Family beds are best

There was a tiny little article in Saturday's Herald Sun titled 'Mum's bed best- doctor'. It is an awful title, but did discuss some interesting things, that you don't need a medical degree to know. Dr Nils Bergman, a renowned Pediatrician of the University of Cape Town has completed research that has shown babies should sleep in in their mother's bed until they are at least three years old. The study looked at two day old babies, and found they did not sleep as well in a cot as on their mothers' chests. The study found sleeping alone made it harder for the mother-baby dyad to bond, damaging the development of the brain, and leading to 'bad' behaviour when they grow up (I do not neccessarily agree with the 'bad behaviour' part, I imagine this is the Herald Sun's poor choice of words).

I remember watching a video while studying, featuring an interview with Bergman discussing Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC). KMC is generally described as a mother and newborn being skin to skin, encouraging breastfeeding the intitiation of breastfeeding and supporting the new mother-baby bond. It is recognised as the optimal way (but unfortunately not always the standard way) to care for sick and premature neonates, far superior to incubator care (See here for a randomised control trial of skin to skin care compared to incubator care) . It is practised to varying degrees, depending on the setting, some neonatal units 'allow' token skin to skin time with the mother and baby, while others encourage KMC twenty four hours a day, with family members filling in when the mother is not present.

KMC with a premature bub

Incubator care

Back in my nursing days, I worked in a neonatal intensive care unit. Each family had skin to skin weekly (I wouldn't call it KMC, as it was only used when the baby was stable, and the nurse felt they had the time to facilitate the transfer in and out of the incubator, it was treated as an inconvenience, rather than the way things should be). I have witnessed many precious moments between mothers and babes, as they grew older and stronger, the skin to skin transitioned to nuzzling and suckling at the breast. The precious babes that didn't make it out of the nursery had uninterrupted KMC, their families trying to store a lifetime of memories.

When Charlotte was born, Wayne lifted her to my chest, where she stayed for the next two hours. She did not attach to my breast during that time (in fact, she didn't for the first twenty  four hours or so). This was all the more reason to keep her skin to skin. We spent the night skin to skin.



 When we came home from the hospital, besides the occasional cuddle with family, we spent our time skin to skin. When she was ten days old when we went to see a Lactation Consultant, she was horrified when I took my top off- whoops I had forgotten that skin to skin is not the norm!

My mother-in-law, a firm supporter of breastfeeding commented that she had seen premature babies skin to skin, but didn't know you could do it outside of the hospital. The research has been there for many years about KMC being optimal for sick and premature babies, I am just glad that the research has caught up with what families that are able to listen to their instincts have been doing since the beginning of time- skin to skin followed by co-sleeping in the family bed.

Rhea Dempsey in Frankston

Yesterday Rhea Dempsey, a Melbourne Birth Worker, Child Birth Educator and Counsellor came to speak to Peninsula Birth Support Group. The topic was originally 'Healing after a Caesarean', but it turned out that all attendees had only had vaginal births. So instead, we discussed all things birth, physiology, psychology and support. Rhea discussed the timelines of birth for primiparous (first pregnancy) and multiparous (second and subsequent pregnancy) and how the body has memory of opening in the first labour. As long as the baby is in an okay position and there have been no major changes in your life (new partner, your mother or child dying), and the baby came out of your vagina in some way, your second birth will inevitable be shorter and easier. Good to know for those of us that had had long or complicated labours! Her definition of established labour in a primiparous woman (a first labour) commencing when there have been 2-3 contractions in ten minutes lasting at least thirty seconds for at least an hour, to an hour and a half. In terms of cervical dilation, this would be around 4 centimetres. This would be the time for your birth support to be coming to attend. Multiparous women (second and subsequent labours) only need around three contractions, lasting thirty seconds to be in established labour, and dilation would be around 7 centimetres. It is an interesting thought that physiologically, these time frames are how the body works, and outside of this, something is holding the body back ( This is Rhea's theory anyway).

She also discussed that in first births if there are emotional or psychological issues, then these do effect the birth process. This can mean a long labour, precipitate labour, difficulty pushing the baby out, or being unable do deal with the sensations or pain. In second birhs, if the baby has previously come out of your vagina, emotional and psychological problems do not cause as many issues, because the body knows what it is doing, it has done it before. Physiology takes over, and the baby is born. 

This brings my thoughts to my labour with Charlotte. Why was it so long? Yes I guess the first day or so could be counted as prelabour perhaps. But why were my contractions regular, and then space out to ten minutely? In my mind, I had previously been thinking, 'If we had just stayed at home six hours longer (the time we were in hospital before she was born), Charlotte would have been born. I blamed (blame?) my midwife for making the wrong call. I arrived early at the talk yesterday, and was able to talk to Rhea about this. She said there is perhaps something about the hospital that makes you feel safe, that home did not have for you. strange, because from all I have seen, hospital is not a safe place for the majority of babies to be born. Nevertheless, this is something I need to ponder.

We also discussed the 'Primal woman'. When did I turn into the reckless, no talk, wild labouring woman? From the timelines she outlined (as above) I don't think this neccessarily coincides with transition. I didn't get there at home.

 I still had my thinking head on at home, primal woman did not arrive until I was in a bright unfamiliar room with strangers in tow.

Primal woman- naked and roaring. What was it inhibiting her?

Homebirth Rally

Homebirth is our right, but this right is being slowly wittled away by policy makers in this country.On Wednesday this week, Charlotte and I flew to Sydney to participate in a homebirth rally. The rally was located outside of the annual conference of the Australian College of Midwives. The ACM has issued a policy statement that disallows Independent Midwives from attending women at home if they are not considered 'low risk'. This includes:

- breech babies
- twins
- labours outside of 37-42 weeks
- a previous caesarean.

Vaginal birth after caesareans (VBAC) success rates at home are around 95%, where as in hospital it is sometimes as low as 6.7%. It makes sense for women to stay at home and be attended by their own midwife.



The rally was the first I have attended, it was a huge day, we left home at 3.30 in the morning and got home at 10pm. I caught the plane with a group of women from Geelong that I had met online on Joyous Birth, the Australian homebirth network. We, small town women, had a great day exploring the big city together. It was incredible to be a part of such a powerful collective of feminine energy.


When we arrived at the conference centre, the police kept most of us away from the main site, standing in the sun in the carpark, allowing only twenty near the building, where there was media waiting. Eventually we all got together and walked through the police and the protest began!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6sVqubPmak&noredirect=1

You can see me speaking fifteen minutes into the clip.

We shouted and sang and told our stories. We tried calling down the president of the ACM, but she didn't come. We made the afternon news in some places, but not the 6pm news, maybe if the Queen hadn't arrived on the same day it may have been different. It was such an incredible day, and I am so glad that I was a part of it.