Dr Rachel Reed
midwife • academic • writer • presenter
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Archived by the National Library of Australia and Partners
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Recent Posts
Top Posts
- Amniotic Fluid Volume: too much, too little, or who knows?
- The Anterior Cervical Lip: how to ruin a perfectly good birth
- VBAC: making a mountain out of a molehill
- The Perineal 'Bundle' and Midwifery
- In Celebration of the OP Baby
- Induction: a step by step guide
- Gestational Diabetes: beyond the label
- Judging Birth
- The Curse of Meconium Stained Liquor
- Shoulder Dystocia: the real story
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
227 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
165 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
201 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
