Someone else in a health chat I frequent posted about depression during pregnancy and it reinforced my thoughts on the internet being a godsend for connecting people in a way we have lost in the last century.
Historically women have gathered around other women as they grew and raised their children passing along knowledge and expertise, unwanted and wanted advice, and support. We live in a time where that just isn't done. We are expected to trust the "experts" like our pediatrician and even to just go along with the mainstream view perpetuated by TV and other outside sources.
I was lucky to birth in a place where we also held weekly mothering meetings and in those first months of motherhood I had a wonderful group of women walking with me and a leader who had walked the road before passing on her experience to trust.
Between my kids the center closed and I moved so I was sad that I didn't have that hand holding from a group of women when I got pregnant with my son. I found in my search for a more informed researched pregnancy and childrearing my OWN community of mothers online. We feel similarly in so many areas even though we completely disagree about other things our parenting passions keep us close.
When Post partum mood disorders hit on the site we often see it coming and are ready with a shoulder to cry on, a kind work of advice and often a phone call. We can't be there physically, but we lend support emotionally and help the woman afflicted work out what she is feeling by giving her a place to pour it out to sympathetic ears (or eyes really), and brainstorm with her ways to combat it.
It is also a wonderfully informed group of women who can tell you what to think about or try when considering birth options, breastfeeding, circumcision, night time parenting... a plethora of of issues we as mothers face daily.
I have been a member of this community for 4 years and it has changed my life. I have learned more because I have been asked more questions, and I have been able to help others in their times of need as well. We may not be able to hug each other in person, but the virtual arm around the shoulder goes a long way!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
My letter to the Surgeon General
This is not the final draft and I will be making it into a letter to senators and others as well as making a "form letter" for others to send to their political representatives and others who can DO something. Thanks Dr. Archelle!!! And Cathy for editing for me.
Dr. Benjamin,
Congratulations on your appointment. Your long experience helping those without access to medical care at personal cost and your focus on preventative medicine are hopeful signs in a country struggling to find ways to provide quality care for all citizens.
One major turning point in preventative health care for women is at pregnancy and birth. The choices made during that time shape the path the entire family takes for the foreseeable future. In the last century, however, while many obstetric developments have had huge benefits for women, our medical system now seems focused on treating pregnancy and birth as diseases to be fixed instead of natural processes to be nurtured with holistic care.
Our cesarean section rate (well over 30% and increasing every year) in the United States is well over the World Health Organization recommendations of 5-15%, and our nation rates a deplorable 42nd in maternal mortality rates as well as having higher infant mortality rates than other developed nations. These things are not unrelated.
We are not somehow a genetically flawed society of women. In my experience as a friend, confidante, and sometime educator to hundreds of mothers and mothers-to-be, women simply do not understand the increased risks of c-sections to themselves and their babies. They aren't informed that each following section increases their health risks which is almost inevitable after the first, because insurance companies allow so few hospitals and doctors to offer Vaginal Birth after Cesarean (VBAC) now, or the effect it has on future fertility and other problems. It doesn't help that certain medical professionals are actively encouraging "convenience" sections and flat-out lying about the relative risks when compared to vaginal birth.
Women who make a considered choice to birth vaginally (even if they end up with a medically necessary cesarean) are more likely to breastfeed, which leads to better health and nutrition for the child later in life as well, reducing the chances of childhood obesity. Those early informed choices empower mothers to educate themselves about health care choices for their entire families, raising children more likely to make informed choices as well.
There are many reasons for the problem, but the cure is widespread evidence-based education about birth choices that encourage women to take an active role in their care. We should be helping them research the hospital, doctor, or midwife who will help them safely achieve the kind of birth they want by requiring accurate reporting on individual practitioner and hospital rates of cesareans, VBACs, inductions, and clear communications of the benefits and risks of those and other options. Existing programs like WIC that have contact with pregnant women can be quickly utilized to disseminate correct, accessible information to the targeted population.
I loved discovering your emphasis on dignity for the patients in your Alabama clinic. It is a lack of dignity and respect for women's bodies and choices, as well as fear exaggerated by the media and our disconnect from family that is leading to an unsafe reliance on surgery over prevention of complications in a natural process. We should remind women that we as a species would not exist if most women were not able to birth without surgery or any intervention.
Please take on the cause of reducing the maternal and infant death rates by advocating a lower cesarean section rate and increasing breastfeeding rates. By starting here we can empower a citizenry more involved in their health choices and thereby more likely to make the healthier choices.
Dr. Benjamin,
Congratulations on your appointment. Your long experience helping those without access to medical care at personal cost and your focus on preventative medicine are hopeful signs in a country struggling to find ways to provide quality care for all citizens.
One major turning point in preventative health care for women is at pregnancy and birth. The choices made during that time shape the path the entire family takes for the foreseeable future. In the last century, however, while many obstetric developments have had huge benefits for women, our medical system now seems focused on treating pregnancy and birth as diseases to be fixed instead of natural processes to be nurtured with holistic care.
Our cesarean section rate (well over 30% and increasing every year) in the United States is well over the World Health Organization recommendations of 5-15%, and our nation rates a deplorable 42nd in maternal mortality rates as well as having higher infant mortality rates than other developed nations. These things are not unrelated.
We are not somehow a genetically flawed society of women. In my experience as a friend, confidante, and sometime educator to hundreds of mothers and mothers-to-be, women simply do not understand the increased risks of c-sections to themselves and their babies. They aren't informed that each following section increases their health risks which is almost inevitable after the first, because insurance companies allow so few hospitals and doctors to offer Vaginal Birth after Cesarean (VBAC) now, or the effect it has on future fertility and other problems. It doesn't help that certain medical professionals are actively encouraging "convenience" sections and flat-out lying about the relative risks when compared to vaginal birth.
Women who make a considered choice to birth vaginally (even if they end up with a medically necessary cesarean) are more likely to breastfeed, which leads to better health and nutrition for the child later in life as well, reducing the chances of childhood obesity. Those early informed choices empower mothers to educate themselves about health care choices for their entire families, raising children more likely to make informed choices as well.
There are many reasons for the problem, but the cure is widespread evidence-based education about birth choices that encourage women to take an active role in their care. We should be helping them research the hospital, doctor, or midwife who will help them safely achieve the kind of birth they want by requiring accurate reporting on individual practitioner and hospital rates of cesareans, VBACs, inductions, and clear communications of the benefits and risks of those and other options. Existing programs like WIC that have contact with pregnant women can be quickly utilized to disseminate correct, accessible information to the targeted population.
I loved discovering your emphasis on dignity for the patients in your Alabama clinic. It is a lack of dignity and respect for women's bodies and choices, as well as fear exaggerated by the media and our disconnect from family that is leading to an unsafe reliance on surgery over prevention of complications in a natural process. We should remind women that we as a species would not exist if most women were not able to birth without surgery or any intervention.
Please take on the cause of reducing the maternal and infant death rates by advocating a lower cesarean section rate and increasing breastfeeding rates. By starting here we can empower a citizenry more involved in their health choices and thereby more likely to make the healthier choices.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Long time coming
Ok, So life has been busy since May. Summer was a little long. And the fall brought us a surgery and lots of excitement. Winter vacation was the BEST. My now 8 year old had a blast. We bit the bullet and finally bought her an American Girl Doll.
Today's thought of the day was inspired by my favorite TV Doctor. Dr. Archelle Georgiou. http://archelleonhealth.blogspot.com/ She brought up the troubling c-section rates in the US and discussed it honestly if briefly on Fox 9 yesterday.
I was chatting a little with her today and she encouraged me to contact the new Surgeon General about my concerns and robust feelings about this problem. Now I need to think and draw up a letter I think. I still feel very much like, who is going to listen to ME? If I never try NO ONE! I will update the blog with the letter when it is finished.
Wish me luck at being able to couch it in terms that will get through the brains of her front people and get to her.
Today's thought of the day was inspired by my favorite TV Doctor. Dr. Archelle Georgiou. http://archelleonhealth.blogspot.com/ She brought up the troubling c-section rates in the US and discussed it honestly if briefly on Fox 9 yesterday.
I was chatting a little with her today and she encouraged me to contact the new Surgeon General about my concerns and robust feelings about this problem. Now I need to think and draw up a letter I think. I still feel very much like, who is going to listen to ME? If I never try NO ONE! I will update the blog with the letter when it is finished.
Wish me luck at being able to couch it in terms that will get through the brains of her front people and get to her.
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