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By opening a freestanding birth center, perinatologist Steve Calvin is determined to make maternity care more satisfying for women and cost effective.
By Kim Kiser
Standing on a sidewalk on Chicago Avenue in south Minneapolis, Steve Calvin, M.D., is at the intersection of high-tech and high-touch health care. Behind him is the 100-year-old Victorian home he bought two years ago and turned into a freestanding birth center—a place where women can deliver their babies in much the same tradition as their great grandmothers. Across the street, a crane is busy at work on construction of the Mother-Baby Center on the campus of Children’s and Abbott Northwestern hospitals—a place where women will have access to some of the most sophisticated maternal and neonatal services in the Twin Cities.
To read the rest of this article click here.
Showing posts with label birth center. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birth center. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Monday, November 21, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
The Cost of Childbirth in America
Posted by AngEngland on August 4th, 2011 at 9:30 am on Babble
I was talking to a guy the other day who had two children. In his culture larger families are quite common and I asked if he thought they would have more children later. He said, “No – we are still paying off our second child.”
To read the rest of this article click here.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Whatever Happened to Natural Childbirth?
By Dr. Meg Jordan
SAN FRANCISCO---) In the past decade, the U.S. the obstetrical field appears to be doing all it can to scare pregnant women into unnecessary interventions--a slick pathway leading to the astronomical number of Cesarean sections in this country. We outstrip every other developed nation at a rate that rose by 53% from 1996 to 2007, reaching 32%.
To read the rest of this wonderful article click here.
SAN FRANCISCO---) In the past decade, the U.S. the obstetrical field appears to be doing all it can to scare pregnant women into unnecessary interventions--a slick pathway leading to the astronomical number of Cesarean sections in this country. We outstrip every other developed nation at a rate that rose by 53% from 1996 to 2007, reaching 32%.
To read the rest of this wonderful article click here.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
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.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Controversies in Childbirth Conference
Tampa, Florida February 19-21, 2010
www.BirthConference.org
www.BirthConference.org
A just-announced seminar at the Controversies in Childbirth Conference February 19-21, 2010, in Tampa, Florida, may change labor and delivery in the United States.
Most freestanding maternity facilities meet the present criteria for "birth centers"-no drugs, few interventions, no on-site surgery? Can another type of non-hospital facility be viable? So many women want epidurals! Can obstetricians and midwives create and co-manage freestanding community-based maternity facilities that allow epidurals and other forms of obstetric anesthesia, as well as emergency cesarean sections? The discussion will cover:
• What is safe and what is not
• Restrictions of current laws
• Who should own this kind of maternity facility?
• Who should deliver there?
• Profitability
• Current examples of such facilities in other countries
• Malpractice issues & availability of malpractice insurance
• Inclusion in healthcare reform
• Potential effects on midwives, doulas, hospitals, childbirth educators, and homebirth
• Potential effects on cesarean rate
AND MUCH MORE
This conference is neutral territory, which means there is no agenda to promote any particular viewpoint. Many sessions are debate format so you are exposed to all sides of an issue.
We have also added other new and exciting seminars, including:
• Using Health Freedom Acts to Give Pregnant Patients What They Want
• Why Are Hospital Staff Confused by the Role of the Doula?
• Botched Home Birth or Appropriate Transport?
• Why Obstetricians Hate Birth Plans
• Childbirth Practices: Lessons From Two UK Hospitals
• The VBAC Issue from the Obstetrician's Point of View
• Is Natural Birth Antithetical to the Practice of Nursing?
• Can Chiropractors Safely Turn Breeches, Or Are They Endangering Babies?
• Lessons Learned from a Failed Attempt to Open a Freestanding Birth Center
Plus many more! CMEs and CEUs are being applied for.
A full list of seminars and speakers is available on the conference website: www.birthconference.org
If you are an: Obstetrician, Pediatrician, Family Physician, CNM, CPM, Licensed Midwife, Nurse, Manager, Hospital Administrator, HMO, Regulator, Doula, Educator, Lactation Consultant, Public Health Professional or Advocate you are urged to attend this amazing conference.
You can register on the website www.birthconference.org or by calling our registration line at: 512-709-4022
If you have questions, please call our registration line, or email: info@birthconference.org
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Birth Cottage
Posted by Kim:
I have so many wonderful friends on Facebook, many of whom are doulas, birth educators and mothers. The amazing thing about these woman is that we all keep each other informed. In fact, many of the stories, articles, and informational posts I put on our blog are referred to me by these wonderful women through Facebook.
So, when I saw the post about the Birth Cottage located in the Tallahassee, FL yesterday I jumped at the chance to write about this wonderful place. Can you imagine receiving your prenatal care from these midwives or giving birth is this environment? What an amazing experience it must be. However, in addition to the option of birthing in their cottage, you can also choose to birth at home with one of the midwives. Their list of services is extensive and cares not only for the baby, but the family as a whole.
Services Include:
Complete Prenatal Care
Birth at the Birth Cottage
Birth at Home
Waterbirth
Labor Support
Nutritional Counseling
Parenting Information
Sibling Preparation
Breastfeeding Info
Exercise Counseling
Pregnancy Massage
Home Visits
Childbirth Classes
Lending Library
Gynecological Services
Cervical Cap Fitting
PrePregnancy Counseling
Gatherings with other Families
Many Friendly Moments
Their Philosophy:
A birth center is a homelike facility, existing within a health care system, with a program of care designed in the wellness model of pregnancy and birth. Birth Centers are guided by principles of prevention, sensitivity, safety, appropriate medical intervention, and cost effectiveness. Birth Centers provide family-centered care for healthy women, before, during and after normal pregnancy, labor and delivery.
At the Birth Cottage, we believe that childbirth is a normal and natural event which when left to nature will proceed to an uncomplicated end in most cases. We believe the midwife's job is to assist the birthing family in the journey through pregnancy, labor, and birth by monitoring that natural process. Cases involving complications, which in our judgment cannot be handled safely, will be referred to persons trained to deal with obstetrical difficulties. Anesthetics are not provided for natural births. We believe in the woman's power and ability to give birth.
We also believe that childbirth is a family centered event and that the midwife's role is to enhance, not to usurp the family's power of unity. Except where there is an issue concerning the safety of the mother and/or child, we believe the parents should have the experiences they desire and we encourage specific parental requests regarding the birth experience.
We believe that couples must maintain full responsibility for their own health care and for the outcome of their birth. We will assist with information on nutrition, exercise and childbirth education, but you must assume the responsibility of maintaining your own excellent heath care.
"Each new life I am a part of, gives new meaning to my own."
I have so many wonderful friends on Facebook, many of whom are doulas, birth educators and mothers. The amazing thing about these woman is that we all keep each other informed. In fact, many of the stories, articles, and informational posts I put on our blog are referred to me by these wonderful women through Facebook.
So, when I saw the post about the Birth Cottage located in the Tallahassee, FL yesterday I jumped at the chance to write about this wonderful place. Can you imagine receiving your prenatal care from these midwives or giving birth is this environment? What an amazing experience it must be. However, in addition to the option of birthing in their cottage, you can also choose to birth at home with one of the midwives. Their list of services is extensive and cares not only for the baby, but the family as a whole.Services Include:
Complete Prenatal Care
Birth at the Birth Cottage
Birth at Home
Waterbirth
Labor Support
Nutritional Counseling
Parenting Information
Sibling Preparation
Breastfeeding Info
Exercise Counseling
Pregnancy Massage
Home Visits
Childbirth Classes
Lending Library
Gynecological Services
Cervical Cap Fitting
PrePregnancy Counseling
Gatherings with other Families
Many Friendly Moments
Their Philosophy:
A birth center is a homelike facility, existing within a health care system, with a program of care designed in the wellness model of pregnancy and birth. Birth Centers are guided by principles of prevention, sensitivity, safety, appropriate medical intervention, and cost effectiveness. Birth Centers provide family-centered care for healthy women, before, during and after normal pregnancy, labor and delivery.
At the Birth Cottage, we believe that childbirth is a normal and natural event which when left to nature will proceed to an uncomplicated end in most cases. We believe the midwife's job is to assist the birthing family in the journey through pregnancy, labor, and birth by monitoring that natural process. Cases involving complications, which in our judgment cannot be handled safely, will be referred to persons trained to deal with obstetrical difficulties. Anesthetics are not provided for natural births. We believe in the woman's power and ability to give birth.
We also believe that childbirth is a family centered event and that the midwife's role is to enhance, not to usurp the family's power of unity. Except where there is an issue concerning the safety of the mother and/or child, we believe the parents should have the experiences they desire and we encourage specific parental requests regarding the birth experience.
We believe that couples must maintain full responsibility for their own health care and for the outcome of their birth. We will assist with information on nutrition, exercise and childbirth education, but you must assume the responsibility of maintaining your own excellent heath care.
"Each new life I am a part of, gives new meaning to my own."
Monday, August 3, 2009
Where's The Birth Plan?
Posted by Kim
Written by Jennifer Block, found on the RH Reality Check website
Published under: Leading Voices | Maternal Health
Obama "won't rest" until he's cut health care costs and improved quality?
Over here, Mr. President, says Jennie Joseph, a certified professional midwife who runs a birth center in Winter Garden, Florida. Midwives like Joseph provide what you could call "less-is-more care."
Compared to healthy women who get standard obstetric care and deliver on high-tech labor and delivery wards, women with low-risk pregnancies who get care with a midwife and deliver in birth centers or even in their own homes, benefit from a five-fold decrease in the chance of a cesarean delivery, more success with breastfeeding, and less likelihood that their baby will be born too early or end up in intensive care. And all of this for a fraction of the cost of the status quo.
A new economic analysis forecasts savings of $9.1 billion per year if 10 percent of women planned to deliver out of hospital with midwives. (Right now, just one percent do). If America is serious about reform, midwifery advocates are saying, "Hey, how about us?"
Childbirth, in fact, costs the United States more in hospital charges than any other health condition -- $86 billion in 2006, almost half paid for by taxpayers. This high price tag -- twice as high as what most European countries spend -- buys us one of the most medicalized maternity care systems in the industrialized world. Yet we have among the worst outcomes: high rates of preterm birth, infant mortality, and maternal mortality, with huge disparities by race.
To read the rest of this article visit Jennifer Block's Blog
Written by Jennifer Block, found on the RH Reality Check website
Published under: Leading Voices | Maternal Health
Obama "won't rest" until he's cut health care costs and improved quality?Over here, Mr. President, says Jennie Joseph, a certified professional midwife who runs a birth center in Winter Garden, Florida. Midwives like Joseph provide what you could call "less-is-more care."
Compared to healthy women who get standard obstetric care and deliver on high-tech labor and delivery wards, women with low-risk pregnancies who get care with a midwife and deliver in birth centers or even in their own homes, benefit from a five-fold decrease in the chance of a cesarean delivery, more success with breastfeeding, and less likelihood that their baby will be born too early or end up in intensive care. And all of this for a fraction of the cost of the status quo.
A new economic analysis forecasts savings of $9.1 billion per year if 10 percent of women planned to deliver out of hospital with midwives. (Right now, just one percent do). If America is serious about reform, midwifery advocates are saying, "Hey, how about us?"
Childbirth, in fact, costs the United States more in hospital charges than any other health condition -- $86 billion in 2006, almost half paid for by taxpayers. This high price tag -- twice as high as what most European countries spend -- buys us one of the most medicalized maternity care systems in the industrialized world. Yet we have among the worst outcomes: high rates of preterm birth, infant mortality, and maternal mortality, with huge disparities by race.
To read the rest of this article visit Jennifer Block's Blog
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