Wisdom and Births

The percent of births delivered via cesarean section at the hospital you are considering having your baby is SO important. Not only can it inform you of your chances in having a vaginal birth at that location, but also because it demonstrates the quality of care that particular hospital is providing to birthing women.  What is an ideal cesarean section rate? There isn't a precise percent, but the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a rate of 5-10% with data indicating that rates above 15% do more harm than good ( childbirthconnection.org ). Cesarean sections are MAJOR surgeries and are not without risk; especially repeat c-sections. Risks of cesarean surgery include things such as infection, hemorrhage, reaction to anesthesia and more. Repeat cesareans further increase the risks to the mother and child, such as greater risk of hemorrhage in the mother and damage to internal organs due to scar tissue adhesion - looking into a provider that supports VBAC is an important...

This post is totally unrelated to birth, but since this is my blog I wanted to share how Wisdom and Birth celebrates a wedding, beach style!!!! As many of you may know, my name is Randi and I am the blogger at Wisdom and Birth. I have recently married my dearest friend and partner Chase and wanted to share our incredible union and wedding ideas with you! Follow along for our wedding story!   The Beginning... Groom's cake - a tribute to the Huskies that brought us together It all began at a dog park in Tampa, Florida. I met Chase one week after a 35 hour road-trip across the country (Denver to Tampa) to begin graduate school at USF. I was surprised to see another Husky at the dog park and quickly became friends with his owner ;) Our first date was soon after ~ we had a few drinks at The Independent as 'friends'... and the rest is history!  Over looking Lake Dillon, CO Our Engagement... I took Chase home to Denver, Colorado in August of 2013 to meet the rest of the family. Ch...

It may startle a few of you to hear that some women CHOOSE to give birth alone. But truly, this is only startling to our 21st century medicalized birth culture. Giving birth at home was the 'norm' less than a century ago. And giving birth ALONE was the 'norm' for most of our human history. But, enough on that for now... here I'd like to introduce you to a few of the reasons women decide to give birth unassisted by any 'professional' provider - and how some of these reasons reflect a system that isn't supportive of birthing women. Choosing freebirth, or unassisted childbirth (UC), for reasons such as cost and inability to find or afford midwife reflect a situation in which the 'care system' is failing many women, babies, and families. Every woman deserves access to a provider of her choice at a cost she can afford. Period. Other reasons such as anger, resentment, and fear of the medical birth model again reflect our system's failings to provi...

Your heart emits waves of energy that others around you are able to 'sense' through their intelligent heart... We can communicate with our hearts! Your heart has thousands of sensory neurons, 40,000 actually , which send more information to the brain than the brain sends to the heart, says the Institute of Heartmath. They even say that this energy field, emitting from your heart, can be measured several feet from your body and can operate independently of your (cranial) brain... With a complex set of its own neurons, neurotransmitters, proteins and support cells... your heart is capable of acting as it's own information processing center. Your heart is a brain ! Your heart brain processes emotional information - the sensory neurons in the heart sense the emotional state of another being by picking up on the heart waves, the electrical wave output, created by the hearts of others. Negative emotions emit erratic, chaotic and disorganized heart waves ~ positive emotions e...

More and more mothers are recognizing the benefits of having a doula with them for their birth, you should too! What a birth doula does... A doula is a labor support companion trained in natural childbirth. A doula will help with physical and emotional comfort measures and can provide informational support as well. A doula does not make choices for you, regarding your birth, but will support you in the choices you feel are best for you, your baby, and your family! You can have a doula for ANY type of birth! A home birth, birth center, or hospital birth... even for a planned cesarean!  Here is my poetic take on what a doula does :) Doulas decrease the rates of various obstetrical interventions and improve a mother's satisfaction with her birth experience. With a doula as a member of your labor support team, you are: 28% less likely to have a cesarean section 31% less likely to use synthetic oxytocin to speed up labor 9% less likely to use any pain medication 34% less like to rate t...