A Post from the Kansas City Star blog

Protect Homebirth Option

It is distressing to see that some obstetricians and public officials refuse to acknowledge the medical literature on the topic of home birth. Planned home birth with a skilled midwife in attendance has been shown many times to be a safe and reasonable option for low-risk women. (See, for example, the study published in the British Medical Journal, June 18, 2005: “Outcomes of planned home births with certified professional midwives: large prospective study in North America”).

National certification is currently available to midwives, as is licensure in many states. With the high rates of unnecessary Caesarean sections in most hospitals across the country — and the well-documented problems associated with surgical deliveries — it is more important than ever to preserve safe choices in childbearing that have the potential to reduce unnecessary interventions and their attendant risks.

Both home births and hospital births carry specific risks, and women who seek to reduce the likelihood of unnecessary medical interventions should be able to choose the home birth (or free-standing birth center) option.

As our obstetrician consultants for our forthcoming book on pregnancy and birth would agree, it is simply a myth that having a baby in the hospital will guarantee a better outcome for mother and/or baby.

Judy Norsigian
Executive director, Our Bodies Ourselves
Boston

http://blogs.kansascity.com/unfettered_letters/2007/08/protect-home-bi.html

Focus on Long Island

Thank you to Rachel, Julianna and Lorraine Cambria for being the most fabulous focus group for the upcoming movie on Natural Childbirth, "It's My Body, My Baby, My Birth." Rachel, 17, says that it definitely changed her outlook on natural childbirth. Juliana, 11, wanted to know if the babies were really born in the water. Lorraine says that she is reminded about how much she wanted to have a water birth 17 years ago with the birth of her daughter. The movie will be released in October 2007 so stay tuned for more.
Live from Long Island!

Being In Charge

Sometimes homebirths don't happen at home. We can spend 2 hours at home or 2 days at home or no time at all at home. We need to be open and flexible to a mom's needs and to a baby's needs. We need to be smart. Being in charge means that you are never pressured or manipulated into making decisions that are not right for you in the moment. Of course, you can feel disappointed and frustrated and maybe even scared, but we still want you to feel in charge of your decision-making and empowered by the amazing and humbling process of giving birth. We learn and grow throughout. The lessons are many and profound. We are grateful for the opportunity to understand birth and life on such a deep level.
Welcome to the world to Scarlet Shir-Lin Shinkle, born on August 10, 2007 at 6:43am. Congratulations to proud parents Emily and Andy, you have joined the circle of parents!

Naturally At Home

We are proud and thrilled to announce the birth on August 9, 2007 at 6:56 a.m. of Dominic Price Witham, born naturally at home after 29 hours of labor and weighing 9 lbs. 4 oz. and measuring 21 3/4" long.

We are all doing just great!

With love,
Karen, Bill, and Dominic

Lola is Here!

Cozy has an amazing little sister!

Her name is Lola Davis Shoffstall and she weighs in at a hefty 8lbs 1oz, 21 inches long and has a 13 1/2in head. Oh and she has 10 fingers, 10 toes and a very cute little tongue. She hasn't asked for a pony yet, but she already asked for a new MacBook Pro!

She was born at 2:24 am on July 30th, 2007 at home with the help of our midwives Maria and Abigail, and their assistant Michelle. Christina was incredible, labor lasted for a good 26 hours and she is doing well resting with Lola right now.

-- Sean Shoffstall, brand new Dad

Best Odds on Tiring Out Your Three-Year-Old

Congratulations to homebirther Dharam Kaur Khalsa of Acrosports for having one of the best preschooler activities around. But don't think she's doing any of this with her own babies, Guru Bakshish is attending UCLA and Amrit is a sophmore at Urban High School!

Welcome Simone!

Rebecca, David and Willa are excited to announce their new family member!

Miss Simone Handler Andrade took her first breath at 4:19pm on Wednesday August 1st. She was born at home weighing 8 lbs, 2oz and is 21 1/2 inches tall.

Mother and baby are healthy and happy, and big sister wants to "hold Simone peeeeeeez."

Birth has that big way of bringing us to a vulnerable place where we learn alot. Rebecca took charge of this birth and brought it all home for herself and her baby. Amazing courage, strength, and willingness.

Best Tattoo Artist

Congratulations to Philip Milic for receiving the coveted "Best Tattoo Artist" award from the Bay Guardian. Here's what they had to say, "The Asian-influenced, eye-popping ink work of Philip Milic, an independent needle slinger who works by appointment only, has our readers covered for yet another sleek and sexy year." Yeah, Philip and Meghan Marie who are planning a homebirth for later this month!

Register your water baby!

Waterbirth International needs you to register your baby on their "I Was Born in Water" list on their website if you had a waterbirth. Click here if your baby was born in water. They have over 4000 baby names listed and their goal is 10,000 by 2010. They are in line for an NIH grant to do follow-up research for these babies and their mother's experiences of waterbirth. Not only will you get to be on a very cool list, but you will be helping to prove that waterbirth is a safe and wonderful way to enter the world!

Here are more waterbabies: Gomeh, Solena, Elle, Oona Jane, Camilo, and Forrest!