Monday 19 March 2012

a quick update

well i am doing the doula course which threatens to make me into a crusader for natural childbirth. i always supported the principle of natural birth and hoped for interference free births for my own children ( where i had mixed success ) but i am gradually becoming convinced that it is even more important than i realised, both for the new baby/ mother/ family but also for humanity as a whole. so many things we routinely do to new mothers interfere with the natural oxytocin system and we dont really know how what happens when we do that but as the "love hormone" it's pretty important and influences every relationship we have, not just the mother infant bond but familial bonds and those we make in the broader social sphere.
i have read the better part of four books now: a very hippy styled iconic book called "Spiritual Midwifery" by Ina May Gaskin; "Birth Right" by Susan Ross; "Childbirth in The Age of Plastics" by Michel Odent and something by Grantly Dick Read, i can't immediately name it because it's in the car ready for my next down moment waiting for someone.

i'm currently using my internet at dial up speed because a young person who shall remain nameless used a pile of our allocated downloads getting a (probably pirate) TV series. it's annoying, to put it mildly and i have suddenly realised that the current provider wont allow me to pay extra to fix it for this month...Oh, no, they want a two year commitment! ha! they have to be kidding. the whole telco thing is a drama i would rather avoid but i bit the bullet, chose a new plan, and commited for two years with someone else. i'm not sure i chose well but i'm locked in now and i cant change it so the buyers remorse is useless.

i seem to have spent all day today chasing telcos, cursing my slow internet and generally achieving nothing much at all in a huge amount of time. at least it didnt rain on the washing.

until next time, take care




17 comments:

  1. I am thrilled that you are doing the doula course.
    And yes, telco's were invented to make us grit our teeth.

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  2. Glad the course is going well. So apart from oxytocin, why are you so keen on natural childbirth?

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  3. I can answer Nicks question because all three of my kids were born naturally. The method was returned to use to torture the male who had his fun in the beginning part of the process...in natural child birth there is no waiting room for the dude to just go to and pace and wait for word, nope you have to be there and participate in the whole process, once was enough for me but noooooo the mother of my children is not a merciful woman, she made me be there for all of them.

    *sigh* I thought my job was to go out and kill food and build shelter but those rules all go to pot when it comes to natural child birth. Now the Douala care is a good thing because every friend I have that is a Douala has told me, they prefer to deal with just the mother and existing children and not the biggest baby in the house.

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  4. hi EC!

    nick,
    when it was my turn having babies i wanted to know i could do what i was designed for. and i could.
    i also had some reservations about interfering in a natural process. i didnt know much but my hippy intuition suggested it might not be good.
    the reason i am becoming more and more enamoured of it is because every interference, even the small ones have potentially negative consequences

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  5. bahahahaa to you walking man!

    i have had to answer a number of questions relating to how i would treat the dad/ big baby/ cause of the problem :)
    it seems they take some effort!

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  6. @ mark,
    seriously though, the more i hear the more it seems that the birthing room isnt favoured by the fellas and maybe we should be giving men more voice on this subject

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  7. In ancient cultures men weren't allowed anywhere near the birthing room, or house, as the case may be. Suits me fine. Birthing is women's business and men just get in the way, especially male doctors.

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  8. "They prefer to deal with just the mother and existing children and not the biggest baby in the house." I like it. No personal observation to add, as I have no children....

    Kylie, thanks for that explanation. I do recall a few news stories about interventions that have led to serious complications.

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  9. Are there any exceptions to your doula rules / natural childbirth imperitives Kylie?

    Would Anna have been really knocked
    around when her twins were born or did the ceasarian save big trouble? Contrasting of course with your twins B & C born the natural way.

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  10. mr charleston,
    male doctors and female doctors who are infected wit the general arrogance of the allopathic medical community have no place as caregivers period and certainly not at a natural process.



    dad,
    of course i recognise that there are times when intervention is warranted but it cannot be needed as often as it happens. i dont remember the reason given for the younger twins to be born by caesarean but the mere fact they were twins is not enough reason.
    many births can be negotiated successfully and naturally if caregivers are prepared to take extra time and make the mother feel safe and comfortable.

    i would be at pains to point out that when i talk of intervention i am not limiting my comments to caesarean section. it might refer to induction of labour, excessive use of ultrasounds, or simply making the mother lie down in a position where gravity cannot assist

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  11. As a mother of three who endured three long labours resulting in emergency caesareans I thank god I was in the right place for me ! I know lots of women who don't have such trouble and I say lucky them ! What gets me riled is this notion of wanting medical intervention before even going through the process of whether or not it is necessary . Anyone who thinks going through a caesar is an easy way out I would love to tell them my horror story of three painful major surgeries and the everlasting scars that go with it..

    Now I have that off my chest I say in summation if you can then great but if you need medical help then it is often lifesaving.

    On an extra note hubby still complained about the lack of comfortable chairs in the room , met of course with a withering glare..

    Hope you are well Kylie xo

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  12. May Gaskin is the wife of Stephen Gaskin, a man who started an enormous communal farming operation (at one point, at least 1,200 people lived there. They still deliver babies there. I've visited there twice, once overnight.

    I wonder how birth is handled in Australian hospitals compared to here. At Peggy's hospital, the wishes of the patient carry enormous weight, and everything is done to make the experience natural rather than a normal hospital type occurrence. There are also separate birthing facilities, as well as home births, either by licensed midwives or lay midwives. The licensed midwives are respected around hospitals if their patients end up needing to go there, but the lay midwives can't work in the hospital environment, and nurses tend to think poorly of them because they often do stupid things that endanger both the mother and the baby.

    I think of you everyday, Kylie, I just haven't been visiting blogs much lately. I needed the break. Maybe I still do; I don't know.

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  13. hi Fee!!
    thanks for your two bobs worth, i have never understood why people think major surgery is an easy option and i dont know why its encouraged when the labour is untested but thats what we do.....

    haha to the chair complaint! my hubby was asleep on the couch for part of my longest labour.it was night time and he was tired and i didnt really mind but i have never been so glad to see the sun rise as i was that morning!

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  14. snow,
    there are a multitude of options for birth here and the one a woman chooses will be important to the experience she has. Hospital births with privately engaged doctors are popular but in my opinion they are the most prone to becoming purely a business transaction. birth on the public system, as i experienced it, is less medicalised but the mother can still get lost in the system, especially if it is a high risk pregnancy.
    there are birth centres within hospitals which i think are great, there is a natural approach but with the option of transfer to delivery suite and finally there is home birth. independent midwives who attended home births have been almost priced out of the market with insurance but it is still possible to find them.

    as for lay midwives, we dont have them here and as a prospective doula i am very well aware that i have no medical training or clinical expertise and in this litigious society i quite like it that way!

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  15. You know that pic of the knitted baby cap I shared on FB the other day? I got that from a friend who grew up on The Farm (the place Snowbrush is talking about). Small world!

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  16. haha! love it megs!!!
    i bet snow would love the cap too!

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