Think About It

Since BOLD is a tribe and storytelling is what we're all about I wanted to share the story of a recent birth I attended this week.

My friend called me at 2am on Tuesday morning to say she was in labor (her water had clearly broke). She had done acupuncture the day before to induce the baby because she was just over 39 weeks and her doctor said by 40 weeks he wanted to induce her (actually, weeks ago he said at 39 weeks but she pushed it off).

She had planned to labor at home, but since her water broke she called the doctor to say she was in labor. He told her to go to the hospital immediately. She was having no contractions. On the phone she whispered to me, "I'm so afraid to go to the hospital - my body is telling me to stay home." But, swayed by the doctor's insistence (and my clarity from the start that I was not her medical provider), she went to the hospital at 5am. When I got there at 6am and she repeated, "I'm very scared - we're in a labor and delivery ward and there is no noise coming from any room."

The beds were completely full in Labor and Delivery so they set her up in a semi-private situation in their triage area. She had to use the hall bathroom. We walked and walked the hallway, tried to get centered in her small room filled with surgical supplies (her husband hung a beautiful picture she drew and "Christmas lights"), but she could not relax. Her doctor, who was quite reasonable (but had no faith she could deliver her baby vaginally), allowed just intermittent monitoring so she could stay mobile.

She refused drugs to move it along and the nurses, although shocked, were great about that. Around hour number 4 she was considering cervadil but the hospital only offered cytotech...I couldn't believe it! (just google "cytotech" and you'll know why...it's not FDA approved for obstetrics and even the company said it's an ulcer drug and not made for obstetrical use). We continued to walk the halls and the stairway near the labor and delivery ward. The contractions started every time we walked, and stopped every time they laid her flat on her back for monitoring in the triage center.

Bottom line: after 18 hours of natural labor, she had not dilated and her cervix was only 50% effaced. She tearfully (no, hysterically) agreed to a c-section.

I got home last night and when I woke up this morning three questions lingered in my mind:

1. How can we get hospitals to move towards "protecting the birth space?" (no woman should labor in the triage center, with no private bathroom and expect to dialate!)

2. What's it going to take for women to know their power and start wanting to connect to their birth experience? (most of the mothers that day had c-sections, many scheduled. My friend had to wait 4 hours for her section because there were 4 women in front of her)

3. When is our society as a whole going to start believing women can birth babies? (an assumption from the beginning was that there was no way my friend could birth her baby naturally)

oh, and here's my postpartum "bonus" question:

4. How can we make it mandatory that hospitals service mothers and babies in their rooms? (my friend was brought up to her room at 2am, they aggressively took the baby, said she'd get it in one hour but she didn't see her again until 5.30am, got 20 minutes with her and then when I went back to the hospital at 9am she still did not have the baby. For a mother to be separated from her baby for virtually 7 hours after the birth is just plan wrong and, as breastfeeding folks will tell you, it ain't going to help a woman breastfeed).

Okay, I'm still a bit sleep deprived so I'll close.

All I ask is that you think about it. Think about what is really happening to mothers and babies today - the maternity care treatment they are getting. If a fancy hospital in the United States can only offer a woman to labor in a triage center for 18 hours maybe women who really want a powerful birth need to consider other mother-friendly options?

Think about it.

PS: I just want to say the hospital staff at this hospital were fabulous. Friendly and as honoring as possible. And my friend still ended up with a c-section. Something's terribly wrong...THINK ABOUT IT.

Oregon State rocks

I had a great time meeting with students last week from Oregon State University on their annual trip to New York City. Oregon State will be doing BOLD performances of the play this October. You all rock!

Midwives are legal in Missouri...that's the good news

I've been wanting to post about this for a week now. Great news...after a 25-year struggle the Missouri Supreme Court has allowed certified professional midwives to practice legally in the state of Missouri! Yipee!

The bad news? Not surprisingly, midwife opponents have launched a smear campaign. A press release from Friends of Missouri Midwives reports:

"Just hours after the Missouri Supreme Court ruling that declares Missouri families now have legal access to professional midwives to help deliver babies in the state, the coalition of physician groups that tried to fight the law in question have launched a misinformation campaign seemingly designed to cast doubt among citizens, and based on false claims that the new law will permit Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) to perform abortions."

Abortions? Oh please...CPMs are trained to assist mothers to deliver babies, not perform abortions.

My thoughts are with you supporters of midwives in Missouri. Hang in there.

Really, what next?

Being BOLD this September

Yesterday I got off a BOLD Performance and Talkback teleconference call with organizers from all over, put down the phone and let it sink in that BOLD performances are now in their third year and being BOLDer than ever!

Here's just a sampling of what organizers shared on our call:

BOLD San Francisco is rocking out and organizing a 350 seat performance Labor Day weekend in the Mission District, working hard to get people on the talkback panel who are not just the birth crowd, but movers and shakers who can help push birth into a better place for mothers. They've teamed up with a teen pregnancy awareness organization and will be doing performances for teenagers for free. Also, they've added an option to their ticket purchases allowing people who are buying a ticket to also buy a ticket for a teenage mother.

BOLD Columbia, South Carolina reports they just got theatre space donated by a local university and have teamed up with a childbirth film festival organizer to offer a week-long "birth week" the week over September 24, their state's official Doula Day. Their organizer, Barbara, said producing BOLD is "feeling like a pregnancy!"

BOLD Atlanta, Georgia just recently jumped on board and shared that they are looking into renting a theatre called the "Push Push Theater!" I love it!

BOLD Nebraska is also a newly BOLD location with many BOLD plans. They're hitting the road and plan to perform the play all over the state in September, getting communities talking about childbirth choices for mothers.

BOLD Duluth, Minnesota announced they have arranged for a private medical showing of the performance with a round table discussion afterwards. Yes! That's BOLD!

There's so much more, but I just couldn't resist sharing some of this BOLD action with you.

BOLDness is in the air these days...rock on!