Science & Sensibility

Childbirth Connection’s Listening to Mothers Initiative just released the Listening to Mothers III (LTMIII) results late last week.  For the third time in the past 11 years, this organization has gone out and queried women on a variety of topics related to pregnancy, birth, postpartum and breastfeeding.  They have questioned thousands of women to accurately assess how the actual experiences hold up against what we know to be best practice and evidence based maternity care. I have relied on the past two survey results frequently during my professional career in maternal health and am thrilled to have the new survey results now available.

I thought it would be interesting to run some of the LTMIII results through the filter of Lamaze International’s Healthy Birth Practices.  The Healthy Birth Practices were most recently updated by Lamaze in 2009, and consist of six simple, evidence based practices that greatly contribute to keeping birth safe and healthy for mothers and babies. Each easy to remember practice has its own short video that parents can watch that talks about that specific care practice and safe alternatives.  Additionally, each Healthy Birth Practice has an accompanying Practice Paper with all the citations for the peer-reviewed, gold standard research that supports that particular practice.

Some useful links and information upfront

Listening to Mothers I

Listening to Mothers II

New!  Listening to Mothers III

Survey Questionnaire 

Major Study Findings

Interesting facts before we get started

While the LTMIII survey only looked at 2400 women,  please be aware that one percentage point change in results would represent approximately 40,000 mother/baby pairs, based on a US birth rate of around 4 million births a year.

35% of women had not intended to be pregnant at the time of this pregnancy, including 5% who stated that they had never intended to become pregnant at all.

52% of those planning to get pregnant did have a preconception meeting with a health care provider, (which could be viewed as a wonderful time to determine if this health care provider might be a good match for their maternity care needs.)

85% of women based their maternity care provider on insurance requirements or restrictions.

78% of women worked with an obstetrician (this has dropped over the course of the three studies.)

9% of women worked with a family practice doctor

8% of women worked with a midwife who practiced in a hospital, as one of the requirements of the study was that the mother was having a hospital birth.

The average length of time spent actually in a prenatal appointment, with health care provider or their nurse was 32 minutes.  (OB: 31 min, Family Practice/MW 35 min.) I was pleasantly surprised that it was this long, I expected less.

Over the course of the three studies, the cesarean rate of study participants went up, (24% to 31%), the VBAC rate went down and labor augmentation was cut in half from 53% to 26%.  More women used nitrous oxide for pain relief during their labor in the most recent study (6%, up from 2% in the first study)

30% of the women chose not to ask a question that they wanted answered at least once during their prenatal appointments.

Overall, women were unable to make choices in line with the Healthy Birth Practices, and did not know that deviating from these practices was not evidence based and resulted in increased interventions.

Let’s see how things stack up

Healthy Birth Practice 1: Let Labor Begin on Its Own

Research shows that in the absence of medical issues, mothers, babies and labors do best when labor starts spontaneously on its own. The final few weeks of pregnancy are vital for the putting the “finishing touches” on baby and helping to make the transition to life on the outside as smooth as possible.

41% of all women surveyed attempted a medical (involved a care provider) induction and of those induced, 74% were successful, (the woman went into labor) for an overall medically induced labor rate of 31%

Reasons why women were induced

• 44% were full term
• 19% wanted to get the pregnancy over
• 11% wanted to control the timing of birth
• 16% were induced for a large baby (note: the average weight of these babies induced for suspected macrosomia was 7 lbs 15 ounces.)
• 18% were induced for being “overdue” (note: the average gestational age of those babies induced for being overdue was 39.9 weeks)
• 18% were induced for a maternal health problem

Interestingly, 26% of women had their due date changed toward the end of their pregnancy; 66% of those were given an earlier due date and 34% were given a later one.

68% of women had a late third trimester ultrasound to estimate fetal weight

Healthy Birth Practice 2: Walk, Move Around and Change Positions in Labor

Women with the ability to move and change positions are able to use this movement to help cope with the pain of labor.  Access to water in the form of a shower or tub can be a valuable coping technique.  Having access to intermittent fetal monitoring or telemetry movements can facilitate movement and promote labor progress for many women.

Only 43% of women walked around after being admitted to the hospital in labor

40% of women used position changes and movement for non-pharmacological pain relief

Healthy Birth Practice 3: Bring a Loved One, Friend or Doula for Continuous Support

Many women will thrive in labor if surrounded by a caring, supportive birth team.  Adding a skilled birth doula to the team has been shown in many studies to improve the outcome of birth and reduce interventions and cesareans.  While more and more birthing women are aware of a doula, many are still not having one in attendance at their birth.

99% of mothers had at least one support person present, (most often this was a partner, then a family member or friend)

6% women used a doula

75% of mothers were aware of what a doula does and of those 75% who knew, 27% would have liked a doula supporting them at their birth.

Healthy Birth Practice 4: Avoid Interventions That are Not Medically Necessary 

Although research shows that routine and unnecessary interference in the natural process of labor and birth is not likely to be beneficial—and may indeed be harmful—most U.S. births today are intervention-intensive.

98% of the women had at least one ultrasound during pregnancy and 70% had three or more over the course of their pregnancy

68% of women had a late third trimester ultrasound to estimate fetal weight.

83% of women had some type of pain medication

67% had an epidural or spinal, and 92% of those who did reported this to be “very helpful” or “somewhat helpful.”

62% of women surveyed had an IV during labor

51% of women had one or more vaginal exams in labor. (I was surprised at this, I would have suspected higher)

47% had bladder (Foley) catheters

31% of women had a labor augmented with pitocin

50% of birthing women had their labor either induced or augmented with pitocin

20% had their membranes ruptured artificially (AROM)  after labor began

36% of women had their labor started or augmented by AROM

1% of women requested and had a maternal request cesarean for non-medical reasons

40% of women drank fluids during their labor

21% of the women ate during labor

85% of women birthing vaginally did so without forceps or vacuum

87% of women responding had at least one of the five big interventions (attempted labor induction, epidural, pitocin augmentation, assisted delivery with vacuum or forceps or cesarean.

60% of the women had at least two of the above five interventions listed above

Healthy Birth Practice 5: Avoid Giving Birth on Your Back and Follow Your Body’s Urges to Push

Women push most effectively when permitted to push in the positions that feel best for them.  Allowing the baby to “labor down” even after reaching full dilation until moms feel the urge to push can help women to push a baby out quicker and under their own steam.  Pushing in positions that allow the pelvis to open as much as possible and making space by getting the sacrum out of the way can help promote descent during pushing.

68% of women surveyed birthed on their backs

23% birthed in a semi-sitting position

8% gave birth in a position off their back, either side-lying, squat or hands & knees

Healthy Birth Practice 6: Keep Mother and Baby Together; Its Best for Mother, Baby and Breastfeeding

Experts now recommend that right after birth, a healthy newborn should be placed skin-to-skin on the mother’s abdomen or chest and should be dried and covered with warm blankets. Any care that needs to be done immediately after birth can be done with your baby skin-to-skin on your chest.  This early time together promotes breastfeeding, helps stabilize the newborn’s temperature and blood sugar and also offers a unique chance for high levels of natural oxytocin that promote bonding and help with immediate postpartum bleeding.

47% of mothers responding had their baby in their arms within the first hour

40% of mother-baby pairs were not skin to skin when they were first held

33% of all babies were with hospital staff the first hour

60% of mother-baby pairs roomed in together

18% of babies spent time in the NICU

25% of babies spent their days with mom and their nights in the nursery

49% of mothers who stated that they intended to exclusively breastfeed were given formula samples or offers.

29% of newborns were supplemented with water or formula during the hospital stay

Summary

After reading through the LTMIII report, I found myself discouraged by the current results.  It was clear that women were making choices and/or being informed by their care providers to choose practices that have long been known to create a cascade of interventions, do not improve outcomes for mothers or babies and are not evidence based.  For the majority of the women who responded to this survey, the Healthy Care Practices are still a pipe dream and not a reality in their hospitals and with their current providers.  I know change comes slowly, and it can take years for protocols to catch up with the evidence but frankly, after reading the summary of how things did or did not change over the course of the three studies I was still shocked.

Have you had a chance to go through the study yet?  What were your thoughts?  Anything surprise you?  Can you share a bright point that you noticed?

Join us later this week as I examine what the LTMIII survey had to say about childbirth education and how women are receiving pregnancy and birth information and from where.

 

 

 

 

Sharon Muza Breastfeeding, Cesarean Birth, Childbirth Education, Doula Care, Epidural Analgesia, Evidence Based Medicine, Healthy Birth Practices, Healthy Care Practices, Lamaze International, Maternal Quality Improvement, Maternity Care, Medical Interventions, Midwifery, New Research, Newborns, News about Pregnancy, Research, Transforming Maternity Care, Uncategorized Childbirth Connection, Healthy Birth Practices, Lamaze International, Listening to Mothers III, Listening to Mothers surveys, research, Sharon Muza

Childbirth Connection has just released the Listening to Mothers III study today, and will holding a press conference shortly to share the results.  I plan to listen in and read the study thoroughly to see what the mothers have to say!  Look for a complete post early next week evaluating the current state of pregnancy care, labor, birth postpartum and breastfeeding and how it stacks up to Lamaze International’s Six Healthy Birth Practices.  In the meantime, consider joining the press conference, or reading this new study.  You can also check out the previous two LTM studies to see if things have changed.

Listening to Mothers I

Listening to Mothers II

New!  Listening to Mothers III

Sharon Muza Babies, Cesarean Birth, Childbirth Education, Depression, Healthcare Reform, Healthy Birth Practices, Healthy Care Practices, informed Consent, Maternal Quality Improvement, Maternity Care, Medical Interventions, New Research, Research Childbirth Connection, Healthy Birth Practices, Healthy Care Practices, lamaze, Listening to Mothers, research, Sharon Muza

This Thursday 1-2 pm ET, you are invited to speak with national health care leaders about findings from Listening To Mothers III — the third in a series of major national studies that examines women’s maternity experiences from before birth through the postpartum period. Among many other findings, the survey reveals the overuse of risky procedures and the fact that many women feel pressured to undergo them.

Listening to Mothers III is the third in a series of landmark, national studies that poll American women about their maternity experiences. This online press conference will highlight new findings about the American maternity experience, including:

• Exposure of women and babies to the overuse of risky procedures, and underuse of beneficial practices;
• Women’s experience of pressure to undergo consequential and costly procedures;
• How informed women are about the risks of those procedures;
• Failure of the health system to provide shared decision-making processes for major decisions;
• Trends across the three national Listening to Mothers surveys.

Leading national health experts representing clinical quality improvement, employer, and consumer perspectives will discuss major findings. The in-depth report describes many experiences from before pregnancy through pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. Harris Interactive conducted the survey of 2,400 women who gave birth from July 2011 through June 2012.

What

The American Birth Experience: Results From Listening to Mothers III

Who

Leah Binder, President & CEO, The Leapfrog Group

Maureen Corry, Executive Director, Childbirth Connection

Eugene Declercq, Assistant Dean, School of Public Health, Boston University

Carol Sakala, Director of Programs, Childbirth Connection

Thomas Westover, MD, Co-Chair, New Jersey Hospital Association Perinatal Safety Collaborative, Assistant Professor, Maternal & Fetal Medicine & OB&GYN, Robert Wood Johnson Medical and Cooper Medical School

When

Thursday, May 9, 2013; 1-2:00 pm EDT

Details

Please use this link to register for this online press conference at:

If interested in an advance copy of the report, contact Kat Song 

Sharon Muza Childbirth Education, Healthcare Reform, Maternal Quality Improvement, Maternity Care, Research, Webinars Carol Sakala, Childbirth Connection, Eugene Declercq, Leah Binder, Listening to Mothers surveys, Maureen Corry, Sharon Muza, Thomas Westover, Webinar

By Geradine Simkins, CNM, MSN, Executive Director of Midwives Alliance of North America

This week, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement on home birth. While the statement affirmed “the right of women to make a medically informed decision about delivery”, many advocates expressed concerns. The statement failed to recognize Certified Professional Midwives, the providers most likely to attend a home birth in the United States. In this response, the Midwives Alliance of North America helps families, providers, and policy makers understand the critical role CPMs play in safe, healthy birth options. – Sharon Muza, Community Manager, Science & Sensibility

High-quality out-of-hospital newborn and postpartum care is standard for midwives

 

The Midwives Alliance of North America welcomes the primary concept communicated in the American Academy of Pediatrics’ April 24, 2013, policy statement entitled “Planned Home Birth.” As should be expected, AAP reminds its practitioners that newborn infants—regardless of the setting in which they are born—deserve an equal and unbiased, high-quality standard of care. The Midwives Alliance joins with AAP in affirming the need for a collaborative and integrated maternity care system that addresses the needs of all mothers and infants, regardless of the provider type or birth setting a woman chooses.

We are disappointed, however, in AAP’s decision to align with the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecologists’ policy on home birth. Serving the needs of the growing number of families choosing to birth at home, Certified Professional Midwives attend the majority of intended home births in the U.S., when a skilled attendant is present, making them the primary care providers for newborns in the home setting.

Certified Professional Midwives are skilled maternity care providers

AAP’s itemized recommendations for infant and newborn care, contained in their policy statement, are standard practice for credentialed midwives. In that respect, we find much with which we agree. These standard newborn exams, screens, and preventative care practices are wholly part of a credentialed midwife’s scope of practice, and further endorsed by individual state health departments. We also note that as AAP Neonatal Resuscitation Program certificate holders (required for certification and recertification), credentialed midwives follow guidelines laid out in AAP’s recommendations, and typically surpass those standard recommendations by having at least two NRP- and CPR-trained attendants at out-of-hospital births.

In fact, the AAP’s guidelines for the care of infants intentionally born at home parallel those standards practiced by trained midwives in all birth settings. The practices listed—such as working medical equipment, emergency plans of transfer, thorough newborn exams, and so forth—are professional standards exhibited and documented by credentialed midwives, regardless of the place of birth.

The AAP policy statement, however, did not recognize or acknowledge Certified Professional Midwives (CPM), indicating that AAP may not have a thorough understanding of the training, skills, knowledge, and abilities of this country’s primary maternity care provider for infants born out of the hospital. The Certified Professional Midwife is the only national midwifery credential that requires practitioners to be trained specifically to provide prenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal care in out-of-hospital settings. CPMs are knowledgeable, expert and independent midwifery practitioners who have met the standards for certification set by the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM). NARM is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) to issue the professional credential of Certified Professional Midwife, which is the same agency that accredits the American Midwifery Certification Board to issue the professional credentials of Certified-Nurse Midwife, and Certified Midwife.  

Midwives are the providers of choice for out-of-hospital births, whether they occur at home or in freestanding birth centers. Offered since 1994, the CPM is currently the basis for licensure in 27 states while 11 additional states are actively seeking CPM licensure. In fact, one in nine newly certified midwives in the U.S. are Certified Professional Midwives.  

The AAP policy statement endorses birth center maternity care, which is another area in which we are in agreement. Recent numbers from the American Association of Birth Centers (AABC) indicate that a significant proportion of accredited birth centers are owned and operated by Certified Professional Midwives. A January 2013 study, The National Birth Center Study II , conducted by AABC and published in the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, the official journal of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), highlights the benefits for women who seek care at midwife-led birth centers. Findings also reinforce longstanding evidence that providers at midwife-led birth centers provide safe and effective health care for women during pregnancy, labor, birth, and the postpartum period.  

Midwives provide high-quality care that meets both national and international guidelines 

In highlighting the ethic of high-quality care for all infants across the spectrum—regardless of the site of birth—it should be noted that Certified Professional Midwives provide care intentionally similar to that of nurse-midwives and physicians. Yet we also know that CPMs are able to offer additional and valued care in terms of frequency of home visits and intense monitoring of newborns in their homes in the first weeks of life—a benefit not normally conferred to women and babies who have experienced hospital births.

This high-quality midwifery care includes routine newborn APGAR assessments, comprehensive head-to-toe physical examinations, measurements of length, head, abdomen and birth weight, monitoring vital signs including thermoregulation, assessment of respiratory sounds and patterns, assessments of cardiac sounds and peripheral pulses, assessment of gestational age and physical maturity, neuromuscular assessments, and assistance with initiation and ongoing assessment of breastfeeding. All findings are recorded in patient records and shared with mothers, per professional standards.

In addition, CPMs provide newborns with Vitamin K treatment, antibiotic eye ointment, umbilical cord care, metabolic newborn screening, glucose and bilirubin testing as indicated, and either perform Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) hearing screens or refer to area audiologists. Midwives in a number of states are moving toward, or already offering, pulse-oximetry screening for Critical Congenital Heart Defects (CCHD) per AAP guidelines, in advance of many hospital systems. In the rare cases when newborns require consultation or referral, infants are transferred to the tertiary care system, and pediatricians where available, for active management.

Not only do Certified Professional Midwives and Certified Nurse-Midwives who attend home births provide the level of care outlined by the AAP, they provide it in a personalized, woman-centered, family-centered, culturally competent, and individualized manner that is qualitatively different from the customary assembly-line postpartum care commonly experienced in U.S. hospitals.

For example, in a home birth setting, the midwife typically conducts the initial newborn exam in the presence of the mother and family, which does not disrupt the crucial process of mother-infant bonding and breastfeeding, and is focused on being instructive to the family. Midwives provide holistic care to the mother-baby dyad in concordance with World Health Organization’s Baby-Friendly best practices.

As a way of illustrating important differences in care practices, we can point to the recent Breastfeeding Report Card issued by the CDC (2012) that indicates only six percent of U.S. hospitals are offering care that aligns with the international best practices outlined by Healthy People 2020.   By contrast in a 2005 study, 95% of babies born at home under the care of Certified Professional Midwives were exclusively breastfeeding at six weeks of age (Johnson & Daviss, 2005). This is just one area where midwives are well-trained, skilled, and uniquely positioned to help families succeed.

An opportunity for collaboration and integrated care 

Physician conversations about home birth and midwife-led birth will be better informed and more useful to maternity care consumers if AAP is able to become more cognizant of important changes in the landscape of U.S. midwifery. 

The release of the AAP policy statement on care of newborns born at home is an opportunity to reinforce the need for professional and seamless collaboration with members of community health care teams. We view this statement’s release as an opportunity to align best practices for all parties who care for and support families choosing home birth.

The Midwives Alliance stands ready to work with other pediatric and maternity care providers to establish best practices in the postpartum period to not merely provide the basic level of care in the first hours, days and weeks of life for the newborn as outlined in the latest AAP statement, but to elevate that standard to include support for breastfeeding and the personal attention that can prevent infant death and improve maternal and child health.  Babies born in all settings deserve this kind of care.

About Geradine Simkins

Geradine Simkins, CNM, MSN is an activist, midwife and author. She began as a direct-entry home birth midwife in 1976 and became a nurse-midwife twenty years later. For over thirty years she has provided health care for women, infants and families in a variety of settings, including attendance at births in the home, a freestanding birth center, and hospitals. Geradine’s work with migrant farmworkers and American Indian tribes focuses on addressing health care disparities and engendering a more equitable maternity care system for all women and infants.  Geradine is currently the Executive Director of Midwives Alliance of North America, a professional organization that promotes excellence in midwifery and is dedicated to unifying and strengthening the profession, thereby increasing access to quality health care and improving outcomes for women, babies and their families. She is the editor of the recently published book entitled Into These Hands: Wisdom from Midwives, an anthology of the life stories of 25 remarkable women who have dedicated their lives and careers to the path of midwifery and social change.  More info about Geraldine Simkins can be found here.

Sharon Muza ACOG, American Academy of Pediatrics, Babies, Delayed Cord Clamping, Home Birth, informed Consent, Maternity Care, Midwifery, Transforming Maternity Care AAP, ACNM, ACOG, CNM, CPM, Geraldine Simkins, Home Birth, MANA, Midwifery Care, Midwives Alliance of North America, newborn

Taking the hospital tour is considered to be a right of passage for expectant parents choosing to birth in the hospital.  They gather together in a group, a bit nervous, a bit excited, following the tour guide, quietly tiptoeing through the labor and delivery unit, hearing and seeing women in labor, peeking into empty rooms, learning where to park and finding out about the amenities that the facility has to offer.  They smile slightly to themselves and begin to imagine themselves birthing in one of these very rooms in the not too distant future.

A few families may ask questions, inquiring about policies and what they are “allowed” to do once admitted.  In fact, some of these questions may come up in your classes or you may hear stories about what the students learned on their various tours.

Lamaze International is offering a Parent Webinar: Getting the Most out of Your Hospital Tour next Wednesday, April 24th. at 12 PM EST.  This one hour webinar is being presented by Allison Walsh, IBCLC, LCCE.  This engaging learning opportunity can help parents to prepare for their tour,  ask questions that count and really understand what they need to do to have an active, upright birth within the hospital setting.

I encourage childbirth educators to inform their students about this webinar opportunity and suggest your CBE families register now.  The webinar will be made available in recorded form in a timely fashion after the live presentation is completed.  As an educator, I see lots of opportunities to bring this webinar into your classroom for discussion, watch snippets of it throughout your series, or ask your students to do a fun role play, incorporating what they learned from the webinar.

Some CBEs and L&D nurses may be the tour guide at the hospital, and this webinar can help them to offer an effective and evidence based tour that thoroughly meets the need of participants.

Tweet about this opportunity, post it on Facebook and share with students and your community of pregnant families, encouraging them to register now!  By attending this free webinar, families will become more informed maternity care consumers and in a better position to “Push for Their Baby.”

The Lamaze Parent blog, Giving Birth With Confidence highlighted this webinar in a comprehensive blog post yesterday that you may also want to share with your families.

To learn more about the Parent Webinar: “Getting the Most out of Your Hospital Tour” and to register, please click here.  See you at the webinar!

Sharon Muza Childbirth Education, Continuing Education, Evidence Based Medicine, Giving Birth with Confidence, Healthy Birth Practices, Healthy Care Practices, informed Consent, Maternity Care, Patient Advocacy, Push for Your Baby, Social Media, Webinars Allison Walsh, CBE, Childbirth Education, Giving Birth With Confidence, Lamaze webinars, maternity care continuing education, Sharon Muza