Here's something you don't see every day:
Doctors Experiment With Acupuncture During Labor
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Doulas in the news
About once a week, some hometown newpaper interviews local doulas and does a (usually) nice story about them. This one out of Ft. Wayne, Indiana had this interesting tidbit:
Wow, $1800 is the going rate for a midwife in many places.
While Indiana does not require doulas to be certified, the Starks say it is something they will look for in any doula they might hire for a subsequent birth. Fort Wayne area doulas charge $350-$500, depending on the extent of their role. In New York, the going rate is about $1,800, said Saalfrank, whose sister is also a doula and childbirth educator.
Monday, January 15, 2007
The Next Breast Thing
Wet-nursing seems to be making a comeback.
As the article mentions, the World Health Organization "recommends a baby should be breastfed by its mother in the first instance, or drink her expressed milk. If that is not possible, the next preference is for human milk from a donor and formula should be a last resort."
As the article mentions, the World Health Organization "recommends a baby should be breastfed by its mother in the first instance, or drink her expressed milk. If that is not possible, the next preference is for human milk from a donor and formula should be a last resort."
Andrew at One Year
It has been quite a while since I've written an Andrew update. The little pea-pie punkin' guy turned one this week. And to celebrate the occasion, he is walking! Over the last couple weeks, he had been taking a few tentative steps. Just between pieces of furniture and such. But the day before his birthday, he was walking with a "walker" toy and it got hung up on a rug. So he just continued on without it, half-way across the living room. He still crawls most of the time, but he loves practicing his new skill.
Other amazing things that Andrew is doing ...
Yesterday I was emptying the dish washer and putting the silverware away. Andrew grabbed a spoon and, instead of sticking it in his mouth like he usually does, he stuck it in the silverware drawer. Later I was sitting in a chair next to the dryer (a trick I discovered while I was pregnant) folding laundry and stacking it on the open dryer door. Andrew cruised over to the nearby shelf where we keep clean kitchen towels, grabbed one, and placed it on the dryer door. He did this about three times.
Andrew is using about three signs - the signs for "more" (which he does by pointing his index finger to his palm, just like his brothers did) and "all done" (well, mostly just waving his hands around) and pat-pat when he wants milk. He doesn't say much, although he clearly says "Da Da". He can clap his hands and wave "bye bye". He will follow me around from room to room (as the mother of three, I don't stay put for long) and is quite social. When I put on my sling, he gets very excited. This is not new; he's done this for several months. But he's not clingy at all and rarely asks to be held when we are at home. He is a busy boy and has things to do. He doesn't like strangers, though.
He weighs just over 21lbs. which is a bit below the old adage of "triple their birth weight by one year" but on track compared with his brothers' growth curves.
I am actually writing his birth story this week. And I promise photos coming soon.
Other amazing things that Andrew is doing ...
Yesterday I was emptying the dish washer and putting the silverware away. Andrew grabbed a spoon and, instead of sticking it in his mouth like he usually does, he stuck it in the silverware drawer. Later I was sitting in a chair next to the dryer (a trick I discovered while I was pregnant) folding laundry and stacking it on the open dryer door. Andrew cruised over to the nearby shelf where we keep clean kitchen towels, grabbed one, and placed it on the dryer door. He did this about three times.
Andrew is using about three signs - the signs for "more" (which he does by pointing his index finger to his palm, just like his brothers did) and "all done" (well, mostly just waving his hands around) and pat-pat when he wants milk. He doesn't say much, although he clearly says "Da Da". He can clap his hands and wave "bye bye". He will follow me around from room to room (as the mother of three, I don't stay put for long) and is quite social. When I put on my sling, he gets very excited. This is not new; he's done this for several months. But he's not clingy at all and rarely asks to be held when we are at home. He is a busy boy and has things to do. He doesn't like strangers, though.
He weighs just over 21lbs. which is a bit below the old adage of "triple their birth weight by one year" but on track compared with his brothers' growth curves.
I am actually writing his birth story this week. And I promise photos coming soon.
Triple Surprise
Dusty and Lynette Johnson of Tuttle, North Dakota, were planning a homebirth, but they got a little more than they were expecting:
The girl babies were fine, but the boy had some trouble breathing and spent a couple weeks in the hospital. Friends and neighbors threw a fundraiser to help defray medical and living expenses.
The Johnsons thought they would be bringing a third child into the family, and so did everyone else. When she had Christopher, he weighed more than nine pounds at birth; Abigail was 10 pounds when she was born. Lynette Johnson expected to have another large baby, and her midwife said her measurements were on target for that, she said.
When she gave birth, however, her midwife quickly prepared for a multiple birth after Marissa was born and she realized Lynette was not done giving birth.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Mag Sulfate for Preterm Labor
An editorial published in this month's OBG Management argues that obstetricians should stop using Magnesium Sulfate to treat preterm labor:
Link: Is the end of an era here for magnesium sulfate tocolysis?
Data from trials never clearly demonstrated that magnesium has a clinically significant tocolytic effect compared with “control” treatments. In a Cochrane review of magnesium tocolysis, neither improvement in the risk of delivery before 48 hours nor reduction in risk of birth before 34 or 37 weeks was observed, compared with control treatments. More recent data also suggest that magnesium may increase the risk of adverse neonatal outcomes, including death, especially at the upper end of the magnesium dose range.
In the absence of demonstrated clinical efficacy and a concern over potentially negative neonatal effects, obstetricians should consider strictly limiting their use of magnesium for tocolysis.
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