Natural Family News

Moms: Do you really need that C-section or epidural? Registered nurse and midwife Breck Hawk, author of “Hey! Who’s Having This Baby Anyway?” reveals why these procedures are often unnecessarily prescribed during labor and shares how you can avoid them.

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) July 25, 2005—Studies show birth is most common Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Is this just coincidence or is it a contrived effort by providers to control personal schedules?

Pregnant women are encouraged to welcome the chance to have their baby on a scheduled date for the convenience of their provider. But often they’re not told the risks and side effects involved. They don’t realize that some interventions – such as pain medications, epidurals, C-sections, or birthing the baby with forceps or vacuum extraction – may not only be unnecessary, but also dangerous.

“Moms-to-be may blindly trust providers, thinking everything suggested is good – but this isn’t always true,” says registered nurse and midwife Breck Hawk, author of “Hey! Who’s Having This Baby Anyway?” (Metropolis Ink, $19.95, www.HeyAnyway.com). “Unless it’s anatomically necessary, women deserve and need to be told they probably birth babies vaginally and naturally.”

Hawk has over 27 years experience as a midwife, doula, prenatal instructor, and registered nurse specializing in maternity and neonatal intensive care. She has helped hundreds of women give birth. Here she reveals how to avoid common interventions and have a successful birth.

*Hire a doula or professional labor support person.

*Exercise during pregnancy. This strengthens muscles and prepares your body for the long stress of labor.

*Consider a birth center or having a homebirth with a midwife.

*Attend childbirth classes that teach non-pharmacological methods of pain relief such as yoga, HypnoBirthing, Lamaze, and others.

*In the hospital, ask to be assigned to the nurse who is the strongest supporter of natural childbirth.

*Before taking pain medication, ask for a vaginal exam. See how far your cervical dilation has progressed. You may be further along than you thought and decide to forego the medication.

No matter what’s on your provider’s personal agenda, remember it’s your body and your baby and it’s your right to have the last word regarding your baby’s birth!

How birth-savvy are you? Take the 12 Question Quiz for Moms-to-Be or purchase your copy of “Hey! Who’s Having This Baby Anyway?” at www.HeyAnyway.com.

A private energy company has written a proposal to put up wind turbines in a National Forest in Vermont. It may take up to a year and a half before the proposal is approved. Unlike many other attempts to extract energy from National Parks and Wildlife areas, this one has met with tentative approval from environmental groups. (read more)

Unless there is a huge problem created for the wildlife in the area, this seems like a very sensible, environmentally sound idea. A few towers in exchange for powering over 15,000 homes is a bargain.

Perhaps the author meant well, but a recent article on homeschooling just makes my blood boil. Titled “How to Homeschool Without Making Your Child an Outcast”, it contains gems such as “Sports are Important” and “Let Pop Culture Into Your Home.” Blech! It makes the presumption that all homeschooled children are freaks or will be viewed as freaks without the proper “socialization.” Now I do understand that it takes special effort to get out and make friends for homeschooled children, but that’s what homeschool support groups are for. You can read the full article here.

This has got to be the worst breastfeeding in public story I’ve read to date. A mom in Colorado was actually ticketed for breastfeeding her baby by a lake, despite making rather heroic efforts to do so discreetly. She was cited with “knowingly (exposing) one’s gentials in a public place”. The ticket was thrown out by the park manager, who said that “poor judgement was used in issuing the ticket.” No kidding.

Read the whole story here

A company called Sunlight Direct has developed a system to light your home using natural lighting. A large primary mirror concentrates the sunlight into a secondary mirror, which removes UV and infrared rays and channels the visible light into a receiver. The light is then carried inside by optical fibers. A GPS microprocessor allows the mirror to track the sun across the sky for maximum light intensity.

I give credit to my geeky husband for sending me the link on this one. He found the article and wanted to know if he could be a beta tester!

You can read the whole thing here

The costs of eating organic can be intimidating, particularly if you have a large family. However, there are ways that you can trim some of the cost. From joining a co-op to growing your own produce, this article outlines 17 ways to lower your organic food budget. (read more)

This article was perfectly timed for me. I was just thinking about this very topic this evening. I have recently joined a CSA co-op, and I’m eager for that to start up in the fall. I was thinking that if I started buying beans in bulk and based meals around beans for protein and the fresh produce we’ll be getting that perhaps I could cut our astronomical food bill by at least 10-20%.

Do you live far from the nearest Whole Foods? Is getting to the health food store a major pain? Take heart! There is a new online business that can help you out. WellnessGrocer.com offers gluten free, natural, and organic products. The prices are comparable to the prices at my local grocery store, but there is more variety than I can find there. You might want to take a look and try them out.

Wal-Mart has recently opened a new store in McKinney, Texas powered largely by alternative energy sources, such as solar and wind power. (read more)

It is with very mixed feelings that I am posting this. Almost anyone who knows me knows that I am not at all a Wal-Mart fan. But I have to give credit where credit is due. This is a really cool step for a major store chain to take. Perhaps Laura can take a run over to McKinney and report back on the new Wal-Mart. So, enjoy it while you can, Wal-Mart, this is probably the only thumbs-up you’ll ever get from me (as though they care).

Dupont is being sued in a class action lawsuit over allegations that management knew that Teflon was a danger to users. (read more)

For years, I have used non-stick cookware. I never even stopped to think that it could be a danger— I don’t know why not. So, now it’s back to my stainless steel frypan, I suppose and scraping my eggs out of the bottom. Maybe it’s not properly “seasoned.”

Dr. Colleen Murphy, an OB-Gyn in Anchorage, has had her license to practice pulled because Alaska Regional Hospital is concerned about her actions in ten different cases over an 18 month period. They claim that she is endangering patient lives by not managing labors appropriately. She claims that she is being singled out because she is a natural birth advocate, with a c-section rate of under 8%.

You can read about it here
And some updates here and here

Another instance of a mother being harassed about breastfeeding in public, this time at Six Flags Hurricane Harbor in Illinois. This woman had a blanket pinned to her swimsuit so that the baby was totally covered except for her feet, and they still gave her grief about it. In my opinion, this just reinforces the fact that people’s objections to breastfeeding in public have very little to do with concerns of modesty and stem from the fact that on some level they find it dirty and disgusting.

read more about it here

Environmental management is a growing job field. MBA candidates can choose to add an environmental emphasis to their degrees, preparing them to help companies pursue greener solutions for businesses. (read more)

So, for those of you out there who have children interested in environmental matters, they could actually pursue an MBA and do something good for the world. Quite the change from those CEOs at Enron and Worldcom and, well, you get the picture.