Science & Sensibility

This is a big weekend for Lamaze International for many reasons.  The 2012 Innovative Learning Forum is happening starting tomorrow in Nashville, TN, and right now, childbirth professionals and those interested in improving maternity care for childbearing women are making their way to Nashville via plane, train and automobile to network, listen to a fantastic line up of keynote speakers, participate in interactive learning sessions taught by creative and dynamic presenters, shop and meet sponsors and exhibitors, enjoy good food, Nashville hospitality and socialize with men and women who share the belief that birth is normal.

Sharon Muza Book Reviews, Breastfeeding, Childbirth Education, Continuing Education, Evidence Based Medicine, Films about Childbirth, Films about Pregnancy, Healthy Birth Practices, Healthy Care Practices, informed Consent, Lamaze 2012 Annual Conference, Lamaze Method, Push for Your Baby, Uncategorized annual conference, book review, Childbirth Education, Debby Amis, Jeanne Green, lamaze, Lamaze Innovative Learning Forum, Lamaze Toolkit for Childbirth Educators, Prepared Childbirth the Family Way, Sharon Muza, tips for the childbirth educator

The 2012 Lamaze Innovative Learning Forum is scheduled for October 26-28 in Nashville, TN and now is the time to sign up for this exciting learning and networking opportunity. This year’s conference theme is “Safe and Healthy Birth: The Music of Our Head, Heart and Hands” and Lamaze International is offering a new approach, which includes more opportunities for interaction among attendees with lower costs and less time away from work and family. Contact hours good for Lamaze, Nursing, ACNM, IBCLC re-certifications will be awarded for attendance at this continuing education event.

The internationally recognized General Session speakers include Ina May Gaskin, (Birth Works, Why Don’t More People in the U.S. Know it?), Dr. Jack Newman, (The First Hour),  Steven B. Frye, (Adult Learning and Conceptual Change: Putting Theory to Practice), and Abby Epstein, (The Accidental Birth Advocate).

In between general sessions, you will be treated to Interactive Learning Sessions, where the topics of Maternal Safety, Infant Safety and Evidenced Based Teaching and Practice will be highlighted in the categories of Head, Heart and Hands.  Leave these sessions full of ideas to take back with you and implement to make your classes, client relationships and professional knowledge more effective and useful to all.

Morning Learning Sessions, Exercise Sessions, Film and Poster Presentations and a full Exhibit Hall present additional opportunities to learn, shop, connect and participate in all the 2012 Lamaze Innovative Learning Forum has to offer.

The social event of the conference, “Papas and Mamas Sing For Healthy Birth” Benefit Concert is a partnership between Lamaze International and Attachment Parenting International to benefit and celebrate healthy birth scheduled for Saturday evening.  The concert will feature Grammy winner Delbert McClinton and The McCrary Sisters.

You can save $145 dollars on the forum registration fee if you register by Monday, September 24, 2012, when “early bird” registration closes. This represents significant savings and a great value for your continuing education and conference dollars.

Choose to attend the pre-Forum workshops and attend a Lamaze Childbirth Education Seminar facilitated by DUKE AHEC or the Lamaze Evidenced-Based Nursing Care: Labor Support Skills Workshop facilitated by Judith Lothian and take advantage of the bundled registration fee for the specialized workshops and the 2012 Forum, saving yourself $100 in the process.

Stay a few extra days in Nashville and treat yourself to a DONA International Birth Doula Workshop led by Patricia Predmore, DONA International Birth Doula Mentor. Attendance at this workshop and the Forum saves you $50 over purchasing the two registrations separately.

Click here to register for the conference and get “early bird” rates when you register to attend by September 24, 2012.  You can also connect with other Forum attendees to find a roommate or two to share in your hotel costs at the beautiful Sheraton Nashville Downtown Hotel and take advantage of the special Lamaze Forum room rate.  You do not want to miss the childbirth education event of the year.  Sign up now.

Sharon Muza Babies, Childbirth Education, Conference Schedule, Continuing Education, Evidence Based Medicine, Films about Childbirth, Films about Pregnancy, Healthy Birth Practices, Healthy Care Practices, Lamaze 2012 Annual Conference, Newborns, Push for Your Baby, Uncategorized Abby Epstein, annual conference, Childbirth Education, childbirth education conferences, Continuing Education, continuing education for nurses, Ina May Gaskin, Jack Newman, Judith Lothian, Lamaze 2012 Annual Conference, Lamaze Innovative Learning Forum, nashville, Sharon Muza, Steven B. Frye

Guest post by Ami Burns, CD(DONA), LCCE, FACCE

 ”What To Expect When You’re Expecting” authored by Heidi Murkoff and contributer Sharon Mazel, is now in its all-new fourth edition, with over 17 million copies in print, and been a perennial favorite on The New York Times’ bestseller list for years.  According to USA Today, WTEWYE has been read by 93 percent of women who read a pregnancy book. In May, “What To Expect When You’re Expecting; The Movie” was released, directed by Kirk Jones, and starring Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Matthew Morrison, and others.  Over the years, the material and presentation style of the book have been questioned as potentially creating more fear and questions then providing reassurance and confidence to pregnant women.  When I heard that the movie had been released, I asked Ami Burns, a Chicago-based birthed professional to see the movie through the eyes of a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator.  - SM

SPOILER ALERT: If you plan to see the film “What To Expect When You’re Expecting,” you may want to read the review after you see the film.

What did I expect before buying my ticket to What To Expect When You’re Expecting, the film inspired by Heidi Murkoff’s book? To be honest, not much.  I’m not a fan of the book, and I assumed the movie would be another Hollywood portrayal of birth as an emergency, or featuring bumbling dads who don’t know what to do, along with a mom screaming, telling him what an idiot he is as she purple pushes her baby out. 

I knew I had to leave my judgement at the ticket counter if I was going to review the movie with my “childbirth educator/doula” hat on, not my “Matthew Morrison is hot so it won’t be a total waste of money if the movie stinks” one.

Lamaze International has the Six Healthy Birth Practices that offer evidence and research which provides a solid foundation for promoting safe and normal birth. Would What To Expect touch on even one? I was curious to find out.

Before I get to answer the question of how well WTEWYE does in following the Healthy Birth Practices, it’s worth noting that as far as childbirth education in general, the only mention comes during a short scene at the doctor’s office when the mom and dad to-be played by Cameron Diaz and Matthew Morrison see a flyer about The Bradley Method. Diaz says Morrison needs to learn it, but we never hear anything else about it, or see anyone take a birth class – Bradley, Lamaze or any other – throughout the movie.

So, let’s take a look at each care practice and see how WTEWYE stacks up against each one.

1.    Let Labor Begin On Its Own

I was pleasantly surprised that the women all went into labor naturally – one mom even has a strong contraction on live television. The dad played by Chris Rock talks about walking and having sex to start labor. There’s no mention of induction or augmentation, and one mom’s water breaks as she’s walking around. Nice!

2.    Walk, Move Around and Change Positions Throughout Labor

There are a few scenes that show the moms in hospital beds,  but at least they’re upright. A mom leans on the wall as her husband rubs her back, and the character played by Brooklyn Decker – a young mom of twins who has the perfect pregnancy —  labors on a birth ball at home.

3.   Bring a Loved One, Friend or Doula for Continuous Support

Just like there’s barely a mention about childbirth education, doulas aren’t mentioned either. Labor support isn’t talked about in general, but the fathers are very supportive during the births.

4.    Avoid Interventions That Aren’t Medically Necessary

Again, I am happy to report no talk of induction or planned cesarean section – even for the mom carrying twins. Elizabeth Banks’ character, who comes prepared with a birth plan, eventually chooses an epidural, reaches 10 cm, but the doctor suggests a cesarean section since the baby’s heart rate is low. Her husband holds her hand during the operation.

5.  Avoid Giving Birth On Your Back, and Follow Your Body’s Urges to Push

Here I am on the 5^th Healthy Birth Practice and still impressed!  One mom uses a squat bar, another pushes semi sitting, and Decker’s character not only only gives birth to twins vaginally, she literally sneezes one of the babies out.

6.    Keep Your Baby With You – It’s Best for You, Your Baby and Breastfeeding

While the labor and birth experiences were good, the fimmakers could have done a much better job with this one. Banks’ character owns a store, The Breast Choice, even before she conceives, but we don’t see any of the new moms nursing – or even bottle feeding, for that matter. I was disappointed that one of the last scenes in the hospital is of two dads talking as they watch their babies – and many others – in the nursery.

I’m also glad the filmmakers showed some of the realities of pregnancy – mainly Banks’ character, who is expecting the “perfect glow,” but instead has hemmorhoids, sore breasts and incontinence – and isn’t afraid to be honest about it.

So, I didn’t expect much going in, but overall found What To Expect When You’re Expecting a breezy, romantic comedy that didn’t make the childbirth educator in me cringe.

Did you see the movie? What are your thoughts? Would you recommend this movie to your classes? Could you use clips of this movie in your classes as teaching moments?  Have your students and families been to see this and brought up the film  in class?  What has been their opinions?  Let’s share ideas and thoughts on how we as educators can be better prepared to respond to comments and observations by families we work with.

 About Ami Burns

Ami Burns, CD(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, is the founder of Birth Talk. In addition to teaching, she uses her media background to promote healthy birth. Ami produced the Telly Award-winning 50 Years of Childbirth Education for Lamaze International, and writes for numerous websites, including allParenting.

Sharon Muza Breastfeeding, Childbirth Education, Evidence Based Medicine, Films about Childbirth, Films about Pregnancy, Guest Posts, Healthy Birth Practices, Healthy Care Practices, Maternity Care, Uncategorized Ami Burns, Childbirth Education, films, guest posts, Healthy Birth Practices, Healthy Care Practices, Lamaze International

As someone who is knowledgeable about pregnancy and birth, I often hear from far-flung friends and relatives who have questions. The questions run the gamut: “Can I take this medication?,” “Do I really need to be induced?,” “What does this test result mean?” But I hear in these questions a much more basic question: “How do I get good maternity care?”

Whether each woman can articulate it or not, all women want maternity care that is woman-centered, safe, effective, timely, efficient, and equitable. These are the domains of high-quality care.

So how can a woman get high quality maternity care? As part of our Join the Transformation Campaign, Childbirth Connection created a new resource to answer this question.

(You can download a PDF handout of these tips here.)

These ten tips give women the foundation they need to begin to engage as savvy consumers of high-quality care, but there’s so much more work to be done to retool our system to fully enable this kind of engagement. How can women choose their caregiver and setting wisely without transparent performance data to evaluate quality? How can women understand the evidence without access to high-quality decision support tools that are appropriate for their literacy and numeracy levels? How can women control their health records if they can’t even access them electronically?

We launched our Join the Transformation campaign to strengthen our work to address these gaps. We’re working with partners to implement key recommendations from our consensus Blueprint for Action, so in the future when women ask “How Can I Get Good Maternity Care?” the answer is clear and the resources are at their fingertips.

Maternity Care With a Heart from Childbirth Connection on Vimeo.

Posted by:  Amy Romano, MSN, CNM

Amy Romano Films about Childbirth, Films about Pregnancy, Maternal Quality Improvement, Maternity Care, Patient Advocacy, Transforming Maternity Care, Uncategorized Amy Romano, Blueprint for Action, Childbirth Connection, how do I get good maternity care, Join the Transformation, maternity care, Transforming Maternity Care

A year ago, my partner Alex Wakeford and I came up with an idea. We wanted to make a film that would change the world.

More specifically, we wanted to create a film that would galvanize an army of birth warriors to help revolutionize birth around the world.

Our journey really began three years ago with the birth of our daughter. As we realize now, it was an all too familiar story; a cascade of interventions eventually leading to an emergency caesarean (breech, then the baby turned, then induction, then c-section). Our lack of knowledge meant we felt dis-empowered and scared.

As filmmakers, we realized we could help other people in the same situation. So after making two other films about birth (DOULA! doulafilm.com & REAL BIRTH STORIES realbirthstories.com), we came up with an even bigger more ambitious plan. We wanted to go global.

Our vision was to create a video website aimed at parents and birth professionals to empower ALL women to know they can have a positive birth fully informed of their choices. The videos would be short and share-able via all social media networks (Facebook, Twitter etc). The videos would offer credible evidence-based information and opinions from the world’s leading birth experts including:

Marilyn Curl (President, Lamaze International), Ina May Gaskin, Sheila Kitzinger, Michel Odent, Elizabeth Davis, Debra Pascali-Bonaro, Professor Soo Sowne, Professor Cecily Begley, Professor Lesley Page, Professor Kerstin Uvnas-Moberg, Professor Sally Tracy, Professor Ngai Fen Cheung, Assoc. Professor Denis Walsh plus many other leading midwives, academics, obstetricians, birth educators, doulas and birth campaigners.

Then we came up with an even better idea. To make the whole thing FREE!.

Up until now, everything has been completely funded by ourselves from the profits of the DOULA! documentary (we haven’t seen a penny ourselves). We hope that if people like what we’re doing then hopefully they might want to make a donation so that we can keep on going.

So now, exactly a year after coming up with the idea we are ready to launch ONE WORLD BIRTH today, Thursday 1st September 2011. The first day of the revolution.

Each month we will be releasing lots of films and clips about a certain hot-issue about birth. We want people around the world to watch the videos, connect with each other and start discussions about the issues with people outside their immediate “birth circle” so that we can break birth into the mainstream.

And next year, we will release a feature-length documentary for worldwide cinema release about all these issues to help create a tipping point where change can and will happen.

This is just the start. We want to keep on filming, to keep building the video resources and to keep building an army of birth warriors who together will become the birth revolution. Join us.

Help save birth and change the world.

http://oneworldbirth.net

Toni Harman, Producer / Director / Co-Creator, ONE WORLD BIRTH

Email: toni@altofilms.com

http://oneworldbirth.net

http://www.facebook.com/oneworldbirth

On Twitter: @oneworldbirth

Films about Childbirth, Films about Pregnancy, Patient Advocacy, Uncategorized alto films, childbirth videos, childbrith education, normal birth advocacy, normla birth, One World Birth, Toni Harman