Bindu's Birth Preparation

06/11/2025

An excellent article today from . Note the lack of evidence supporting the use of continuous fetal monitoring, the clear influence of business and economics, and the money grab from AI companies who claim studies support their product - when in fact they don’t - resulting in remote monitoring hubs.

I especially love that placenta accreta is described early in the article so the public can see that cesareans carry risk. As a result, we need to ensure that they occur only when needed or wanted.

Note that the photo for this article is of a remote monitoring hub. One such hub is up to 60 miles away from the hospital in which the woman is laboring.

“Nearly every woman who gives birth in an American hospital is strapped with a belt of sensors to track the baby’s heartbeat. If the pattern is deemed abnormal — too slow, for example — doctors often call for an emergency C-section.

But this round-the-clock monitoring, the most common obstetric procedure in the country, rarely helps baby or mother. Decades of research have shown that the tool does not reliably predict fetal distress. In fact, experts say, it leads to many unnecessary surgeries as doctors overreact to its ever-changing readouts.

The obstetrics field has long ignored these problems. Now, it’s putting more trust than ever on the flawed technology, often prioritizing business and legal concerns ahead of what’s best for patients, The New York Times found.

This fall, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists updated its guidelines on continuous monitoring, sanctioning it even as some other wealthy countries have cautioned against its routine use…

All three remote hubs, along with 400 other hospitals around the country, use A.I. software to help analyze the heart data. The software’s maker, PeriGen, has claimed on its website that 50 studies backed up its products.

But none of the studies found that the technology improved birth outcomes. PeriGen removed the list of studies after an inquiry from The Times. The company’s chief executive, Matthew Sappern, acknowledged that no clinical trials had shown benefits.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/health/electronic-fetal-monitoring-c-sections.html?unlocked_article_code=1.zE8.145f.FPhFANzFoVZp&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

06/11/2025

When babies are first born they don’t understand that they’re their own person
To them mama isn’t just someone who feeds them rocks them and keeps them safe
Mama is them

Your heartbeat feels like home
Your voice is the sound of safety
Your touch is comfort itself

That’s why they cry when you leave the room
That’s why they calm the second they’re in your arms
They truly believe you and them are one and the same

And maybe that’s how it’s meant to be for a while
Two souls still connected
Learning to exist side by side in a world that’s brand new to both of you

05/11/2025

Whale mothers nurse their young in the middle of the ocean—no bottle, no surface, no rest.
Their milk is unlike any on Earth: almost 50% fat, thick as cream cheese, and barely dissolves in water. That’s how a baby whale can drink underwater without losing a single drop to the sea.

Each gulp fuels a newborn calf that can gain up to 100 pounds a day, growing strong enough to survive the open currents.

This is evolution’s quiet miracle—a bond formed in total silence, in the vastness of the ocean where only instinct and warmth exist.

04/11/2025

What happens when male statues become fathers for a day? A creative campaign in Sweden is challenging traditional norms about parenting roles.

Imagine a bronze statue of a stoic leader, now wearing a bright pink baby sling with a doll nestled inside. On International Men’s Day...

04/11/2025

24/10/2025

It sometimes feels like there's a new childbirth-related news headline every week.

And no matter whether it's on the web, in the papers or on TV, it’s highly likely that it will be scary and focused on risk.

It may instill fear and undermine women’s confidence in their own bodies and babies.

Here are a few things that you should bear in mind when reading these headlines and the associated stories.

1. Both the originator of the research and the people who turn it into a story want to get the headline and the story to spread as far and wide as possible. Their job isn't to help you make an informed decision about what is right for you.

2. The goal of getting maximum publicity for a research finding or story is sometimes achieved by taking a sensationalist stance. Sometimes, key facts are glossed over, shared in a misleading way or left out completely.

3. Risk and fear sell news very quickly. There are many, many studies showing that birth is safe and that women's bodies are marvellously good at growing, birthing and feeding babies. But these don't make exciting headlines, and they don't make nearly as many people read, click and share, so they are often ignored.

4. There is almost never any discussion of the bigger picture or the wider context, either of the study or situation itself or of other work that has been done on the same topic. We need more information than can be found in the headlines.

5. In reality, research and report findings are never certain. All studies have limitations. Sadly, the complexity and the uncertainty gets compromised in favour of those risk-filled headlines which make you want to click, read and share.

Stay calm. Remember that the job of the media is to sell headlines, not to help people making pregnancy and birth decisions.

Breathe.

Get informed.

And then make the decision that's right for you.

If you'd like to see more of my work on this topic, you can find me at https://www.sarawickham.com/wrfm

20/10/2025

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09/10/2025

Taking bookings now 🍁