I was diagnosed with Peripartum Cardiomyopathy, a form of dilated cardiomyopathy defined as deterioration in heart function between the last two months of pregnancy up until five months post pregnancy.
There is an endless array of questions and judgments and ‘should’s associated with both infant sleep and feeding. But this hasn’t always been the case. It used to be a simple matter of mother breastfeeding and mother and infant sleeping together with no judgment and no questions about quality or quantity of sleep.
I remember the looks. Sitting down to dinner with my husband at around 7 months pregnant and ordering a glass of wine. No one says anything, but they take that extra second to take it all in, contemplate saying something, and then walk away. But their eyes say it all.
In this second issue of Re:Birth, there are articles on the Ultrasound (which was quite new at the time), mothering the mother, VBACs (yes, they were talking about them 20 years ago) and C-sections, support during labour, and breastfeeding policies.
Extrapolating over a ten-year period, there are approximately 7,400 infants under the age of one who died, most of whom need not have.
Starting today I will start sharing some pdfs of an old newspaper that was written and distributed in the 1980s in Ontario, Canada – Re: Birth. It was created by a group called Choices in Childbirth and the goal was to promote women’s options for their births...
One of the simplest yet most effective aspects of Evolutionary Parenting is baby wearing. I’m also pleased to say it’s one of the ones making a rather large comeback after years of a stroller monopoly.
An overview of the research on the supposed link between increased SIDS risk and co-sleeping. Warning that there doesn't seem to be much to it, but there are some real considerations that need to be taken into account.
It seems more and more in Western society, women are trying to push for ‘guilt-free parenting’ as a response to the ever popular ‘mommy guilt’ problem. There are books, blogs, and articles on the topic
My view in a nutshell: The development of the epidural was a great scientific discovery that has the power to help women who NEED it in labor. It has its place in the world of childbearing, but it has also been VASTLY overused and many of those who opt for it have no idea what it is that they’re choosing to do.
