Mothers Giving Health Decision Makers a Wake Up Call: Mothers Matter Campaign Launches on Mother’s Day.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – May 12, 2013 – OTTAWA, Canada –  Mothers of Change-National Capital Region is officially putting health decision makers all over the province on notice; mothers’ experiences in childbirth matter. The organization believes not enough attention is being given to the fact that childbirth has life lasting effects on an individual, not only a new mother but also as a woman, partner, and member of society.

Dr. Nancy Salgueiro, spokesperson for the Mothers Matter campaign says, “It is time that we start paying more attention to maternity care in this province and this country. The old adage ‘at least you have a healthy baby’ is not good enough anymore. We also need healthy moms!”

Mothers of Change- National Capital Region has identified several truths that are the essential foundation to improving maternity care:

•  Mothers need to become a bigger priority in birth so they can come through childbirth healthy; not just physically, but also mentally, emotionally, and socially.
•  It has been shown that the way a woman is treated through the process of childbirth has a bigger impact on her satisfaction with becoming a mother than the physical experience of birthing her baby.
• There is no reason why mothers cannot be treated well, i.e. with respect and kindness in birth, and still have any necessary care to experience a healthy outcome for both mother and baby.

These are the starting points to creating an entire maternity care solution that respects all women in childbirth.

How to participate in the Mothers Matter campaign is clearly outlined on the website http://informedchoice.ca/mothers-matter.

“What we are asking women to do is tell their stories. We want women to tell their politicians, hospital administrators, care providers, the college of Midwives of Ontario, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologist of Canada, and everyone involved in the administration of maternity care that Mothers Matter. Tell them how the process of giving birth has impacted your life. Tell them how the care that was provided in childbirth led to you feeling empowered or how you were traumatized and how that has carried forward into your life, as a mother, woman, partner, and member of society.”

Dr. Salgueiro says this campaign is open to everyone, regardless of the type of care you received, how you felt during childbirth, or how long ago you experienced it. It is even open for fathers to share their stories.

“The goal is to make maternity care a priority in this province and for administrators of that care to see the great impact it has on humanity.”

Go to http://informedchoice.ca/mothers-matter, to submit your story.

Mothers of Change is a non-profit, Canadian consumer advocacy group for maternity care. Founded in May 2010, Mothers of Change includes mothers and health care practitioners from across Canada who want to see improvement in maternity care. The vision of Mothers of Change is to improve care for mothers and babies in Canada, so that every mother/baby dyad is provided the best environment and best support for physiological birth and optimum postpartum care, whether at home or in hospital; attended by a midwife, physician, or obstetrician; and whether low or high risk.

Is it disgraceful and shameful that I am providing information on informed choice?

FACEBOOK COMMENT: (After posting this article http://www.hormonesmatter.com/one-less-after-gardasil/#comment-7116)

“This misinformation about vaccination is disgraceful. People who don’t vaccinate their children are ignorant, taking us back to the days when people lost their beautiful children to measles, diphtheria, whooping cough etc. If you want to see the health of societies that lack vaccinations, check out the infant mortality of the 19th century, or present day sub-saharan Africa. The deaths and poor health suffered in these communities is shameful and shame on anyone who is ignorant enough to jump on a bandwagon without stopping to consider why it is that we no longer remember anyone dying of these diseases…. vaccination.”

MY RANT:
I wholeheartedly disagree with your comment. The only bandwagon I see is the one where people blindly follow an industry that doe snot have their best interest at heart.

You will note that it is not a bunch of ignorant people who choose not to vaccinate. It is typically parents who come from a background with a higher education level. I’m not saying anything about those who do choose to vaccinate. Just that those who choose not to are more educated than average are are making conscious and informed choices for their children. Most parents who do not vaccinate don’t do so on a whim, they do it after careful deliberation of benefits vs risks. I can say, the majority of parents I know who have followed through with the vaccine schedule never questioned it and went ahead without making a fully informed decision. They may have been told they had no choice, which is not true. They may have been told the benefits of vaccinating and the risks of not vaccinating. But a proper informed consent conversation would also include the benefits of not vaccinating and the risks of vaccinating (which are real and significant- Autism aside (since most people think that is why parents choose not to vaccinate it is much more than Autism)).

If you look at the history of these diseases, you will clearly see that vaccines are not responsible for their decline. It was natural herd immunity, access to food and nutrition, better sanitation and personal hygiene. (Remember people used to not bathe for long periods of time.)

Besides normal childhood diseases like measles, mumps, rubella, and chickenpox are important to get as a child so that you can develop a normal immune system and so that you can be protected as an adult when these infections are more serious and have long lasting effects. If you, yourself, are not getting regular boosters for MMR and CP every 10 years or have not been exposed naturally you are at greater risk from these infections now as an adult. I don’t think most parents are informed of these things when they are consenting to vaccines. I want my kids to get exposed to all of these while they are young so we don’t have to risk the bigger problems later. Unfortunately, mass vaccination has limited my child’s ability to develop a naturally strong immunity to these diseases.

It is not exposure to infections that make people ill, it is a weakened immune system. We are exposed all the time and are not sick all the time because we do have an immune system fully capable of protecting us. Through healthy living you can be sure that you will have the strength to fight off infection as we do with all the other bacteria and viruses on the planet. (Obviously, those with a compromised immune system are the ones at risk, so my job is to make sure my children are not the ones with a compromised immune system and that will help protect the ones that do). Ignoring your child’s optimal health and function, leaves them susceptible to acquiring infections and passing them on to the immune compromised. In my opinion, it is your social responsibility to feed your children the healthiest diet possible and provide a stress free environment so they are not immune weakened passing on infections to everyone they pass by.

Vaccines have never been studied for LONG TERM safety and efficacy. Please, do prove me wrong on that one. We do not know if vaccines cause cancer or fertility problems. Read the package inserts. Until you can clearly tell me something is safe and better than the normal function of the body (which has done humanity well for hundreds of thousands of years) I am not willing to take on your experiment in my children. Vaccine research is so short sighted and just presumes safety and then tells people it is perfectly safe, as if they know. How can they know when they have never looked?

Vaccines, all vaccines, contain neurotoxins, which means that all children are having chemicals that damage their brain and nerve cells injected into them. (Hence all the neurological damage to the girl in this story from Gardasil). That means we are damaging the brains of ALL children who are vaccinated. Maybe not enough to notice, but we are damaging their potential and risking a huge side effect, like death. Are we sure the benefits outweigh the risks? I’m not so sure. I am not willing to knowingly inject toxins into my child that will, for sure, reduce their potential, for supposed protection, which isn’t as good as the real thing.

Vaccines cause an immune reaction because there is aluminum in them. If you inject only aluminum you will have the same reaction. So are we actually creating immunity to the diseases included in the vaccine or just causing a heavy metal reaction. Ask you doctor for the research to prove one way or the other. Assuming they do create an immune reaction to the disease, it is a much reduced reaction compared to natural immunity. The reaction is also short term vs long term, which happens with natural exposure. Vaccines also have the potential to switch your immune system from a normal one to an inflammatory one which will now be the normal reaction for that child going forward, leading to atopic diseases like asthma, allergies, and eczema. Don’t discount asthma as that is the number one reason for kids to go to the ER and hundreds of kids die every year from it, and its becoming more and more common. Could we be preventing it with natural immunity instead of vaccines? Good question. I think there is something else you should ask your doctor. But they likely won’t have the answers because they likely have never done the research and just do as they are told from the higher ups. Besides they have drugs (like steroids) they can prescribe your child to take every day for the rest of their childhood if your child develops asthma, so no worries.

Another detriment to society from vaccines is that artificial immunity cannot be passed on to your offspring. Natural immunity passes through the placenta and breastmilk. Breastfed babies are protected IF their mother wasn’t vaccinated. Who is at most risk from acquiring an infectious disease? Newborn babies. They would be protected if we didn’t interfere.

Vaccine theory (as it is not science) is based on the theory of herd immunity. Herd immunity doesn’t even happen with vaccines  (great article here) and requires natural periodic exposure in the environment to keep up the immunity. You don’t notice that you are exposed because you are still immune and fight it off without symptoms. This can’t happen with a vaccinated population which is why you need to be life long customers and go get your boosters every ten years.

Did your doctor give you a proper informed consent conversation about this? Did you get the real benefits (not just the presumed ones), did you get the side effects, the risks, alternatives (which there are), opportunity to ask more in depth questions, chance to get a second opinion, all this free of coercion and misrepresentation and the right to informed refusal? If not, you did not give informed consent.

Do you still think it is irresponsible of me to have parents question injecting toxic chemicals into their children? Ask questions first, be clear on what risks you are willing to take for what benefit, then make a conscious choice, not out of fear or coercion.

You may choose differently than me and that is your choice but to say people should remain ignorant and blindly follow the status quo, to me, is people firming sitting on a bandwagon.

Rant done. Any questions?

Sorry, rant not done. Gardasil is likely the most dangerous vaccine and one with the least real life benefit. Parents need to know, women need to know what the side effects and risks are before considering this vaccine. How is giving information irresponsible? What is irresponsible is lying to them, being deceiving with manipulative marketing and having no solutions to the horrible damage you have caused in their life. This vaccine was never finished being studied. They got fast tracked approval and stopped the trials. This should be criminal!

Leave your comment.  Do you want to know or would you prefer to just do are you are told?

YES!!! YES!!! YES!!! to what is said in this article.  It says everything that should be said, so I don’t really have a comment, except that all women need to read this:  http://www.improvingbirth.org/2013/05/selfish-women/ and that NO!!! NO!!! NO!!! it is NOT selfish.

“Saying that what happens with you and your baby during and after birth doesn’t matter is the same as saying it doesn’t matter whether you bond with your toddler or that it doesn’t matter whether your teenager hates you.  Birth is part of your life as a mother.  This is your life.”

I can’t stand the idea that people have that women are “selfish” for wanting a good birth. A good birth for mom is what creates a good birth for baby. They are one in the same, not a competition of one vs the other. The safest birth, most physiologic birth possible, for mom will allow baby to be born gently and without added risks.

“Acting as if a baby’s safety is compromised by treating his mother well in birth is ludicrous, and I’d like to call for an end to that.  If I could go back in time, I’d ask those people who questioned me to please explain how I was the most important factor in pregnancy and the least important in birth.  How my value as a person deserving of positive experiences plummeted so dramatically when I crossed the threshold from pregnant woman to woman in labor.  And how on earth treating my body well in pregnancy was intuitive, but treating my body well in birth was not.”

Here are some comments I made on the topic a couple years ago, http://yourbirthcoach.com/2011/09/22/is-planning-a-natural-birth-selfish/

Leave your comments! Is Caring About Your Birth Experience Selfish?

“Caitlin Tiller’s senior portrait was banned from the yearbook because she chose to pose with her infant son. This after the school said the students could pose with props that represented them and their achievements. The school said it “promotes teen pregnancy,” and would not appear in the yearbook.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/03/teen-mom-banned-yearbook-caitlin-tiller_n_3208016.html

Teen pregnancy happens and will never be eradicated (I use that word facetiously). At least she is showing that her child is rightfully important and represents her life. 

I know wonderful teen moms and I know teen moms who totally skip out on their responsibility and leave it to the grandparents. I think this is an example of a teen mom who takes her role as mother seriously. It is currently the most important role she has, other than as her own individual woman, how is this a bad example to others.

Do you think Caitlin was treated unfairly or does the school have a point?

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released this article today.  http://www.acog.org/About_ACOG/News_Room/News_Releases/2013/Study_Finds_Adverse_Effects_of_Pitocin_in_Newborns#.UYkdLeDO_9s.facebook

Here are my thoughts as I read the article (you will get a glimpse of inside my head, I seriously wrote this as I read line by line):

ACOG Article:  “Researchers say this is the first study of its kind to present data on the adverse effects of Pitocin use on newborns.”

 Dr. Nancy’s Thoughts:  Are we seriously only now looking at the potential adverse reaction for the babies?  When 25% of moms (here in Ontario) get induced and even more (almost all) have their labor augmented with pitocin shouldn’t we have looked at the effect on babies BEFORE we started using it?

Actually this cannot possibly be brand new info.  Drugs.com currently states: “General side effects have included low Apgar scores at 5 minutes. Fetal death has been reported.” “Nervous system side effects… have included neonatal seizures and permanent CNS or brain damage has been reported.” “Hepatic side effects have included neonatal jaundice.”  “Overdosage with oxytocin… can lead to… variable deceleration of fetal heart, fetal hypoxia, hypercapnia, perinatal hepatic necrosis or death.”

How many mothers were told these potential side effects for their babies when having an informed consent conversation about administration of synthetic oxytocin?  Or were they told it’s for the good of your baby and its perfectly safe?  Do their doctors even know the risks of the drugs the are administering or are they knowingly lying about safety?  Has anyone of TLC’s Baby Story been told this with the cameras rolling?

ACOG Article:  “These results suggest that Pitocin use is associated with adverse effects on neonatal outcomes. It underscores the importance of using valid medical indications when Pitocin is used.”

Dr. Nancy’s Thoughts: The idea that we need to reiterate “the importance of using VALID medical reason”  is just crazy to me.  Should this not be standard for all medical practice, only resorting to drugs and interfering with normal physiology for VALID medical reasons?  Makes me wonder what else they need to be reminded of.

ACOG Article: “Researchers found that induction and augmentation of labor with oxytocin was an independent risk factor for unexpected admission to the NICU lasting more than 24 hours for full-term infants. Augmentation also correlated with Apgar scores of fewer than seven at five minutes.”

 Dr. Nancy’s Thoughts: I wonder if this will become part of the standard informed consent conversation when being presented the choice to go ahead with pitocin, or will moms continue to be told you have no choice?

ACOG Article: “The analysis suggests that oxytocin use may not be as safe as once thought and that proper indications for its use should be documented for further study. ‘However, we don’t want to discourage the use of Pitocin, but simply want a more systematic and conscientious approach to the indications for its use.’”

 Dr. Nancy’s Thoughts: This is what gets me, we come up with a use for a drug, then we assume it’s safe without fully looking into long term implications (which still are not mentioned here in the article from ACOG), and then say whoops sorry, we shouldn’t have done that.

Sorry, if I sound a little (a lot) critical right now.  Stuff like this happens all the time in medicine and then we repeat the same story over and over and over.  Who sufferers?  The patient and their family and there are no consequences for the people who have guessed that it was OK to do in the first place.

Now, I’m not saying that there will never be a medical indication for the use of pitocin.  If someone’s life is truly at risk and the baby needs to come out ASAP then the benefit may outweigh the known and unknown risks BUT we should always be reserving chemical interference with the body for the cases when, truly, all other safer options are not working or not available.

 Induction for post dates, post rupture of membranes with no onset of labor, and augmentation based on arbitrary timelines are not VALID medical reason for use of pitocin unless there are compounding factors like baby failing a non-stress test, maternal fever, or preeclampsia.

 The FDA does not approve Pitocin for elective induction (i.e. non life saving induction) and does not approve it to speed labor without indication.  Actually, it is contraindicated “where adequate uterine activity fails to achieve satisfactory progress.”

POSTPARTUM PITOCIN

The next question is what about postpartum pitocin injections, to prevent hemorrhage, which are becoming standard with active management of the third stage (the time from birth to when the placenta comes out)?

It is safe to assume the risks to mom are the same but what about baby?

Many moms are delaying cord clamping now, as it has been found to be best for the baby, so are we delaying pitocin injection also?  If the baby is still attached to the cord how will pitocin affect it?  Presumably the same as the risks in utero.

What if the cord has been cut before administration of postpartum pitocin?

Drugs.com says this:

” Oxytocin Breastfeeding Warnings

Oxytocin is present in human milk in small amounts. If it is given to the mother postpartum for hemorrhage, it is recommend that nursing be delayed until the day following oxytocin discontinuation.”

 SERIOUSLY!!!  We are, as a rule, giving a drug to mothers that means they should not breastfeed for the first day of the baby’s life!!!  How is this OK?

OTHER PITOCIN RISKS

I haven’t even touched on the mental, emotional, social side effects of pitocin at any stage, which is significant.  Oxytocin is your body’s love hormone, being released during orgasm, birth, and breastfeeding.  It has the job of changing the neurological pathways of the brain so that you bond with the people around you, i.e. your baby and partner.  Synthetic oxytocin (Pitocin) blocks the receptors and prevents the love hormone from doing its job with bonding.  Babies receptor will also be blocked interfering with the baby’s brain bonding also.

 Here are some more notable quotes from Drugs.com:

• “IMPORTANT NOTICE

Elective induction of labor is defined as the initiation of labor in a pregnant individual who has no medical indications for induction. Since the available data are inadequate to evaluate the benefits-to-risks considerations, Pitocin is not indicated for elective induction of labor.”

• “Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility

There are no animal or human studies on the carcinogenicity and mutagenicity of this drug, nor is there any information on its effect on fertility.”

• “Except in unusual circumstances, oxytocin should not be administered in the following conditions: fetal distress, hydramnios, partial placenta previa, prematurity, borderline cephalopelvic disproportion, and any condition in which there is a predisposition for uterine rupture, such as previous major surgery on the cervix or uterus including cesarean section, overdistention of the uterus, grand multiparity, or past history of uterine sepsis or of traumatic delivery.” [Dr. Nancy Note:  prematurity is anytime you don't go into labor spontaneously, even term babies show prematurity if induced artificially.]

• “Maternal deaths due to hypertensive episodes, subarachnoid hemorrhage, rupture of the uterus, and fetal deaths due to various causes have been reported associated with the use of parenteral oxytocic drugs for induction of labor or for augmentation in the first and second stages of labor.

•  “Pitocin may contain up to 16% of total impurities.” [So 16% of what is put into you could be random impurities and that's ok?]

•  “The physician should be aware of the fact that oxytocin even in its pure form has inherent pressor and antidiuretic properties which may become manifest when large doses are administered.” [Dr. Nancy Note: This means it can make you retain fluids which increases blood pressure, can lead to water intoxication and other problems like congestive heart failure.]

• “Oxytocin has been shown to have an intrinsic antidiuretic effect, acting to increase water reabsorption from the glomerular filtrate. Consideration should, therefore, be given to the possibility of water intoxication, particularly when oxytocin is administered continuously by infusion and the patient is receiving fluids by mouth.”

• “Overdoasge with oxytocin can lead to tumultuous labor, uterine rupture, cervical and vaginal lacerations, postpartum hemorrhage, uteroplacental hypoperfusion, and variable deceleration of fetal heart, fetal hypoxia, hypercapnia, perinatal hepatic necrosis or death. Water intoxication with convulsions, which is caused by the inherent antidiuretic effect of oxytocin, is a serious complication that may occur if large doses (40 to 50 milliunits/minute) are infused for long periods.

• CLICK HERE for the rest of list of maternal side effects.  http://www.drugs.com/sfx/pitocin-side-effects.htmlPlease leave your comments below!  Were you informed about these risks before consenting to Pitocin?

I was at the store the other day, waiting for an oil change and found my way to the baby section to get some bum cloths (facecloths but we use them for diaper changes) and discovered the “Comfort Canopy.”

This caught my eye because of the images on the cover. 

I understand that this may be a useful item.  My problem is not the item itself, I can understand why it exists, BUT the images on the cover appall me!

Is this seriously the new image of motherhood?!

Your baby sitting in a capsule while you sit out on the grass reading a book through a barrier?

Again, I understand there may be uses for this, like if your baby is allergic to grass and its really sunny at the park, but seriously is this what we have become?  We can’t even have our babies out of their capsule long enough to read a book at the park?  She even has a blanket on the grass, the baby does not even need to touch the earth, she could at least be on the blanket.

I understand that in certain situations you may need to take your baby’s seat out of the car, but more and more this is what we thinking motherhood looks like.  A nice stroll through the park with your babe in…in a car seat.

Just as we have distorted images of birth to be institutionalized, medical birth, we have also changed images of motherhood to be mother separate from baby, instead of one unit as  nature designed.

These images are more of what motherhood looks like to me.  Unfortunately, parenting nature’s way, doesn’t make anyone profits, so is not marketed to new mothers.

Benjamin Earwicker

Mom And Baby Having Fun by Petr Kratochvil

I understand there are reasons people need to bottle feed but I do believe that even if your babe is not at the breast it could still benefit from being in arms and ideally skin on skin for feeding. Infant feeding is much more than calorie intake. What are your thoughts on this?

5 problems I see with this gadget: 

1. There would ideally be as much bonding, skin on skin time as possible with babies and this takes away feeding time as bonding time.  I know that may not be possible all the time and babies needs can be inconvenient, I have three and am a working and homeschooling mom, I understand inconvenience. Regular use, when not necessary (disability, lack of resources), is depriving the child of possible bonding time.

Yes, you may have bonded with your kids but there is always more bonding, with more time.  How can you judge if you are bonded as well or the same as another?  You can’t, you can just increase opportunities for bonding as much as possible.  Skin on skin has been shown, scientifically, to be better for babies.  We have known for decades that babies who are not held do not thrive but they may survive.

2. Children should never be in a car seat unless they have to be.  We have an epidemic of flat heads (Plagiocephaly) due to children being in car seats and having their head against a hard surface for so much time.  The skull was not meant to be compressed so often, it is meant to be up in the world (in moms arms) so the brain and skull can expand freely.

3. As a chiropractor I have particular issue with the car seat thing because it is horrible for the baby’s spine.  Seated in the most stressful position on the spine and is not the same as a cradle position.

4. This should not be used in a car because the bottle would be a projectile that could seriously injure or kill the child.  If you wouldn’t throw it full force at your babies face, it should not be loose in the car.  (I am trained to install and educate on car seat safety.)

5. If this was used in a car it is improper use of the car seat.  THE HANDLE SHOULD NEVER BE UP in a moving vehicle.  A handle in the upright position interferes with the cradle motion the car seat would go through if there was an accident.  Also, the handle could smash against the car’s seat and break sending shards of plastic into your baby’s face.

I understand that there are things that can make parenting more convenient and there are people with special needs, but are we making parenting so convenient that the child gets left out of the equation?

Regardless of your intention for your birth, it is important to know you cannot dictate the outcome of birth. There are situations that may come up in birth which will lead you in a different direction than you originally planned.

Some women will avoid looking at any information about c-sections because they believe it won’t be them.  As much as I believe in the law of attraction and remaining positive, it is important to know what your choices are and what you would want if the situation presented for you.  A cesarean birth can also be an empowered birth if you, as the mother, are the one making the call, knowing that with the current situation, this is the best birth for you and your baby.

This video explains the choices you can advocate for to make a Cesarean birth as physiological as possible and to protect the important moments after birth.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5RIcaK98Yg

For more information (what are your choices and how do you advocate for them) please join the Natural Birth Baby and Beyond Community at http://naturalbirthbabyand beyond.com.

I am one of the co-organizers of the CHOICE: A Birth and Baby Film Festival.  In 2012 we screened a 11 films, each followed by a community panel discussion.  As a result of the great success of the film festival we are screening 5 more films this year.

The film address how women’s human rights are being violated through the current maternity care system.  Women’s basic right to autonomy over their body is being stripped from them by forced procedures that make maternity care easier for hospital and more dangerous for moms and babies. Looking at childbirth through the perspective of human rights has the power to start making necessary changes to maternity care to respect women and make birth safer for both moms and babies.

This film will be screened at 7pm on March 22 at St. Paul University.  The discussion happens right after the film and is complete by 10pm.

You can watch the film trailer here: http://youtu.be/pFWH_IZWulE

We also invite you to share this with anyone in Ottawa interested in childbirth,  human rights, or women’s studies as it would be informative and educational.

As a parent you need to be fully informed when making decisions for your child’s welfare.  Please watch these whole videos.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_bEBAdhjGg

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD2yW7AaZFw