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PS From Penny Simkin
| December 1, 2011
Volume 3, Number 3 | |
Greetings!
 Happy Holidays! The holidays mean the end and the beginning of yet another year! The years just keep coming, don't they? I want to take a few moments at this special time of year to wish you a peaceful and loving holiday season, and better birthing for all in the New Year. I also want to focus on the many good things that are happening in our field. For those of you who need a gift for your favorite pregnant woman, father- or co-parent-to-be, midwife, doctor, or doula, I'm offering holiday specials on some of my products. |
Good News in Maternity Care
We've been getting some good news lately, which might mean we're seeing the beginnings of a different direction in maternity care, for example, some tiny and some large improvements in a few key outcomes. For example, for the first time in 14 years, the cesarean rate in the US went down a tiny bit - from 32.9% in 2009 to 32.8% in 2010. Could this be the beginning of a trend? This tiny .1 percent (one 1000th) reduction is more significant when we recognize that the relentless upward swing has paused. If the annual rate of increase that we've seen over the past 14 years had continued in 2010, we'd see a rate between 33.5 to 34%, rather than 32.8%. That's worth celebrating! (Unfortunately, the cesarean rate in my state of Washington increased.) I made some calculations of the numbers. One in a thousand is not much, until you consider that 1/1000 of the 4,000,000 births per year in the US represents 4000 fewer women who had a cesarean. It's a start.
For the 4th straight year the US preterm birth rate has decreased from 12.8% in 2006 to 12.2 % in 2009, with most of the improvement coming in the late pre-term (34 to 36 weeks' gestation) births. The March of Dimes gets a lot of credit for this, having made preterm birth reduction the major focus of its work. (The March of Dimes granted me a full scholarship for my Physical Therapy Training in 1959-60, when their goal was an end to polio. Once that goal was achieved, they turned to pregnancy related issues. I am proud of that connection with the March of Dimes, and the fact that our paths have converged as they have.)
Also, teen pregnancies have dropped to the lowest rate (9.3% in 2010 from 10% in 2009) in 70 years!
Let's work for greater improvements in these and in other outcomes next year!
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Great Midwives in the News!
Three outstanding dedicated midwives are being honored for their impressive accomplishments which, at the same time, shines the spotlight on the contributions of midwifery in improving maternity care!
Robin Lim, CPM and author, who has devoted the last 8 years to her maternity clinic in Bali is one of CNN's top Ten Heroes of 2011; Ina May Gaskin, CPM, the "world's best-known midwife" and author of unique and inspiring books on maternity care, childbirth, and breastfeeding, will receive The Right Livelihood Award for "outstanding vision and work on behalf of our planet and its people;" and Judith Rooks, CNM, author and untiring advocate for improvement of maternity care through greater access to midwifery, has worked to make a safe and effective form of pain relief--nitrous oxide and oxygen--available to childbearing women both within and outside the hospital. Click here to read more>
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Doula Training in Iceland - November 2011
On a personal note, this has been a busy fall, highlighted by my amazing trip to Iceland, where I had the privilege of offering the first doula training in that fascinating country, and to address several other groups of midwives and the public.
My lovely sponsor, Soffia Baeringsdottir (see the photo of her posing with the nitrous oxide equipment when you click through to the article), took very good care of me while keeping me very busy. Before I went to Iceland, I researched maternity care outcomes in Iceland (population 300,000, with about 15 obstetricians and lots of midwives and family doctors). I learned that their outcomes are SO MUCH better than ours that I couldn't figure out why on earth Soffia would want me, an American, to come. I learned that Iceland has the lowest infant mortality rate (1.4 deaths per 1000 infants under one year of age ), low birth weight rate (4.1%, less than half the US rate), and the second lowest cesarean rate (17.5%, a little more than half the US Rate) in the industrialized world! It's amazing.
Click here to read the article>
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My YouTube Video on Delayed Cord Clamping and Other Third / Fourth Stage Issues
I mentioned this video in my last issue of PS. if you didn't check it out, please do.(I'm excited that this video has gotten over 14,000 views!) Right now we are learning a great deal about potentially harmful routines in the third and fourth stages of labor. Timing of cord clamping is just one huge issue.
 | | Penny Simkin On Delayed Cord Clamping |
Others include routine naso-pharyngeal suctioning, management of the vigorous newborn in the presence of meconium; and the impact of many routine procedures on mutual regulation between mother and newborn. We are beginning to see the need for great changes in third and fourth stage "management" of healthy and compromised infants, whether born vaginally or by cesarean, as our knowledge in these areas increases, and as parents learn more about the effects of many routine care practices on their newborn infants.
Mother and baby should not be treated as separate entities during this time. I love the term, coined by CIMS (the Coalition for the Improvement of Maternity Services) - "motherbaby." More on this topic in future issues.
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Holiday Specials on Some of My Products - autographed if you like 
The Birth Partner: The Complete guide to Childbirth for Dads, Doulas, and All Other Labor Companions
Regularly $18, buy now for $14.40
The Labor Progress Handbook: Early Interventions to Prevent and Treat Dystocia
Regular price - $39.95, buy now for $32 Would you like Penny to autograph your book? When you place your order online, the third page of the checkout process has a special instructions box where you can request an autographed copy. Please indicate the name of the recipient of the book and anything special Penny should know about them--ie. doula, midwife, expecting mom, etc. You can also request the autograph if ordering by phone or fax! |
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The Home Birth Summit
Another hopeful sign in maternity care is the Home Birth Summit, held in Airlie,Virginia outside of Washington DC from October 20-22. Midwives, obstetricians, consumers and consumer advocates, family physicians, nurses, health policy experts, legislators, legal and medical ethics experts, nurses, pediatricians, payors and liability experts came together in a spirit of respect and good will to identify and discuss their shared goals for safe and satisfying childbirth. It is a tribute to all attendees that they could sit down together, speak frankly and openly, and find their common ground, which is considerable. The result was a list of "common ground statements" which "reflect the areas of consensus that were achieved by the individuals who participated."
 | | Congresswoman Roybal-Allard |
On November 15th, Representative Roybal-Allard of California read the consensus statements into Congressional record and issued a press statement. You can view a YouTube Video of her statement here. |
Comfort Measures - 20% off! A perfect gift for an expecting couple or for your favorite doula, childbirth educator or midwife's lending library
Watch scenes on YouTube
We appreciate all the great feedback from those of you who have purchased our latest Comfort Measures for Childbirth DVD. Click here to purchase your copy online now. Or click here to learn about phone and fax purchases.
If you haven't checked out the scenes from Comfort Measures on our YouTube channel, check them out now!
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For delivery by December 23rd, please place US orders no later than Wednesday, December 14th. Call us for rush orders or orders to be shipped outside of the US.
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Upcoming Workshops with Penny
Websites are provided where we have that information Webinar - Labor Pain and the Epidural for Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, Brattleboro, VT 12.06.11 ONLINE When Survivors Give Birth
Penny teaches this not-to-be missed workshop with Phyllis Klaus, MFT, LMSW 02.4-5.12 Bastyr University, Kenmore, WA More Information> Maintaining Normalcy in Childbirth 02.16.12 Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada One Day Workshop*
03.31.12, Los Angeles 2 day workshop on childhood sexual abuse and its impact on the
childbearing woman*
04.19-20.12, Toronto ICEA Regional Conference - one day workshop* 04.27.12, Battle Creek, Michigan
Midwives Assoc. Conference* 5.4-5.12, Denver, Colorado Perinatal Education Day*
05.11.12, Hamilton, Ontario Birth Doula Skills Workshop, Bastyr University 06.19-22.12 Kenmore, WA More Information> 2012 NACEF Annual Conference 08.04.12 More information to come Birth Doula Skills Workshop, Bastyr University 09.12-15.12 Kenmore, WA More Information>
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Other Popular Products from Penny
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For my new readers and those who joined my list from the start, I invite you to visit my website. Many of my presentations and handouts are posted there for you to download, and my presentation schedule is also posted there. If I come to your area to speak, please come and see me, and let me know you're on my newsletter list. I hope to keep in touch with you informally on maternity care topics that mean the most to me.
I'd love your feedback.
All the best, dear friends,
Penny
PS Click here to visit us on Facebook
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