Article on vaccines

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_waronscience

A brilliant article about vaccinations and the anti-vaccine movement.

ACOG (finally) recommends VBACs

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/health/22birth.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Yes, I know, little love for my readers recently. What can I say, I'm in full Nesting mode and tiring myself out too much to come up with coherent sentences. So here's something for you. I promise, you're not forgotten!

Pitocin Not FDA approved for elective inductions

http://www.birthroutes.com/2010/05/pitocin-not-approved-by-the-fda-for-elective-or-nonmedical-inductions-.html

I have a feeling most doctors don't want their patients to know this.

Midwives can practice in New York State again

As of last Wednesday (June 30), the New York State assembly passed a law that midwives no longer need to have practice agreements with doctors in order to deliver babies. This was vehemently apposed by ACOG (surprise, surprise), but was the right thing to do. Where I live there aren't any formal relationships between the licensed midwives that I work with and any obs. And I don't think that there needs to be. If there is an emergency, a laboring woman will go to a hospital, having a formal agreement with an ob doesn't change this at all. Anyway, I'm thrilled for all of the woman who will now have better access to midwifery care in the state.

Here is an article that has a snippet about it: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/nyregion/02albany.html?scp=1&sq=midwives%20in%20new%20york&st=cse

Yet another article advocating for midwifery care!

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/06/28/the_high_cost_of_caesareans/

You would think hospitals/ACOG might pay attention (don't hold your breath!!).

Self Magazine & natural birth

http://www.self.com/health/2010/07/birthing-plan-controversies

Stupid ACOG

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/nyregion/18midwives.html?th&emc=th

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is doing it's darnedest to prevent women from using midwives in New York state. This infuriates me beyond belief. Anyway, have a read and get annoyed, too :).

How the Health Bill Helps Pregnant Women

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/07/AR2010060703188.html

Bonus post :)

No legal home births in NYC now

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/may/14/home-births-new-york-midwives

Short-sighted gov't interference. Sigh.

More news story

Part 2 from yesterday: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/95233234.html?page=1&c=y&elr=KArksUUUycaEacyU

I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but good stuff about midwives :)

Another article about births

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/95188129.html?elr=KArksUUUycaEacyU

Just throwing it out there. It's a Part 1, so hopefully I'll remember to look up the next part :)

Drop-side cribs to be banned by end of year

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/21/AR2010052103254.html

We bought a convertible crib for #1 and I had never considered a drop-side one. Anything that has moving parts around an infant makes me nervous. I guess I was right in that worry. 32 infants have died since 2000 directly from the cribs, which can pose a strangulation or suffocation hazard. If you already have one, see if you can take it back (if it's older, it may have been recalled anyway). If you haven't bought a crib yet, then make sure to not get one with moving parts. And if you're short and are worried about being able to reach your baby, there are cribs that are lower to the ground :).

Best countries to be a mother?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/health/18glob.html?ref=health

Few surprises here: Norway is the best, Afghanistan is the worst and the US is 28th out of the 160 countries surveyed. Actually, I was surprised that we were so high. The rankings were determined based on maternal health (how many mothers died due to childbirth, but not necessarily in childbirth) and maternity benefits, amongst others. We have a ridiculously high maternal death rate in this country, partially due to the lack of prenatal healthcare for poor women. We are below all of the countries of Western Europe. We also have some of the worst maternity benefits in the world. Heck, Cuba tends to do better than we do (although the article did not mention where we are ranked in relation to Cuba) due to their support of training enough doctors. What can you do about this? Be an educated health care consumer, take care of yourself, and use a midwife instead of an ob.

More on drug recalls

http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/14/news/companies/tylenol_recall_plant_conditions/

I'm horrified by the breakdown of safety measures at Johnson & Johnson.

Just, don't

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/14/AR2010051404324.html?hpid=artslot

See above for definition of bad parenting, poor choice and one way to messed up children. (article is about a YouTube video of seven year old girls doing a highly inappropriate dance routine)

More on the Cancer Panal Report

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/opinion/06kristof.html?th&emc=th

Oregon has lowest rates of childhood obesity

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/03/AR2010050303132.html

Some promising news in the fight against obesity, and some not so. There hasn't been a proven causation as to why Oregon has a rate of only 9% (vs national 16%, and this is for obesity, it doesn't include just the overweight) but they think that one factor may be that the state has a high rate of breastfeeding. Oregon also has the best employer laws: women who are breastfeeding are entitled to pumping breaks (this was before the Health Care bill was signed) and I want to say that they're paid breaks, too. Other factors may be that they require chain restaurants to post nutritional information (also in health bill), and it is more of an outdoorsy state (ie: more physical activity). Unfortunately, what might be the biggest contributing factor is that the state is 90% white, and minorities tend to have higher rates of obesity.

What I'll take from the survey is that there are several things that have passed in the national health care bill that Oregon was already doing, so hopefully that might help a bit on a national scale. (The other thing that might help is to make everyone across the country food snobs that want fresh food from local sources, which is pretty prevalent all through the Pacific Northwest.)

More on C-sections

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/health/24birth.html?ref=health

Yet another study has come out sounding the alarm of the ridiculously high rate of C-sections in this country. Unfortunately, the article barely talks about ways to prevent this (such as not having an induction), although it mentions some of the contributing factors (fear of malpractice suits being the big one).

A really important way to help prevent an unnecessary C-section is to check out the rates of your ob and hospital (if that's the route you're going, the best way, of course, if you are low-risk, is to have a midwife). If either or both of them have higher rates (30%+) then you need to discuss this, in depth, with your ob. Which, if you have a good practice, you should be doing anyway. Other ways are to try and avoid an induction and having a natural childbirth. Every time there is an intervention, it can lead to more. And stay at home as long as possible, the less time that you're in the hospital, the less time there is for interventions! (just don't wait until you feel the urge to push :) )

Model Hospital?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/health/07birth.html?th&emc=th

In this morning's NYTimes an article about a hospital on a Navajo reservation that has low C-section rates, high VBAC rates and high use of midwives. Great story highlighting some of the problems with the birth industry.