Why, oh why must nursery nurses be so rough with a newborn?  I understand being efficient.  I understand that some babies must be stimulated to breathe.  But why must a healthy newborn immediately be whisked aside, buffed vigorously with a towel until they howl in protest, suctioned repeatedly and aggressively, turned this way and that like a lump of dough, suctioned again and rubbed some more?

“Come on, get mad at me!” the nurse urges.  Where else is anger considered a sign of health and vigor?  Often the poor babe is screaming so hard that he can barely catch a breath.  He gets suctioned again.  I grit my teeth.

I have seen babies who clamped their lips shut and refused to even root for the breast after such treatment.  Others have been so upset that even their gentle mother had a hard time calming them enough to get them to latch on — 30 or more minutes after the assault.

As much as I dislike hospital births for all of the interventions that they “offer” to mothers (offer, as in “We’re going to do xyz now…”), the mother is an adult and has the ability to speak up for herself or may have a partner who will.  She has a choice.  I absolutely detest the way that new little soul is treated by the staff in the first minutes after birth.  It makes ME angry! 

Welcome to the world, sweet little one.  I’m so sorry that your first impression is one of violence.

I ran across a very interesting site this evening that offers some state by state statistics on birth.  The link above will take you to the Texas Peristats page, but you can change the state with a drop-down menu on the left hand side of the page.

Some highlights:

• In an average week in Texas, 7685 babies are born.
• In Texas in 2006, 33.2% of live births were cesarean deliveries.
• In 2006, 1 in 12 babies (8.4% of live births) was low birthweight (< 5.5 lbs.) in Texas.
• In 2006, 1 in 7 babies was born preterm (before 32 weeks), and between 1996 and 2006, the rate of preterm birth increased 17% in Texas.

“Pit to Distress”: A Disturbing Reality « Nursing Birth.

I had never heard of “pit to distress” before today.  This is a blog entry by a labor and delivery nurse describing the policy of some doctors to order pitocin for a laboring woman and specify that it be increased until it reaches the maximum dosage regardless of how it affects the mother or baby.  If the baby goes into distress because the contractions are too strong–oh well!  A quick c-section and the doctor goes home.

Am I shocked?  Yes.  Am I apalled?  Definitely.  Am I surprised?  Not at all.

God bless those nurses who advocate for the women they serve as it seems NursingBirth does.

Ladies, have you ever gotten one of those emails that say “Forward this email to every woman you know.  Don’t let your mother/sister/friend become the next victim”?  Yeah, I think you see where I’m going with this.  Read the second installment on this topic and I think you’ll know what to do. 

…but it’s written by a doula who works in the Rio Grande Valley area of Texas.

From One Mother to Another

It seems like doctors and hospitals do all that they can to disempower women and make them believe that they are helpless and “sick.”

Abuse.  That really is the only word for it.

…that the hospital is the safest place to give birth.

The arrogance of some doctors never ceases to amaze me.  This kind of thing angers me so much, that I have a hard time putting it in to words.  Fortunately, there are others out there that aren’t speechless with rage, and I refer you to one of the best rebuttals in lieu of my own.

Navelgazing Midwife’s Response (fair warning for those who need it: there is one immodest labor picture at the very top of her blog post)