Dr Rachel Reed
midwife • author • teacher • researcher
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If you don't know... go listen to @themidwivescauldron 😉Reposting as a reminder. The latest Australian and UK birth stats are not a symptom of a broken system. They reflect a maternity system functioning as it was set up to do.Australia's Mothers and Babies Report. It's that time of year again where Australians get further evidence of the erosion of physiological birth. The intervention rates steadily increase year by year. I've highlighted some of the low lights of the report and included data from the Core National Indicators to add some specific subset information.@drsarawickham this is the best I could get... and it didn't last long 😆 Once again there is a significant lack of cat-appreciation for your awesome work.My answer when people ask what childbirth preparation I recommend.This press release is from 2004 yet remains current today.
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Recent Posts
Top Posts
- The Anterior Cervical Lip: how to ruin a perfectly good birth
- Amniotic Fluid Volume: too much, too little, or who knows?
- The Curse of Meconium Stained Liquor
- Shoulder Dystocia: the real story
- Post-Dates Induction of Labour: balancing risks
- Big Babies: the risk of care provider fear
- Vaginal examinations: a symptom of a cervical-centric birth culture
- Gestational Diabetes: beyond the label
- Pre-labour Rupture of Membranes: impatience and risk
- Induction: a step by step guide
Tag Archives: amniotic fluid
Pre-labour Rupture of Membranes: impatience and risk
Updated: July 2019 Amniotic sac and fluid play an important role in the labour process and usually remain intact until the end of labour. However, around 10% of women will experience their waters breaking before labour begins. The standard approach to this situation is to induce labour … Continue reading
Posted in baby, birth, intervention, midwifery practice, pregnancy
Tagged amniotic fluid, amniotic sac, augmentation, baby, birth, contractions, induction, nuchal cord, oxytocin, prelabour rupture of membrances, risk, syntocinon, waterbirth
229 Comments
In Defence of the Amniotic Sac
Artificial rupture of membranes (ARM) aka ‘breaking the waters’ is a common intervention during birth. However, an ARM should not be carried out without a good understanding of how the amniotic sac and fluid function in labour. Women need to … Continue reading
Posted in birth, intervention, midwifery practice
Tagged amniotic fluid, amniotic sac, ARM, birth, caul, contractions, heart rate, induction, intervention, syntocinon, waterbirth
224 Comments
Induction: a step by step guide
Updated: August 2019 This post has been inspired by conversations I’ve had with women about their experiences of induction. Induction of labour is increasingly common, yet women often seem to be very mis-informed about what it involves, or what was … Continue reading
Posted in birth, intervention
Tagged amniotic fluid, birth, induction, information giving, intervention, oxytocin, syntocinon
169 Comments
The Curse of Meconium Stained Liquor
When meconium is noticed in amniotic fluid during labour it often initiates a cascade of intervention. A CTG machine will often be strapped onto the woman reducing her ability to move, labour in water, and increasing her chance of having … Continue reading
Posted in baby, birth, intervention, midwifery practice
Tagged amniotic fluid, baby, heart rate, intervention, meconium
202 Comments
Amniotic Fluid Volume: too much, too little, or who knows?
Updated: December 2017 This post is in response to readers asking me to cover the topic of induction for low amniotic fluid volume (AFV). Most of the content is available in textbooks, in particular Coad and Dunstall 2011 and Beall … Continue reading
Posted in birth, intervention, pregnancy
Tagged amniotic fluid, ARM, birth, induction, intervention, pregnancy, risk, syntocinon
157 Comments
