Category: birth
-
Comments On Maternal Request Cesareans
A couple of days ago, the charity Birthrights published a report into maternal request cesareans. It found that 75% of UK maternity units were going against NICE guidelines and refusing women this option for giving birth to their babies. The story was covered by TV and online news, including this piece by Rebecca Schiller from…
-
Consent
Is it consent if you don’t really want to, but you say ok anyway. Because it doesn’t seem worth the argument, and you don’t want to piss off the person who’s asking? If you make a thought out choice to agree to a big thing, can it be assumed you also consent to something lesser…
-
Getting Involved Offline – The National Maternity and Perinatal Audit
I’ve set myself a few challenges for this, my third (and final) round of maternity leave. With my older two children at school and a severely diminished interest in group singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, I’m doing things a bit differently. I’ve ditched (most of) the baby groups. Instead, I’ve been looking for opportunities to get…
-
Better Postnatal Care
Our new baby, MissA is here. When I’m a bit less sleep deprived I’ll write more about her but for the moment I want to share an old post. The Mumsnet Better Postnatal Care Campaign began not long before MissA was born, when the subject was very much on my mind. Even when facing a…
-
Thinking About Birth, Third Time Around
I’ve been awaiting the invention of fetal teleportation for more than seven years now. I mean seriously world, I can instantly access all of human knowledge, every pop song ever recorded and eleventy zillion cat videos all from this slab of metal on my lap. But when it comes to the seemingly minor task of…
-
The Real Magic Of Pregnancy
I heard something wonderful last week. It came from a pregnancy* exercise teacher at a class I had just joined: “This exercise might be good for the birth, I mean *knowing laugh* it won’t stop it hurting of course, but it might be useful” Embed from Getty Images //embed.gettyimages.com/embed/462946585?et=oGUQF9ltTMtO0rYnENBe5A&viewMoreLink=off&sig=rpTV9ysvT9lS_iMEY6HYnQCCYGXJY4XczEq4tQVJTZc=&caption=true It seems like a pretty minor…
-
Caesareans May Be Altering Human Evolution. But Not Much, And I Don’t Care.
According to reports on the BBC (and elsewhere) today, the number of women having C sections is causing our species to evolve bigger heads and / or smaller pelvises and so we are becoming less able to give birth without surgical help. The Miami Herald got particularly upset declaring: “C-Sections Are Increasing Because We’re Messing…
-
Silencing Negative Birth Stories
Silencing negative birth stories only helps to create more, robs women of their voice and treats us like delicate snowflakes who can’t be trusted with the truth. Remind me again what century this is? Keep Quiet and Carry On That seemed to be the message on twitter recently, from a senior midwife to women who’ve…
-
The National Maternity Review – What Does Choice Mean?
The NHS National Maternity Review has called for women to have more choice and greater continuity in their maternity care – yet it was very quiet on some of the choices many women want or need. So what does choice really mean for pregnant women and will the options recommended in the review ever be…
-
Acupuncture For All – On the NHS?
I was really disappointed to read this article today in the Guardian, The general gist is that some doctors think acupuncture works and should be available on the NHS with all doctors learning at least a little about it in training and midwives being trained to administer it to ease labour pain. According to the…
southwarkbelle.com 