Judy Slome Cohain, CNM, has run All the Way Homebirth practice in Israel since 1983. She would love to hear from women who have tried to change a positive GBS culture to a negative one by using garlic. Please email with the outcomes, which will be collected for future research.
Photo by Tim Bish
Contributing Editor Judy Slome Cohain writes about her experiences training to be a midwife.
Photo by Filip Mroz
Another chapter in our ongoing feature on “good guy” obstetricians.
Illustration by Robert Smale
Abstract: “Mars Attacks” is a new term coined to describe unjustified violation of women by care providers at the time of birth, as well as the purposeful abandonment of the peer review system by major obstetric journals and the abandonment of the use of research evidence by ACOG in their latest protocols, in order to justify continued use of this form of violence against women.
Photos provided by author
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in Midwifery Today, Issue 83, Autumn 2007. Join Midwifery Today Online MembershipAbstract: Techniques for turning a term breech baby are 1). external cephalic version (ECV) using hands and ultrasound only; 2). acupuncture point stimulation, by needle or moxibustion; 3). chiropractic “Webster” technique; 4). hypnotherapy; and 5). special exercises. Fifty % of breech fetuses at 34 weeks will turn by themselves to head down by 38 weeks. Therefore, to be considered effective, a technique for turning breech must turn the baby and keep it turned more than 50% of the time. Only ECV with an experienced practitioner has been documented to have a greater than 50% success rate at 37 weeks; in 95% of cases the head stays down. Most women experience the fetus turning by hand as quick but very painful. “Unstable lie” is sometimes used as a baseless excuse for inducing labor after the baby turns from breech to head down. ([email protected])Even before the 2001 recommendation by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) that all breech babies be delivered by cesarean, the cesarean rate for singleton breech births was 85% overall, 90% for first-time mothers and 77% for subsequent breech births. In 2006, an amendment to the ACOG recommendation noted that vaginal breech delivery may still be a viable option with a caregiver who has lots of experience, strict hospital protocols and a patient who clearly understands the risks.The best way to avoid being a participant in the vaginal breech birth controversy is to have a baby in head down position! By 34 weeks, 92% of babies are head down. The head is the heaviest part of the fetus and naturally gravitates down because gravity pulls it down. The buttocks are lighter and bulkier. The legs kick, an activity that is… Read more…. Turning Breech Babies After 34 Weeks: The If, How, and When of Turning Breech Babies
Read more…. Turning Breech Babies After 34 Weeks: The If, How, and When of Turning Breech Babies
Midwives, with their focus on the caring rather than management, can help to prevent an overly-medicalized birth outcome. Frequent contributor Judy Slome Cohain contrasts the story of birth that was published in a popular magazine with how it might have been had the mother been cared for by a midwife.
Photo by Frank Alarcon
Frequent MT writer Judy Slome Cohain provides some personal insights about relationships with mothers and long, dysfunctional labors.
An article defining and discussing hyperbilirubinemia, or jaundice, in newborns and recent guidelines by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
While recent research concluded that VBACs are riskier in birth centers than the hospitals, the author points out some of the other problems that the authors of the study failed to note, such as the fact that being in a hospital increases the risk of a cesarean and on future pregnancies. Read more…. Vaginal Births After C-section Are Not Necessarily Riskier in a Birth Center than in the Hospital
Photo by Taylor Brandon
Socialized medicine provides free and easily accessible prenatal and intrapartum care in Israel. The emphasis on the value of life in Israel is reflected in its birth practices, such as free, easily accessible prenatal care, low infant mortality rates and excellent infertility treatment.
Photo by Jonathan Borba
One cause of placenta accreta and placenta percreta is the placenta’s embedding in the caesarean scar. But no one has published research showing a correlation between these conditions and single-layer repair. Before this repair is blamed for an increase in placenta problems, an association must be established.
Photo by Tom Chamberlain
Garlic kills yeast. Those who bake bread know not to add garlic while the dough is rising or it will kill the yeast. Instead, garlic is added to the dough after it has risen, just before baking it in the oven. Read more…. How to Treat a Vaginal Infection with a Clove of Garlic
