Birth Matters!

BIRTH MATTERS!

 

Why should it matter how a woman gives birth, where she gives birth, who's her care provider, what tests are administered, how her overall health is? And on and on... Why should these things matter? They matter not only for the outcome of a healthy mom and baby, but also the experience, the psychological imprint that is left on the mother and baby that have lasting affects on the lives of both, including the Father.

Have we ever considered the way a woman gives birth leads to the behavioral, emotional, and mental outcomes of our society. How a woman feels, thinks, and acts during her pregnancy has an outstanding affect on the future development of her baby; whom will one day be an adult. Will this individual be an exceptional addition or a destructive delinquent?

 

 

 

 

  

 

It is obvious the world we live in is based on a patriarchal demeanor, where (some) men have made themselves 'the authority' rather 'the protectors'. And this wouldn't be so bad if they didn't have their nose where it didn't belong, literally. (European) Male dominance is the reason for birth taking the turn it has within the last century. This is my opinion based on research, you can agree or disagree. Take or leave it, love it or hate it!!! If our mothers, grandmothers, sisters hadn't been given a backseat to these men in their need for power, Midwives and other birth attendants would never have decreased in number. The care of women would have remained with the ones who share the same makeup and understanding. Don't get me wrong, some men are very caring providers, but the majority seem to be in it for the paper and power!

 

 

With female attendees there was no need for 'twilight sleep', restraints, pathology of pregnancy, birth injuries due to forced extraction, fetal monitoring, etc; they understand the female body and birthing process.

 NO!

 

Birth is and always has been a natural process of the procreation of our species. Of course, things happen unexpectedly in birth. It is a time of great transformation within the female body. Can we focus on the positive, having a healthy pregnancy and birth and address the pressing issues as they arrive, not the other way around; because who's to say that a problem will surface? Only the essence of nature itself knows that. Pregnancy and birth is a natural occurrence that SOMETIMES requires medical attention.

 

 

 

 

 

How you birth matters. It matters to the mother, the baby, and the future of our society. Let's bring awareness, education, and reform to pregnancy and birth.

 

JOIN THE NATIONWIDE RALLY TO IMPROVE BIRTH on September 2, 2013.

Visit http://www.improvingbirth.org/

 

 Our future generations are counting on us to make the change NOW!

What will you do to help improve birth?

 

 

"I Thought I was Dying!" A Mom's Daunting Nightmare

My baby was only a couple of months old and I started to feel like I had the flu and my left side from my breast down was so sore. I couldn't hardly eat, sleep, or rest well. Not to mention my left breast was starting to swell and become painful to touch with anything.
 

I was beginning to get so sick that I could barely lift my child, and what scared me the most was, it happened FAST, over a few days!
 

Being a new mother, I was not sure what was wrong, asking my mother had she experienced it wasn't a help either because she hadn't experienced this ailment either with my sister or myself as babies. So, we called the doctor and I was told to come in for a checkup.
 

Once there, the doctor smiled after checking me and told me that I had Mastitis. Scared to death, I asked a million questions at once. Bottom line, I wanted to know how did I get it and was it killing me! 
 

My doctor laughed and told me it was not killing me, that it was backed up milk in my breasts milk ducts and luckily there was no infection. 
 

By this time my left breast had swollen so big that none of my tops fit properly and I looked strange to say the least.
 

So how did I get rid of this swollen milk blocked breast? Simple, apply some warm compresses to it and breast feed from it. I thought my doctor was crazy! I was sure he was wrong, but he assured me that all I had to do was just that and I would be fine, and that my breast would go back to normal size. But he warned me that because it was blocked up, that there would be a lot of milk coming out initially, so to have plenty of bottles beside me to fill up first and then breast feed my daughter when most of the milk was unblocked. 
 

Now that I knew I wasn't deathly ill, I asked how did I get this "mastitis"? The answer was so simple, I had to laugh at myself. The doctor asked me what side did I feed from the most. I only fed from the right side! That was my problem. I didn't know that I was supposed to breastfeed from both sides each time I fed my baby. Now that I knew the right way to breast feed, I was given pain and inflammation instructions to help the breast to relax and release the milk easily and a quick stop to purchase more bottles and home I went to pump and feed like the milk factory I had become.
 

Mastitis or "milk stasis" is something that mothers should be aware of. It can be caused by not properly feeding or by not properly caring for the breast and/or nipples. I was lucky that there were no other causes to my ailment, because there could have been. But to those who are mothers for the first time, make sure you know the proper way to feed including the proper way to care for your breast and nipples because it's important to your health and your baby's health as well. Not to mention, you don't want to go through anything near what I went through or worse!
 

Breastfeeding is such a beautiful experience and it creates a unique bond between you and your child that will never go away.
 

I know life can be busy for many moms today, but remember moms, take care of yourself, especially those breasts, it provides Nature's BEST food and immune builder for those little angels we create. 
 

For more information on Mastitis (Milk Stasis) you can view the link below or do some research on your own.
http://www.babycenter.com/0_mastitis_251.bc
 

Happy bonding,

Christina Leslie

Breastfeeding Peer Counselor

"Clever Poppycock" a.k.a. Intellectual Nonsense

This post is dedicated to all the nonbelievers, naysayers, doubters, the unfaithful minds that create in women a sense of uncertainty in her ability to give birth the way nature intended. I know, I know there are already so many, articles, blogs, books, etc on the topics of birth, pregnancy, and women, but I haven't given my thoughts yet....

Clever poppycock is the ingenious nonsense, babble that has been fed to women over generations by "the authorities that be" on how we should be delivering our babies, "OUR BABIES". From my understanding, me and the man I chose created this being so how is it that my "careprovider" decides how, when, and where I have MY BABY.  

Let me tell you a longer then short story...A 25 year old woman becomes pregnant with her first child (yes, ME). Everything seems to go well, she's seeing a Midwife (of the Caucasian race AND we are already worlds apart). At 28 weeks this young woman is diagnosed with pre-eclampsia (a collection of symptoms that leads to not so great circumstances). Fast forward, she is pumped with drugs and weeks later a cesarean operation is performed due to "fetal distress". Keep in mind this young lady is CLUELESS and following doctor's orders, all the while with a million unanswered questions in her mind that she is too afraid to ask or just doesn't know she can ask. A nightmare of perplexed, misguided fortune. How the tables could have turned if she stood her ground to ask ONE question from the very beginning, "What will be the course of treatment and what are my options?" How simple is that, but if you don't know you can ask questions, you most certainly will not get answers. This may not go for all careproviders, but I see the vast majority is not interested in you telling them how you will be treated. We all know the saying "Its my way or the highway" and what type of customer service is that. I thought the customer is always right? I guess not when you are having a baby, they already know whats best and you know NOTHING.

To shorten this story, this same young lady armed herself with knowledge and went on to give birth to 3 more children vaginally (1 hospital and 2 home births), something that is still to do this day some say shouldn't be done. The coined phrase "Once a cesarean, always a cesarean" by OB/Gyn Edwin Craig, should be thrown to the cosmos and forgotten FOREVER! Now there are some cases who may need a repeat cesarean but this is not the case for everyone. Just as most women do not need to have their baby in a hospital setting because we think its "safer". Hospitals are places where sick people go, supposedly to get better. It is not a place for pregnant women. YOU ARE NOT SICK. Hence the clever poppycock of it all that we have fallen into for decades. I just have one question, "Before there were hospitals, where do you think women gave birth and who attended them?" If you don't know, do some research. Plain and Simple.

We must educate ourselves not only for the future of our descendants, but so we can take a stand now before our decision to birth the way we want is made obsolete...that should be frightening. Tell those clever poppycocks (careproviders, friends, and family)no more of your getting in between my sheets, my cervix, my breastmilk! I can have the birth of my dreams and it doesn't have to be in a hospital, painful, and drugged up! Say it loud, BIRTHING MY WAY! GET OUT OF THE WAY YOU CLEVER POPPYCOCK!