This is my second Mother’s day. I don’t remember what we did last year. I remember I had just gone back to work and was relieved to get out of the house and away from the baby to do adult things. So maybe I wasn’t in much of the correct mood to celebrate Mother’s Day. […]
…is a day of not being a mother. I want a day when I can get out of bed whenever I want to. At 430 AM excited about a mountain adventure or stretching lazily at 1030 AM after a long dozy sleep-in. I want a day when I can go for a long trail run followed […]
This is damn cool. For those of you who are wondering what a c-section is like these 18 youtube videos take you through the entire process. This c-section occured at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston Texas…they are live-tweeting different operations. My workplace (and one could argue medicine in general) has such an antiquated approach to […]
You might have seen a study in the news that looked at the gut contents of babies that were born by caesarean section vs vaginally and that were breastfed or formula fed. For those that misssed it, here are some links: CBC article Globe and Mail Winnepeg free press Toronto Star I guess it was […]
You know when you are watching Grey’s Anatomy or ER (in syndication, of course) or any other of the various medical dramas and there is a scene where a patient is in deep trouble, usually dying, and they present the scene to you in slow motion with some emotionally charged music layered over it? It’s […]
Okay, so back in the 1980s and 1990s there were a bunch of crappy poorly controlled observational studies that showed that epidurals in labour were associated with a slowing of labour and an increase in caesarean deliveries. The ACOG then came out with a statement that it would be better to wait to initiate epidural […]
First off, let me say that the caesarean section (CS), as a piece of technology, impresses me. Greatly. It has saved countless moms and babies from death and significant disability. Without the CS, my husband wouldn’t have been born alive and his mom would most certainly have died (placenta previa). It doesn’t take long to […]
In a piece in the Victoria Times Colonist a few days ago in relation to an increase in funding for home birth in British Columbia, the Hon. Dr. Margaret MacDiarmid, BC’s Minister of Health, made some very disturbing remarks. MacDiarmid, the former president of the B.C. Medical Association, is encouraging women with low-risk pregnancies to […]
I wanted to share with everyone this letter I received from a reader because I think she brings up some important points about the culture our society has created around birth and what should be some very personal decisions made between a woman and her care provider. I share this with you with her […]
On the 14th of August the Royal Collage of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of the UK, in collaboration with The Royal College of Midwives and the National Childbirth Trust (or NCT) released a document entitled, “Making sense of commissioning maternity services in England – some issues for clinical commissioning groups to consider.” The founder of the […]
