BirthStrong

09/01/2021

Why have women historically given birth on their backs?

https://metro.co.uk/2020/12/04/why-do-women-give-birth-on-their-backs-13640176/?fbclid=IwAR0kO5X7GIK3ox06OnYu_uCrtlOllWutx3zMrgEkTIERbv0FCM8bh9YIYso

As the viral myth goes, a 17th century king got off on it. We set out to investigate.

24/10/2020

One to remember at those crucial decision points...

Thought for the weekend.
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This is something I talk about a lot in What’s Right For Me: making decisions in pregnancy and childbirth.
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We’re probably not going to get away from the fact that systems, including systems of health and maternity care, need rules and pathways and guidelines based on population-level evidence in order to function.
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If they didn’t, everyone would be wandering about doing their own thing and it would be chaos!
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But those pathways and guidelines exist to tell professionals what to offer. As an individual who is using that system, you don’t have to follow the recommendation or pathway or guideline if it’s not right for you.
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Details about my work, that book (along with my others on aspects of birth-related decision making) and more than 500 free articles at www.sarawickham.com/wrfm
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24/10/2020

VBAC (Vaginal Birth After C-section) may not be ask risky as we thought...

A study that has the potential to change our understanding of risk of VBAC was published earlier this year, just as many countries were entering lockdown. As a result this study may have gone "under the radar" despite its importance.

The OptiBIRTH trial was conducted in three EU countries and in a sample of just under 2000 women separated in control and intervention groups (e.g. birthing at hospitals participating in a VBAC intervention-study and hospitals not participating), only two uterine ruptures occurred, one in each group (meaning there was no difference between the two groups), with an incidence rate of 1:1000.

This is a small study that suggests that uterine rupture during VBAC may be rarer than originally thought, and confirms the argument that not offering women information about VBAC breaches her human right to bodily autonomy.

Babies in both groups were equally healthy (non-significant differences in adverse outcomes between groups). It will be interesting to see the effects of this trial on further VBAC research (e.g. larger studies) and practice over time.
https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-020-2829-y

Photo by Daryl Wilkerson Jr from Pexels

21/10/2020

"Birthrights alongside Pregnant then Screwed, Make Birth Better, Birth Bliss Academy, the Fatherhood Institute and AIMS have today urged NHSE to issue clearer guidance to Trusts about the need to remove visiting restrictions for companions of choice in maternity services.
The letter follows news at the weekend that Liverpool Womens NHS Foundation Trust was reinstating restrictions it had previously removed in response to rising coronavirus cases. Birthrights has made a request under the Freedom of Information Act to see the risk assessment and any minutes of discussions of the risk assessment that led to all visiting being suspended in antenatal/postnatal wards. The group of organisations who wrote to NHSE are keen that lessons are learnt from the past six months and that Trusts recognise the need for families to be together at this significant time in their lives."

Birthrights alongside Pregnant then Screwed, Make Birth Better, Birth Bliss Academy, the Fatherhood Institute and AIMS have today urged NHSE to issue clearer guidance to Trusts about the need to remove visiting restrictions for companions of choice in maternity services. The letter follows news at t...

15/10/2020

Dealing with unconscious bias and racism in maternity care is urgent. In 2018 MMBRACE released a report revealing that In comparison to white women, black women were almost five times more likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth related causes, and Asian women were nearly twice as likely. What can I do as an individual? Encourage more BAME women to join our free Positive Birth Movement meetings to be informed and empowered about birth. From today I will be doing just that...

I get asked from time to time to give concrete examples of systemic racism in maternity care. Here's one that came across my desk today.
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I've been looking at one of the Anti-D leaflets handed out in the UK.
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Not only is it full of pictures of white people, but it says that. "About 85% of people have the RhD Factor, and the other 15% do not."
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I have been researching this area for more than 20 years, so I can tell you that that figure is only true for people of European descent.
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In fact, one per cent of people of Asian descent, eight percent of people of African descent and 15 percent of people of European descent are rhesus negative.
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The fact that we give out information leaflets containing data and pictures which only represent and relate to white people is systemic racism.
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Photo by Emmanuel Phaeton on Unsplash
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27/09/2020

It's OK to feel how you feel after birth

https://theconversation.com/worried-about-negative-thoughts-as-a-new-parent-youre-not-alone-145973?fbclid=IwAR2PSXwFN7KC82KZbRoFPOVGr-K5KA0K6ITGaa5sM-r3cchiJs3PRw2pdlk

20/09/2020

Babies aren't pumpkins!

Too early for pumpkin pics? I hope not!
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“Dating pregnancy is not an exact science and there is considerable variation between women.
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It is normal that some women naturally have longer pregnancies than others.
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The idea that something terrible will happen if a woman remains pregnant for a moment longer than 42 weeks just isn’t true.
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The baby doesn’t turn into a pumpkin at midnight.”
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It’s so important that women have full information and are able to look at the pros and cons of different courses of action before making the decisions that are right for them.
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Part of that is sorting the myths from the facts. This quote is from my book, “Inducing Labour: making informed decisions." You can find out more about that and my other books and explore birth-related information and decision making at www.sarawickham.com/iol
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24/07/2020

Going overdue is stressful but induction should not be taken lightly...

I’ve just seen another study showing that induction of labour is associated with having a poor experience of childbirth for some women. (More on that next week). So I will continue to share these quotes from my book, “Inducing Labour: making informed decisions” in the hope of helping women and families to consider all relevant information relating to decisions such as whether to agree to induction of labour.
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Too often, we’re only given one side of the story: the pathway recommended by the system. Which is a bit like being told there’s only one size available. What if it’s not your size? What if you're smaller or larger than average? What if you don't necessarily want what those running the system think everybody should have?
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Too often, women are told that they or their baby are at risk without being told that the increased risk is really small, that induction of labour also carries risks and that no decision is risk-free. Too often, coercion is used to try to persuade people down a particular path. Too often, women sign up for induction of labour and don’t realise what the reality will be like.
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Some women are happy with their induction experience, and that’s wonderful. But some aren’t. So we need to keep reminding everybody that these decisions are theirs to make, and that information is key. We need to be able to make decisions based on FULL knowledge of what is on offer (because it IS an offer, no matter what words are used) and with a good understanding of the pros and cons of the different pathways. There is no one right way. There is no risk-free option. And, just like in life, there are no guarantees, whatever you decide.
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If you’d like to find out more, you’re welcome to surf around www.sarawickham.com where there is an information hub on induction of labour and also links to my book on this topic if you’d like a bit more depth.
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03/07/2020

Even in these difficult times, women still have the right to choose how and where to birth.

The modern notion of risk is used to try to ‘sell’ us so much. But we have some control over the extent to which we let it influence our decisions.
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It's also true that, while the notion of risk is an important factor in decisions that are made by health services, it doesn't necessarily affect every decision you can make. if you want to enter a facility to give birth, you might not be allowed to have companions of your choice with you at all times. But you don't have to enter a facility until/unless you want to. And even if some of your decisions are being affected by what local facilities can offer and are putting in place, you still retain the right to make decisions about your own body. If you go into a hospital setting (or any other setting) to give birth, you have the right to decline procedures, tests or medication that you don't want.
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It's so important to get informed. If you'd like to know more, there's loads of information at www.sarawickham.com and you also might like to read my book, "What's Right For Me? Making decisions in pregnancy and childbirth. www.sarawickham.com/wrfm
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26/06/2020

12/06/2020

FAQs: Covid-19 – rights and benefits during pregnancy and maternity leave [This page was last updated on 25 May 2020.] Maternity Action is experiencing exceptional demand for our advice line at present so we have put together some frequently asked questions on rights at work and benefits during pr...

04/05/2020

Clear advice for women having birth during these difficult times