Yes, I've seen it.
I will be posting a response to ACOG's latest shortly.
posted by Louisa at 8:38 AM
Thursday, February 07, 2008
About Me
- Name: Louisa
- Location: Leafy Corner, Pacific Northwest, United States
Mam, midwife, doula, blogger, wife. I'm passionate about my family, birth, breastfeeding and mothering. My blog chronicles my training as a midwife and my life as a mother, wife and woman. After a brief stint in private blog land, and too many requests for access, I'm re-opening my blog for your viewing pleasure.
Previous Posts
- Exhaustion
- I miss my dog.
- Happy Day
- There are no words.
- Chili.
- Tread carefully, Grasshopper.
- Old loves remembered...
- Back to the Emerald City
- Sleepy...
- Shut Up and Listen
7 Comments:
Such a difference to RCOG's statement
http://www.rcog.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=2023
I'm so pleased I'm training here in the UK sometimes.
I look forward to reading your thoughts on it. I just ranted about this a bit on my site, if you're interested (http://birthspool.blogspot.com). We have such a long way to go in this country!
And here is the first response I've seen. I'll be very curious to see what others crop up.
http://www.thebigpushformidwives.org/pdf-bin/news.020708.pdf
Does anyone feel like this statement was released conveniently before The Business of Being Born will be available to the public through Netflix?
Wow, they are scared.
We had 250 people show up to one screening of BOBB yesterday. Yeah, they're scared.
Here was a response that made me grin posted on a doula board.
ACOM NEWS RELEASE
For Release:
February 11, 2008
Contact:
ACOM Office of Communications
ACOM Statement on Hospital Births
Somewhere, USA -- The American College of Out-of-Hospital Midwives
(ACOM) reiterates its long-standing opposition to mandatory hospital
births for low risk women. While childbirth can be complicated by
medical problems, it is by default a process that most women
experience without complications. Monitoring of both the woman and
the baby during labor and delivery in any setting is important
because complications can arise even among women with low-risk
pregnancies. This monitoring is most safely done by a provider who
stays with her/his client from active labor to several hours
postpartum, rather than by a provider who is managing multiple
clients and off-site practices at the same time.
ACOM acknowledges a woman's right to make informed decisions
regarding her delivery and to have a choice in choosing her health
care provider, so ACOM does not support programs that limit choice to
hospital location. Nor does ACOM support the limiting of care to
specific categories of provider.
Childbirth decisions should not be dictated or influenced by what's
fashionable, trendy, or the latest cause célèbre. Despite the rosy
picture painted by hospital advocates, a seemingly normal labor and
delivery can too easily become a major medical event for both the
mother and baby. Attempting a vaginal birth in the hospital is
especially difficult because the environment restricts movements and
is overly concerned about time limits. If a women is in a hospital,
with physicians ready to intervene quickly whether necessary or not,
she puts herself and her baby's health and life at unnecessary risk.
Advocates cite the US cesarean rate as one justification for
promoting hospital births, since cesareans are not available in other
locations. The cesarean delivery rate has concerned ACOM for the past
several decades and ACOM remains committed to reducing it by
increasing access to out-of-hospital birth, and supports efforts to
find a scientific way to recommend an 'ideal' national cesarean rate
as a target goal. Multiple factors are responsible for the current
cesarean rate, but emerging contributors include physician choice and
the rising tide of over-diagnosing pregnancies as high-risk.
The availability of a midwife to provide support and monitoring,
while limiting unnecessary and risky interventions, may be life-
saving for the mother or newborn and lower the likelihood of a bad
outcome. ACOM believes that the safest setting for labor, delivery,
and the immediate postpartum period for low-risk women is at home.
It should be emphasized that studies comparing the safety and outcome
of births in hospitals with those occurring in other settings in the
US are limited and have not been scientifically rigorous. Moreover,
obstetricians attending hospital births are untrained in the full
range of normal labor and therefore are too willing to perform
cesarean deliveries and other surgical and medical procedures that,
when unnecessary, produce worse outcomes for the mother and child.
ACOM encourages all pregnant women to get prenatal care and to make a
birth plan. The main goal should be a healthy and safe outcome for
both mother and baby. Choosing to deliver a baby at hospital,
however, is to place the process of giving birth over the goal of
having a healthy baby. For women who choose an obstetrican to help
deliver their baby, it is critical that they choose only those that
collaborate with midwives to maximize their chances of a normal
birth.
The American College of Out-of-Hospital Midwives is the fictitious
national organization pretending to represent over 900 members who
provide care for low-risk women and families during the childbearing
year.
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