As you’re making summer plans, please note that the Madison Birth Center Summer Reunion Picnic is scheduled for Saturday August 12th in the evening. Anyone who has ever taken a class or been a birth center client is invited. It’s a great opportunity to re-connect with people you met at the birth center and meet new friends. More information will be sent in the summer. To see photos from the last picnic, click here. We hope to see you there!
» Are You a GHC Member?
Several of our clients with Group Health Cooperative (GHC) insurance have been campaigning to obtain coverage for midwifery care at Madison Birth Center. A good opportunity to have your voices heard is the upcoming Annual Membership Meeting at Madison Concourse Hotel on Thursday May 11, 2006. Reception and registration begins at 5:00 pm and the annual meeting will begin at 6:00 pm.
GHC is a consumer cooperative and takes the requests of its members very seriously, which is one of the many reasons they’d be a great “fit“ with Madison Birth Center. If you are a GHC member and would like this progressive HMO to cover birth center care, please attend the meeting and ask the Board of Directors to consider extending coverage to us. Click here for a printable talking points summary.
» Mothers Milk Depot Web Site
The Mother’s Milk Association of Wisconsin has a new website with all the details for becoming a milk donor. Donating is easy to do, and several MBC mommas are already donating. Click here to check out their website.
» CPM Legislation Signed into Law
On Monday, April 10, Governor Jim Doyle signed into law SB477, which provides licensure to Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs). CPMs obtain their midwifery credentials through study and apprenticeship and sit a national board exam to obtain certification. CPMs are experienced in out of hospital birth environments and are especially important in providing care to underserved families, including the Amish and Latino communities.
We welcome our CPM sisters into the community of licensed midwives and hope that together we can continue to grow midwifery in Wisconsin! Wisconsin continues to have about 50% fewer births attended by midwives than the national average and our whole country lags far behind the countries with the best maternity outcomes in the world. Madison Birth Center continues to advocate for health care that guarantees access to midwifery care for every woman!
» Doing Good Never Felt so Good!
Birth and Parenting Options of Madison is a non-profit group dedicated to helping low-income families gain access to midwifery care and breastfeeding services. They also provide assistance for parenting education. This group is currently looking for volunteers to help with fund-raising and administration. Those interested should send an e-mail to Iris Kurman at iriskurman@yahoo.com
» Elective Cesareans in the News
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) convened a panel last month to hear testimony about the trend toward elective cesareans. These so-called "maternal request" cesareans are performed when there is no medical reason or need for intervention.
The NIH panel findings were widely reported, often quoting the chair of the panel stating “We don’t believe [cesarean sections] should be discouraged or encouraged”. Many groups responded to this coverage with calls for more accurate reporting, including the American College of Nurse-Midwives.
What wasn’t reported was that overall the panel results strongly favored vaginal birth over cesarean birth. In fact, the main conclusion of the review was: "Without clear, compelling and well-supported justification for cesarean section or assisted vaginal birth, a spontaneous vaginal birth that minimizes use of interventions that may be injurious to mothers and babies is the safest way for women to give birth and babies to be born."
Many studies have demonstrated the risks for mothers and babies undergoing cesarean births, including:
A maternal deatah rate at least twice as high as for vaginal birth
Short term problems like infection, bleeding and surgical injury
Long-term problems like severe and long-lasting pain, chronic pelvic pain, bowel obstruction and other complications of surgery
Social and emotional harm to mothers such as less early contact with their babies, increased difficulty breastfeeding and poorer overall functioning
Harm to babies including accidental prematurity, accidental injury during surgery, respiratory problems, failure to establish breastfeeding and asthma in childhood and adulthood
Harm to women’s future reproductive capacity including infertility, ectopic (tubal) pregnancy, placenta accreta and abruption and other serious complications in this class
Harm to babies in future pregnancies, including higher miscarriage rates.
The national cesarean rate in 2004 was 29.1%, up from 27.6% in 2003 and the highest rate ever recorded. (The World Health Organization recommends a rate no higher than 15%.) Many people attribute a significant portion of this increase to “elective cesareans” – a practice that was apparently sanctioned in 2003 when the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued an opinion that it is ethical to offer a cesarean section even if no medical indication for one existed.
Madison Birth Center is proud of our very low cesarean rates, and we remain committed to helping women avoid unnecessary surgery. With a cesarean section rate of just 3.2% last year, we believe we are making a difference in Madison!
Click here for additional information and links on this topic.
» Birth Center Growth and Staff Changes
Our increased activity level has necessitated changes in the way we staff our practice and there are many new faces at Madison Birth Center. Please join us in welcoming them!
Kymm Ann Wallin, Shannon Smith and Nicole Clark are new birth and clinical assistants, and they bring an abundance of clinical expertise to our staff. Ashley Holen has also recently joined us as our medical receptionist.
Mary Hughes has begun working with us as a part-time midwife, and is working in the clinic two days a week and taking call part-time. (She replaces Hannah Copp, who is now home full-time with her children, but still helps out occasionally when another midwife needs extra time off. Thank you, Hannah!)
Finally, we are pleased to announce that Abbie Franke has been promoted to Associate Director. She has proven to be invaluable in assisting Aszani with the administrative duties of the birth center.
We are very proud of our entire team at Madison Birth Center, and we all look forward to seeing you at the August Picnic!
