There was an article in the Toronto Sun which highlighted the growing amount of women holding off motherhood due to misleading information about advances in fertility science. The paper interviewed Judith Daniluk, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia, who counsels many women trying to get pregnant in their late 30s and early 40s and sometimes older.

“Many of these women were surprised to learn that their chances of a successful pregnancy were significantly reduced based on age-related fertility declines — declines that couldn’t be compensated for by the use of assisted reproductive technologies and treatments. It was heartbreaking to see their disappointment and despair when they were unable to achieve a viable pregnancy,” she said.

Daniluk is conducting an ongoing study to assess why women are putting off pregnancy and to identify the sources from which women are gathering their knowledge regarding fertility. Already, her study is finding that 45.5% of the respondents expect to give birth between 36 and 41, and 13.2% think they will have children at 42 or older. Nearly half said they expect to use a sperm donor, an egg donor or invitro-fertilization to achieve their goals. More than half said they were likely to freeze and store their eggs.

Daniluk calls out misleading websites, uninformed doctors and high-profile middle-aged moms like Celine Dion as some of the sources which enable women to think they can delay childbirth. What often is left unsaid, or buried under the surface of fertilization treatment discussions is that is extremely expensive and not very reliable for anyone over 34. It also comes with higher chances of multiple births, miscarriage, pregnancy-induced hypertension and birth defects the older the candidate.

“We need to be sure women and their partners have accurate information upon which to base their child-bearing decisions, but we also need to ensure family physicians are provided with continuing education about the advances and limitations of assisted human reproduction,” she said.

Of course one of the major underlying causes of delay in pregnancy among women today is the current climate of our modern society. Daniluk goes on to point out the modern life challenges facing women today further in the article. Speaking for myself, I would love to have baby and be a mother, but first I would love to fall in love with a great man here in NYC, feel grounded in my career and financial security, etc. Myself, like many women are experiencing more difficulties balancing family goals with our career, education and wellbeing goals.

Before I began the path of doulahood, I too had it in my mind that I could easily delay pregnancy till I was in my later 30s early 40’s if I had to (not to say that I still can’t).Now, I am more familiar with the realities that lay underneath the surfaces and am finding that I am being to dip my toe into the consequences of such delays. Women should be encouraged to discuss their concerns and fears about delaying pregnancy freely. Such discussions with friends, partners and honestly ourselves, can give way to a new dialogue which could help women as we continue to figure out our next steps on our life paths. It is very important to hold mirrors in front of our faces when we ask why the delay. Acknowledging and being with the truths, whatever they may be are the first steps to getting to where we need to be. Ironically, as it is in birth, mothers tend to birth quicker the more they let their fears and worries flow and go.

This past Monday, I had the fortunate, thought provoking experience of attending the first annual WIE: Women Inspiration and Enterprise Symposium. The event was spearheaded and hosted by a phenomenal triad of women including Sarah Brown (on behalf of the White Ribbon Alliance(WRA)), Donna Karen and Arianna Huffington. The symposium was held to coincide with a United Nations review summit on the Millennium Development Goals which is also being held this week in New York.

The focus of the symposium was to highlight the work of the White Ribbon Alliance, advocates and leaders around the globe who are making a difference. The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood is an international coalition of individuals and organizations formed to promote increased public awareness of the need to make pregnancy and childbirth safe for all women and newborns in the developing, as well as, developed countries.

Participants left touched, inspired, empowered and motivated to make a change for girls and women around the globe. Special guest speakers included Melinda Gates, Queen Rania of Jordan and Ambassador Melanne Verveer, Director of the Department of State’s new office on Global Women’s Issues and the list goes on to cover more than 40 impressive women. Click here to read more about the participants/panelist.

Many young innovators and entrepreneurs were honored at the event, but I would like to highlight the WIE winner for Creative Vision particularly. Christy Turlington Burns won this deserving award for her film, No Woman, No Cry. In this piece, she shares powerful stories of at-risk pregnant women in four parts of the world, including a remote Maasai tribe in Tanzania, a slum of Bangladesh, a post-abortion care ward in Guatemala, and a prenatal clinic in the United States. It is her passion to increase awareness and support for maternal health around the globe so that we as humanity can collectively end unnecessary deaths due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth.

After the panels and the awards show, Donna Karen along with other designers such as Diane Von Furstenberg, Chloe and Vera Wang to name a few, presented a fashion show in honor of the White Ribbon Alliance. All garments are available for bidding on Charity Buzz. The proceeds will benefit the WRA. The evening was capped off by an uplifting performance by Estelle.

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

This month, when you purchase The Everyday Oils enrollment kit from the Verte boutique, $15 will be donated to V-Day and UNICEF’s City of Joy Project. The two non-profits, in partnership with the Panzi Foundation, are currently building a special facility for the survivors of sexual violence in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The City of Joy will support women to heal and provide them with opportunities to develop their leadership through programming in: group therapy; storytelling; dance; theater; self-defense; comprehensive sexuality education (covering HIV/AIDS, family planning); ecology and horticulture; and economic empowerment.

Just a few dollars have far-reaching impact and can provide much needed supplies that will make the City of Joy a comfortable, caring, and healthy place for women survivors of sexual violence to learn, lead, and inspire.

For example, $30 provides one woman with seeds for the City of Joy’s horticulture program for one year or $400 provides the salary of a local registered nurse.

On your behalf, Verte (The Green Doula’s Parent Biz) will donate $15 to one of the City of Joy’s registry category items which include:

Skills Training
Healing
Living
Education
Working
Nourishing
Or a Custom Donation

How Are You Able to Enhance Your Life While Helping to Build the City of Joy?

By incorporating “nature’s living energy” into your everyday lifestyle, you are bound to enhance your everyday life. How do you hone such energy? Well, you don’t have to for Young Living Essential Oils have already done it for you. It is Young Living’ mission to promote the ancient healing art of essential oil therapy. Offering a collection of over 140 therapeutic-grade single essential oils and unique essential oil blends, they are the world’s largest community dedicated to achieving wellness via nature’s purest, most potent gift, essential oils.

When used aromatically, applied topically, or taken internally, essential oils can calm, energize, balance, purify, and rejuvenate the mind and body. As well, such oils can be incorporated into your everyday (including pregnancy and childcare)lifestyle in areas such as:

air purification
aromatherapy + fragrance
cleaning
cooking
first aid
pet care

Your Everyday Oils enrollment kit will include the following oils and more for only $150; ideal to introduce you to the benefits and ease of incorporating essential oils into your life, receive discounts & rewards, and should you chose, the opportunity to generate extra income:

Everyday Oils includes:
(
1)- 5 ml Frankincense
(
1)- 5 ml Lemon

(
1)- 5 ml Lavender

(
1)- 5 ml Peppermint

(
1)- 5 ml Purification
 Blend
(
1)- 5 ml Panaway
 Blend
(
1)- 5 ml Peace & Calming®
 Blend
(
1)- 5 ml Thieves®
 Blend
(
1)- 5 ml Valor® Blend
As well

You can purchase the enrollment kit at any time through Verte, though the fundraiser for the City of Joy ends on February 28th. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me and db@vertenyc.com.

Keep an eye out all this month for a variety of recipes incorporating essential oils that you can incorporate into your pregnancy and infant care regime. If you are not interested in purchasing therapeutic-grade oils, but still want to contribute to the City of Joy, please make your donation here

Every once in a while I come across one of those books that I can absolutely not put down. To be quite frank, in the past, those books have been in the likes of historical fiction or Harry Potter (my literary guilty pleasure). Though I have come across several books about birth which I have found very informative, I had never felt the extreme urge to carry such a book with me everywhere I went till I finished its 300 pages in one weekend. That changed this weekend.

Author Randi Hutter Epstein, M.D. has unknowingly recruited me as her new enthusiastic fan. In her new book, Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth From the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank, Epstein weaves together a collection of well researched historical facts, fads, and tales into a very eye opening chronological history of Western birthing and women’s health care. I am often asked, “If the Midwifery Model is the ideal model, why are hospital births so popular? Didn’t obstetricians help make birthing easier at the turn of the century?”. This book answers those such questions and more in a shear way that neither left, right or middle wing can deny. This is not a book that dives into the history of midwifery. It is a definite eye opener bound to captivate its reader on the history of obstetrics and the unfortunate altered perception of “mainstream” birth today. I even believe that the male audience will find this book just as enjoyable/shocking as Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel. There are a lot of interesting parallels between the two books (I coincidentally started reading Guns, Germs, and Steel first till I saw this book in B&N on Thursday night) . It will be clear after reading this we must fight harder for better birth choices ones based on respect and time based models such as midwifery. The case is undeniable. Why continue to let the legacy of characters like the J.P. Morgan and James Marion Sims reign (read their back stories in this book) over the ancient wisdom and traditions of woman’s past when it comes to our most cherish power and gift as women? Why continue with the sabotage?

This is definitely not a how to book or what to expect book, it is a full on historical book. But unlike our society, Epstein does not leave the important facts out ( no matter how hard they are to swallow). She puts them front and center. I do feel that this book should be read by women and men alike to fully understand the foundation in which women’s health care (under the Western Model) was constructed under. This book will empower you to ask questions that you may have never even thought to ask and answer some questions that have been lingering for generations.

Epstein, a medical journalist for the New York Times, Washington Post, and more, has a refreshing talent for conveying weighty facts in a humorous digestible manner. She will also leave you with your jaw on the floor as a side effect of disbelief. Next time you walk by the Who Knew Section at Barnes and Nobles or are browsing on Amazon.com, pick up this compelling, powerful thought provoking must read.

This is very sad story to post. With hardly any warning, the Bellevue Birth Center has officially closed. It is important for me to post this to bring attention to the fact that our resources as women are dwindling in the New York City. A big rally cry and call to action is needed. Though Bellevue was known to accommodate lower economic bracket and those on Medicaid, the services and sacred support that Bellevue offered are the same services and support that every birthing mother should have.

If only the conscienceness of the mainstream was penetrated with the awareness and knowledge of the impact birthing centers have on the birthing mother as opposed to the hospital setting and linear western standards, then they would not be so quick to give a brief sympathetic look over that the “Poor Women’s Haven” (as titled in the NYT’s article) had to close its doors due to low funding and awareness.
Birthing rights and options for all women are in jeopardy. And overall women’s health & educational reform needs to take place. Not just for women from certain demographics, all women, and men who have or plan on having children. That’s basically everyone. How the children of this world are brought/birth into our reality realm is a sacred experience and journey and moment that needs to honored, encouraged and celebrated as opposed to jeopardized, standardized and dehumanized.

Now, there are three remaining natural-birth centers in New York City, The Birthing Center at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital, Manhattan, The Brooklyn Birthing Center, Brooklyn, and the Morris Heights Women’s Health & Birthing Pavilion, Bronx. All of which are stretched in various boroughs with only a certain amount of birthing rooms.

Thankfully the Eli Manning Holistic Birthing Center at St. Vincent’s and the free-standing The New Space for Women’s Health are underway to be developed and build. Both free standing and in hospital Birthing Centers need to be adopted into America’s healthcare system. The idea of the C-section rate nearing 1 in 2 and more and more babies having drugs streamed into their not even day old blood systems as a normal commonality is disturbing.

What do you think are the best outlets for self awareness of the body’s design for birth?

A prenatal fitness routine is extremely beneficial for both mom and baby. Developing and maintaining a strong core is essential for an easier labor and delivery. G2 Fitness has developed an eco-friendly self-guiding maternity mat that will help mother’s to-be do such and live a healthy and green pregnancy.

The mats are 100 percent recyclable and use TPE, a durable alternative to rubber or PVC. TPE is completely non–toxic, odorless and harmless to both the environment and human body. G2 Fitness also has an integrated policy that all waste materials used during the manufacturing process are to be completely recyclable and reusable.

Instructional videos are available online after purchase. Still, even if you were to only follow the iconographical directions on the mat alone, you would still reap the benefits of more tone and strengthen muscles, improved balance and circulation, reduction of swelling and more.