By opening a freestanding birth center, perinatologist Steve Calvin is determined to make maternity care more satisfying for women and cost effective.
By Kim Kiser
Standing on a sidewalk on Chicago Avenue in south Minneapolis, Steve Calvin, M.D., is at the intersection of high-tech and high-touch health care. Behind him is the 100-year-old Victorian home he bought two years ago and turned into a freestanding birth center—a place where women can deliver their babies in much the same tradition as their great grandmothers. Across the street, a crane is busy at work on construction of the Mother-Baby Center on the campus of Children’s and Abbott Northwestern hospitals—a place where women will have access to some of the most sophisticated maternal and neonatal services in the Twin Cities.
Although setting up a birth center across the street from two tertiary care hospitals could seem ill-conceived, the project is well thought out. As a maternal-fetal medicine specialist who has worked at Abbott Northwestern for 23 years, Calvin has attended to some of the most challenging pregnancies and deliveries. Over the years, he observed that most mothers and babies didn’t need the kind of care a hospital could provide. He notes, for example, that 80 percent of women who have a hospital delivery get an epidural block. “Epidural blocks have been a godsend for many women; but there are concerns that we’re overdoing it,” he says, adding that it may make them unable to feel the urge to push. “If a mom is in pain, the nurse says, ‘Let me call the anesthesiologist and get an epidural,’ rather than sits down with them and says, ‘You’re at 8 cm and you’ll soon be complete and able to push.’”
To read the rest of this article click here.
Showing posts with label natural chilbirth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label natural chilbirth. Show all posts
Fear and Pain: A Cultural Picture of Childbirth...and What We Can Do to Change It
What if I told you that I gave birth to my child without anesthesia or medication of any kind, without any medical interventions to speak of...and the result was a childbirth experience that was virtually devoid of any pain? That I experienced childbirth in its fullest, most visceral state, completely comfortable and aware throughout the whole process? Would you believe me?
Allow me to digress for a moment, and ask you this question, instead: What is it about childbirth that immediately conjures images of screaming pain and terror? Why is it so difficult to believe that a child can be born peacefully and with minimal pain and discomfort?
The answer, it seems, is largely derived from culture-bound ideas about pregnancy and childbirth. Simply put, American culture - from popular media, to personal anecdotes - seems to emphasize that the birth of a child is inherently a painful and difficult process, wrought with potential dangers for both mother and child, and manageable only by those with the proper "authoritative knowledge" and understanding.
As the classic Brigitte Jordan book Birth in Four Cultures reveals, this view is not universal. Women in American culture are taught that this is so. They are told to expect that childbirth will be painful and thus, they experience it as such. For women in many other cultures, this is simply not the case.
This is not to suggest that women who experience childbirth as painful are somehow to blame for their experience, or that they are doing something wrong - far from it. The point is simply to ask how the American cultural picture of birth influences the way women in our country experience this fundamental life process. With fear and pain being interrelated phenomena - one influencing the other - does this expectation that all women are doomed to have an inescapably pain-ridden birth experience increase our fear and, thus, increase our perception of pain during childbirth?
How Fear Influences Pain - And What this Means for Birthing Women
For most, the idea of pain-free childbirth is quite foreign. While I've been interested for a while in the concept of "pain-free childbirth," I really started thinking about how fear can influence childbirth outcomes when I saw this article. The study described in the article examined mothers who suffered from severe or "excessive" fear of childbirth, and the impact of this fear on their birth experience. The main conclusion of this study was that women who suffered from extreme fear of childbirth were more likely to have epidural anesthesia, induction of childbirth, elective c-section, or emergency c-section.
According to the authors of the paper, and other previous studies (cited on page 4), the heightened levels of adrenaline that accompany a fear response can undoubtedly influence the progress of labor. Many of these women had had a previous traumatizing childbirth experience (and the phenomenon of birth trauma is a topic for a whole separate post I intend to write at some point in the future).
While the fear experienced by the women in this study was extreme, the results still raise many questions. Did the women's fear (and the neurological effects created by it) directly impact the progress of their labor, as the authors suggest? Were their care providers just more likely to undertake this type of intervention because of the woman's psychological state? Or is there somehow a correlation between the type of provider (one who is more likely to perform inductions and cesareans) and the experience of fear by their patients? It is difficult to pinpoint a specific cause-effect relationship here, and the study does not directly point to any one answer.
To read the rest of this article click here.
Allow me to digress for a moment, and ask you this question, instead: What is it about childbirth that immediately conjures images of screaming pain and terror? Why is it so difficult to believe that a child can be born peacefully and with minimal pain and discomfort?
The answer, it seems, is largely derived from culture-bound ideas about pregnancy and childbirth. Simply put, American culture - from popular media, to personal anecdotes - seems to emphasize that the birth of a child is inherently a painful and difficult process, wrought with potential dangers for both mother and child, and manageable only by those with the proper "authoritative knowledge" and understanding.
As the classic Brigitte Jordan book Birth in Four Cultures reveals, this view is not universal. Women in American culture are taught that this is so. They are told to expect that childbirth will be painful and thus, they experience it as such. For women in many other cultures, this is simply not the case.
This is not to suggest that women who experience childbirth as painful are somehow to blame for their experience, or that they are doing something wrong - far from it. The point is simply to ask how the American cultural picture of birth influences the way women in our country experience this fundamental life process. With fear and pain being interrelated phenomena - one influencing the other - does this expectation that all women are doomed to have an inescapably pain-ridden birth experience increase our fear and, thus, increase our perception of pain during childbirth?
How Fear Influences Pain - And What this Means for Birthing Women
For most, the idea of pain-free childbirth is quite foreign. While I've been interested for a while in the concept of "pain-free childbirth," I really started thinking about how fear can influence childbirth outcomes when I saw this article. The study described in the article examined mothers who suffered from severe or "excessive" fear of childbirth, and the impact of this fear on their birth experience. The main conclusion of this study was that women who suffered from extreme fear of childbirth were more likely to have epidural anesthesia, induction of childbirth, elective c-section, or emergency c-section.
According to the authors of the paper, and other previous studies (cited on page 4), the heightened levels of adrenaline that accompany a fear response can undoubtedly influence the progress of labor. Many of these women had had a previous traumatizing childbirth experience (and the phenomenon of birth trauma is a topic for a whole separate post I intend to write at some point in the future).
While the fear experienced by the women in this study was extreme, the results still raise many questions. Did the women's fear (and the neurological effects created by it) directly impact the progress of their labor, as the authors suggest? Were their care providers just more likely to undertake this type of intervention because of the woman's psychological state? Or is there somehow a correlation between the type of provider (one who is more likely to perform inductions and cesareans) and the experience of fear by their patients? It is difficult to pinpoint a specific cause-effect relationship here, and the study does not directly point to any one answer.
To read the rest of this article click here.
When Midwifery Works
By Birth Without Fear
I recently attended the long anticipated birth of a dear friend of mine. This birth was a planned HBAC. Her first birth was a c section at 35 weeks due to problems with one of the babies. Those babes are now robust, fun 7 year old girlies. I was with her during that pregnancy from the day..yes the day those babies were conceived on a camping trip.
I was delighted to be asked to be midwife this time around. We’ve been through some ups and downs in our friendship over the last three years but when it came down to it, she knew she could trust me as her midwife and I knew any differences we had in the past had nothing to do with her desire for a healthy pregnancy and vaginal birth.
Of course when you live some place where homebirth and midwives are not the norm, you get looks and comments but this mama was having none of it and put everyone who offered a differing opinion in their place with a firm “It’s MY choice so shut up”. Love.
Labor commenced at 40 weeks 2 days. I was excited and went to check on her when her water broke in the early morning. She labored beautifully all day as I went to check on another midwife and her client and came back again.
She labored all through the day and into the late evening with no cervical change at all. As I examined her I could feel what I thought was a forehead and not an occiput (back of the head) and I had estimated a 9 ½-10lb baby. We tried everything I know of to get little big guy to turn but he did not.
To read the rest of this article click here.
Natural Childbirth: Crazy or Conscientious?
Unaware of alternatives, the majority of women use drugs to cope with the pain of labor and delivery.
Most of my friends and family members think I’m crazy. By choice, I bore my first child without an epidural and I’m hoping to do it again the second time around.
“There’s a reason they offer women drugs,” one of my sisters reasons. “Childbirth hurts!”
Most of the women — and men — I’ve spoken to echo her sentiments. Some women even have planned Cesarean sections as a way to avoid as much of the birth process as possible. I’m not at all surprised, and I certainly don’t blame them.
We are a culture that has a drug for just about everything. We opt to avoid discomfort at all costs. Besides, birth is often presented — by women who have given birth, by men who have witnessed a live birth and by the media as an unbearable experience that no one should ever have to undergo. People love to exaggerate, and it’s difficult not to get caught up in the drama.
I, for one, bought into the hype. For as long as I can remember, my perception of labor and delivery featured three elements: hours of screaming followed by lots of blood followed by hours of crying. In my teens, I swore I’d never have children. In my twenties, I planned to adopt children in part to forego the pain of childbirth.
Until I became pregnant with my son in 2009, I never had a reason to question the negativity associated with birth. In fact, my first care provider was an obstetrician whose Western approach to medicine supported the notion that pregnancy, labor and delivery should be addressed as crises. Had I stayed under his care, I would have ended up drugged, depressed and delusional during one of the most beautiful moments of my life.
Instead, I began to educate myself about pregnancy and childbirth thanks to my friend and favorite fellow mom, who gave me a copy of Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth. Written by a midwife, the book presents childbirth as a natural process that should be embraced and celebrated rather than avoided and feared.
After reading the book, which includes the birth stories of dozens of women who have given birth vaginally and without medication, I began to see pregnancy and childbirth in a new light. It turns out, women have options and drugs during childbirth is not among the best of them. I soon switched to a group of midwives.
To read the rest of this article click here.
Most of my friends and family members think I’m crazy. By choice, I bore my first child without an epidural and I’m hoping to do it again the second time around.
“There’s a reason they offer women drugs,” one of my sisters reasons. “Childbirth hurts!”
Most of the women — and men — I’ve spoken to echo her sentiments. Some women even have planned Cesarean sections as a way to avoid as much of the birth process as possible. I’m not at all surprised, and I certainly don’t blame them.
We are a culture that has a drug for just about everything. We opt to avoid discomfort at all costs. Besides, birth is often presented — by women who have given birth, by men who have witnessed a live birth and by the media as an unbearable experience that no one should ever have to undergo. People love to exaggerate, and it’s difficult not to get caught up in the drama.
I, for one, bought into the hype. For as long as I can remember, my perception of labor and delivery featured three elements: hours of screaming followed by lots of blood followed by hours of crying. In my teens, I swore I’d never have children. In my twenties, I planned to adopt children in part to forego the pain of childbirth.
Until I became pregnant with my son in 2009, I never had a reason to question the negativity associated with birth. In fact, my first care provider was an obstetrician whose Western approach to medicine supported the notion that pregnancy, labor and delivery should be addressed as crises. Had I stayed under his care, I would have ended up drugged, depressed and delusional during one of the most beautiful moments of my life.
Instead, I began to educate myself about pregnancy and childbirth thanks to my friend and favorite fellow mom, who gave me a copy of Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth. Written by a midwife, the book presents childbirth as a natural process that should be embraced and celebrated rather than avoided and feared.
After reading the book, which includes the birth stories of dozens of women who have given birth vaginally and without medication, I began to see pregnancy and childbirth in a new light. It turns out, women have options and drugs during childbirth is not among the best of them. I soon switched to a group of midwives.
To read the rest of this article click here.
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