December, 2008

Urgent Health Care Discussion

Health care is a top priority for President-elect Obama and for Senator Tom Daschle, Secretary-designate for Health and Human Services (HHS). They both are committed to health care reform that comes from the ground up -- that's why this holiday season, they're asking childbirth professionals to give the gift of your ideas and input.

Sign up to lead a Health Care Community Discussion at a birth center in your area, your home, or even a local coffee shop, anytime until December 31st.

Contest to Challenge View of Childbirth

National Advocates for Pregnant Women seeks entries written by law students addressing the question of what statutory, constitutional, and/or human rights arguments can be made to challenge the trend of banning pregnant women from having a vaginal birth after a cesarean section (VBAC), among other controversial issues facing childbearing women today. The winner receives $1,000.

2009 Healthy Birth Guide

Choices in Childbirth has a free Healthy Birth booklet available to the public with valuable resources and evidence-based information. It includes articles that provide empowering tips preparing women for childbirth. Download the 2009 Healthy Birth guide and see the beautiful picture of two week old Olive with her mother Sara and read the poem next to her photo (page 23).

Fathers at Birth

Just learned about an exciting new book called Fathers at Birth and wanted to share a link to the website (www.fathersatbirth.com). As a childbirth educator, I have a special interest in how to truly prepare fathers for birth and so I'm really looking forward to picking up new ideas and resources from this book. In the introduction to the book the author shares a typical "taxicab delivery story" in which an unprepared taxicab driver is called upon to assist a woman giving birth in the back seat en route to the hospital (no one's ideal birth scenario!). The author says:

"Just like the driver, an expectant father is already equipped to attend his partner during childbirth (emphasis mine); the secret is switching modes. The driver has to shift out of his angst and habitual way of thinking so he can see and respond to the situation as it is. Not how he wants it to be. He has to show up and play it as it lays."

--Molly Remer

Birth & Sex

While often separated or compartmentalized mentally, giving birth is part of a woman's sexual life cycle. Indeed, an effective analogy is sometimes made between birth experiences and sexual experiences. The same things that contribute to feeling safe in a sexual encounter also apply to feeling safe in a birth environment--i.e. most people would not be able to comfortably "perform" sexually in a hospital, on an elevated surface, surrounded by strangers, with bright lights shining on them, and with people "coaching" their performance. So to it can be difficult for women to relax and feel comfortable enough in a hospital setting to release their inhibitions, let their bodies take over, and do what needs to be done to give birth to their babies. Birth--like sex--is an intensely physical process, the flow of which is also strongly influenced by the mind and emotions (and which can be disturbed or disrupted by outside interruptions or interference).

Some time ago, I read an article called Industrial Childbirth in Adbusters magazine (an unexpected place to find a birth article, I thought!). This author draws another effective parallel between sex and birth:

"Our collective idea of childbirth is pretty nasty – blood and fluid, panting and screaming, stretched anatomy, the emergent gooey greyish-purple alien...horrible! Remember when you first heard about sex? Remember how horrible that seemed? But sex isn’t horrible, is it? What’s missing...is the emotional element (emphasis mine). Sex is a natural and beautiful process, all entangled with love and passion. So too, and a million times more, is birth...But childbirth is not a medical procedure any more than sex is."

While then explaining that she isn't saying women who all have pain-free, blissful, complication-free births, she goes on to discuss fear.

ICEA Posters on PowerPoint

The posters that the ICEA Bookcenter have traditionally sold are now available for use with PowerPoint. All ICEA members receive a discount. ICEA is committed to providing members with updated teaching materials. If you would like to serve on the Revision Committee email us at info@icea.org.

December 2008 Journal

The Way I Teach, December 2008 issue, of the International Journal of Childbirth Education should be arriving to members before the holidays. From the ICEA website you can listen to the podcast Pleasure in Birth for contact hours, locate contact hours and workshops, download handouts, and print out the B.E.S.T. certificate honoring all you accomplished in 2008. Enjoy the holidays!