Hello Readers,

I wanted to share with you the trailer for the wonderful initiative and documentary project, Oneworldbirth. The film makers/couple behind this project where activated to embark on their creative advocacy journey after they experienced the loss of their power and ownership during their first westernized birth experience.

Eventually there will be a full-length traditional documentary released, but in the meantime, One World Birth will be uploading footage and interviews so that they can keep the community dialogue and platform open. They are driven to build a global community of parents, midwives, doulas, educators, everyone to “inspire and to help deliver change, to make birth better and safer everywhere”. Check it out and sign up on their website to stay up to date on the evolution of the documentary and to be a part of a global revolution.

Not only does a mother’s capacity for love grow after giving birth, but now researchers are saying that her brain grows as well. The American Psychological Association released a small study in its October issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, which connects the growth to the change in hormone levels after birth. The particular areas within the brain that expand after birth are within the areas associated with behavior and motivation. In essence, this study suggests that a new mother’s desire to look after her baby may be driven by the brain’s expansion more so than instinct. Though, I come from the school of thought that our brains and the rest of our body are our tools that can also serve as our instinct. I think that this study is good to post as a reminder as to how intuitive the female body really is if it is given the freedom to follow its cycle.

Within the group of women who were evaluated, the mothers who had more enthusiasm for their babies had the largest growth. The researchers suggested that mothers who suffer from postpartum depression might experience reductions, instead of growth. The study compared MRI images of 19 women (average 33 years old) that were taken two to three weeks and three to four months after they gave birth at Yale-New Haven Hospital, in Connecticut. All of the women were breast-feeding (though the frequency was not specified in the article I came across), nearly half had other children and none had postpartum depression. What was not mentioned in detail was the context in which each of these women gave birth. It would be interesting to see how they established the difference between the enthusiastic mothers and non. Further more, it would be interesting to see amongst those women, who had a natural birth, utilized medication and/or had a c-section. These various birth story outcomes could be linked to the levels of oxytocin (the love/bonding hormone) existent in the mother at the time of birth.

Small yet significant increases in gray matter volume in various parts of the brain were discovered as well during this study. The increases occurred in the areas associated with maternal motivation (hypothalamus), reward and emotion processing (substantia nigra and amygdala), sensory integration (parietal lobe) and reasoning and judgment (prefrontal cortex). This small yet significant change is quite telling for significant learning is an effect of growth of gray matter.

It was only in 1948 when the television series, Mary Kay and Johnny, “showed” a woman’s pregnancy on television. Then on December 8, 1952, the I Love Lucy episode, “Lucy Is Enceinte“, aired. Enceinte is French for excepting. Producers did not want or nor allowed any mention of the word pregnant on the show. As they could not deny the fact that their star was in fact pregnant, they incorporated her pregnancy into the story line. Lucy was excepting a baby:

“Lucy Goes to the Hospital”, aired on January 19, 1953. The original airdate was chosen to coincide with Lucille Ball’s real-life delivery of Desi, Jr. who was born via c-section. The episode was watched by 71.7% of all American television sets, which beat out the current record of that time as the most watched event in the country. The second highest rating of that time was Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration coverage, which pulled in a 67.7% rating. Talk about influencing a generation.

Who doesn’t love I Love Lucy? It was a hilarious show, but being that this was such a source of cultural influence, it had in fact negatively contributed to society’s altered perception of birth and how to embrace the natural process and what it truly entails. Fast-forward to today’s popular culture and how birth is portrayed and received:

There are too many misguided celebrity and media figures who continue to pump fear driven jargon about birth and pregnancy. One would think that in 65 years of broadcast, a more realistic, empowering portrayal of birth would be streamed over the main stream as well as be supported when done so.

Birth is a beautiful and powerful experience. Women are more than capable to have a healthy pregnancy and birth. It can and it should be approached as a natural process and event, and conveyed as an exciting life passage instead of a dreaded/feared event. Women should be educated and empowered to know their choices, options, ways to ease labor pains and discomfort and the support available to them to help them create a beautiful birth experience in addition to more transparency when it comes to drugs used for labor and their effects, c-sections and formula vs. breastmilk. there are a lot of producers, writer, marketers and reporters who need to look at themselves in the mirror more often before willingly contributing to the defacing of women and their natural strengths and gifts.

This week, NPR highlighted an 18 month midwifery education program in Badakhshan Province’s Shatak village (Afghanistan). Funded by USAID, an independent federal government agency, and implemented Jhpiego, the program was created to address the poor quality of the village’s maternal health care. In 2004, the village lost 54 mothers and 46 newborns, but with the introduction of this new midwifery model, the health care in the village has improved greatly. The proof, two babies passed away as compared to 46 as was reported before.

“These women are like guardian angels for infants and mothers.”
Zafaran Natiqi, head of women’s affairs in Badakhshan.

Normally, due to Afghanistan’s culture, young and married women are unable to work outside of their homes. Fortunately, the village elders are in support of this program and their women. They actively participate in the selection of midwife candidates from within their community.

Learning that the elders of this community are breathing life and encouragement into such a program, reminds me of an organization I just learned of called The Elder’s organization. The Elders are an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela, who offer their collective influence and experience to support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity. One of the organizations mission is to gain equality for women and girls around the globe.

I was watching this clip below by former president Jimmy Carter last week and after reading the NPR article, I see, even more so than before, the importance of support and wisdom from such a generation’s counsel and advocacy. It seems that a new breath of coherence is taking place in the world.

After wrapping up its screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, the new film Genpin is now in competition for the prestigious Golden Shell award at the San Sebastián Film Festival. Award-winning Japanese director Naomi Kawase says of her film,

“I only wanted to show that there are other ways of giving birth” and that “giving life is not necessarily a synonym for suffering, it is also a pleasure.”

Kawase also created the film,“Tarachime -birth/mother-”, which examines the ties of one life to another, based on her own experience of childbirth in 2006 .

Genpin, is being hailed as an artful reflection of the beauty of birth and follows the Japanese obstetrician Dr. Tadashi Yoshimura in his life and practice. In is 40-year career, Dr. Yoshimura has attended 20,000 natural births.

The title, “Genpin,” derives from the words of the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, “The valley spirit never dies. It is named the mysterious woman (genpin).”

This film is a celebration the beauty of birth and hopefully the artful package that this story is told in will be powerful enough to create a shift in the current mainstream perception of birth. I have not yet seen this film yet, but hope it makes its way to NYC soon so that I can. If any one has attended a screening during a recent festival, please share your thoughts on the film.

The media circuits are buzzing this week with “news” of the safety of vaginal deliveries after C-sections (VBAC). While this really is not “news” for some, the new guidelines released by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists marks a needed turning point in this country’s perception of a women’s ability to birth. The news the attention, ability and success of such a birth choice.

Candidates for VBACs are those women who have had a Cesarean birth using a horizontal incision low in the uterus (low transverse incision). It is recommended that such candidates undergo counseling in preparation for their VBAC, to encourage, support the women’s emotional and physical concerns.

Between 60 percent and 80 percent of women who attempt VBAC have a successful vaginal delivery, according to the guidelines.

The guidelines which are published in the August issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology, recommend that the following women may also be candidates for a trial of labor after a Cesarean:

• Women who’ve had two previous C-sections using a low transverse incision.
• Women who’ve had a C-section with a low transverse incision who are currently pregnant with twins.
• Women who’ve had a Cesarean delivery but don’t know if they had a low transverse incision.

The ACOG recommends that women who choose a VBAC birth choice should do so only if they’re in a facility that has “staff immediately available to provide emergency care.”

Women who are not eligible for a VBAC consists of:

• Women who’ve had a vertical incision on their uterus
• Women who’ve had/had Serious pregnancy complications such as placenta previa

Welcome back from your holiday weekend! In case you have not heard the wonderful news, the NY State Assembly has cleared the Midwife Modernization Act on July 1st. New York is now one step closer to granting women the right and access to midwifery care and home-births should they chose. With the passing of this act, it will no longer be a requirement for licensed professional midwives to have a “written practice agreement” with a physician or hospital as a prerequisite to practice. After the closing of St. Vincent’s, the only hospital in NYC to sign this agreement for midwives, women where stripped of their option to have a home-birth as the midwives were no longer legally allowed to practice homebirths.

Thanks to New York State Association of Licensed Midwives (NYSALM),Choices in Childbirth, BirthNet, Rochester Area Birth Network (RABN), Buffalo Birth and the various physicians including many OB/GYN physicians for spear heading the rally cry and for the thousands of people who signed petitions and called their legislators to overturn the WPA requirement and support the MMA.

Now, all that is needed for the bill to go into affect is Governor Patterson’s signature and 90 clearing days!

I will keep you all posted