Healing Herbs - Great Gift For Mums!

One of the many treasured memories I have from my daughter's birth was easing into a warm herbal bath, lovingly prepared for me by my doula, Julie Bell. While I enjoyed the relaxing warmth and the beautiful scents, little did I know Julie's herbal blend were busy helping my very sore vagina heal.

Julie is not joining us for the birth of our second baby. At first I thought this meant no post-birth herbal bath, but I contacted Julie to find out how I could go about making my own herbal bags, only to discover that she has just started selling her special blend to the public!

Contents of your Post-Natal Herbal Bath sachet:

* Lavender - antispetic, analgesic and anti-bacterial properties

* Sage - astringent, antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties

* Rosemary - astringent, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties

* Calendula - anti-septic, soothing wound inflammation, general wound healing

* Witch Hazel - an astringent, curbs bleeding and reduces inflammation

* Uva Ursi - astringent, anti-bacterial and antiseptic properties

* Yarrow - astringent and anti-bacterial properties; the anti-spasmodic effects reduce inflammation. A superior remedy for wounds and cuts.

* Ladies Mantle - astringent, and helps protect healing elastin fibres

* Chamomile - analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, and anti-inflammatory properties

* Comfrey - astringent, soothing and healing effects. It reduces inflammation and controls bleeding. It is a superb wound healing herb, particularly effective in slow healing wounds and to help repair tissue damage

* Shepherd's Purse - astringent, anti-septic and useful to reduce bleeding and bruising

* Celtic Sea Salt - helpful in soothing, cleansing and healing of wounds.

For more information on the use of common herbs, go to:
Ageless Herbal Encyclopaedia

Disclaimer: This information is of a general nature and does not constitute medical advice. It is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition.

After Julie makes up her sachets, all you have to do is throw it in your tub!

For more ideas for how to use the herbal sachets or how to get some for yourself or a loved one (what a great blessingway gift!) check out Julie's website: http://melbournedoula.blogspot.com/2010/07/post-natal-peri-care-kit.html

The Latest On Aussie Homebirth: VOTE GREEN!

To update readers about the new maternity service regulations in Australia, I give you the words of those much better informed than I:

From Maternity Colaition Queensland:

"After months of suspense, the Determination defining "collaborative arrangements" was quietly signed into law by the Governor General on 16 July, without notification to stakeholders. The Determination can be downloaded from this link.

The Determination provides 4 options for collaborative arrangements. Each option requires the midwife to have some form of permission from a doctor, before a woman can receive Medicare rebates.

The minimum form of permission is an "Arrangement - midwife's written records" (section 7 in the Determination). This option requires a named doctor of a specific type to acknowledge "that the practitioner will be collaborating in the patient’s care", and that the named doctor has received copies of a hospital booking letter and a maternity care plan.

These requirements will make it very difficult for women to access Medicare-funded care from midwives in private midwifery practice. We don't expect midwives in private midwifery practice (working for themselves, not a doctor) to be able to find private doctors who are willing to enter collaborative arrangements with them. In some cases this may be possible under very specific conditions. However it is unrealistic to expect that private doctors will collaborate in the care of women planning homebirths."

In an open letter to the health minister, the national president of Maternity Coalition summarised the problem with "collaborative arrangements" thus:

• Control of care is taken out of the hands of women, and given to doctors.
• Defacto “parallel regulation” of the midwifery profession, with doctors setting conditions for Medicare-funded midwifery practice.
• Anti-competitive influence on the health care market, giving one group of providers control over consumer access to another group of providers of the same health care service.
• "Collaborative arrangements” cannot be made with hospitals, even though most private midwives consult and refer to hospitals rather than individual doctors.
• The requirements do not improve “safety”, “access” or “continuity” for Australian mothers."

She went on to urge the health minister to demonstrate real commitment to maternity reform by addressing:

• 
  

• that the requirements for permission from a doctor be removed from the Medicare for midwives legislation (Collaborative arrangements for midwives), thus ensuring that women’s choices are protected;
• that women's rights to informed consent (including right of refusal) are expressly recognised in all codes, guidelines and frameworks relating to midwifery practice;
• that a long-term solution be sought for women to continue to have access to midwife-attended homebirth;
• that the Federal Government provide strong leadership to ensure jurisdictions provide mechanisms for visiting rights for midwives in public hospitals.

Maternity Coalition appeals for urgent action to be taken so that there is some chance of the reforms meeting the stated aim “to increase access and affordability of midwifery services” for Australian women. It is simply not possible for the reforms to deliver for women while a medical veto over access to midwifery care remains in place. The definition of collaborative arrangements must recognise women’s right to reproductive self-determination."

Midwives Victoria blogged about the safety and qualitify framework outlined in the maternity reforms, revealing that:

"Women with a singleton pregnancy, cephalic presentation, at term and free from any significant pre existing medical or pregnancy complications are those identified in the ACM guidelines as clearly meeting criteria for midwifery led care.

When PPMs are the primary carers for women who fall outside of these criteria, the consultation and referral pathways must be documented and followed. Clearly articulated and documented plans of escalation and collaboration are integral to provision of safe high quality care leading to positive outcomes for mothers and babies."

No surprises there. Multiples are explicitly excluded from eligibility for midwifery led care, and most other variations of pregnancy and birth could fall under: "any significant pre existing medical or pregnancy complication" depending on who the care-provider and her callaborators are (see this previous post).

Meanwhile, Greens Senator Rachel Siewert stated in a press release that "...the Greens will move a motion to disallow the collaborative arrangements regulation" as soon as the Senate sits next.

At no point in the last two years of this maternity reform battle has the health minister or Australian government bothered to listen to stakeholders like: homebirthing women, midwives in private practice and groups like Maternity Coalition. We've heard a lot of "choice" rhetoric and been fed false promises from the minister that no woman's self-determination will be taken away. But at the end of the day actions speak louder than bullshit and the government's actions have made midwife attended homebirth near impossible for many, many families.

Fuck the government. Fuck the rich obstetric lobby who have had their ears this whole time. Fuck "collaboration". VOTE GREEN and be done with these bastards!

Words Of A Birthing Goddess

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a birth plan meeting with a gorgeous mama, looking forward to a Springtime homebirth, and one of her closest friends (who has homebirthed four of her five children). The woman I'm serving has described her friend as "a birthing goddess" and rightly so! I feel very privileged to be invited to share this journey with these two women.

The highlight of that lovely evening came when we were discussing some of the downfalls of birth plans. "Birthing Goddess" came out with the following quote:

"It's hard to plan, because a lot of the time you will fly by the drum of the uterus. It sets the beat to your birth"

Gorgeous Mama and I were both very moved by her words. Beautiful and apt.

"Birth and Rebirth" by Jen Otey

On the subject of birth plans let me share the most inspirational plan I've seen to date. Click here and scroll down. Perfection.

For more on birth plans see here.

Speaking Out : Poor Advice & Pharmacies

This afternoon I was talking to a friend of mine about breastfeeding and professional advice and she shared some tales from her former life as a young child-free pharmacy assistant. What I learned from her was truly shocking, particularly given that most Australians feel they can get reliable information, which will aid their health, when they seek it from people working within pharmacies. I urged her to write about her experiences on her blog. She has graciously allowed me to reproduce the post here:

Professional advice?

From age 18-25 I was a Pharmacy Assistant. I know, it's ironic right? I sold an awful lot of vaccines and disposable nappies among other things, but guess what was one of our top sellers? Artificial baby milk (ABM). We used to buy that shit in by the pallet load and sell it cheaper than the supermarket.

In one chemist I worked in we had the ABM right next to where the baby nurse used to weigh babies. There were loyalty cards (not sure they are still allowed) where the 7th tin was free and promotions where you could win children's big ticket toys by buying the ABM and entering into a draw. We had bags with logos on them and kids toys with embroidered slogans.

So with all of that ABM on hand do you want to know how much information I was given in EIGHT years (one of which I was a manager)about breastfeeding or the risks of ABM?

NONE. Exactly none.

I was, however, given plenty of information from the ABM companies about things in their product that made it "like" mothers milk or why it was better than other brands. I was taken out to lunch and given buying deals so we could sell the ABM cheaply-as long as we had so many facings of the cans.

Think about that.

Then think about where you think one of the first places a Mama goes at 5pm when they have a baby that won't settle and they are needing reassurance or advice. The friendly local pharmacy. Complete with fantastic staff-that are trained by ABM companies. Often staff are not yet mothers or fathers or from a generation or so ago when the risks of ABM were just not known. They might even have a couple of kids who are ABM fed and "just fine". I personally put the first nail in the coffin of the breastfeeding relationship of a lot of Mamas and babies by suggesting comp feeds and pointing out the benefits of certain brands to unsure women. As I was trained to do.

It seems to me that there is a big hole in breastfeeding education here. There are a big group of professionals who are handing out advice with perhaps no idea of the risk. Pharmacies are treated as a retail outlet but there is a big difference between taking a can off the shelf of a supermarket and asking a pharmacy assistant for advice. Because you expect the advice on the long term feeding of your child to be what is best for your baby-not a sales pitch.

From: http://yayforhome.blogspot.com/2010/07/professional-advice.html

Bellies & Babies Guest Blog

Bellies and Babies is the online diary of Nicole D; childbirth educator, doula and aspiring midwife. She's also a fan of Ilithyia Inspired and asked if I would write a guest post for her on full-term breastfeeding, which I gladly accepted:

Full-Term Breastfeeding: Keep a Good Thing Going!

My intended audience are mums-to-be or mums of young breastfed babies and my aim was to provide some insight into just how positive breastfeeding beyond 6, 12, 24 months can be. There's a long list of resources at the end for anyone interested in learning and sharing more facts about full-term breastfeeding.

Thanks Nicole for the opportunity to share my thoughts with a new audience. Your request was humbling to this lil Aussie birth servant who often feels like she's blogging to herself here.

Routine Ultrasound: Ultra-Suspect

Despite being 15 weeks into my second pregnancy, I have not had an ultrasound scan. Recently we made a trip to hospital (to prevent me from becoming dehydrated during my chronic morning sickness) where hospital staff were dumbfounded by this fact: "You've already given birth? To a healthy child? But you've never had an ultrasound?" It's not surprising that this was the reaction from medical staff, even some of my fit, healthy, low risk, homebirthing friends have ultrasounds.

My decision not to have ultrasounds was made after extensive reading I did during my time as a PhD student (working on a thesis about the hyper-medicalisation of present day maternity care). After learning that ultrasounds:

• have never been proven to be safe (Wagner 1999),
• can have false positives (Buckley 2005; Reist 2005),
• have unknown long term consequences for exposed children,
• have no benefits to the health of pregnant women or their unborn children (Buckley 2005; Wagner 1999), and
• can increase parental stress unnecessarily (Rothman 1988),

I decided I would not have ultrasounds during pregnancy unless there were physical signs that something might be wrong.

My reading also taught me that studies have shown ultrasounds increase the risk of:

• newborns having low birth-weights (Newnham et al 1993)
• retarded foetal growth (Hande & Devi 1995)
• preterm labour or miscarriage (Beech 1999; Buckley 2005)
  
• postnatal mortality (Hande & Devi 1995)
• speech problems (Campbell et al 1993) and
  
• impaired brain function (Devi et al 1995)
  

I was also concerned by accounts of mothers who had experienced ultrasounds and found that it caused them to doubt their body's ability to safely grow their babies and increased their stress during pregnancy.

Once upon a time women confirmed pregnancies by noting the changes in their bodies and trusted their bodies to grow healthy babies. Sociology Professor Barbara Katz Rothman (1988) discovered that the routine use of technologies such as amniocentesis and ultrasound have led to a cultural shift where women experience their pregnancies as tentative until a doctor and his machine tell them otherwise. This obviously has consequences for mother/baby bonding, as Ina May Gaskin shares:

"Having that early look inside is not always reassuring, nor does it always prepare you for what is to come. I remember my cousin who told me that she felt like she grieved through the second half of her pregnancy because she had learned her baby's gender (which was the same as her older child's). She later fell in love with her second child, but she spent several months burdened by information that did her and her baby no good." (Gaskin 2003: 192)

This was one of my primary motivating factors for avoiding ultrasound. We had seen beautiful footage of homebirths where the parents were so overwhelmed with joy immediately after birth that many minutes passed before anybody bothered to find out what the sex of the baby was. There were happy tears and laughter and parents gazing at their newborn in wonder, falling totally in love, a stark contrast to the hospital births we had seen where more often than not before the mother even got to see her baby a stranger had announced the sex. We wanted to meet our baby before the battle to resist gender constructing began. We also weren't comfortable with the idea of a sonographer knowing the sex of our baby before anyone had met her or him.

Knowing all this, how can it be that 99% (Buckley 2005) of Australian women have at least one ultrasound during pregnancy? .Simple, like almost all obstetric interventions, the ultrasound was originally developed for use in rare, high-risk cases, but within 15-20 years of its creation the ultrasound became a routine test recommended to all pregnant women.

It is also important to note that the majority of technicians who perform ultrasound examinations are not aware of the above risks associated with the scans. Dr Buckley (2005) notes that training is voluntary for Australian obstetricians, thus skill levels vary among doctors, which could account for false positives. Buckley also writes that there are no standards to ensure that the lowest doses from a single machine are used and that the intensity of doses have increased in the last twenty years. Similarly in the United States:

"The use of ultrasound is especially unregulated and popular...The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) bowed to pressure from industry and organized medicine to relinquish control over the amount of sonic energy that can be emitted by the new ultrasound devices used in obstetrics. Currently, there are no federal or state regulations requiring periodic calibration of obstetric ultrasound machines, written consent of the pregnant woman, indications for the procedure, the type of equipment used, the amount of exposure, or the identification and qualification of the sonographer." (Gaskin 2003: 191)

My partner and I believe it is highly unethical on the part of the medical system in Australia and the United States to make such widespread use of this technology without providing patients with all the information available and enabling them to make an informed choice. Much like The World Health Organisation states:

"Ultrasound screening during pregnancy is now in widespread use without sufficient evaluation. Research has demonstrated its effectiveness for certain complications of pregnancy, but the published material does not justify the routine use of ultrasound in pregnant women. There is also insufficient information with regard to the safety of ultrasound use during pregnancy, including: clinical effectiveness, psychological effects, ethical considerations, legal implications, and safety.

WHO strongly endorses the principle of informed choice with regard to technology use. The health-care providers have the moral responsibility: fully to inform the public about what is known and not known about ultrasound scanning during pregnancy; and fully to inform each woman prior to an ultrasound examination as to the clinical indication for ultrasound, its hoped-for benefit, its potential risk, and alternative available, if any."

Get Informed!

Dr Sarah J Buckley MD: Ultrasound Scans: cause for concern
(Sarah Buckley MD is a trained GP/family physician, an internationally-acclaimed writer on gentle choices in pregnancy, birth, and parenting.)

Dr Marsden Wagner MD: Ultrasound More Harm Than Good?
(Marsden Wagner, MD is a neonatologist and perinatal epidemiologist. He was responsible for maternal and child health in the European Regional Office of the World Health Organization for fourteen years.)

Beverley Lawrence Beech: Ultrasound: weighing the propaganda against the facts
(Beverley Lawrence Beech, honourary chair of the Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services (AIMS), is a freelance writer and lecturer and lives in the United Kingdom.)

Melinda Tankard Reist: Defiant Birth: women who resist medical eugenics
(Melinda is an author, social commentator and advocate for women and girls.)

See also Doppler Danger on Facebook

Books

Ann Oakley "The Captured Womb"

Barbara Katz Rothman "The Tentative Pregnancy"

Robyn Rowland "Living Laboratories"

Sarah Buckley "Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering"

Studies
Campbell, James D., Wayne Elford, and Rollin F. Brant, "Case-Control Study of Prenatal Ultrasonography Exposure in Children with Delayed Speech," Canadian Medical Association Journal 149, no. 10 (1993).

Devi, P. U., R Suresh, and M.P Hande, "Effect of Fetal Exposure to Ultrasound on the Behavior of the Adult Mouse," Radiation Research 141 (1995).

Hande, M.P. and P.U. T Devi, "Eratogenic Effects of Repeated Exposures to X-Rays and/or Ultrasound in Mice.," Neurotoxicol Teratol 17, no. 2 (1995).

Newnham, John P, et al., "Effects of Frequent Ultrasound During Pregnancy: A Randomised Controlled Trial," The Lancet 342 (1993).

Another Birth Centre Bites The Dust?

On July 15th the Gold Coast Birth Centre was shut down by one of Gold Coast Hospital's chief obstetricians, who acted without prior consultation. The closure came just two weeks after the Australian Government introduced maternity reforms which give doctors unprecedented control over independent midwives, restricting Australian families' access to homebirth.

Australians were quick to mobilise and speak out against this affront to birth rights. It's important to note the heavy involvement of homebirthing women in this movement. While homebirthers don't wish to use birth centres, we certainly know how it feels to have our choice ripped out from under our feet.

A protest rally attended by 300-500 people caused the birth centre to be re-opened over the weekend, with talk of the centre's future to resume on Monday (see Mum-Power Reopens Coast Birth Centre).

Yet, the supposed "Mother of all rallies" attended by over 2000 people at Parliament House on a cold and wet September day did nothing to save midwife attended homebirth last year! Why? My theory is that the Gold Coast Birth centre, like the overwhelming majority of Australian birth centres, is not free-standing and (as is made obvious by the fact that one obstetrician closed it down) is ultimately under the control of hospital power-holders. Homebirth attended by an independent midwife, on the other hand, was not under the direct control of hospitals or obstetricians prior to the maternity reforms introduced on July 1st.

In conclusion, the medical power-holders are willing to tolerate natural birth in Australia, so long as they are in control of when, where and who it happens to.

Save Gold Coast Birth Centre Facebook Page

Maternity Coalition's Press Release

Hundreds March To Save Gold Coast Birth Centre

Channel 7 Television Coverage Of Protest

Does Absence Make Cyber Hearts Grow Fonder?

Apologies to all my adoring fans who have been waiting, forlorn by their feed readers, for me to update this blog. I have an excellent, and rather fitting, excuse for my lack of writing during what has been a busy time for birth lovers in Australia: I'm pregnant.

While this was one very planned, long awaited second pregnancy, so far it has not been a pleasant journey. After a few short weeks of joy the sickness set in. As with my first, I have spent about ten weeks suffering chronic morning sickness, or hyperemesis gravidarum. The worst of it is over now and I'm currently enjoying mild morning sickness.

I've missed a lot of action while curled up in bed with my trusty bucket. A South Australian Coroner decided a child born not breathing and without a heartbeat, was in fact alive because a machine detected pulseless electrical activity. The Australian Labour Party ousted our elected Prime Minister and replaced him with our first woman Prime Minister. On July 1st the maternity reforms that spell the end of independent midwifery came into effect (see also). And an Australian celebrity's planned homebirth ended with a hospital transfer.

I look forward to sharing my thoughts on these events and more in the coming months, perhaps with a sprinkle of my own growing belly photos. But if it turns out that my posts are few and far between at least you will know why.