Is Water Birthing Safe?

Found on the Fox News.com website
Originally published Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen made news recently by giving birth to her son Benjamin in an unusual way: at home in her own bathtub (Unusual way? When did water birth become unusual?). It wasn't an accident or surprise delivery; instead she did it as part of a growing trend called "water birthing," considered by some women and midwives to be a healthier, more natural alternative to traditional hospital births.

Mothers who choose water birth go through labor and delivery immersed in warm water (not always. Many Moms choose to get in and out of the tub), believing that pain will be less severe and the experience more enjoyable and relaxing. Some studies have shown that mothers who choose a water birth request fewer painkillers than women who don't, and fewer drugs translate into the perception of a safer and more natural birth (definitely more natural).

If it's good enough for a celebrity supermodel, water birthing advocates suggest, then it's good enough for most women. But is it good for the baby?

The research isn't clear.

In a 2002 study published in the journal Pediatrics titled "Water birth: A near-drowning experience," researcher Sarah Nguyen questioned the safety of water births and described instances of infants inhaling water and feces following underwater deliveries. In a follow-up commentary, other researchers concluded, "At this point, we are convinced there is no evidence to support any benefit of underwater birth for the neonate, and plenty of evidence to suggest harm [including] the potential for drowning, hyponatremic seizure activity, infection, and pneumonia."

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists does not recommend water births, suggesting instead that children born in hospitals are safer — if for no other reason than professional medical help is immediately available in case of complications (does a water birth have to be at home? There are several hospitals in my area that have birth tubs in the room. If hospitals are incorporating them in their birthing suites how dangerous is it? You know hospitals would NEVER offer anything they think is dangerous). Unless your bathtub happens to be located near a neonatal unit, emergency medical help may not be available during the baby's first minutes of life.

Of course, there is some risk to both the child and the mother during any birth, whether it occurs in a bathtub or a hospital. All births are natural, yet some births are safer than others.

Found on the Natural Child.org website

"Why doesn't the baby drown?"

To me this was the obvious concern; after all, anybody who doesn't consciously hold his or her breath underwater is in fear of drowning. The answer is so logical and so simple. A baby doesn't drown during a water birth because the baby is already in water in the womb. It takes air for breath and when a baby comes from water into water without the introduction of air, the lungs remain collapsed and no water can enter. Once the baby is brought to the surface and its face hits the air, breath is drawn and life on earth begins. Knowing these facts, it is clear that water birth is a safe way for a baby to be born.

Resources found on the Waterbirth International Website

1. Waterbirth Recommendations - RCOG and RCM Joint Waterbirth Recommendations -
2. Guidelines for safe Water use
3. Safety Recommendations for Pool Use

You will also fund several articles and Reviews on the Water Birth International website. Click Here to visit them.

C-section rates around globe at ‘epidemic’ levels

WHO: Half moms in China have the surgery; rates high in other countries

Associated Press

updated 3:45 p.m. MT, Tues., Jan. 12, 2010

HANOI, Vietnam - Nearly half of all births in China are delivered by cesarean section, the world’s highest rate, according to a survey by the World Health Organization — a shift toward modernization that isn’t necessarily a good thing.

The boom in unnecessary surgeries is jeopardizing women’s health, the U.N. health agency warned in the report published online Tuesday in the medical journal The Lancet.

Unnecessary C-sections are costlier than natural births and raise the risk of complications for the mother, said the report surveying nine Asian nations. It noted C-sections have reached “epidemic proportion.

The most dramatic findings were in China, where 46 percent of births reviewed were C-sections — a quarter of them not medically necessary, the report said.

“So many pregnant women ask for a cesarean birth in China, but we always suggest that they have a natural birth,” said Dr. He Yuanhua, at Capital Antai Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital in Beijing, who did not participate in the study.

“It’s bad to have so many cesarean births because natural birth is the ideal way.”

The WHO, which reviewed nearly 110,000 births across Asia in 2007-2008, found 27 percent were done under the knife, partially motivated by hospitals eager to make more money.

That mirrors similar results reported by WHO in 2005 from Latin America, where 35 percent of pregnant women surveyed were delivering by C-section.

30 percent of U.S. births are C-sectionsIn the U.S., where C-sections are at an all-time high of 31 percent, the surgery is often performed on older expectant mothers, during multiple births or simply because patients request it or doctors fear malpractice lawsuits. A government panel warned against elective C-sections in 2006.

“The relative safety of the operation leads people to think it’s as safe as vaginal birth,” said Dr. A. Metin Gulmezoglu, who co-authored the Asia report. “That’s unlikely to be the case.”
Women undergoing C-sections that are not medically necessary are more likely to die or be admitted into intensive care units, require blood transfusions or encounter complications that lead to hysterectomies, the WHO study found.

U.S. studies have shown babies born by cesarean have a greater chance for respiratory problems. The Asia survey found the procedure benefits babies during breech births.

Reasons for elective C-sections vary globally, but increasing rates in many developing countries coincide with a rise in patients’ wealth and improved medical facilities.

In Asia, some women opt for the surgery to choose their delivery day after consulting fortune tellers for “lucky” birthdays or times. Others fear painful natural births or worry their vaginas may be stretched or damaged by a normal delivery. Some women also prefer the operation because they mistakenly believe it is less risky.

“I think it’s safer for the mother and child to have C-sections, and the relatives feel more secure because it’s very simple and very common now,” said a Vietnamese woman, Trang Thanh Van, 25, just days away from giving birth to her first child. “People worry that using tools to pull the baby out (in a vaginal birth) may affect their brains.”

The Asian survey examined deliveries in 122 randomly selected public and private hospitals in 2007 and 2008 across Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The hospitals were located in capital cities and two other regions or provinces within each country, all logging more than 1,000 births a year.

China’s 46 percent C-section rate was followed by Vietnam and Thailand with 36 percent and 34 percent, respectively. The lowest rates were in Cambodia, with 15 percent, and India, with 18 percent.

Some hospitals motivated by higher feesThe study did not discuss specific reasons for the high number of C-sections, but it noted that more than 60 percent of the hospitals studied were motivated by financial incentives to perform surgeries.

At Vietnam’s National Hospital of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Hanoi, about 40 percent of the 20,000 babies delivered there annually are by C-section, said Dr. Le Anh Tuan, the hospital’s vice director, who did not participate in the study.

As the capital’s largest maternity hospital, it receives the most complicated cases, with many women undergoing emergency surgery. But he said another reason is women with small frames whose babies are simply too large for them to deliver naturally.

“The babies are bigger, even than in Western countries,” he said. “Vietnam was a country where we didn’t have enough food to eat. Now we have a surplus of food. The women think that if they eat a lot, their babies will be healthy.”

In Latin America, C-section rates in all eight countries surveyed earlier by WHO were 30 percent or higher — similar to the U.S. rate. In Paraguay, 42 percent of deliveries were by cesarean, and in Ecuador 40 percent.

Some expectant mothers in Latin America scheduled elective surgeries to avoid giving birth during holidays or even so they could attend parties, said Dr. Archana Shah, from the WHO in Geneva, who worked on that report and cautioned that data in both studies represent a sample that may not reflect overall national rates.

That compares to an earlier WHO survey of African countries, where C-sections were performed in only about 9 percent of deliveries surveyed and where many medical centers were ill-equipped to perform emergency surgeries, leading to increased deaths.

Live c-section on the Today Show

Written by Kim

Congratulations to the Johnson Family on the birth of their handsome, sweet little baby boy Brody. In my mind, every birth is a miracle and a joyous occasion, regardless of how it happens.

However, this being said, the rate of cesarean births in our country (and around the world) needs to be addressed. Dr. Nancy Snyderman's attitude throughout the birth, making sure to state clearly throughout the procedure that 1. The "section" was not scheduled for the Today Show and 2. It was the right decision for them because Brody was 10 pounds made me angry.

Regardless of how irritated I felt Dr. Snyderman was, what was most striking to me were the tears of joy (or sadness) in Carrie's eyes. Now I can not at all comment on how Carrie was feeling after Brody was born, but she was only able to see her new baby boy for about 10 seconds after his birth. He wasn't even held close enough to the new Mommy so she could touch him or give him a kiss and while the baby was being cleaned by the nurses Carrie was left alone, barely even noticed. Actually, even Dr Snyderman noticed this and went over to Carrie to comfort her and congratulate her on the birth.

This reminded me of the doula clients I had who had a cesarean birth and how happy I was to be beside my client, continually telling her what was happening, congratulating her, stroking her hair, and making her feel loved and cared for (rather than left behind).

The story continues in Carrie and Josh's recovery room when Carrie's parents arrive to meet their new grandson for the first time. Brody had beeen prominantly propped up on Carrie's shoulder wearing his Today show gear, and when Josh goes to pick Brody up to show him off to his in-laws, Carrie reminds him that she can not pick him up to even hand little baby Brody over to Josh. WOW, that must be hard.

After my second son was born he was taken to the NICU to receive some oxygen and be watched closely, to be over-protective. I remember walking down to the NICU just a few hours after my birth. I can't even imagine how it must feel to not even be able to pick your baby up after your birth.

I have come across several blogs that are posting about this birth story. If you are interested in reading their comments visit:

ICAN Responds: "Today Show" Spreads Misinformation

The Crunchy Domestic Goddess

Daily Finance

To watch this episode of "In the OR" on the Today Show click here

Giving Life in a Land Overflowing With Pain

Found on the NY Times website
By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: January 29, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Biology and the earthquake dictated that Roseline Antoine would give birth at 9:42 a.m. Thursday to a healthy baby girl who has no home but the street. The same irrevocable forces left Delva Venite naked a few feet away, in pain, waiting nearly a day for doctors to deal with the stillborn son inside her.

The women shared one of the better medical facilities here — a maternity tent outside General Hospital — but there were not enough beds or doctors. Flies were their roommates, bunching like crows on the intravenous drips, and as for the joy found in most maternity wards, that had been lost to the cracked earth.

“The street where I live, it’s so dirty; there isn’t enough food or water,” Ms. Antoine said. “I’m scared to bring a baby into this awful situation.”

Pulling down her blue dress after giving birth, she added, “I need to find a way to survive.”

The pregnant are an especially vulnerable subset of victims of the quake that has left so many Haitians homeless and desolate. The United Nations estimates that 15 percent of the 63,000 pregnant women in the earthquake-affected areas are likely to have potentially life-threatening complications. For the roughly 7,000 who will give birth in the next month, the risks are even greater.

Aid groups are doing what they can. CARE has been handing out hygienic birthing kits, and doctors from around the world have taken a special pride in delivering babies. Along with rescues, newborns have become beacons of uplift amid the darkness of death.

Still, Haiti is a frightening nursery. Even before the quake, this small country had the highest rates of infant, of under-5 and of maternal mortality in the Western Hemisphere; on average, according to United Nations reports, 670 Haitian women out of every 100,000 die in childbirth, compared with 11 in the United States.

The troubles are especially visible in the tent cities all over the capital. Earlier this week on the grounds of a former military airfield, Venold Joseph, 29, devoured a tin of spaghetti, her first meal since having her baby there four days earlier.

In another tent camp, on a soccer field of a school near the downtown, one meal a day was as much as Mirline Civil, 17, could hope for. Her baby, born Sunday, struggled, too. When she tried to breast-feed the little boy, named Maiderson, he failed to latch. She rocked him back and forth and asked, “Why are you crying so much?”

In three days of visits to General Hospital, which is operating mostly out of tents, mothers were desperate to avoid returning to their own patch of dirt.

The recovery tent, a short walk from the birthing tent, included 15 mattresses Thursday, on gravel, each with a mother and child.

Sandia Sulea, 24, leaning on her elbow, and Nativita Thomas, also 24, said they both had their babies three days earlier. Their homes were flattened. They were left to sleep in the street.

The medical tent, though hotter than 100 degrees in the afternoon sun, was a step up. Here, nurses bring crackers and juice. Here, if something goes wrong, a medical team will help.

“I know they need space for other people,” Ms. Sulea said. “But I don’t know what to do.”

Across the tent, an older woman nodded toward a quiet young mother in a men’s navy blue golf shirt, picking at her nails. While the other women had family or friends crowded around, she sat with her infant son, Mackendi.

“I’m from an orphanage,” said the new mother, Aristil Fabian, 18. “My mother and father are dead.”

Without family — her husband fled to the country — she said she had been roaming the street, bedding down in the closest camp when it was time to sleep. She made it to the hospital on Wednesday, when she had the baby, but by Thursday afternoon, she had no idea what was next.
“I don’t have anyone,” she said. “I’m alone.”

Inside two pediatric tents a few yards away, steel cribs with chipping paint sat crammed together. There were babies with broken arms, a boy with four amputated toes, and two abandoned children — one cross-eyed, the other, doctors believe, with cerebral palsy. No one seemed to know whether the parents died in the earthquake or just gave them up.

The most severe case, however, lay in another crib: the boy with no name. He was 13 months old, according to a man who was waving away flies, but he was so severely malnourished, his eye sockets looked like the cardboard tubes that hold toilet paper. His arms were thin enough to reveal separate bones and ligaments.

“We’re trying to do what we can,” said Dr. Carole Dubuché, a Haitian-American pediatrician who practices in Brooklyn, as she filled a bottle of formula.

Few of the doctors were local. Most of the Haitian obstetricians and pediatricians have still not returned to work full time. The young residents who are trying to fill the gap say a few show up for the morning or afternoon but do not stay long.

Ms. Venite’s husband, Gérard Joseph, said he understood why. “Everyone is looking for their family,” he said.

But not everyone sees it that way. “People here are getting a paycheck and they don’t come to work,” said Dr. Gerard Guy Prosper, a former head of pediatrics at General Hospital who now works in the Bronx. “And no one does anything about it.”

He nearly shook with anger.

The result, for now, seems to be a scramble to keep up. On Thursday, Ms. Venite’s pregnancy ended nine months after it started, with a small, still figure in a cardboard box on the dirty ground. It was only chance that kept someone from accidentally kicking it.

And on Friday by 3 p.m., two women had already had Caesarean sections; two others were waiting their turns. A resident said that all four women were at high risk for complications.

Inside the recovery tent, meanwhile, Ms. Fabian and Mackendi were gone. So was the malnourished little boy. He died Friday.

By comparison, the triumphs here are small. A group of doctors linked to a global health group out of Johns Hopkins in Baltimore opened three operating rooms this week inside the hospital, so some Caesareans no longer take place in the surgical tent where doctors are amputating gangrened limbs.

Ms. Antoine on Friday also found a place to live, in a neighbor’s yard. She had been sleeping in a sewage-drenched camp outside a flattened school in her neighborhood of Bel-Air. Now, she and her new daughter, Kimberly, live just behind it, under a thin white sheet near a mostly empty set of cages with a few chickens and a litter of puppies.

Her two older children, David, 12, and Osnort, 5, seem happier with their new quarters, but Ms. Antoine remains beleaguered. From her new dwelling, she can see the crushed house where she used to live — and where her husband died while she sold cookies from a pushcart downtown.

She lost everything that day, and she said she hated that she was suddenly dependent on the charity of others.

“I don’t think I can live like this, just waiting for someone to bring me food,” she said. She shook her head, and stared away, as her day-old daughter tried to suck her thumb.

Gisele Bundchen's Son Born in Boston Bathtub

Found on ABC/Health website

Breaking from a culture where hospital births are the norm and Caesarian rates are the highest in the world, Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen chose to deliver her son Benjamin in her own bathtub. The medical community criticized Ricki Lake for promoting home births.
Wife of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Bundchen is one of a growing number of women who are embracing water birth, touted as a gentler way to bring a baby into the world.
And well-respected studies show water birth helps with mom's labor pains, too.

Today in the United States, as in Brazil, natural childbirth is a medical anomaly. But here, a small, but growing number of women are choosing water births over medication and pain-blocking epidurals.

Bundchen told the Boston Globe she prepared for her Dec. 8, 2009 delivery with yoga and meditation and "didn't want to be all drugged up" when she gave birth.
While birthing in warm water isn't new, Bundchen's high-profile home delivery brings a lot more splash to the concept.

"If you think about it, it makes sense philosophically," said Dr. Tracy Gaudet, an obstetrician and executive director of the Duke Center for Integrative Medicine in North Carolina.

"Think about the fetus living in water. Instead of going from the dark, warm water environment to the sudden shock of the outside in that moment of birth, there's a more gradual transition," she said.

In a water birth, mothers sit waist-deep in water heated to simulate body temperature through labor and delivery. Within seconds of the baby emerging, the midwife or doctor brings its head above water.

The cord can be cut in or out of water, depending on a woman's choice.

While Gaudet has never delivered a baby in water, she said she would be "game" to try. "It's a little gentler and kinder to the baby," she told ABCNews.com.

She advises that if the water birth is at home, midwives have a back-up plan.
"I am open-minded, but I've seen enough things go bad and you have to have a plan A, B and C," said Gaudet. "Labor and delivery is hopefully perfectly normal and a positive experience, but things don't always go as planned."

In an interview with Brazil's news feature show "Fantastico," Bundchen described the eight-hour birth of her son in the couple's Beacon Hill penthouse. She said she was influenced by the 2008 documentary, "The Business of Being Born," an argument for natural childbirth produced by television personality Ricki Lake.

Home Births in Minority

Ana Paula Markel, who was quoted in the film, is a friend of Bundchen's who works as a doula, or childbirth assistant, in Los Angeles. She has said that Bundchen's decision could persuade other women to consider a water birth.

Other celebrities who had home deliveries include actress Alyson Hannigan, model Cindy Crawford, singer Erykah Badu, actress Maria Bello, and another Bundchen friend, Michelle Alves, a Brazilian model and the wife of Madonna's manager Guy Oseary.

Only one percent of all births in the U.S. are at home, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

Induction rates rose 5 percent in 2005 to 22.3 percent of all births -- double the rate since 1990, according to the center. 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.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists does not recommend water births, although it is described in its consumer publication, "Your Pregnancy and Birth."
ACOG recommends that a hospital or birthing center within a hospital complex are the "safest setting" for labor and delivery.

About 10 percent of all hospitals and up to 90 percent of birthing centers nationwide offer as an option water births, as opposed to "land births," according to Waterbirth International, whose motto is, "Easier for moms…Better for Babies."

Waterbirth Executive Director Barbara Harper turned to water birth 25 years ago with her second and third children after a bad experience during her first child's hospital birth. She had seen an article extolling its virtues in the "National Enquirer."

"I took it home to my partner and said, 'I think I can have another baby,'" she told ABCNews.com. "I wouldn't even consider having another baby the way it was done in 1978."
"I was drugged against my will, tied down with leather straps with my feet in the stirrups," said Harper. "They even gave me an episiotomy after the baby was born so the residents could practice."

All this, as Harper was working as a nurse at that California hospital. She later turned to midwifery and began advocating and educating women about water births.

Five Things Not to Say During Labor and Delivery

Found on the DadLabs website "Taking Back Paternity".



In this DadLabs video Daddy Clay and Daddy Brad discuss the five phrases Dads should never say in the labor and delivery room. These five phrases should be avoided at all cost during the birth of a baby. Starting with number 5, Is that normal? Never show fear in the delivery room, and always stay calm and collected with your pregnant wife. Number 4 is avoiding anything that involves my Mom says. While experiencing childbirth the last thing your wife wants to hear is any advise or anything to do with her mother-in-law. Number 3 is to ask, why is the birth in the metric system? Do the math yourself and keep irrellevant questions out of the birthing center. The number 2 things to avoid is saying "I'm not sure I'm ready for this." It's too late to make that decision, and the most important thing is to be supportive during the child birth process. The final thing, and most important to remember is to avoid saying anything like "toughen up" and/or "suck it up". Baby Delivery whether natural birth or through a cesarean section is a very difficult process. If you have any questions make sure to ask your doula or your midwife, and most of all be supportive through the pregnancy. The Lab Ep 528 brought to you by BabyBjorn.

Dealing with Post Cesarean Emotions w/Birthcut.com

Found on the Blog Talk Radio website

Upcoming Show: 2/3/2010 8:00PM

Host Name: Momtronics
Show Name: Dealing with Post Cesarean Emotions with BirthCut.com
Length: 30 minutes
Description: Join Danielle and Michele founder of http://birthcut.com for a discussion on her website and dealing with post cesarean emotions and feelings.

Call-in Number: (347) 633-9804