Birth Stories

We had a great discussion this week in class about the importance of birth stories.

I remember when I was pregnant, I couldn't get enough of reading birth stories. Spiritual Midwifery and Sheila Kitzinger's collection Giving Birth: How it Really Feels were wonderful companions to me.

People in our class right now are loving Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. We all agree that it can be so nourishing to see all the different ways birth can unfold, and how people respond to, and grow through, labor and birth as rites of passage.

At the same time, it also be hard to filter things out. I've never met anyone who feels empowered by "A Baby Story" on TLC. And what about when random people want to tell you about their harrowing experiences? How can you get what you need from the birth stories people inevitably want to tell you when you're pregnant?

One strategy is to steer conversations into helpful directions by asking questions like, "When did you feel strongest in your birth experience?" "How did you make it through the challenging parts?" "What was the most helpful thing your partner did for you during labor?" "When did you first feel your parenting intuition kick in with your newborn?"

For those of you wanting more birth stories, here are some good online resources:
Birth Story Diaries
Positive Birth Stories
Birth Stories Blog

Cord Clamping

One question that comes up often in classes is "when is the cord cut?" The answer is: that's a great question to ask your care provider! In some medical practices, it is common to cut the cord early, in the first minute after birth. Other care providers, midwives especially, typically wait until the cord has stopped pulsating or until the placenta has been born to clamp and cut the cord. Of course, you can specify your preferences, but it's helpful to know what's common in your care provider's practice.

Some parents prefer to not cut the cord at all, but to burn it, or to practice lotus birth -- these are topics for another post.

Physiologically, the baby's blood supply in utero involves the entire circulatory unit that includes the placenta and the umbilical cord. After the baby is born, the placenta continues to pump the baby's blood to the baby via the cord, so the cord will typically pulsate for around 2-5 minutes after birth.

While it has long been believed that delaying cord clamping increased rates of jaundice, research has failed to show any increase in pathology related to jaundice as a result of delayed cord clamping. The benefits to babies of delayed cord clamping are well-demonstrated, and include better tissue oxygenation and iron levels, even months after the birth.

Here's a great video demonstration of how early cord clamping affects the baby's blood volume:

For further information:

Academic OB/GYN: Delayed Cord Clamping Should Be Standard in Obstetrics
Details current research on the timing of cord clamping and offers some thoughts about the difficulty, and necessity, of changing standard medical procedures such as early clamping.


Nicholas Fogelson MD: Video of Grand Rounds Presentation on Delayed Cord Clamping
Great video presentation that goes into further detail on related research and its implications for practice.

CordClamping.com

Cord Clamping and Jaundice