Three Rivers Birth Services

This weekend I went and saw Kung Fu Panda with my kids, which turned out to be an excellent movie – probably the best children’s animated feature I’ve seen since I’ve become a parent.  Jack Black delivered plenty of humor for the adults as well as the kids.  What I may have liked about it the most was the eastern philosophy peppered throughout.  I found plenty of nuggets of wisdom that – surprise, surprise – could be applied easily to birth.  Warning: the following lines, while they do not contain plot spoilers – do contain spoilers of some pretty well delivered lines.

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift.  That is why it is called the present.”
It’s important to stay in the present during labor.  Some women think about the future – how long will it take; how much more painful will it get.  Others think about the past – a previous birth experience or some other painful episode making breakthrough emotions at birth.  It can really help to focus only on the present – let go of everything else – and trust it.

“There is no secret ingredient.”
There is no secret way to get through the experience of childbirth.  If there is a secret ingredient, it is YOU. Everything you need to birth is already contained inside of you.  Often, birth exposes parts of you that you never knew existed – strength, focus, commitment…

“There are no accidents.”
Sometimes after a birth experience that wasn’t desired, women (understandably) have a hard time.  For some women, it can help to know that there are lessons hidden inside the experience.

If you have children, or even if you don’t, I highly recommend this movie.

During the hysterectomy of a 45 year old woman, gynecologists in Belgium happened to catch the beauty of her egg emerging from a ripe follicle on her ovary. This is something that has never been captured on camera before. Most theories on how an egg is released suggested something akin to an explosion, but this egg took 15 minutes to slowly, naturally make its way into the world. Kind of like a birth, wouldn’t you say? The egg’s “birth” is slow and gentle, needing no intervention for a safe journey. I wonder (warning: hippy-dippy birth thought follows) – does the egg keep this “memory” and use it during birth once it has become an infant, emerging from the womb?

Enjoy the pictures – I think they are gorgeous. And here’s the complete story from BBC News.

Cesarean rates and epidurals reduced by doula support during labor

Over a 5-year period, 224 of a group of 420 pregnant women in their third trimester were randomized to have a doula accompany them during labor, and 196 women did not receive this intervention. Cesarean delivery rates decreased by 12%, the need for an epidural dropped by 11%, and the need for a cesarean after induced labor decreased by 46% when a doula arrived shortly after hospital admission and remained with the woman throughout her labor and delivery when compared with the group without a doula. Support from the doula included close physical proximity, touching, and eye contact with the laboring woman, and teaching, reassurance, and encouragement of the woman and her partner during the birth. On questionnaires administered the day after delivery, 100% of couples with doula support rated their experience with the doula positively.

read the rest here.