Here is a great comparison between the Midwifery Model of Care and the Obstetric Model of Care which I found here. In India too the obstetric model looks at pregnancy and birth as a medical crisis fraught with risk. That is why we have such high rates of c-section (80%) and why there is so [...]
Following is a very telling excerpt from the book ” Where there is no midwife: Birth and Loss in rural India” by Sara Pinto (c) Berghahn Books…. While their kids run around us on the grass between their house and the fields Pushpadevi and her sister-in-law, women from the untouchable Pasi jati tell me about [...]
So you are pregnant and your doctor has given you a “due date”. As this date approaches you have many questions as to whether you will give birth on the due date or you will do so earlier or later. Most hospitals today do not allow mothers to go past their due date and will [...]
This blog is inspired by a conversation I had with a mom a couple of days ago. She said that she had been induced 8 times in a 24 hour period! When her labor did not pick up as expected, she was given the option of getting induced again the next day after a few [...]
Doctors in the Alappuzhua disctrict of the southern Indian state of Kerala reportedly conducted mass cesareans on April 18 and 19 in order to beat the long holiday rush on account of Easter and Good Friday. A total of 21 cesareans were performed in 2 days at the government hospital, even on women who were [...]
Recently I came across this article which was posted by Jan Tritten, Editor, Midwifery Today. Most of the links and research resources given in the article point out the harmful effects of prenatal ultrasounds, which we have known for a while. Yet, in the face of so much gathering evidence ultrasound is being prescribed increasingly [...]
Today in our Lamaze class, we were discussing about the various interventions that are now a common part of most hospital procedures when a mother is admitted in labor. So, we talked about induction and augmentation, we talked about the pros and cons of amniotomy, episiotomy and other pain relief medications in labor. One of [...]
The Times of India Hyderabad on 21/1 carried an editorial titled “Take it Easy” on a World Health Organization report on rising c-section rates in Asian countries, including India. While the WHO report mentions that in India overall, the c-section rate is 18%, in reality, if we take the urban and semi-urban population into consideration, [...]
Just yesterday, I got this email form one of my recent class participants. This mom-to-be has just finished her sessions, and in the meantime, visited her friend who has recently given birth in one of Hyderabad’s “super-specialty” hospitals. I am quoting her verbatim (with her permission) below: Dear Dr, One of my friends recently delivered [...]
The other day I chanced upon a website promoting a “5-star” birthing center. The website proclaimed that “The process of childbirth is traumatic both for mother and child”. I was stunned – is childbirth really a traumatic process? It was certainly not for me, and for hundreds of other women I know and for thousands [...]