Know Your Hospital/Doctor’s Stance

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/healthtrending/the-secret-hospital-policy-that-pregnant-women-need-to-know-about/ar-AAtjmH8?li=AA5LBhu&ocid=spartanntp

Pregnant families should be aware

When you birth in a hospital, the forms you sign and soon as you enter, your birth can take many different paths.

If you chose a care provider you trust and feel completely comfortable with, you’ve taken a great step.  However having a Doula is vital when birthing in a hospital.

In the throws of labor and birth isn’t a time you’ll be able to think thoroughly about choices you’ll need to make.

Having a Doula will help you and your partner/family navigate and give you time to think about your choices.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/healthtrending/the-secret-hospital-policy-that-pregnant-women-need-to-know-about/ar-AAtjmH8?li=AA5LBhu&ocid=spartanntp

CA Decided to Tackle Their Maternal Mortality Rate

 

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/6/29/15830970/women-health-care-maternal-mortality-rate

Nowadays we´re led to believe that cesareans are just another easy way to birth our babies, but when you look at the long term effects they are not without serious risks.

The article highlights how hospitals in CA are working to curb the maternal mortality rate in the state with more than half of the hospitals participating in a collaborative effort to do so.

Below are the points I found most interesting:

¨In accreta, which doctors believe is most often caused by scarring from prior cesarean sections, the placenta sticks around and embeds. The condition was exceedingly rare in the 1950s, occurring in only one in 30,000 deliveries in the US. Today, because of the rise in C-sections, it shows up in about one in 500 births. One in 14 American women with accreta die, usually from hemorrhaging too much blood.

Childbirth is one of the most common reasons women go into hospitals, and yet the American health care system handles complicated pregnancies with a stunning lack of preparation and precision. Put simply, women who give birth in the US have a greater risk of dying relative to other rich countries — and the problem has been growing worse at a timewhen America’s peers have continued to make pregnancy safer.¨

¨Lagrew started wondering about the suffering and death he had seen in the OR that day, and how much of it was preventable, given that so many C-sections aren’t medically necessary. (Doctors sometimes perform them to wrap up cases faster — and get reimbursed — before the end of their shift. Patients also request them for reasons that have nothing to do with health.)¨

¨He thought that if he could gather data on doctors’ C-section rates, and educate his fellow clinicians about how many they were doing and the risks of unnecessary surgeries, he might be able to reduce C-sections that aren’t medically indicated — and complications like placenta accreta.¨

¨The opioid epidemic certainly hasn’t made births safer for moms, and health care access remains poor for low-income and minority women, who have among the worst maternal health outcomes. The exponential increase in C-sections, which can sometimes save moms’ and babies’ lives, has also contributed to more pregnancy complications in subsequent births, such as accreta.¨

American women are also heavier on average, and having babies later in life, often with more chronic health conditions, putting them at a higher risk of complications in the maternity ward.

Yet other developed countries have seen similar health trends in rising childbirth age and bodyweight — without the accompanying increased death risk for mothers.

That’s led researchers like Boston University maternal health expert Eugene Declercq to conclude that a key driver of America’s maternal mortality problem is that America doesn’t value women.

“The argument we make internationally is that [a high maternal death rate] is often a reflection of how the society views women,” he says. “In other countries, we worry about the culture — women are not particularly valued, so they don’t set up systems to care for them at all. I think we have a similar problem in the US.”

¨The Better Care Act would also gut Medicaid, which covers about half of all births in the US. If the GOP plan passes, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office expects it will result in more unplanned pregnancies and 22 million people losing their health care within a decade.

IN TEXAS, 36 MOMS DIE PER 100,000 BIRTHS, FIVE TIMES AS MANY AS IN CALIFORNIA

For a preview of what this could do to women’s health, look to Texas, which has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world. There, 36 moms die per 100,000 births, or five times California’s maternal mortality rate. Texas has also closed down Planned Parenthood clinics and rejected Medicaid expansion — changes the GOP would like to see ripple across the US. The state boasts the largest uninsured population in America.¨

 

April Showers Bring Showers of Blessings!

This weekend is packed with wonderful events for pregnant mamas/families.

Please be sure to check out one or all of them and support your local birth community!

Hale Kealaula

After the closing of the only birthing home on O`ahu

Hale Kealaula and Selena Green; CPM are still offering home birth services as well as looking for land or a home to make the new birthing home on O`ahu and in the state.

The birthing home in Makaha was a blessing for many families who were able to birth there, with the ocean and beautiful mountains surrounding the home, it gave a loving peaceful environment for them all.  Unfortunately it was closed due to the property being sold and now home birth services are being offered by Selena and her birth team.

Selena has offices on University and soon to be in Wahiawa too, contact her at:

(808) 445-6248 or by email at mamaselena.midwife@gmail.com

 

MaterniTEA

 

BEST Birth Hawaii, Mālama Momma & Born to Birth Midwifery bring you a monthly gathering of different care providers from Doulas; birth and postpartum, childbirth educators, chiropractors and more to give their mana`o about different topics surrounding the childbearing year.

Bring your family, friends and questions each month, stay up to date with where it will be held by following all of these links:

BEST Birth Hawaii

Mālama Momma

Born to Birth Midwifery

Born to Birth Midwifery

Another option for out of hospital birth families

Born to Birth Midwifery; Kaja Gibbs

Kaja is a LM, CPM graduated from National College of Midwifery. She grew up the daughter of a midwife, witnessing natural childbirth. This was normal life. She began her educational pursuit in nursing school at the University of Hawaii. In 2010, Kahealani, Kaja’s daughter was born at home. This experience inspired her calling to midwifery. She volunteered as an assistant midwife in Hawaii. She also collaborated with Summer Yadao and various birth workers where Hapai Hawai`i was born. She continued her training in California and in Washington State where she became a CPM, Certified Professional Midwife and LM, Licensed Midwife. After practicing in Washington, she returned home to Hawaii to continue her work in the women’s health care community as a Midwife. 

Kaja is also a passionate photographer and videographer. She enjoys capturing the authenticity of a moment for her clients. 

“I believe women are Born to Birth. It encompasses two experiences – the way a woman gives birth and the way a baby is born.” 

~Kaja Gibbs 2010

Pitocin and Postpartum Depression

Source: http://alert.psychnews.org/2017/01/exposure-to-synthetic-oxytocin-may.html?m=1

 

A study by Depression and Anxiety gives us something to explore regarding the routine use of pitocin given immediately afterm childbirth in the hospitals and it’s link to increase incidents of postpartum depression.

When we disconnect ourselves from the physiological process of birth, and try to replace hormones with synthetic ones, or just use them for different indications, we are disrupting a process programmed within us from the beginning of time.

Oxytocin, the hormone involved with many wonderful processes such as orgasm, birth, breastfeeding, touching etc is especially interrupted when the natural process of labor, birth, birth of the placenta and breastfeeding are interrupted by the use of pitocin.

Read the article here

The Placenta

Ah the placenta, the rarely recognized organ that grows with your baby, the secret remedy that is usually quickly discarded before you can even see it in the hospital.

Here is a site for some information and I will be adding more shortly:

http://www.placentaassociation.com

Just as all other mammals, we benefit from using the placenta in our post-partum care.  From sticking pieces of it in your mouth during a hemorrhage, to mixing it up in a shake or dehydrating into capsules, there are many way to benefit from your placenta.

Hale Kealaula & Niu Chiropractic

Niu Chiropractic’s newsletter featured Hale Kealaula’s Certified Professional Midwife; Selena Green now has office hours at her University location.

Dr. Christine Lipat is an amazing Chiropractor and her holistic approach is so refreshing after having only been to see the “crack-n-go” technique, Dr. Lipat’s way of also looking at nutrition and other aspects of our lifestyle to live a healthier happier life is so amazing that you must experience her care yourself.

Those of you who are expecting or know of someone who is pregnant, please let them know of the option to visit with Selena Green and her team at Hale Kealaula now at this University location.

Princess Clover’s Birth Story

Born June 4, 2016 1:28 a.m.

9 lbs 6.5 oz, 21 1/2 inches

Midwives of Hale Kealaula; Selena Green and Jaymie Lewis

Photos by Jenna Toilolo; Captivating Creation Photography https://m.facebook.com/captivatingcreation

It all began a few weeks prior with a few light surges during the early morning hours and I was sure that this little ‘boy’ (I swore up and down that I was carrying a boy throughout the entire pregnancy lol) was going to arrive earlier than his EDD.

However March 27th came and went and still no Clover baby.  Of course, being a Midwife in training I knew that ‘he’ would come in his own good time.  Daddy however was getting a bit anxious and wanted to make sure that I had a ‘Plan B’ should baby not come by 42 weeks.  I assured him that we had pre-registered with Queen’s hospital so we could go there if our OB (wonderful Dr. Bliss Kaneshiro, who I heard isn’t accepting new patients at this time) thought it was necessary.

The morning of June 3rd, I picked up my children in Kapolei, did some errands and went grocery shopping all while having some pretty consistent surges 🙂  Walking through the isles of Sack n Save in Nanakuli pausing and holding on to the cart while telling my son to hold on a second lol.  Of course my wonderful Midwife; Selena Green was aware and had told my amazing Midwife Sister; Jaymie that I was having some surges.

When we got home we put things away and settled in to have dinner, still having some surges once in a while; and then while sitting in my seat on our ‘new’ couch, my water broke.  Daddy was a little surprised as he was setting up the grill outside to BBQ some ribs and was a little taken a back by the liquid on the ground (I stood up after the first gush).

My midwife called to double check how fast my births were after waters broke and I told her that both my previous births were 5 hours.  So she let Jaymie and my beautiful friend Jenna who would be taken these amazing photos know that it was time to come.  As predicted the surges came stronger and longer, though I was able to eat and drink fine, joke around and help give daddy some directions on what could be done before the Midwives arrived.

After that is basically a blur but I do remember holding everyone’s hands while laboring in the pool.  Getting an ice pop, laughing, being on hands and knees and moaning but most of all as it was getting to the most intense point.  Jaymie was whispering in my ear to let the energy go down and out, so when the surges came I did just that.  It helped tremendously and I remember pushing not long after that, it seemed like not very long but it was probably about an hour of pushing her down.

When her head emerged, I thought it would be quick that she would slide out as my previous to babies did.  However little Clover’s shoulders were stuck and Jaymie had to get her little arm out first before she was fully birthed at 1:28 a.m. on Saturday June the 4th.  As soon as she came out she wasn’t breathing for a bit so we rubbed up her back but still no breaths, so I gave her a few puffs as we are trained to (just the air that’s in your mouth, not big breaths) and I heard her first little gasp.  We gave her a little bit of O2 also and she slowly came around and began breathing on her own.

We didn’t know the sex of our baby yet, so I quickly flipped her bottom over to see and saw that I had been wrong the entire pregnancy.  My ‘boy’ was a little girl, my daughter Cierra and daddy were quite happy with the news!  I was in complete shock lol

Then I saw that there was quite a bit of blood in the water and I could hear Selena and Jaymie saying that I needed to get out of the pool so they could monitor my bleeding.  I got a shot of Pitocin, some Hemhalt tincture and eventually a placenta shake to control the bleeding.

As soon as I was out of the pool and on the couch-bed in the living room I felt the most horrible migraine I have ever had come on.  (Towards the last days, I finally got upset and actually cried out to, “bring it on!”  It hurt so bad, it honestly couldn’t get any worse)

After that I was in a fog and just knew that I was in pain.  Everyone tried to help remedy the pain but it just wouldn’t subside and finally I called my beautiful friend Mileka to ask if she would please come and massage my migraine away.  She was a God sent and the migraine subsided enough that I finally felt I was able to enjoy this little baby girl.  After a few days I noticed that my thirst could not be quenched no matter how much water I drank and I was hospitalized for dehydration.  We began loading me up with electrolytes and soon I felt like there was hope at the end of the tunnel.

The migraine still persisted so I called on the chiropractor I had seen prenatally and that we send all our clients at Hale Kealaula to; Dr. Christine Lipat at Niu Health Chiropractic.  She adjusted baby and I and we both were SO much happier, Clover had been a bit fussy at the breast for a while but after she was adjusted was doing wonderfully.

Of course after all of that, my breastfeeding was a bit hampered and I had to start little Clover on some formula (which still kills me a bit) and we are now doing well with both.

Fast forward to today and Princess Clover is a very expressive, talkative, loving, happy and beautiful baby’s in the world 🙂

We have had so much support since pregnancy and we wouldn’t have been able to be sane and doing well without you all:  our co-workers (too many to list), family; the Yadao ohana especially Aunty Roxanne and Aunty Noella who were one of the first visitors we had and the Skal ohana who have been supportive and sending their love and support from day one, love you all.

We’re most grateful for our birth team who had to come almost every day post-partum for one reason or another with me (we always say birth workers/body workers are always the ones that need the most care lol and it was no different with me!)  Selena, Valerie, Jaymie…Adam and I are so eternally grateful for all your care and love.

Photos by Captivating Creation Photography https://m.facebook.com/captivatingcreation