back in the day when C-sections were done only one way – a large incision right down the front, VBACs couldn’t have been attempted. The risk of rupturing the uterus during labor would have been way too high, but now with the better methods of C-sections, it’s not an impossibility for many women. Of course, in the event of life-threatening emergencies, such big incisions still could be done, but as a rule, they aren’t.

According to VBAC.com, “Current evidence shows that the majority of women can have safe vaginal births after a prior cesarean (a VBAC), but according to the US Centers for Disease Control the VBAC rate fell 67% in the last ten years.” If people wonder why that may be, I think it may be because of the fear of lawsuits. Doctors are being sued left, right, and center, for anything that may go wrong and – in their mind – a VBAC can go horribly wrong sometimes. But, it doesn’t have to!

There are many advantages to have a VBAC if it’s possible. Having a vaginal delivery keeps you from having another scar in your uterus; this is particularly important if you want to have more children. And, of course (usually) recovery from a vaginal birth is much easier than a C-section, especially if you already have a child at home.

According to physicians, a good candidate for VBAC is a woman who:

• Has had only 1 C-section and the incision is low and side to side
• Has had 2 C-sections before, but has successfully had a vaginal delivery
• Agrees to give birth in a hospital in case of emergency
• Does not have a medical reason (baby or mom) to have a C-section

While having a C-section should never, ever be considered as failing in your role as a mother, there are substantial benefits to delivering vaginally. The risk to you is also much lower if the delivery doesn’t require a C-section because sections are major surgery. Many people don’t see it as such because it’s so common, but a C-section is major abdominal surgery with all the associated risks.

If you want a VBAC, speak to your doctor or midwife about this. If you have a doula, she will need to be part of your plan as well; make sure that she is comfortable with this or you may need to find another doula.

Finally, if you do go for a VBAC and end up having a C-section, please don’t feel that it didn’t go “right.” We can’t plan the births, we can only make decisions and hope that they can go the way we want. The best plans are to know when to go with the flow and do what needs to be done – for your best interest and that of your baby.

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Post from: Blisstree

VBAC: vaginal birth after Caesarian – worth the risk?