VBAC Facts

Yes, you can cook delicious, flavorful food in a crock pot

August 19, 2008 – 8:26 pm
I love to cook and, before kids, I loved spending a couple hours sipping a glass of wine, listening to beautiful music, and making dinner.  Now I have two children, times have changed, and by the end of the day, I am pooped.  I still have the desire to spend all that time lovingly chopping various pieces of produce and leisurely planning a menu, but the reality is with two small kids, I've had to either change my plan of attack or eat out of a can.  So while I've used my crock pot over the years, it has been working overtime the last few months.  I sometimes make things even easier by prepping the food the night before, after the kids are asleep, so in the morning, I can just put it in the crock pot and turn it on! My family likes flavorful food using flavors from ...

Posted in Cooking | No Comments »

Is your baby "bad" or are you just a deficient parent?

August 14, 2008 – 4:02 pm
One thing that drives me crazy is when someone asks if my baby or child is "good."  This "goodness" typically measures how well my baby sleeps through the night and/or how much they cry.  When referring to an older child, it measures the complacency of the child.  I don't like referring to babies or kids as "good" because it implies that if my baby doesn't sleep through the night or does cry or my older child isn't compliant, they are "bad" which is definitely not the case. I have yet to met any baby who never fusses and any child who is compliant 100% of the time. My daughter cried a lot as a baby, and it was really, really hard, but does that mean she was a "bad baby?"  Or that my son, who from birth to 3 months woke up only the eat and otherwise slept a 10-12 ...

Posted in Parenting | 1 Comment »

Researching Slope Ground Cover & Lawn Alternatives in Southern California

August 10, 2008 – 2:19 pm
I hate lawns.  I don't like watering them.  Yes, we have sprinklers but I just think it is such a waste of water to try to force a lawn to grow and stay green where it is over 90 degrees for at least three months out of the year. I don't like mowing them and either does my husband.  So when we did have a lawn, it always looked awful since it wasn't mowed weekly.  So a couple years ago, we ripped out our lawn in the backyard, put down black plastic, wood chips and finished it off with a used Barbie playhouse we bought off of eBay.  This has served us well for a couple years, but it would be so nice to look out my kitchen window and see something green growing on the lawn... is it possible to have an "ecologically responsible" lawn? I'm also ...

Posted in California, Gardening, House, Living Simply | No Comments »

OB lists reasons for rising cesarean rate

July 12, 2008 – 8:15 pm
I read a public message board for medical professionals and the discussion of cesareans came up.  This is what one OB wrote: The main reason for the rising primary C/S rate is: Fear of litigation Convenience Reimbursement Patient satisfaction Inductions Poor management of labor Note that "health of the mother" or "health of the baby" are not listed.  Note that any reference to "a good outcome" is missing, other than "patient satisfaction" which is likely linked to how terrified most women are of vaginal birth.  I think it's really sad that women are more afraid of vaginal birth than major abdominal surgery.  Most of the horror birth stories we read are the result of reasons number 5 & 6: inductions & poor management of labor.  Thus we are so happy that our cesarean "saved us and/or our baby" from a bad situation... a ...

Posted in An inside perspective, Cesarean section, Home birth/HBAC, Hospital birth, Inductions, Insurance | 3 Comments »

Why we didn’t circumcise

July 6, 2008 – 2:16 pm
In America in 2006, a little over half of all boys were circumcised and in the Western states, where we live, only a third were.  We didn't circumcise our son because when I questioned why we would cut some skin off his penis, I couldn't think of one good reason.  I just couldn't help but feel like there is a reason why that skin is there.  And was it really worth an extra trip to the hospital, since he was born at home, to get him circumcised?  Not for me.  Yet, there are six reasons that I primarily hear among people who circumcise for non-religious reasons. The first, and this is definitely the most common, is that an uncircumcised penis looks 'weird.'  Well, that's because in America, most grown US born men were circumcised so that is what we are all accustomed to seeing.  It's entirely cultural. In other parts ...

Posted in Parenting, Random Research | 1 Comment »

Does insurance pay when you leave the hospital AMA?

July 5, 2008 – 8:34 pm
The more I read about women birthing in hospitals, the more stories I read of women who are lied to and threatened.  It is really eroding my confidence in doctors and hospitals.  You can read two examples here and here.  If we can't trust what they say, how can we trust when they tell us that we need a cesarean?  You do that by knowing the three types of care providers.  There are great OBs out there, like this one and these guys.  You just need to know where to look. Here is an email from a home birth midwife, shared with permission, detailing yet another experience of doctors lying. Short version: had a postpartum transport last night and since baby was born OOH [out of hospital] and was a nice healthy 9#, parents had a difference of opinion with the hospital staff about how much input, if any, ...

Posted in An inside perspective, Hospital birth, Insurance, VBAC | 1 Comment »

VBAC Ban Protest at Cottage Hospital

July 4, 2008 – 7:48 pm
Cottage Hospital must think we are idiots. They claim there is no "VBAC ban," but if you look at their VBAC & CS rates, you will see that three women, three, had VBACs there in 2006, which gave them a VBAC rate of 0.9%.  That means that 99.1% of women have repeat cesareans at Cottage Hospital.  The VBAC rate in California is 9%, 10 times higher than the VBAC rate at Cottage Hospital, so unless the women of Santa Barbara are somehow different than the women of California, over 99% then do not want repeat cesareans.  Below is a chart comparing Cottage Hospital's statistics to the state average.  You can see the complete chart, including all California hospitals, here. COUNTY HOSPITAL CS (COUNT) CS RATE(%) PRIMARY CS (COUNT) PRIMARY CS RATE (%) VBAC UNCOMP (COUNT) VBAC UNCOMP RATE (%) VBAC,ALL (COUNT) VBAC,ALL ...

Posted in Advocacy, California, Hospital VBAC Bans, VBAC | No Comments »

Awesome website about food & living simply - GNOWFGLINS™

July 4, 2008 – 7:24 pm
Do you ever come across a website that is so incredible, so chockfull of interesting, useful everyday information that you are compelled to share it with everyone you know? That is how I feel about GNOWFGLINS™. I've spent the past hour bouncing on my yoga ball trying to get my baby to sleep and, while my back was burning and my patience waning, I past the time with my new best bud Wardeh. A brief description: We choose to eat healthfully as a way of praising our Creator for His perfect design. As our designer, He knows best how to nourish our bodies. Those foods are God's Natural, Organic, Whole Foods, Grown Locally, In Season. Here are some of my favorite posts: Use Less Plastic Challenge Reheating Foods Without A Microwave Fruit Smoothie Formula Raw Nut Milk ~ Almond or Hazelnut Chocolate-Almond Milk Pumpkin Pie (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free) ...

Posted in Cooking, House, Living Simply | 2 Comments »

Attorneys looking for VBAC ban victims

July 3, 2008 – 7:23 pm
This was emailed out on the ICAN list: __________________________________________________________ Dear Friends, As you are likely aware, many women are denied access to VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) because of hospital policies and outright bans. Attorneys with the Northwest Women's Law Center in Seattle are looking at this issue. It requires that the woman is planning a hospital birth, in a hospital that bans VBAC, because she has no other options (not feeling comfortable with a homebirth is an acceptable reason to not have a homebirth for this purpose, so it doesn't have to be in an area where there are also no midwives available). The reason for not having options can be geographic (no close hospitals to go to) or something like restrictions placed on her because of insurance or lack of insurance. But she definitely has to be planning a hospital birth. __________________________________________________________ I'm a lawyer with the ...

Posted in Advocacy, Alaska, Hospital VBAC Bans, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington | 1 Comment »

Plum bake-off status

June 30, 2008 – 9:53 pm
I've spend the last few days picking, cleaning, slicing ... making chutney, plum butter & ginger plum jam .... canning, freezing ... making a pie... my first plum pie... it was heavenly and I really want to bust out a few more pies and freeze them.. you can get the recipes I used here. Delia Smith’s Spiced Plum Chutney was so easy to put together... diced the apples and onions in the food processor and then almost everything else was weighed at the store from the bulk bins, so I just pored all that in... and it smelled so good cooking.  I almost wished someone was going to just stop by so they could smell it!  Now we wait 3 months while it mellows... yum! Country Plum Pie was my favorite kind of pie... simple and all about the fruit.  A couple spices, some minute tapioca, a bit of sugar ...

Posted in Cooking, House, Living Simply | No Comments »

Recipes for when you have a ton of plums

June 28, 2008 – 9:26 pm
So today DH and I canned for the first time and it was so cool!  Our plum tree is loaded with fruit and after to many years of fruit rotting on the ground only to be collected and composted (via our super-cool Compost Twin), we decided to actually start processing these sweet little gifts and continue down the road of "Homesteading in the Suburbs!"  We made a simple Plum-Vanilla Conserve via a Williams Somona cookbook and once I got a taste of that, I knew I wanted to do more, so onto the Internet I went!  My criteria: uses loads of plums can be mass produced can be preserved via canning, freezing, or fermenting in alcohol Below are my favorite finds.  I think tomorrow we will bust out a few Plum Pies and freeze them and then make some conserve, chutney, plum wine & liquor (yum!!), baked plums, ...

Posted in Cooking, House, Living Simply | 1 Comment »

A VBAC Supportive OB’s Response to the AMA’s Statement on Homebirth

June 26, 2008 – 9:42 pm
On June 15, 2008, the American Medical Association published their 2008 legislative resolutions which you can view here.  Resolution 205, entitled "Home Deliveries," expresses their desire to eliminate homebirth.  Below is a response written by Stuart J. Fischbein, MD FACOG, Medical Director of the Birth Action Coalition.  OBs like this are few are far between.  If you live in the Los Angeles area and are seeking a vaginal birth, please seek out Dr. Fischbein.  Women of childbearing age need to financially support and reward, yes reward, OBs like this who are willing to out outside the norm and support VBAC.  Go to Dr. Fischbein for your vaginal birth, go to him for your VBAC, shoot, go to him for your annual pap smear.  There are to many OBs out there who don't care wether you have a vaginal birth or major surgery, who will lead you on only to ...

Posted in Advocacy, An inside perspective, California, Home birth/HBAC, Hospital VBAC Bans, Laws, OBs and midwives who support VBAC, VBAC | 8 Comments »

Homebirth Petition

June 20, 2008 – 10:46 pm
This was emailed out on one of the lists I'm on... Dear Friends,Resolutions were recently introduced by the AMA to support ACOG's position against home birth and to "develop model legislation in support of the concept that the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex, that meets standards jointly outlined by the AAP and ACOG, or in a freestanding birthing center that meets the standards of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, The Joint Commission, or the American Association of Birth Centers."Please help send a message to the AMA and ACOG, and to our state and federal legislators, to tell them that we object to these resolutions and we view legislation that would restrict a woman's right to choose a home birth as a being contrary to scientific evidence and a violation of ...

Posted in Advocacy, Home birth/HBAC, Laws | No Comments »

Rupture rate 10% for VBA2C with prior vaginal birth within one year of last cesarean?

June 18, 2008 – 9:56 pm
I just read a blog where a woman, with a prior vaginal birth and two cesareans, was told that her risk of uterine rupture was 5%.  She was also told that since her VBAC would be within one year of her cesarean, her rupture risk doubled to 10%.  It just breaks my heart to read of women receiving such misinformation from their OBs. So, here is the link to Risk of Uterine Rupture With a Trial of Labor in Women With Multiple and Single Prior Cesarean Delivery (Obstetrics & Gynecology 2006;108:12-20) by Landon, et al, which I will refer to as Landon 2006. This study of 975 women with multiple prior cesareans found a rupture rate of 0.9%.  That's a lot smaller than 5%.  When will OBs either stop lying to women or get their facts straight? Landon 2006 does not look at VBA2C within a year, but it does ...

Posted in Medical Studies, Uterine Rupture, VBAC, VBAMC | No Comments »

Uterine rupture risk drops with each VBAC

June 17, 2008 – 8:46 pm
When planning the size of your family, considering the implications of multiple cesareans versus multiple VBACs. As we know, the risks of cesareans goes up with each surgery, especially in terms of adhesions. But, as this study found "VBAC success increased with increasing number of prior VBACs" and "the rate of uterine rupture decreased after the first successful VBAC and did not increase thereafter." I'd love to know if they induced or augmented these women and if the rates of rupture were lower in spontaneous and non-augmented labors like Landon 2004 found.  I'd also like to read more about the "low risk for maternal and neonatal complications."  How do their results compare with the 1 in 2000 "adverse perinatal outcome" Landon 2004 found?  Maybe I'll pay the $20 for single day access to find out.  I'll keep you posted. Mercer BM, Gilbert S, Landon MB. et ...

Posted in Medical Studies, Uterine Rupture, VBAC, VBAMC | No Comments »

Neonatal nurse has a homebirth VBAC

June 16, 2008 – 8:23 pm
This is a great birth story, published with permission, of a woman who had a cesarean for "small pelvis" and then VBACed a larger baby at home!  Since she is a neonatal nurse, it's interesting to read why she chose HBAC and how she thinks her birth would have gone differently had she labored in a hospital. I just wanted to let everyone know that I gave birth to a healthy babygirl Wednesday June 11th. I had a C/S with my son 2 years ago. He was8lbs 2oz and I was told that my pelvis wasn't big enough to birth an8lb baby. Well my VBAC baby was 9lbs 2 oz. Exactly a pound bigger thanthey told me. I knew I wasn't broken. I chose to have a homebirthbecause I felt I would always have to fight for what I wanted in thehospital. My labor went great. Started ...

Posted in An inside perspective, Birth stories, CPD, Home birth/HBAC, Large/macrosomic babies, Pain Medications, VBAC, Waterbirth | 2 Comments »

Pictures of Cervix for 33 Days

June 15, 2008 – 8:27 am
As anyone who has used NFP knows, being aware of your cervical position coupled with your basal body temperature and cervical mucous can help you can avoid pregnancy without any chemical or barrier birth control method.  In addition, since you know when you are fertile, you can pursue pregnancy. Being someone who loves charts, numbers, and spreadsheets, I found it really fun to chart my cycle.  Not only do you learn how your body normally functions, but you are more apt to recognize when things are a little off.  I credit my experience with NFP in "tipping me off" early when I had my miscarriage. Go to My Beautiful Cervix for the pictures.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »