November, 2008

There’s a buzz around homebirth these days. Ricki Lake’s "Business of Being Born" has inspired a slew of expectant New York mamas to consider homebirth to welcome their babies into the world. A recent New York Times article entitled, "Baby, You’re Home" examines this growing trend. Written by Julie Scelfo, the article chronicles the experiences of several women who opted for homebirths. "Baby, You’re Home" details some of the logistics surrounding homebirth and addresses the fears and concerns of expectant moms.

NY midwives are surprised by all of the calls they’ve been getting. Those who have home-birth-only practices say they have received so many requests in recent months that they’ve had to refer pregnant women to midwives in Rockland County, Long Island, and New Jersey. However, what is even more surprising to them is that the increasing numbers are not so much coming from the “dyed-in-the-wool back-to-nature types or typical religious fundamentalists, but from professionals like lawyers and bankers.”

This article is a great read!

- Deanna

One of my areas of interest within childbirth education is about the importance of birth as an experience. All too often women's plans for beautiful births are dismissed with comments such as, "all that really matters is a healthy baby," or "birth is just one day in a woman's life." I believe that giving birth is a transformative experience that has value in and of itself. Recently, I read the textbook Childbirth Education: Practice, Research, & Theory cover to cover. In it, the concept of birth as a peak, or "flow" experience is addressed several times.

"The joy and personal growth that can result from successfully meeting challenging experiences has been described as 'flow experiences'...such experiences are generally better understood in athletics than in childbirth because the public understands athletic events to be character building and an effort or a struggle that requires skill, practice, and concentration and is not without pain. As such, athletic accomplishments are widely recognized for both the product and process...Society focuses the celebration of birth almost totally on the product--the baby--and is rather neutral about the process as long as the mother emerges healthy."

The book also shares the research that when mothers were interviewed postpartum who had had epidurals, their comments following birth focused almost totally on the baby. Women who had relied on relaxation and other non-pharmaceutical coping methods talked about the baby AND about the emotional and psychological benefits of their birth experiences. Women in both groups expressed satisfaction with their birth experiences, but for those in the epidural group "the element of personal accomplishment or mastery was missing in their comments."

The Clinical Bulletin from the American College of Nurse Midwives released May 19, 2008, states that, "Drinking and eating during labor can provide women with the energy they need and should not be routinely restricted."

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