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I watched the Dr. Phil spinoff show “The Doctors” on 9/10 b/c it was an episode on hospital vs. homebirth. What a sham that show was! First off, the format of the program does not allow sufficient time to explore any topic in any real depth - you get sound bites and brief video segments in between commercials. Second, they never intended to lay out all options, they wanted to use the invited couple to sensationalize homebirth and scare people for ratings. Third, some gross misinformation was presented.
continue reading "“The Doctors” TV show - a disservice to women"

birth, birth center, childbirth, Dr. James Sears, Dr. Jim Sears, Dr. Phil, Dr. Sears, home birth, homebirth, midwife, midwifery, midwives, natural birth, natural childbirth, pregnancy, The Doctors, unmedicated birth, unmedicated childbirth

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My brain’s a little fried tonight so I thought I’d post on something arcane though it’s the wrap-up of a couple earlier posts. I had minor surgery to fix an umbilical hernia a year ago, and I thought I’d show off my barely-noticeable scar. I just can’t get over how good my belly button looks. I took this photo w/my camera phone about 2 months ago, but this has been how it looked since about a month post-op:

belly button, hernia, navel, scar, surgery, umbilical hernia

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I am an enthusiastic supporter of homebirth and natural (unmedicated) childbirth. However, I don’t consider myself a militant for the cause
continue reading "The Fight for Normal Birth Wages On (Part 2)"

birth, birth center, certified nurse midwife, certified professional midwife, childbirth, CNM, CPM, direct entry midwife, home birth, homebirth, midwife, midwifery, midwives, nurse midwife, pregnancy, twins

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Quoted below is the response issued today by ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network) to the recent policy statements released by the American Association of Birth Centers and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists regarding VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) and alternative birthing options such as homebirth. The ACOG made their annual diatribe against homebirth and midwife-only attended births, and the AABC issued a statement re: VBAC that seems noncommittal at best and capitulating to the ACOG at worst. ICAN’s response has links to the recent AABC and ACOG statements at the end. Since this posting is long, I’ll opine on all this in the next post.

ICAN’s Response to ACOG AND AABC Statements on VBAC and Homebirth

Redondo Beach, CA, February 7, 2007: The International Cesarean Awareness Network (www.ican-online.org) would like to publicly condemn both the AABC (American Association of Birth Centers) and the ACOG (The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) for their statements* this week that limit not only women’s choices in birth but imply that birth is a fashion trend rather than a safety concern.

Since VBAC is the biological normal outcome of a pregnancy after cesarean, ICAN encourages women to get all of the facts about vaginal birth and elective repeat cesarean before making a choice. This decision should not include weighing the choices of your doctor’s malpractice payments but only be a concern of the mother, her baby and their health and safety.

Since some mothers will make the choice to give birth outside of the hospital, we encourage the AABC to not cave into ACOG’s demands that all women give birth in a hospital facility with a surgical specialist, but instead allow women to make their own choices about care providers, birth settings and risk factors. ICAN respects the intelligence of modern women and accepts that the amount of information available about VBAC and elective cesarean should serve as informed consent.

ICAN further encourages the governments of individual states to look closely at their cesarean rates (31.1% national cesarean rate as of 2006) and the informed consent laws that apply and help women to reach a standard of care that lowers the risks of major surgery and the risks of elective or coerced cesarean without medical indication. Women and children should not bear the brunt of malpractice risks being conveyed into physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health risks in order to protect their physicians.

Mission statement: ICAN is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve maternal-child health by preventing unnecessary cesareans through education, providing support for cesarean recovery and promoting vaginal birth after cesarean. There are more than 94 ICAN Chapters across North America, which hold educational and support meetings for people interested in cesarean prevention and recovery.

* AABC statement: http://www.birthcenters.org/files/file.php?id=2&file=file&file_type=file_type

ACOG statement: http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr02-06-08-2.cfm

ACOG, birth, birth center, certified nurse midwife, certified professional midwife, childbirth, CNM, CPM, direct entry midwife, home birth, homebirth, ICAN, International Cesarean Awareness Network, midwife, midwifery, midwives, nurse midwife, vaginal birth after cesarean, VBAC

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Well, I haven’t gotten laser eye surgery yet. I had the procedure scheduled for Dec. 13 and went to my final eye exam on Dec. 10 and after it was all done the Dr. told me he was concerned about my right eye. The cornea is a little thin, still within normal limits but on the borderline to keratoconus, a condition where the cornea is thinned out around the sides and raised up in the middle (cone-shaped). That means I shouldn’t get LASIK, which creates a flap and carries a risk of greater corneal deterioration, but I would still be a good candidate for PRK (all laser no flap). However, I also have a tiny scar on the right cornea, which means even more needs to be lasered off, and even though the Dr. said he’s done laser correction on worse, he said he’d probably need to undercorrect a bit and there was a possibility I’d still need to wear a gas-permeable (rigid) contact lens in that eye when all was said and done. Not a huge possibility, but more than the average, and I was given the option to get all my money immediately refunded and wait or get another opinion. So I put it off and got my money back. I came very close to just going ahead, but so close to the Chritsmas holiday was not really a good time to be recovering from eye surgery anyway (and PRK recovery can sometimes take months for you to see straight) and if it didn’t go as well as planned, well, Christmas was just a really bad time. Not to mention the financial setback. So I’m taking some time to really be ready, after doing more research it seems the Dr. was really just realistically setting my expectations (not to mention covering his @$$) and I was a little too enthusiastic at the time.

On a different note, I still haven’t gotten around to taking the Christmas tree down, nor have I taken a pic yet. I’m hoping to take it down in the next day or two, and I’ll snap a pic to post just before I do.

Christmas, laser vision correction, LASIK, PRK

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Sorry, I’ve been busy at home with stuff and putting more items on eBay. I’ve also been down a lot with migraines the last couple of weeks (almost every day until I had the MOTHER of all migraines Saturday) and I’ve finally got a reprieve the last couple of days which I PRAY will last.

I’ve lost a total of 16-1/2 lbs so far. Progress is slow, but it’s still progress! My husband has lost 31 lbs!

Tomorrow I’m going to the eye doctor to get evaluated for laser vision correction. I was going to get it done 3 yrs ago but I found out I was pregnant with Joshua, then got pregnant almost right away with the twins, and I’ve finally gotten the chance to see about it again. I’ve worn glasses since I was barely 6 yrs old for muscle weakness and I’ve been nearsighted since I was 10. Since my late twenties I’ve had some astigmatism. Glasses don’t correct my vision 100% anymore, and after practically a lifetime of wearing glasses I don’t see laser vision correction as “cosmetic.” In my next post I’ll let you know how my visit went.

eBay, headache, laser vision correction, LASIK, migraine, PRK, weight loss

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I’m happy to report the surgery was a piece of cake!
continue reading "Contemplating my navel, part 2"

hernia, surgery, umbilical hernia

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What’s on my mind right now? How about, hmmm, my navel! My navel was “coming out” like the song in the Levi’s low-rise commercial a few years ago proclaimed. I had a lovely little umbilical hernia that popped out on the bottom edge of my heretofore nearly perfect innie button in May of last year while I was 17wks preggo with my twin girls (didn’t know I was carrying twins yet, but I was certainly showing a few weeks larger by then). I was told it was nothing to worry about at the time and I could get it repaired if I wished after giving birth.

Fast forward to May of this year.
continue reading "Contemplating my navel, part 1"

hernia, pregnancy, surgery, twins, umbilical hernia

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