has Trish been?
I guess I can answer that one.
We’ve had a great summer, so far. I know it’s almost over, but we have high hopes that we will be back to Costa Rica by sometime after Christmas and will be enjoying the warm sunny weather again.
We’ve been:
- Attending my sister’s wedding
- Still trying to sell this darn house
- Going on a wonderful camping trip to the old campgrounds that I visited annually as a child. Here’s some pictures…
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I just read this nice article summarizing the birth options in Costa Rica: Natural Childbirth Choices in Costa Rica.
Since we plan on hopefully having a homebirth in Costa Rica, this is great information. When we were originally researching the idea of moving to Costa Rica, I actually had a lot of trouble finding information about options for natural childbirth in the country. I suppose that’s because homebirth is a bit of an underground option there still. The article above gives a good summary of the issues going on in childbirth in the country, and how to deal with it as a consumer.
A friend of mine recently asked me whether I was afraid to give birth in Costa Rica. I told her no. But I think if you were someone not that educated about their cesarean rate, and what interventions go on in hospitals, you might be right to be fearful of birth in Costa Rica. I’m not afraid because, even though I am not pregnant yet, we have already set up the necessary contacts for us to have a homebirth in Costa Rica. I know that if I am forced to go to a hospital due to some life-threatening emergency, I will get good medical care in Costa Rica. But I won’t allow myself to be forced into an unnecessarily medicalized birth unless it is truly necessary. And in a country where some hospitals have greater than an 80% cesarean rate, I’ll be on my guard. But frankly, I’m on my guard in this country (USA), where I’ve been hearing of hospitals with a 50% cesarean rate and climbing. From what I hear, some of the New Jersey rates are the worst. So how different are we, really, than Costa Rica?
Plus - and this is really one of the keys in my mind - I know Arp has my back on this one. I know that no doctor with a scalpel in his hand is going to come close to getting past my husband without there being a very good reason. When you are in the throws of labor, there just isn’t another substitute for a partner who will do anything to protect your right to a normal, natural birth.
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“Any physician who picks up a scalpel and does major abdominal surgery, which is what a C-section is, because that doctor is afraid of litigation, is not practicing medicine but is practicing fear and greed,”
So says Marsden Wagner, perinatologist and former director of Women’s and Children’s Health for the World Health Organization, to the Washington Post this week.
Every time I hear about the C-section rates I am flabbergasted. How could this possibly be happening?! Why aren’t women getting angry? I mean, really really angry?
Here’s my own message to all the OB/GYNS out there: Grow some balls. Be brave enough to consider the health of your patients before you think about lawyers and the bottom line. Be brave enough to accept that birth can be noisy, messy and unscheduled. Embrace the natural mountains and valleys, the way things were meant to progress, not the sterilized and life-draining way they have become.
Every time I hear Marsden Wagner speak, he seems to me to be the voice of reason in the realm of birth.
Thanks to Pushed Birth for the link to the story.
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For Mother’s Day, I asked Arp to get me a copy of Dr. Sarah J. Buckley’s book, Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering. I actually didn’t know much about Sarah J. Buckley until I had the joy of seeing her in a pre-screening of the new film Orgasmic Birth. So I checked out her website and found out that she is a pretty fascinating person. I’ve been really into learning more about birth lately, since Arp and I might be considering trying again soon. So I figured that getting a copy of Buckley’s book would be fitting for Mother’s Day.
I am not exaggerating when I say that Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering is the most enjoyable book on birth and mothering that I have read, ever. Read more »
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Was your birth orgasmic? If not literally, was it wonderful and life-changing? Were you ecstatic? I’m not talking about the part where you get your baby. I’m talking about the process of going through labor and birth, and then holding your baby. Was that amazing?! It sure was for me!
Bloggers and people interested in birth are talking about a new film, Orgasmic Birth, which is having its’ world premiere on May 12th. My good friend and fellow blogger Summer talks about the film here and here. You can view the trailer for the movie at the Orgasmic Birth website.
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