An Australian couple was reportedly flown to New York this weekend to share the incredible story of their newborn son’s survival with execs at NBC.  Their tale is certainly worth a Move of the Week.  Mother Kate Ogg “amazed the world after she revived her ‘dead’ little boy by cradling him in her arms, skin-to-skin, tearfully stroking him in what she believed would be a final farewell.”  Her twins, Jamie and Emily, were born prematurely at 27 weeks.  At birth, Jamie weighed just 2 pounds, and was pronounced deceased after a 20 minute attempt at resuscitation.  Now here are the miraculous – and disastrous – parts: Continue reading »

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Imagine giving birth to a beautiful baby and then immediately having that child taken away from you.

That’s what happened to a New Jersey mother, identified in court papers as V.M., who refused to sign a pre-consent form for a c-section at St. Barnabas hospital in Livingston.  A c-section she didn’t need, since her baby was born vaginally without complications.

Pregnant women hear lots of talk from hospitals and doctors encouraging them to take charge of their labor and delivery.  Indeed, even the St. Barnabas website says, “You should take an active role by talking with your physician or midwife and asking specific questions such as when a c-section would be recommended; what steps would be taken prior to performing a c-section; whether to seek a second opinion.  It is important that you feel comfortable with the views of your physician or midwife on c-section deliveries.”  But St. Barnabas has a 50% c-section rate, and New Jersey hospitals have the highest overall cesarean rate in the nation.

We know c-section rates have been steadily on the rise.  C-sections are easier and more convenient for doctors to perform, but they generally require more recovery time for the patient.  Plus, if hospitals are going to encourage women to breastfeed by making them bring their own formula, then they should be encouraging drug-free vaginal birth as well.  Time reports that among ”women giving birth for the first time, those whose labor was induced were twice as likely to have a c-section delivery.”  And Pitocin inductions are known to cause breastfeeding problems.

So who can blame V.M. for not wanting to pre-authorize a c-section?  As it turns out, St. Barnabas could.  Court records indicate that “hospital staff referred V.M.’s case to the Division of Youth and Family Services at least in part because of concerns regarding V.M.’s decisions during labor, including her decision not to preauthorize consent to cesarean surgery.”

But it gets worse.  V.M. had a history of psychiatric issues, “having been on a range of medication including Zoloft and Prozac and in psychotherapy prior to her pregnancy.”  Newman writes, “She went off her medication during her pregnancy for fear of its effect on her fetus. Prior to coming to the hospital to give birth, there was no indication that she was a danger to herself or to others.”

Since hospital staff described V.M.’s attitude during labor as “combative,” she was deemed a danger to her unborn child and has not been able to raise her baby, who is now 3-years-old. Continue reading »

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An analysis of 500,000 births in North America and Europe has found that births which are planned to take place at home have a greater risk of infant death than births at hospitals. These findings differ from previous studies which have shown that homebirths are not only safe — but safer — than hospital births.

Researchers looked at the numbers in a new way and they found that babies were two to three times as likely to die after being birthed at home than at the hospital,

The overwhelming reason for the deaths? Continue reading »

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Ever since Ricki Lake’s movie, “The Business of Being Born,” was released in 2008, home birth has been the subject of news stories and trend pieces, heated discussions and dire warnings from M.D.s. The film was influential to be sure. It brought home birth out from the fog of burning sage and into the clean-aired living rooms of Brooklyn apartment dwellers. It also influenced more than one woman to go the at-home route for childbirth.

But Lake’s movie can’t take all the credit (or blame, I suppose. Depends on your attitude). At the time the movie was released, home birth had already begun to reverse an almost 15-year steady decline, according to research coming out of the the Centers for Disease Control. Continue reading »

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A California hospital has decided it’s not safe enough for midwives – so they’ve kicked the healthcare practitioners out the door, and their patients along with them.

St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital told certified nurse midwives they’ll have to see their patients at a sister facility eleven miles away from now on. According to the Ventura County Star, that sister facility has a NICU, which hospital adminstrators say the midwives need as “back up.” Continue reading »

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A father delivering his own baby is nothing new, but Madeline Howard wasn’t born in a car or at home. She was born in the maternity ward at a local hospital, but hospital staff never answered her dad’s calls for help.

The Sun reports Thomas Howard was banging on the emergency buzzer in his girlfriend’s room, but the midwife was too busy too answer. By the time she came to the room, Howard had already caught Madeline. Continue reading »

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When Wisconsin mom Johan Ortiz went into labor, she didn’t panic. She didn’t rush to the hospital. Instead, against her doctor’s orders, she got in her SUV and went to pick up her husband.  He was in a plane, flying toward an airport three hours away from her Milwaukee home.

When Melvin Ortiz’s plane landed, he was ordered to hurry off the plane while his fellow passengers cheered him on. Continue reading »

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