I saw this guy speak at the ICAN conference this past weekend- his statistics were amazing. Go here to watch a great video that tells the truth about what is really happening in our birth health care in America.
In Birth by the Numbers, Eugene R. Declercq, PhD, Professor of Maternal and Child Health, Boston University School of Public Health, presents the sobering statistics of birth in the United States today.
View the video by clicking here:
Birth by Numbers
here is a great article regarding midwifery…http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-block24-2008dec24,0,2046506.story
Midwives deliver
America needs better birth care, and midwives can deliver it.
The highlights for those who choose to not go to the link:
*the #1 reason for admissions to the hospital is birth!
*4 million American women will birth each year!
*totally $86 billion in 2006, nearly half of which was picked up by taxpayers
*we spend more than double per capita on childbirth than other industrialized countries, yet the March of Dimes gave the country a “D” on its prematurity report card.
*the U.S. ranks 41st among industrialized nations in maternal mortality.
*American maternity wards are not following evidence-based best practices…inducting and hastening labors causing more cesarean births.
*midwifery and out of hospital births saves money and is proving to be healthier.
*but only 1% of women in the US see a midwife for their births.
“America needs better birth care, and midwives can deliver it.”
Look at the stats- they speak for themselves!
My daughter Jami had a homebirth with a CPM- certified professional midwife.
My daughter Julie was denied the opportunity to have a hospital midwife since her healthcare did not allow her to go to the hospital in town that had the only midwives with her first two births. But she did leave the hospital after only 12 hours to return home. This birth she will use midwives at a different hospital and more than likely leave for home again early.
I see a midwife for my well woman care and have my annual exam done by her as well.
What do they really mean? Can we make them say what we want? Can the numbers be manipulated? Of course- but over the last few days of documenting the cesarean stats, the infant mortality and maternal morbidity rates makes me realize that we don’t care about most of those numbers as a society until they effect us personally.
When my youngest daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy as a young child, I was appalled at how little was known about the disorder. But before she was diagnosed I had never once been concerned about it.
When my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, I was amazed at how little was known about medications that would be beneficial to controlling the disease. I had no knowledge really of the disease until I was personally effected. Continue reading »
Okay so the doom and gloom of our infant mortality rates in the US caused me to wonder about the maternal morbidity rates- so here is the news on that…
“Article Date: 29 Aug 2007 – 3:00 PDT
The maternal mortality rate in the U.S. is the highest it has been in decades, according to statistics released this week by CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, the AP/Washington Post reports. According to the figures, the U.S. maternal mortality rate was 13 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2004. The rate was 12 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2003 — the first year the maternal death rate was more than 10 since 1977 (Stobbe, AP/Washington Post, 8/24). A total of 540 women were reported to have died of maternal causes in 2004, 45 more than were reported in 2003, according to the report (NCHS report, 8/21).”
And the full article can be found
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/80743.php Continue reading »
There are 42 countries that have a better infant mortality rate than the US! What are they doing that we are not doing? Midwifery is the model of care for their pregnant women! Home birth is also a viable option for them to choose.
CNN reported “Wednesday, May 10, 2006; Posted: 12:02 p.m. EDT (16:02 GMT)
(CNN) — An estimated 2 million babies die within their first 24 hours each year worldwide and the United States has the second worst newborn mortality rate in the developed world, according to a new report.
American babies are three times more likely to die in their first month as children born in Japan, and newborn mortality is 2.5 times higher in the United States than in Finland, Iceland or Norway, Save the Children researchers found.
Only Latvia, with six deaths per 1,000 live births, has a higher death rate for newborns than the United States, which is tied near the bottom of industrialized nations with Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia with five deaths per 1,000 births.
“The United States has more neonatologists and neonatal intensive care beds per person than Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, but its newborn rate is higher than any of those countries,” said the annual State of the World’s Mothers report.”
For the full article go to http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/parenting/05/08/mothers.index/
What the heck is going on! Why in the world in such a prosperous nation is this not changing? Continue reading »
One of the mamas on the local ican group (http://atlanta.ican-online.org) posted the stats from2006-2007 cesarean rates in the metro Atlanta area.
She calculated these from the gahospitalpricecheck.org. It’s July 2006-June 2007. The #s are total births/cesareans/cesarean rate. Piedmont & Northside are still highest, North Fulton still lowest. Now keep in mind this includes those who choose to repeat a cesarean birth after having had a previous one. (The rates have only climbed since these stats- so the 2007-2008 will only be higher!) I have put the stats that Atlanta Parent posted in italics under the ga hospital check numbers- they break down the primary and repeat numbers for you to consider.
Hospital…Total Births…Total Cesareans…Rate of Cesareans Continue reading »
