Best of the Birth Blogs – Week Ending February 7th

Your weekly one-stop for highlights from the birth blogosphere. Visit weekly for the latest on childbirth, especially related to cesarean prevention, recovery, and VBAC. To nominate a blog post to be featured here, email me at blog@ican-online.org

The blogosphere was full of reactions this week to the Today Show’s “Live in the OR” segment showing an elective cesarean in progress. ICAN posted our own response, of course. If you missed the segment and don’t want to watch the video, Jill at the Unnecessarian posted the transcript. Amy Romano at Science and Sensibility commented on the blog belonging to  the CEO of the hospital that performed the cesarean (which incidentally has a 42% cesarean rate). The Feminist Breeder also wrote about her traumatic feelings evoked by the segment in light of her plans to conceive and pursue VBAC#2. Click here for detailed information about how to let NBC know your reactions to their misleading coverage of cesarean.

Speaking of misinformation, Birthing Beautiful Ideas’ post VBAC=Very Bad At Communication? discusses and refutes misleading (or outright untrue) information women are often given about VBAC.

Rixa at Stand and Deliver shares several birth stories related to necessary vs. unnecessary interventions and what factors make them so. Her conclusion is that women feel best about interventions when women are in control and free to choose or refuse them during labor.

In the event that you feel constrained to choose a provider, birthplace, or childbirth educator that you don’t want due to financial constraints, Desiree at Preparing for Birth shares these tips on getting the money needed to have the birth you want.