Dr Rachel Reed
midwife • academic • writer • presenter
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For more on 'pushing' during birth see my various blog posts (link in bio) and listen to @themidwivescauldron episode on pushing and cervixes.We need to re-think 'risk management' in maternity care.In keeping with the cicada theme. I found this and it perfectly reflects my current feels. This last week as been epic. I feel like a husk 😆. Just got to find the cicada who emerged and get him to sing. First recovery 😉 #overwhelm #stress #cicada #emergenceJournal article: Women and Birth (in press) - How a perineal care bundle impacts midwifery practice in Australian maternity hospitals: a critical, reflexive, thematic analysis; authors Jyai Allen, Kirsten Small and Nigel Lee (unfortunately the article is not open access - excerpts below)This morning I was crossing the creek (crawling across rocks) and this beauty landed in front of my face and started to drown. I fished him out and we hung out until he had dried off 😍 #cicadasIf you are wondering what all the swearing is about at the end of the latest @themidwivescauldron podcast interview with @birthtimeworld... I revealed my tattoo while Zoe was explaining the significance of the cicada to the Birth Time movie.
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Recent Posts
Top Posts
- The Anterior Cervical Lip: how to ruin a perfectly good birth
- The Curse of Meconium Stained Liquor
- VBAC: making a mountain out of a molehill
- Supporting women's instinctive pushing behaviour during birth
- Shoulder Dystocia: the real story
- Amniotic Fluid Volume: too much, too little, or who knows?
- In Celebration of the OP Baby
- Big Babies: the risk of care provider fear
- Judging Birth
- Perineal Protectors?
Tag Archives: syntocinon
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
The Placenta: essential resuscitation equipment
Updated: September 2019 The common practice of premature cord clamping has been challenged in recent years due to a greater understanding of how this intervention disrupts the physiology of placental transfusion (Mercer & Skovgaard 2002). Premature cord clamping results in … Continue reading
Posted in baby, birth, intervention, midwifery practice
Tagged ARM, baby, birth, heart rate, intervention, nuchal cord, placenta, resuscitation, syntocinon, umbilical cord
115 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
168 Comments
An actively managed placental birth might be the best option for most women
The birth of the placenta is my least favourite part of the birth process. I know I have ‘issues’ and I’m working on them. Hopefully writing this blog post will be therapeutic as well as informative. I am going to … Continue reading
Posted in birth, intervention
Tagged intervention, oxytocin, pitocin, placenta, syntocinon
293 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
The Assessment of Progress
Links updated: August 2019 This article was written for AIMS Journal (2011, vol. 23, no. 2) and expands on my previous post about my New Years resolution – which by the way I have kept. AIMS have kindly allowed me … Continue reading
Posted in birth, intervention, midwifery practice, publications
Tagged ARM, augmentation, birth, contractions, labour pattern, oxytocin, pushing, syntocinon
95 Comments
The Effective Labour Contraction
One of my failings as a midwife is my inability to assess the strength and effectiveness of a uterine contraction. This presents a problem in the hospital setting as midwives are often asked ‘how strong are her contractions?’ or ‘is … Continue reading
Posted in birth, midwifery practice
Tagged contractions, heart rate, induction, labour pattern, oxytocin, pitocin, syntocinon
103 Comments
