Happy Friday!

Too Many Babies Being Delivered Early for No Good Reason: Report

By Katherine Hobson

At some U.S. hospitals, upwards of 40% of babies are born via elective early deliveries — that is, inducing labor or doing an early C-section before 39 weeks into the pregnancy for no medical reason.

These stats come courtesy of the Leapfrog Group — a coalition of health-benefit purchasers aiming to improve health-care safety, quality and affordability — which today put out a new report calling on expectant moms to request the rates of early elective delivery from hospitals in their area.

To read the rest of this article click here: http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2011/01/26/too-many-babies-being-delivered-early-for-no-good-reason-report/

Great Birth Story Link

If you are like me, reading good birth stories is a part of labor preparation. Ricki Lake has put together a wonderful listing of birth stories. If you have not seen her documentary - it is wonderful! It is very informative and shows both the importance and safety of home birth, but also the necessity and importance of good hospital care as well. Here is her link for birth stories: http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/blog/category/birth-stories/

Here is the trailer for The Business of Being Born:

Melatonin's Role in Labor Progress

In February of last year, I heard about a study that reaffirms what our mammal cousins have known instinctively for thousands of years… birth should happen in a dark, comfortable place. It also helps explain why most women go into labor in the middle of the night. And why so many labors slow down or stall in a hospital setting.

To read the rest of this wonderful article please click here: http://birthfaith.org/home-birth/melatonins-role-in-labor-progress

36 Obvious Reasons You Are Capable of Natural Birth

We hear so much negativity about birth these days that it sometimes gets lost in the shuffle that women are divinely designed to birth babies. This is a miracle, but it is also so totally normal and a simple bodily function. Here are a few reminders (yes, many of them obvious) of the truth that we have forgotten about our bodies.

1. You are a woman

To read the rest of this wonderful list click here: http://mamabirth.blogspot.com/2011/01/36-obvious-reasons-you-are-capable-of.html

Awkward Pregnancy Photos

If you need a good laugh, check out this blog from Pregnant Chicken - hilarious!

http://pregnantchicken.squarespace.com/pregnant-chicken-blog/2010/12/10/awkward-pregnancy-photos.html

An amazing short film detailing pregnancy to birth. What a miracle every baby is!

You Have a Choice Video

I found this great short documentary and loved it! The title alone is wonderful - you DO have a choice in childbirth. I don't think women can hear this enough. One of my favorite quotes was, "my birth plan was whatever my body told me to do." Lovely! You don't have to just follow directions just because the people caring for you are more experienced than you. You know your body best and you become empowered during birth by playing a role in every decision made during your labor and birth. Don't ever forget that you have choices and you are strong and capable to make the decisions best for you and your baby.

"You Have a Choice" // A Short Birth Documentary from Mark Mroz on Vimeo.

"You Have a Choice" // A Short Birth Documentary from Mark Mroz on Vimeo.

Happy Friday!

Bringing a child into the world is the most amazing, beautiful, blissful experience a woman may ever have. A blessing beyond words.

The Many Uses of Breastmilk

Breast milk is not only the best way to feed your newborn or infant, this nourishing substance has the ability to heal and protect the body as well. I am not just talking about your infant's body; I am talking about yours as well as your older children. In this article I am going to discuss some of the basic ways you can use breast milk to cure common ailments.

To read the entire article: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/114773/breast_milk_and_its_many_uses.html?cat=5

A Walk to Beautiful

I finally watched the amazing documentary A Walk to Beautiful. It was beautiful, touching, heart breaking and eye opening. The women that arrive at the fistula hospital are suffering from so much more than a fistula. The emotional scars are just as difficult, if not more, than the fistula itself. What a hardship to endure labor for days (even a week!), only to deliver a stillborn and then be ostracized by your entire family and community. Rather than getting support and help, these woman are hidden away from everyone because of their smell. My heart breaks for these women, and yet it rejoices for the wonderful Dr. Catherine Hamlin and her heart and commitment to these women for the past 30 years. Her commitment to healing the both physically and emotionally is inspiring. If you have not seen this documentary, please take the time to do so. It is amazing!

Woman Give Birth In MRI Machine

Charité Hospital

Researchers hope the new machine will allow them to study in “greater detail” how the baby moves through the birth canal, which should help them understand why a growing number of women end up needing a caesarean section.

Doctors at a hospital in Berlin, Germany have pulled off a world first by creating MRI images of a woman giving birth, The Local Newspaper reported.

A team of obstetricians, radiologists and engineers at Charité Hospital have spent the last two years creating an “open” MRI scanner that allows a pregnant woman to fit fully into the machine to give birth. Traditional MRI machines look like long, narrow tunnels.

Researchers hope the new machine will allow them to study in “greater detail” how the baby moves through the birth canal, which should help them understand why a growing number of women end up needing a caesarean section.

Dr. Manny Alvarez, senior managing health editor of FoxNews.com and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Science at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, said this new technology is fascinating.

“For the first time we can clearly see the mechanics of a vaginal delivery,” he said. “For years, obstetricians have relied on very crude methods of understanding complications like cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD), which translates when the baby fails to descend into the birth canal and there is a rest in cervical dilatation, which ultimately leads to a C-section.”

Alvarez said many of the tools such as ultrasounds, X-rays of the pelvis to measure the internal bones of the mother-to-be, as well as manual examinations of the pelvic region can be very limiting.

“They never fully explain why some women are able to deliver 10-pound babies while others fail to deliver 7-pound babies,” he said.

Another immediate benefit to this technology is that it could also help better explain shoulder dystocia.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/12/07/woman-gives-birth-mri-machine/#ixzz1AbWKpKdj

Normal Newborn Behavior and Why Breastmilk Isn't Just Food

Posted by Lakeshore Medical Breastfeeding Medicine Clinic

What is a normal, term human infant supposed to do?

First of all, a human baby is supposed to be born vaginally. Yes, I know that doesn't always happen, but we're just going to talk ideal, normal for now. We are supposed to be born vaginally because we need good bacteria. Human babies are sterile, without bacteria, at birth. It's no accident that we are born near the anus, an area that has lots of bacteria, most of which are good and necessary for normal gut health and development of the immune system. And the bacteria that are there are mom's bacteria, bacteria that she can provide antibodies against if the bacteria there aren't nice.

To read the entire article please visit their facebook page http://www.facebook.com/update_security_info.php?wizard=1#!/note.php?note_id=140594519332212&id=134844053221572

Mom Entrepreneur

We have been friends with Valerie since the beginning of BINSI. We are SO proud of her and her amazing products and hard work! Please visit her site and see all of her amazing natural products at www.zoeborganic.com

Mom defies doctor, has baby her way

Mom defies doctor, has baby her way

By Elizabeth Cohen, Senior Medical Correspondent

December 16, 2010 1:28 p.m. EST

Aneka gave birth to a healthy boy this month at home, after she had given birth to three children through Cesarean section.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Aneka decided to give birth vaginally after having C-sections
• She was told her actions were irresponsible and that she could die
• Vaginal births after cesarean sections pose some risk, but so does having another cesarean

(CNN) -- On Thursday, December 2, as Aneka sat at home nine months pregnant, the phone rang.

It was her obstetrician wanting to know where the heck she was. Did Aneka forget that today was the day for her cesarean section? How could she have forgotten?

No, Aneka hadn't forgotten. She hadn't shown up intentionally.

"She told me, 'You're being irresponsible. Your baby could die. You could die,'" Aneka recalls. Then the doctor hung up.

To read the entire article please click here: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/12/16/ep.vbac.birth.at.home/index.html?hpt=C1