Research and resources for perinatal professionals.
February 20, 2020 | by: Cara Terreri, LCCE
We want to highlight a handful of the great blogs out there for and by Black mothers/parents and families. These blogs provide helpful resources, informative and relevant voices, and a welcome blend of humor, wisdom, and compassion. The blogs listed below are focused on women and may feel exclusive to other parents. If you have any recommendations that are more diverse, please include them in the comments below.
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February 13, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
It seems that in the United States and in many other countries, society seems to have forgotten how truly difficult the transition to parenthood can be for many new parents. All bodies are physically recovering. One in three birthing people are recovering from major abdominal surgery. Emotional states are fragile. Everyone is sleep deprived. One in four people describe their births as traumatic. One in seven birthing people are dealing with a postpartum mood disorder. One in four people must return to work within two weeks of giving birth. Challenging and difficult is an understatement.
February 11, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
The National Child and Maternal Health Education Program, a division of the NIH Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has updated their website to include a more robust section for pregnant people who are obese or “plus-sized.” They also have website space dedicated to health care providers who offer services to larger sized people who are pregnant or are considering becoming pregnant.
February 07, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
Today, in honor of Black History Month, I want to invite each and every person reading this blog, to do two things:
1. Thank a Black perinatal professional (childbirth educator, doula, midwife, L&D nurse, lactation consultant, doctor, and others) for the work they do. Thank them directly *and* thank them by commenting on this blog below with your colleague’s name, location and tell us a little bit about them (with their permission of course.)
2. Make a contribution to a fundraising effort or scholarship program (locally, nationally or even internationally) that allocates funds directly to Black perinatal professionals to receive initial training or continue to grow their training and serve their communities.
February 04, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
Last week the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) released three reports and a long-awaited update on the current maternal mortality rate in the United States.
January 30, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
Birthing people internally rotating their femurs in order to open the pelvic outlet during second stage is becoming more common and discussed. Perinatal professionals are using this technique to help babies navigate the pelvis once they are below zero station and progress to birth. This month’s exciting Brilliant Activities for Birth Educators idea is a quick and easy activity helps families understand how and why the knees together pushing position is a great technique to add to their toolbox.
January 28, 2020 | by: Hillary Melchiors and Robin Elise Weiss
January 25-31, 2020 is the inaugural International Childbirth Education Week. There are currently so many great health awareness weeks and months, and days that celebrate so many dedicated and caring people in health fields and fields surrounding families that you might think that everyone is covered or at the very least, who needs another observance week? So we thought we’d make a case for why the world needs International Childbirth Education Week.
January 23, 2020 | by: Henci Goer
What are we to make of a new Swedish trial in which women were allocated by chance to either routine induction at 41 weeks or expectant management until 42 weeks (Wennerholm 2019)? The trial was stopped midway through because it had already shown a statistically significant increase, meaning unlikely to be due to chance, in perinatal mortality in the expectant management arm of the trial, and routine induction hadn’t increased the cesarean rate. You may be thinking, “It has long been established that 41-week induction is the better strategy for just these reasons. The Swedish trial just adds to the pile of studies finding in its favor.”
January 21, 2020 | by: Molly Giammarco, MPP
Evidence continues to show that comprehensive childbirth education reduces the need for birth interventions and increases the likelihood of a non-complicated vaginal birth. (Gluck, Pinchas‐Cohen, Hiaev, Rubinstein, Bar, & Kovo 2018) Although costs for both vaginal and cesarean deliveries both continue to increase, the difference between an uncomplicated vaginal birth ($4,314) and a cesarean birth ($5,161) is significant. Because beneficiaries feel the direct impact of out-of-pocket costs, the approximate $1,000 difference in these birth procedures (other health matters aside) may be an incentive to learn more about pre-birth measures that increase the likelihood of a vaginal birth. With this point alone, Lamaze advocacy continues to make the case to lawmakers and payers that childbirth education is a small price to pay for improved childbirth outcomes.
January 14, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
Neel Shah, MD, Harvard Medical School and frequent contributor/subject of this blog and keynote at several recent Lamaze conferences wrote the below commentary "I'm an OB/GYN who attended thousands of deliveries before wondering why Americans give birth in bed" recently for The Conversation.
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