An article by Nancy Wainer about vaginal birth after caesarean (VBAC). Wainer is a midwife and childbirth educator who coined the term "VBAC". This article focuses on the myth that VBACs are dangerous and shares her experience attending women who birthed after surgery.
Are You Really in Labour? Seven Sure Signs
Medical writer Henci Goer answers the question on many full-term women's minds: how do you now if the birth has begun?
Birth is Not an Illness
The World Health Organisation's recommendations regarding childbirth.
Breech - a Variation of Normal
Homebirth midwife Lisa Barrett talks all about breech births.
Ecstatic Birth - Nature's Hormonal Blueprint for Labour
Sarah Buckley MD makes medical research accessible to the lay reader, explaining clearly how women's bodies are perfectly designed to birth and how our natural hormonal responses aid the process. Most useful is her explanation of how the artificial homrones used in pain killing drugs hinder the effects of our natural europhic, pain relieving, hormones.
Epidurals - Risks and Concerns for Mother and Baby
Sarah Buckley MD discusses what epidurals are, how they effect mother and baby and what they do to natural birth and the bodies normal processes during birth.
Fish Can't See Water - The Need to Humanize Birth
Marsden Wagner explores the rates of technological intervention in birth and the treatment of women during birth arguing that birth has been dehumanised. He notes that many people within the medical model of birth are so used to this model that they cannot see how inhumane the treatment of birth can be - just as a fish doesn't see the water he or she is immersed in.
Healing Birth, Healing the Earth
An impassioned opinion piece by Sarah Buckley MD about the state of birth in our society and the need to remedy this, not just for birth itself, but for the state of the world, because the destruction of undisturbed normal birth is self-destruction. Buckley considers the important aspects of life and birth that are often overlooked such as love and spirituality.
Informed Choices for Childbirth
A list of fantastic articles on a range of topics by Henci Goer.
Informed Choices for Childbirth
A list of fantastic articles on a range of topics by Henci Goer.
Leaving Well Alone - A Natural Approach to The Third Stage
Sarah Buckley MD critiques the active management of the third stage of labour (after baby is born, but before placenta is born), and argues for the routinisation of normal physiological third stage. As with all her work it is well-researched and easy to read.
Lotus Birth
A comprehensive introduction to the concept of lotus birth (non-severance of the umbilical cord). This article covers the what, whys and how of lotus birth. Very informative.
Lotus birth- A Ritual for Our Times
Sarah Buckley explains what lotus birth is, suggesting that it is a new ritual which we can embrace in our busy lives to help us slow down and truly appreciate the transition of welcoming a new person into the world. She shares her own first hand experiences of having three lotus births.
Making a Difference: A Blueprint for Harmony
Midwife Sunni Karll writes about birth being the blue print for our lives, the foundation from which we build. The way we treat birth is the way we welcome little souls to our world, and there are psychological benefits to be gained from harmonious beginnings.
Pain in Labour - Your Hormones Are Your Helpers
Sarah Buckley MD explains the role of hormones during labour, and suggests that if left undisturbed women are able to birth just as our female sisters of other species do.
Pelvises I Have Known and Loved
Canadian birth attendant Gloria Lemay responds to the anti-pelvis attitudes flying around our society arguing that women's pelvises are not to be feared or ridiculed, they are the result of millions of years of evolution, and they know how to birth!
Preparing An Older Sibling For A New Birth
The PhD in Parenting blog provides a link-o-rama of information with this blog post about preparing children for birth. Includes preparation for homebirth or birthing elsewhere.
Pushing for First-Time Moms
A detailed article by about he safety of second stage labour and the unnecessary risks of coaching a woman to push by Gloria Lemay. She reminds readers of the normality of birth, which is not to be feared, but undisturbed. Just as a woman's body knows when and how to poo, so too does it know how to birth!
Technology in Birth - First Do No Harm
Marsden Wagner offers a timely reminder that just because we have the technology doesn't mean we need to use it, and that just because technology is said to help birthing women doesn't mean it is without risks. The best way to stay unharmed in birth, argues Wagner, is to be informed.
The Active Management of Labour
Marsden Wagner critiques the pathologising of birth. He looks at the issues of control and arrogance within the maternity system, the lack of medical evidence to suggest the benefits of the active management of labour outweigh the risks, and how birthing women are kept in the dark about those risks.
The Safety of Hospital Birth - The Myth Versus The Reality
Beverley A. Lawrence Beech, honourary chairwoman of the Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services, spells the reality out loud and clear: the medical evidence speaks for itself on the homebirth versus hospital birth debate. Homebirth is safe
