Announcing Our Facebook Giveaway Winner

Thank you to everyone who shared our contest on Facebook! We agreed that when there were 25 total "shares" we'd give away a basic BINSI skirt of your choice!

We held a random drawing and "Encourage. Empower. Educate" is our winner! Thank you for your entry. Please contact Maile to claim your prize. You can email her at mailehager at yahoo dot com.

You can check out their entry at https://www.facebook.com/Encourage.Empower.Educate.

Disclosure:

• BINSI gives a complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant in this contest.
• BINSI acknowledges that this promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.
• Participants are providing information to BINSI and not to Facebook.

Trying to Take Back Childbirth

A Note From Carri:

It is very scary that fewer and fewer doctors are getting training and experience in natural childbirth. It only widens the gap between natural and medical childbirth, and I think is a huge disservice to women. I live in a very open and natural birthing community, but I know that is not true everywhere. I had to seek medical care for my daughter in upstate New York and I thought the doctor was going to call child services because I gave birth to my daughter at home and was not on schedule for all of my vaccinations. I couldn't wait to get home and near the doctors that I trust, and allow me (without condemnation) to do what I believe is best for myself and my children. I am inspired whenever I hear of women going outside the box and birthing the way that is best for them. It takes incredible amounts of power and confidence, and you ladies pave the way for many more women in the future!

By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
July 28, 2008

Pregnant with her first child, Julie Speier prepared to deliver with the help of a midwife at a New York City birthing center. But in June -- three weeks before the due date and 600 miles from home -- her water broke.

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A Tale of Two Births: The Baby-Friendly Rap

Wait! Don’t Wash That Newborn!

Posted by Jennifer Azzariti

Do you ever watch a television show where a baby is born and laugh as they hand the new mom a clean, approximately 8-week old baby? Most people are well-aware that babies are born with a slimy mucus-like covering on them. For years, I just assumed it was from being inside the mom’s uterus—leftover amniotic fluid or something that surrounded the baby while in the uterus. Well, it has a name—vernix. And by definition, it’s “a white cheeselike protective material that covers the skin of a fetus.” But, what is it, and why do babies have it?

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5 Ways to Get Through a Long Labor

By Robin Elise Weiss, LCCE, About.com Guide

While the average length of a first labor is typically 12-18 hours, not including inductions, there are labors that last longer. Some labors last longer because of physical issues, the baby moving into a better position, mom’s body opening. Other labors are longer because of emotional issues like fear of your surroundings or of becoming a parent, or that your husband won’t make it on time. These can be very real things. For the women who have to deal with lengthy labors, it sounds like it’s a lot of pain. Though having had six labors of my own, I’ve had a wide variety of times: (in order) 36 hours, 45 hours, 8 hours, 11 hours, 4 hours, 2-3 hours, and 45 hours. The easiest labor was actually my 45 hour labor. The reason? Because I managed my labor well. And I’ve also seen it happen many other times in my time as a doula. So here are tips on making the most of a longer labor.

To read the rest of this wonderful article click here.

Is a Painful Childbirth all in Your Head?

This is a question that is massively poignant to me, and isn't one that I ask lightly. Seasoned medical professionals and women who have experienced painful births are no doubt baring their teeth. Whilst I don't wish to trample on their experience, I am due to give birth in six weeks and I'm hoping that the title to this piece may be truer than we are currently able to anticipate.

To read the rest of this article click here.

A Home for Births

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.