DIY delivery

ADRIANA BARTON

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

May 15, 2007 at 8:41 AM EDT

BURNABY, B.C. — When Nicole Becker felt the pangs of late labour in January, she lit candles in the bathroom of her two-bedroom flat in Burnaby, B.C., and filled the tub. Only her husband and the couple's four-year-old son looked on as baby George slid into the water. "It was my dream birth," Ms. Becker says.

Ms. Becker planned throughout her pregnancy to give birth without a midwife, doctor or other birth attendant. After using a doula for her first child's home birth, Ms. Becker decided that the job of a good midwife is to "let the process happen," she says. So with George she decided to go solo.

Choosing to deliver without skilled help remains a controversial and uncommon choice. But now, spurred by the Internet, unassisted childbirth is reaching a broader range of women than ever before.

On sites such as Birthjunkie.com, Mothering.com and Trustbirth.com, women trade tips on such topics as how to measure the uterus to calculate the due date and how to figure out if the baby is breech. One of the most popular sites, Unassistedchildbirth.com, now has 30,000 to 40,000 visitors each month.

Jodie Boychuk gave birth unassisted at home to her second child, Eloise, in 2005, after a difficult recovery from the cesarean birth of her first child. (Charla Jones/The Globe and Mail)

Many women join one of nearly 100 Yahoo groups that list unassisted childbirth in their subject lines, including UCbirthnews, an online newsletter with over 1,110 members. They also browse online for books, videos and do-it-yourself resources such as Unhindered Childbirth - The Online Childbirth Class (at Unhinderedliving.com) as well as inflatable birthing pools.

"People who wouldn't have considered this years ago are considering it now," says Laura Shanley of Boulder, Colo., who wrote the influential book Unassisted Childbirth in 1994 and runs the website Unassistedchildbirth.com.

Until recently, "I was hearing more from hippie types, people more on the fringe," says Ms. Shanley, who gave birth to five children without medical attention - including one breech presentation. "I do think it's getting more into the mainstream."

But most doctors and registered midwives strongly oppose the practice. Skilled attendants play a crucial role in identifying problems such as hemorrhages and fetal distress before they become emergencies, they say.

In a few cases, child welfare authorities in Canada and the United States have investigated parents who planned unassisted births.

Although there are no large or recent studies on the outcomes of planned unassisted childbirth, the evidence stacked against the practice is "overwhelming," according to Vyta Senikas, associate executive vice-president for the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada.

Dr. Senikas questions the rationale for choosing unassisted childbirth. "By all means, choose the home," she says, "but have a skilled attendant there."

Childbirth is a natural process, she adds, "but you can die and you can end up having problems."

Advocates of unassisted birth say that any medical interference, no matter how well-meaning, can disrupt the instinctive and hormonal processes of labour, triggering a stress response that halts the birth's progress. They believe that widespread use of interventions that slow labour can contribute to higher rates of C-section.

Adherents base their beliefs on the writings of authors such as French obstetrician Michel Odent, who wrote Birth Reborn in 1984. Although he does not specifically advocate unassisted childbirth, Dr. Odent says that in his practice, women who weren't observed in their labour had faster and easier births.

There is no way of knowing for sure how many Canadians are choosing to give birth unattended, since neither the federal nor provincial governments collect statistics on planned unassisted childbirth. But the rate is probably much lower than home births attended by registered midwives, which accounted for just 1.5 per cent of all deliveries in British Columbia and Ontario in 2005 and 2006.

Jodie Boychuk of Dunnville, Ont., says she chose an unassisted birth for her second child because of the difficult recovery following the cesarean delivery of her first daughter. In September, 2005, her second daughter was born at home into the hands of her husband, Richard. The labour was smooth and the 8½-pound baby was healthy, Ms. Boychuk says.

But the practice remains controversial enough to impel some midwives and authorities to intervene. When Ms. Boychuk declined the services of a registered midwife during her second pregnancy, the midwife - who questioned the safety of even an attended home birth after a cesarean - promptly called the Children's Aid Society.

A two-week investigation ensued, but it was dropped because unassisted childbirth is not illegal.

Even the staunchest advocates of the practice acknowledge that it's not for everyone.

Sarah Buckley, an Australian physician trained in obstetrics and author of the book Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering, says a woman must be healthy and educated about birth to deliver unassisted.

As well, she says, the woman should be relaxed enough to avoid triggering the fight-or-flight response that can delay the birth, and should have a backup plan such as transferring to a hospital.

Registered midwives agree that too much medical intervention can impede labour - but they "cannot support the concept of unassisted, unattended births" due to the risks, says Elana Johnson, president of the board of directors of the Association of Ontario Midwives.

For Ms. Becker of Burnaby, the birth of her baby in January is still fresh in her mind. It was a joyful occasion to share with her husband and her son Max, she explains, and most of all, "it was just us."

How to Green Your Baby

by Team Treehugger, Worldwide on 05.14.07
TH Exclusives (how to green your life)

What’s the Big Deal?

A new baby entering your life can create an enormous number of unexpected changes. Along with the little one comes a whole new category of things to purchase—not only the obvious large items like furniture and diapers, but also all the unforeseen extras that seem to accumulate. While having a baby is consumer heaven, the key is to not be gulled into an unnecessary buying frenzy. In truth, a baby has very minimal needs. On the flip side, there is more to a sustainable life with your baby than cloth diapers, organic baby food, and fair-trade clothing…read on for more.

Top 10 Tips

1. Diapers (aka Nappies)

Studies are divided on the subject of environmental impact of disposables vs. cloth. But knowing that your baby will use approx 6,000 diapers before toilet training, and that disposable diapers take 200-500 years to decompose, this is certainly a key issue to ponder. Washing cloth diapers takes water, energy, and chemicals (not to mention time), but you might want to consider the benefits of a laundering service. One study has found that home-washing cloth diapers has only 53% of the ecological footprint of disposables, and if you use a diaper laundering service that impact is halved again.

Cloth: Reusable diapers aren’t what they used to be and the days of diaper pins are all but bygone. Go for fitted cloth diapers with Velcro or snap closures for convenience, made from an eco-friendly material such as hemp, bamboo, or organic cotton. Use an organic wool cover that is both warm and breathable, minimizing diaper rash and cold bottoms at night. Use either removable or flushable liners and when washing either use a laundering service or wash at home at lower temperatures. With a new baby around you’ll probably notice a lot more laundry piling up, so make sure you’ve optimized your setup with an efficient machine and non-toxic detergent. If you can line-dry, that is ideal, but don’t bother ironing.

Biodegradable diapers: Made with plant-based plastics (also known as bioplastics), these diapers non-petroleum based and are compostable. While these have been found not to break down under landfill conditions, there are other options to compost them such as using a composting toilet, an earthworm system, or a highly active and properly conditioned composting area. Hybrid diapers, like gDiapers, have removable inserts that can safely biodegrade when flushed.

2. Breast or bottle

This one’s a no-brainer: breastfeeding is best. It's free, has health benefits for mother and baby, has no environmental impact, and is a precious bonding experience. However, in our commerce-driven society there are products for everything, and breastfeeding is no exception. For breast pads, ditch disposables and try re-usable organic cotton or wool felt pads. While there are many great, organic nipple creams available, some locally produced olive oil or organic lanolin does a great job.

If bottle feeding becomes a necessity, pumping your own is the first choice. Beyond that, using a fair-trade organic infant formula is preferable. If this is neither affordable nor accessible, then the next best thing is to ensure the brand of formula you buy is from a company not profiteering from marketing their product to developing countries. These companies disregard or try to get around the marketing code set by The World Health Assembly.

3. Solid foods

At about six months, babies starts to eat real food. Rice cereal and mushy veggies turn to combinations of fish, meat, eggs, legumes, and vegetables—yep, a regular person’s diet. Buying jars of food is sure convenient, but as an adult you don't live out of jars, so why should your baby? For those occasional situations, purchase organic or fresh frozen baby foods. Otherwise, make your own. Cook up veggies, casseroles, or tofu and lentils, whatever is your thing, and freeze it in tiny containers or ice cube trays ready to take out and defrost when needed. (Be sure you discuss any concerns over dietary requirements with your health professional)

4. Clothing

All those designer baby clothes are cute and oh so hard to resist in their fruity colors. But be careful. Not only does a baby grow out of clothes amazingly fast, they are constantly sending bodily fluids flying onto those precious outfits. The baby couture might be better replaced with convenient one-piece suits in practical white terry cloth. Choosing organic hemp or cotton, bamboo or wool fabrics made without toxic chemicals are best against a baby's sensitive skin and last longer with the constant washing. Second-hand clothing is the cheapest and most sustainable option. Get hand-me-downs from friends and family or look in thrift shops, Craigslist, or Freecycle.

5. Body care and bath time

It’s very easy to get sucked into the constant advertising of baby powders, creams, and lotions. But the best baby lotion is plain old olive oil—cheap, natural, and un-perfumed. As for other products, keep it as natural, organic, and fragrance-free as possible. For more on this, take a look at How to Green Women’s Personal Care.

6. Laundry and washing

It’s quite possible that our war on germs is actually making things worse. Studies have shown that children brought up in over-cleaned houses are more likely to develop allergies, asthma, or eczema. The best thing you can do for sensitive baby skin is not to cover it with synthetic chemicals. Wash nappies with pure soap and warm water. Make your own non-toxic cleansers with simple ingredients such as baking soda and vinegar. For more, see How to Green Your Cleaning.

7. Toys

Get back to basics and try old fashioned wooden toys and organic cotton or homemade teddies. Because babies put most things in their mouths, go as natural as possible, then when baby is a little older, get hold of second-hand toys. Also aim for toys that helps build a child’s bond with nature and the natural world. The sad truth is that the average American kindergartener can identify several hundred logos only a few leaves from plants and trees.

8. Furniture and accessories

Babies don't need much—a secure place to sleep, a car seat, a high chair, and a way to be trundled around. Go for second-hand furniture, everything except cot mattresses (some research suggests a link between second-hand cot mattresses and sudden infant death syndrome) and car seats, (which can have invisible accident damage). If you buy new furniture, purchase high quality, durable pieces made of sustainable, low-toxicity materials. Think about some alternatives to the regular old wooden baby bed; try using an organic cotton baby hammock or a cot that extends into a bed and lasts 6-7 years. The most ethical option for stroller (pram) is recycled. For more on furniture, see our guide.

9. Household environment

It goes without saying that alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking while pregnant are bad for a baby. But it is also very important to avoid exposure to the synthetic chemicals contained in everyday products such as paints, carpet, furniture, bedding, and pesticides. When decorating the nursery, use natural and low-VOC paints and don't lay new carpet before the baby is born. Suspicious new items should at least be left outside to off-gas for a few days before bringing inside.

10. Wipes and liners

Diaper wipes and liners commonly include propylene glycol (a binder also found in antifreeze), parabens (a family of compounds commonly used as preservatives) and perfume, which can be made from up to 600 different chemicals. Try using good natural organic cotton wool and water and avoid disposable changing mats and perfumed diaper bags.

So You Wanna Do More?

1. To have babies at all?

With the world population estimated to pass the nine billion mark by mid-century, the sheer number of people on the planet is one of our biggest risks. While the biggest population booms are happening in the less wealthy developing countries, North Americans and Western Europeans have a per-person environmental footprint that is far above world average. It’s a big decision and a touchy subject, but the number of children you have, if any at all, is an enormous factor in your impact on the Earth. Adopting kids is also a profound contribution to a sustainable world.

2. Try attachment parenting

Sleeping with and wearing your baby, while not for everyone, is said to promote a strong bond leading to a sensitive, emotionally aware child.

3. Avoid using diapers altogether

Elimination communication is a technique of timing, signals, cues, and intuition to help baby/infant express his or her poo-related needs. This is best begun before six months of age, and while it is most commonly used in third-world countries where parents are in constant contact with their children, it has been used in the West with some success.

4. Shower with your baby

Save water and enjoy precious bonding time by holding your baby while in the shower.

5. Get crafty

Make your own diapers, breast pads, toys, and baby clothes. There are plenty of Web sites offering free patterns and advice on DIY baby goods (see below for more). Also, don’t forget about your local craft shop or group for advice and materials.

6. Avoid unnecessary gadgets

Monitors, motorized rockers, musical mobiles and the like are tempting, and can be useful or educational, but keeping the baby-related consumerism in check is a wise move. Ask yourself if you really need them? If so, try for secondhand items first.

7. Swapping

So many baby things only get used for a few months, it seems mad to buy them new, (e.g. strollers, beds, playpens, highchairs, etc). Buy secondhand, beg, borrow , or swap with friends and family to find what you need. Also remember community fairs, garage sales, and online swap sites.

By The Numbers

1. The average baby uses approx 6,000 diapers before potty training.

2. Petroleum-based disposable diapers take between 200 and 500 years to decompose.

3. Disposables used per day: Australia uses 2.2 million, Japan 6.7 million, the UK 9 million, and the USA 49 million.

4. A home-washed cloth diaper has only 53% of the ecological footprint of disposables, and a nappy laundry service has a mere 37% of that footprint.

5. Americans spend an estimated $1.4 billion on complicated births due to smoking while pregnant.

6. Disposable diapers contain chemicals that were banned in the 1980s in women's tampons, but continue to be used today to improve absorbency in children's diapers.

Treehugger Resources

Diapers are one of the biggest issues when thinking about having an eco-friendly baby. Check out our explorations on diaper alternatives like The Nature Nappy, The Cradle to Cradle-certified gDiaper, Wam Bamboo Nappies, and Eenee eco-diapers.

Here, readers offer comments on finding a stroller without the toxins.

Lovely eco friendly furniture options include Stokke Tripp Trapp chair, and the eco crib from Mothercare.

For baby food, check out Liz Hurley's line of organic natural foods and organic baby food from Ulula.

Find more on eco friendly baby creams, lotions, and powders from sources like Sage Baby, Avalon Organics, Erbaviva, and Munchskins.

And if you were intrigued about the no-diaper solution, read our story on potty whispering and this earlier story on diaper-free babies.

For clothes and cloths, go organic and get back to basics. Check out hemp towels from Transylvania and organic baby gear from Nui Organics.

If you want to buy just one perfect soft organic teddy, check out our top five organic soft toys.

Baby furniture from Nurseryworks is handmade and highly morphable.

E Magazine takes a hard look at raising a healthy child in a toxic world.

More Resources

Vegetarian Baby is a site for parents of vegetarian and vegan children under three, with topics on pregnancy, nutrition, and products.

The Guardian has a charming article entitled “How to stop your baby wreaking eco havoc.”

Organic Baby is a New Zealand site offering guides on safe, natural parenting.

Kids Health provides doctor-approved health information about children from before birth through adolescence.

Baby Center is an Australian site with information on shopping for your eco baby.

Information on formula marketing around the world can be found from the International Baby Food Action Network.

Baby Milk Action and The Australian Breastfeeding Association have more in depth information on feeding your baby.

The Real Diaper Association has hard facts on the impacts of disposable diapers and the benefits of cloth.

Colorado department of public health and the environment has facts about smoking while pregnant.

Alabama Mothers Deserve Midwives

North Carolina mothers say Amen!!!

Going it alone

Why would anyone choose to give birth without a doctor, midwife or even her partner in attendance? Viv Groskop reports on the growing trend for freebirth

Wednesday May 9, 2007
The Guardian

To me, giving birth is as personal as having sex," says Sarah, 24, from Essex. "You don't want someone else sitting there watching you." Sarah chose to "freebirth" her first child, now two, at home. Freebirthing involves giving birth alone, without a midwife and often even a partner or friend in attendance - Sarah delivered while her husband was in the next room. "I didn't have any experience of pain," she says, "there was just this really strong sensation that muscles were working. Then the baby's head appeared."

To prepare for the three-hour labour, Sarah had read everything she could on the subject, and says she "would have known instinctively if anything was wrong. As his head started to come out, I thought, I know the cord is around his neck." She flipped the cord over his head and, "He just flew out." As he was born, she says, she was laughing with joy.

Although rare in the UK, there is a growing online community of freebirthers or "UC-ers" (unassisted childbirthers) in the US who are celebrating "the primacy of autonomous birth". Laura Shanley, 49, from Boulder, Colorado, author of Unassisted Childbirth (Greenwood Press, £14.95) and veteran of five unassisted births, believes that "women are the true experts of birth. Birth is sexual and spiritual, magical and miraculous", she says, "but not when it's managed, controlled and manipulated by the medical establishment." Her website motto? "If you want the job done right, do it yourself."

"People think it's pretty crazy," admits Laura Field, 31, from Atlanta, Georgia, whose second child, Grace, nine months, was born at home, unassisted, after four hours. "Some people think you must be superwoman. Others think it's reckless. You get every reaction from awe to horror. I just feel like it was the most normal thing. It felt somehow life-changing and extremely ordinary at the same time." She is a member of a local group of 15 women who have had unassisted births. "There are a few extremists who are really anti-medicine but they are in the minority," she says, "To me it wasn't 'unassisted or else'. If you have good back-up plans - you know the warning signs to watch for and you are really in touch with what is going on - it is safe. I had back-up midwives and knew which hospital I would go to if necessary."

Mary Siever, 36, from Alberta, Canada, has free-birthed three children at home. "I think hospitals and doctors have their place, I just don't think they have their place in birth," she says. "I've noticed a lot more people are getting interested in it now. People are trusting themselves more or maybe they are trusting the doctors in hospitals less. I wanted personal control and responsibility. For others, it may be that they had a horrible experience in hospital and don't want that again."

Bornfree, the biggest internet forum for freebirthers, has more than 1,000 members worldwide, mostly in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In the past 10 years Laura Shanley has heard from "a couple of dozen" British mothers who want to go it alone and Sarah knows of two others who chose to give birth without assistance.

Although it is never going to be a majority movement, the issue of the over-medicalisation of birth is pushing freebirth on to the mainstream agenda in the US. A slogan war has broken out, with natural birth websites selling T-shirts which read "Pizza boys deliver. Women birth", while the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists gave out bumper stickers at a meeting last year, bearing the opposite message: "Home delivery is for pizza."

Home birth per se is not illegal in North America, but in 13 states there are legal issues for midwives attending home births. Denied the chance of an attended home birth, some women would simply rather do it on their own than go into hospital. "Women who feel they are being shoehorned into hospitals, and who don't like what happens to them when they get there, see freebirth as a viable option," says Tina Cassidy, author of Birth: A History (Chatto & Windus, £12.99), who is based in Boston. "It's a fringe thing but it's a signifier of something bigger: women now feel they have no control in the birth process."

What is telling, says Cassidy, is that there is virtually no historical precedent for this movement: "Since the beginning of time women have turned to other women for help in childbirth. There are one or two very small tribes where giving birth alone is a means of status - but even within those cultures people rush to the woman's side afterwards to make sure she and the baby are OK." That women are considering going it alone is a wake-up call for the medical profession in the US, she says, where one in three births now ends in a caesarean section. "I'm not an advocate for or against freebirth. But you can understand why people would go underground. They think, I'm just having a baby. What is the big deal?"

Because freebirth is such a fringe movement there have been no studies on it. However, a report in the magazine New Scientist recently quoted a survey undertaken in a religious community in the state of Indiana, where there were more than 300 unattended births in the 1980s. The neonatal death rate was calculated as 19 per 1,000 live births, compared with seven per 1,000 for the rest of Indiana.

There is some concern that the number of freebirthers in Britian may rise, because so many women feel their choices over how they give birth are limited, says Beverley Beech, chairwoman of the Association for Improvement in Maternity Services. While the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, has promised that every woman will be able to choose an attended home birth by 2009, the service is currently a postcode lottery. Plus, the government is planning to introduce new - and prohibitively expensive - insurance requirements for independent midwives who currently provide private backup to women who have found it difficult to arrange an attended home birth on the NHS. "If this law comes in, either [independent] midwives will practise illegally or we will have a lot more women who will choose to give birth alone," says Beech. "We have been having discussions about providing a support group for these women so we can provide somebody to be with them."

Freebirth fans contend that it can be better to be alone anyway. On one blog a woman writes of "the thrill of the catch" - what it feels like to seize your baby emerging from your body. Self-delivery is not necessarily something women should strive for, she adds, but something they should know they are capable of. There is much online discussion about "lotus birth" - when the umbilical cord is not cut but left to disintegrate naturally, usually within three days of birth.

One pioneer of the freebirth movement is Dr Sarah Buckley, a respected Australian GP who lectures on home birth and is described by the French natural birth guru, Michel Odent, as "driving the history of childbirth towards a radical and inspiring new direction". Buckley had her fourth child unassisted at home near Brisbane and writes: "It was a great gift for me, with my medical training, to liberate myself ... from expert thinking."

The movement's unofficial leading light, Laura Shanley, explains: "I look at birth as a sexual creative act and you have to be free to birth in your own time and your own way. Even if you are with a midwife, she has to follow certain rules and your body can't do what it needs to do within its own time."

During her five pregnancies, Shanley shunned all monitoring, including scans. The first indication she had that her second child, Willie, was in the breech position was when she was giving birth at home alone and reached down to feel his feet coming out first. Her fourth child, Nicholas, was born prematurely unassisted at home and died almost instantly from a congenital heart condition. Shanley later sought reassurance that the outcome would have been the same in hospital (she was told that medical intervention would have made no difference).

The controversial NHS doctor who writes an award-winning blog under the pseudonym "Dr Crippen" has proposed that at some future point women will be sued by their (damaged) offspring for having had a home birth (let alone an unattended one). Freebirth advocates argue that a woman's choice of how she gives birth is a human rights issue. They say that most births proceed normally and going to hospital only increases the chances of intervention and complications. Even during a home birth, a midwife can intervene in a way the mother doesn't agree with. Is this a selfish attitude? Not necessarily, says Cassidy: "I don't buy that 'selfish' thing. I've heard horrible stories of women haemorrhaging to death in hospital and babies' faces being cut with scalpels during C-sections.

"Women have been giving birth since the beginning of time and birth is very rarely complicated. So is it selfish to stay at home? Or is it selfish to go to hospital?"

My story: 'I shed the placenta and had a bath with my son'

I always planned to have children but I could never imagine giving birth in a hospital, or with any kind of official in attendance. The only way I had ever been able to picture myself giving birth was alone, or with an old crone in silent attendance. At night in the woods by a stream was my preference, but my own front room and bath was, when my time came, the best available option.

As the day approached and pressure from the NHS to "plug-in" mounted, my partner became increasingly fearful and I increasingly resolute. Talk of stillbirth - designed to drive me to hospital - only heightened my distrust of those who saw fit to try and worry me at such a vulnerable time. I had, by this time, had my fill of the local midwives, all but one of whom had treated me with a complete lack of empathy, and the idea of inviting a random team of two of these frankly cold women into my small home seemed laughable.

The evening before I went into labour I had my spirits boosted by the book Spiritual Midwifery, not because I felt in any way connected to the free-loving, be-necklaced and hairy-partnered women pictured within, but because the pages and pages of homebirth statistics in the back made for optimistic reading. I read the book in the bath before going to bed and went to sleep thoroughly optimistic, When I got up in the night I found a trace of blood, which convinced me my labour had begun. I got up and while I was running a bath, I spread all the lovely white sheets the midwives had provided over the floor in the front room. My contractions were minutes apart within the hour and as the pain quickly intensified I woke my partner, who went straight back to bed on the basis that it would be a "busy day tomorrow". I was soon oscillating between agony and ecstasy, with only time to stagger the five yards between bath and white sheets, at which time I started to panic that I didn't know where my much-read-about cervix was.

I woke my partner, who went out looking for a newly qualified midwife who happened to be staying with a neighbour, and he returned with a drunk woman who reeked of cigarettes, which put me right off my contractions. I sent her away after agreeing with the general consensus that I was unlikely to give birth until the following day. As soon as she left I felt the baby's head emerging, and after much screaming but less than four hours of labour I gave birth to a very skinny boy on some very bloody sheets. I painfully shed the placenta and had a bath with my son before going back to bed. He is now four, and fine, and very wonderful, by the way.

In my second pregnancy I avoided all contact with the NHS and had no antenatal care whatsoever. After 10 hours of extremely painful labour at home, alone throughout, I gave up and called an ambulance. Less than an hour later, on my back in hospital, I gave birth, vaginally, to premature twins. In terms of the amount of medical intervention I had to have, it was the opposite of my hopes and dreams, but I had never imagined having twins - and what a lovely surprise that was. Besides, dialling 999 was always my back-up plan, being only 10 minutes from the nearest hospital. The twins are now big and bonny.
Name withheld

Jeannie Babb Taylor: May 2052

05/09/07
Jeannie Babb Taylor

“You’re fortunate to be living in this era,” says Nonna, brown eyes twinkling above the dimples in her wrinkled cheeks.

Rachel sips at the red raspberry leaf tea, the cup clinking against the saucer as she sets it down to respond. Her grandmother is already talking again.

“When I gave birth to your mother,” she goes on, “I was not allowed to eat or drink.”

Rachel’s eyebrows shoot up. “The whole time?”

“That’s right. Back in those days, all babies were born in hospitals — even healthy babies. Laboring mothers weren’t allowed a single sip of water.

“I was so thirsty my tongue was swollen and sticking to the roof of my mouth. After many hours, I was given ice chips, but even that was taken away when I was caught swallowing some of the ice to stave off the gnawing hunger.”

“That’s horrible,” Todd interjects, dropping down to perch on the Victorian loveseat beside his wife. “Having a baby is like . . . running a marathon. What athlete would attempt such a feat dehydrated on an empty stomach?”

Nonna chuckles at his analogy. “You’re right, of course. But you see, laboring women were not treated like athletes. We were treated like sick patients, like there was something wrong with us. According to the doctors, our ‘condition’ was best treated with narcotics, opioids, and surgical intervention.

“By 2005, the c-section rate went through the roof, with nearly one out of three mothers sliced open for delivery. From the doctors’ point of view, laboring women were all potential targets for expensive surgery. That’s why they starved us.”

Rachel scowls, rubbing puffy hands over the swollen full-moon belly.

“But labor can go on for hours — or even days,” she notes.

“Especially when you’re lying down with feet in stirrups, pushing uphill,” the old woman acknowledges.

“That’s absurd,” Todd murmurs. “Why not let gravity work?”

Rachel shakes her head. “That position was designed to benefit doctors, not women.”

“You’re right,” Nonna answers. “It placed us at a great psychological disadvantage, too. It allowed medical staff to treat us as objects, paying attention only to the ‘business end,’ as if we had no face, no heart, and no mind.”

“I’m so glad no caregiver would think of using stirrups today,” Rachel sighs, rubbing her belly again. “It’s a wonder women were able to push at all.”

“The doctors had ways of speeding up labor artificially,” Nonna answers. “But the drugs sometimes caused uterine rupture, killing the baby or causing permanent brain damage.

"One drug, Cytotec, was not even FDA-approved for obstetrical use. Eventually they had to stop using it.”

Rachel smiles, her face transformed. “So they went back to the natural ways?” she guesses.

“Not at first,” her grandmother answers. “At first they skipped the contraction drugs and resorted to the knife much sooner.”

Rachel looks down, distracted for a moment by the contracting of her own womb.

“I’ll go heat the rice bag,” Todd offers, trotting to Nonna’s kitchen with the handmade cloth pouch. Nonna watches him round the corner, thinking how glad she is for Rachel.

At last Rachel’s attention comes back to her grandmother’s wizened face. “Why did the women allow it?” she asks.

Nonna sighs, holding out empty hands. “We just didn’t know better. Our own mothers were knocked out for birth. We thought we were making progress just by being awake. Some women realized things should be different, but it was a constant fight.

“I chose a hospital that was supposed to be supportive of natural birth. They still pulled the ice chip stunt. Before I registered, they said they allowed ‘rooming in’ so I would not be separated from my baby girl.

“But right after birth, they whisked her away! I begged for her, but they kept her ‘under observation’ for four hours. They also gave her sugar water against my wishes, and pushed to inject her with vaccines just hours after birth.”

“That’s horrid,” Rachel clucks. “Why didn’t women just stay away from hospitals? Have their babies at home?”

“Well, in Georgia it was illegal.”

Rachel laughs. “How can birthing a child break a law?”

“Oh, it was not homebirth that was prohibited, so long as we did it alone! It was homebirth midwives they outlawed.”

“So women could birth at home — but only without help?”

Nonna nods. “Things were different back in 2007 when your mother was born,” she says. “For one thing, eight out of 10 lawmakers were men. There had never even been a woman President. Women only earned 70 cents on the dollar.

“We didn’t have the kind of power you gals have!”

She beams at her granddaughter, so young and confident. “My next child — your Uncle Tim — was born at home with an ‘illegal’ midwife.”

“Wow,” Rachel whispers, throwing a glance at Todd as he tucks the warm rice bag into the small of her back, “There was a black market for midwifery?”

“Certainly. There were always women who refused to be mistreated, and there were always midwives willing to skirt the law to give excellent care. The legal risks were high for those midwives. Once in a while, a baby dies during birth. It happens sometimes, no matter where women give birth.

“In a hospital, these deaths were considered a statistical eventuality. In the early 2000s, no one was charged for hospital deaths, even when the damage was clearly caused by uterine-rupturing drugs or overuse of painkillers.

“It was extremely rare for a baby to die in a homebirth setting — but when it did happen the midwives were charged with manslaughter. In other cases, overdue women were jailed for refusing to have a c-section.

“It was actually against the law to disobey a doctor’s orders! Eventually it was the women who turned the tide.”

“Through lawsuits?” Todd guesses.

“That was part of it.” Nonna nods thoughtfully. “The studies showed clearly that it was doctors’ drugs and fasting that caused most of the ‘danger signals’ (like blood pressure drops and changes in babies’ heart rates) that led to the c-sections. But that went unreported for 20 years!

“It was not until women stood up for themselves that things changed. Women reporters talked about the studies on the six-o’clock news. Women journalists wrote about the prohibition of home midwifery and the barriers to natural childbirth. Women doctors watched the signs instead of the clock. Businesswomen opened natural birthing centers. Women were elected to office and they legalized home-birth midwifery in Georgia, and later nationwide.

“Most of all, laboring women refused to let their needs be sacrificed to hospital protocols and doctors’ schedules. We had to insist on change!”

Nonna sets down her teacup. “We insisted on dignity. We did not let doctors push us into inductions or surgeries just to accommodate their schedules. Women who still used hospitals refused the wheelchair and the gown that were presented at check-in.

“Women refused to be starved, or to have their veins punctured with unnecessary IVs. Mothers refused to let doctors break their waters or insert electronic monitors in the baby’s scalp.

“When we pushed our babies into the world with our own fierce power, then we refused to let them out of our sight.”

Nonna smiles. “Eventually even the medical community came to recognize that birth is an act of motherhood, not an act of medical science. Today a laboring woman is not regarded as a body on a table, as if she and the baby needed some doctor to ‘deliver’ them from each other. Today women are honored as life-bringers.”

Jeannie Babb Taylor is a local business leader and author. She also teaches Sunday school, educates her children at home, and engages in Georgia politics. To contact Jeannie, E-mail jeannie@babb.com.

Midwives and doctors get along just fine

As a certified nurse-midwife, I am grateful for the attention given to midwifery by your article regarding midwives and upcoming legislation (Midwives fighting for legitimacy..., April 29). I beg to differ -- legitimacy cannot be legislated. Legitimacy grows with a reputation built on education, accountability and safe practice.

The article suggested an adversarial relationship between midwives and doctors. As certified nurse-midwives we work closely with supportive OB/GYN doctors, and the women we care for benefit from collaborative practice.

Our goal is safe and satisfying care. Most of us attend births in hospitals or birth centers, although some CNM's do homebirths.

Certified nurse-midwives are more than "...licensed nurses with additional training in midwifery." We enter our midwifery education programs with a bachelor's degree in nursing, and enter midwifery practice after extensive clinical experience and a master's degree. Our programs provide us with the pharmacology background to safely provide medications and write prescriptions.

Certified nurse-midwives are mid-level healthcare providers. We function independently at the same level as nurse practitioners and physician assistants. We care for women across their entire lifespan -- not just during pregnancy, but also for gynecological and menopausal care. CNM's are able to bill health insurance companies for the cost of care in the same way as doctors or other health professionals. Homebirth midwives are unable to bill insurance companies.

It's important that women understand the difference between certified nurse-midwives (CNM) and homebirth midwives (LM, CPM) regardless of the initials involved.

Erma Evans

Oakland

jeevans5@adelphia.net

Mom of 16 takes life ‘one day at a time’

Submitted by Shawn Hogendorf on May 10, 2007 - 2:52pm.
Filed under: Entertainment

By Shawn Hogendorf

Staff Writer



Bea Melville of Prior Lake grew up with 15 siblings, so she was used to having a big family.

As a child, she joked that she was going to beat her mother and have more than 15 children.

“It didn’t turn out to be a joke,” she said, laughing.

In 1949, Melville gave birth to her first child. Twenty years later, she had her 16th.

Today, Melville is a proud mother of 16 children, 27 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Having 16 children didn’t shock Melville the way it would somebody else, since she came from a large family.

Bea married her husband Bernard in 1948. They had 12 children before they moved from Bloomington to Prior Lake in 1963.

Bernard worked for Honeywell as an electrical maintenance worker for 35 years.

Bea waited tables and cooked at Prior Place for five years, where she babysat women’s children while they bowled. She cooked at Freddy’s on the Lake, now Captain Jack’s, for five years and T.J. Hooligan’s for 15 years before retiring.

When the Melvilles first moved to Prior Lake, Bea worked three nights a week while Bernard babysat the children.

Being a mother of 16 came naturally. “I never minded having a lot of work to do,” she said.

In addition to working in restaurants three nights a week, Melville did all of the cooking for her children. Bernard was a big help with everything, she said, but he didn’t like keeping house. So, Melville always delegated jobs for her children around the house.

Melville cooked a lot of casseroles, soups and chili. The dinner table would overflow into the family room most of the time, she said. She made one meal, and if her children didn’t like what she cooked, they had to learn how to eat it.

“When I would give them something to eat and they didn’t like it, I would say, ‘I wouldn’t give you something I wouldn’t eat myself,’” Melville said. I would tell them, ‘I had 16 kids and I still have 16 kids, so, I wasn’t trying to kill you.’”

Melville has 10 daughters and six sons. All of her daughter’s names begin with the letter “P.” All of her son’s names begin with the letter “L.”

After the Melvilles moved to Prior Lake, neighbors and friends would say they named their children after the town, she said. “But we had 12 of them before we moved here, so we didn’t name them after Prior Lake,” Melville said.

Coming up with first names was never difficult. Finding middle names that didn’t begin with the same letter was the tricky part.

Melville can still keep all of her children’s birth dates straight, but she doesn’t know all of her grandchildren’s birthdays.

The only month Melville doesn’t celebrate a child’s birthday is March.

‘A lot of love’

Melville said her favorite part of being a mother was giving birth.

She loved watching her children grow up, but her favorite ages for children were before they became teenagers, she said.

“I loved being a mother to the little kids,” Melville said. “Once they became teenagers, they became trouble.”

Melville said she kept her children in line by watching every child, every day and getting to know who they were hanging out with.

“I was one with all my kids,” she said. “There was a lot of love to go around.”

In addition to her 16 children, there were at least three neighborhood children who always called her Mom, as well as a family dog, a horse, a donkey and a calf.

“It is amazing to see all the grandchildren and great grandchildren,” Melville said. “I never know when there is going to be another one. When my grandkids started having kids, I started to feel old.”

The novelty of birth never wears off, Melville said.

“It’s new every time a baby is born,” she said. “After my kids would have two children, they would say, ‘Mom, how did you ever do this?’”

One of Melville’s neighbors asked her the same question. Melville’s response was, “The same way you do it.”

“It’s something that comes on one by one,” Melville said. “They don’t all come at the same time, so you take it one day at a time.”

For most of Melville’s motherhood, she had four children in diapers. In addition to cooking for the other children, she made her own baby formulas, food and cleaned the cloth diapers.

Melville’s family has their own double-sided, nine-page directory to keep birthdays and anniversaries straight. Melville has been to hundreds of weddings, baptisms and confirmations.

For Mother’s Day, Melville’s children usually send her flowers or candy or pop in for the annual Mother’s Day open house.

She will spend Sunday sitting at her house waiting for phone calls from her children, who are spread out across the country, and visiting with those who stop by.

Melville had her first child on a Thursday. The following Sunday was Mother’s Day.

“That first Mother’s Day, they brought my daughter wrapped in a blanket and handed her to me,” Melville said. “She had a little corsage made of apple blossoms on her that read, ‘To Mom, from Peg.’”

Melville said she always wanted twin girls but never had them.

“I never got my twin girls, but my daughter Paula had twin girls,” she said.

Melville has another grandchild on the way, as well as her 10th great-grandchild.

One of her grandchildren, Amber McFadden, is currently serving in Iraq, Melville said with a proud look on her face as she held the American flag in her hands.

“She sent this flag to me that was flown in Iraq for nine minutes and 11 seconds,” Melville said.

Shawn Hogendorf can be reached at (952) 345-6374 or shogendorf@swpub.com.