Japan: the best place to give birth?

Japan is one of my most favourite places to travel. After this morning, I feel a little more in love with the country upon reading an article about the increase in pregnancies among 'older' women. When I first started reading, I expected that the article would turn into a rant about why 'older' women are 'high risk' and need to be managed medically more so than other women. But then I read something that caught my eye: Japan has one of the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world: 6 per 100,000 births (lower than the US, Britain, Finland and Canada).

Why is it so low?

Well, the picture is complicated. Much like other developed countries Japan has a technologised/medicalised approach to pregnancy and birth. Women who are 35 years + are seen as 'older' mothers. Birth choices for women are still circumscribed by the limitations placed upon them by health professionals in hospitals, however, not to the same extent as in other countries like the US.

Surprisingly, use of epidurals is much lower in Japanese hospitals. This is in part due to the more practical reality that there is a shortage of anesthetists. As you might know, the use of epidurals has been linked with an increased risk for caesarean section.

While most Japanese women give birth in hospitals, there is a small proportion of women who give birth in birth centres, called josan-in. These centres are set up like a traditional Japanese home and offer women care by a team of midwives. Centres offer maternity yoga, cooking classes for post-birth diet and nutrition counselling as well as a pool for water births.

What I found most interesting, however, was that this article, whilst couched in the language of 'women over 35 are high risk' blah blah blah, in fact, the piece ended up being about the importance of women over 35 being IN CONTROL of their pregnancies. As one obstetrician notes, the worst thing women can do is let a doctor be in control of their decision making. This is vastly different from what I perceive to be the perception of health professionals in other parts of the developed world. Women ('older' or not) are so often viewed as incapable of making decisions when it comes to birth that in a conservative environment like Japan, it is refreshing to see that obstetricians do not shove tests on women and whilst operating in a medicalised system, see the importance of women doing pregnancy and birth on their own terms.

Sex selection in US

A controversial article in the New York Times suggests that sex selection is happening in the US among Chinese, Indian and Korean American families. Researchers argue that they have found significant statistical evidence to show that there is most likely a preference for sex selection, IVF and sperm sorting or abortion:

"In those families, if the first child was a girl, it was more likely that a second child would be a boy, according to recent studies of census data. If the first two children were girls, it was even more likely that a third child would be male."

Now, it is dangerous and potentially racist to suggest that certain groups of people are deliberately using abortion for to have more baby boys. But, according to Columbia University economists, among American families of Chinese, Korean and Indian descent, the likelihood of having a boy increased to 1.17 to 1 if the first child was a girl. If the first two children were girls, the ratio for a third child was 1.51 to 1 — or about 50 percent greater — in favor of boys.

While sex-selection is not illegal in the US, it is surprising to find that some fertility clinics actually target Asian Americans in their advertisements. For example, The Fertility Institutes, with clinics in California and New York, which does not offer abortions, has openly advertised its services in Indian- and Chinese-language newspapers in the United States.

Maternity leave = fewer caesars and better breastfeeding

In case the Australian and US governments need another to institute paid maternity leave: two new studies have shown the health benefits of maternity leave for both mother and baby.

One of the reports found that women who started their maternity leave in the last month of their pregnancy were less likely to have caesarean deliveries, while the second found that new mothers were more likely to establish breast-feeding the longer they stayed out of work.

A report published in Women's Health Issues found women who took leave before they gave birth were almost four times less likely to have a primary caesarean section as women who worked through to delivery.

The second report published in Pediatrics found that women who took less than six weeks of maternity leave had a four-fold greater risk of failure to establish breastfeeding, while women who took six to 12 weeks of maternity leave had a two-fold greater risk of failing to establish breastfeeding.,

Source: http://tinyurl.com/89c5qk

Camilla Alves talks some sense

Finally some sensible celebrity advice:

Camilla Alves, partner of Matt McConaughey, had this to say about being pregnant and having a caesar in an interview with BabyCenter:

"It’s a hard thing to be pregnant. Your hormones are crazy. Your body is changing. It’s a major change. I really enjoyed being pregnant, but I certainly didn’t love it."

"If there’s any advice I could give to a pregnant women, it’d be to have a natural birth. With c-sections, there’s a lot of pain and recovery is not fun. You already went through the whole pregnancy, and you don’t want to sit around for six to eight weeks in recovery. I don’t understand why healthy women go in and schedule a c-section."

"Women need to give their bodies time to rest. I really recommend that a woman who has the time, take that time to rest, because you’re not getting much sleep."

Source: http://tinyurl.com/524xjj

One-to-one midwifery care in Queensland

Good things are happening in Queensland.

Anyway. Turns out preggo women in Queensland are going to get one-to-one midwifery care from conception straight through to the first few weeks of motherhood. Seeing as some women were seeing up to 16 different midwives throughout their pregnancies and beyond, Premier Anna Bligh decided enough was enough.

'This is about delivering personal, professional and local support to regional Queensland mums and mums-to-be: from the moment they conceive right through to the early weeks of motherhood,' Ms Bligh said.

'They will have access to the same midwife, or small team of midwives, for every stage of pregnancy - someone familiar to answer their questions and support them through this very emotional time'.

Source: http://news.theage.com.au/national/new-midwifery-services-plan-for-qld-20080803-3p7k.html

Jessica Alba: sappy and sweet

Jessica Alba's $1.5 million Ok! cover has just been released. Apparently, Alba had a 'natural' birth and she 'didn't scream'. She says:

"The labor was more like meditation," she says. "I did yoga breathing. I was focused."

And now, of course, she's back to working out and losing weight:

"I started working out last Thursday, but for 20 minutes. I do cardio on my own. I'm doing it slow," she says. "Now I'm starting to eat more healthy. Because after working out, having fried chicken and mashed potatoes is a little counteractive."

*Yawn*

Source: http://www.okmagazine.com/news/view/7881

Womb raider spawns two of her own

Oh, in case you're living in bunker, Angelina Jolie has given birth to twins by caesarean section. The world can continue to turn.

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/angelina-jolie-has-twins.usmagazine.com/angelina-jolie-has-twins

Oh baby!

So it seems that Angelina Jolie may not have comandeered an entire country for the birth of her twins but she has comandeered an entire hospital. I can't get over how ridiculous the media coverage of her pregnancy, the longest pregnancy in the history of humanity, has become. Even her French obstetrician is giving press conferences to say that she is doing 'alright' and that the babies are many weeks off:

"This is not an emergency situation," he added. "Her hospitalization at this stage in her pregnancy is totally normal for a patient who had a Caesarean (section) during her first pregnancy."

Pfft! Why in the world would you want to stay in a hospital for weeks? Even if they have booked out 4 rooms in the hospital, I reckon Ange is off for another caesar and it will happen any day now. Moreover, I have never heard of women who have caesars for a second checking into hospital in advance of the surgery.

In other news, Naomi Watts is pregnant again, just 10 months after giving birth to her first son, Alexander. Watts is currently 4 months pregnant.

And! Us magazine has another arresting post-baby body photo gallery..actually this one is quite good (Halle Berry, Jen Garner, Nicole Richie, Tori Spelling, J.Lo, Keri Russell, and many more)

Have a look here: http://www.usmagazine.com/stars_post_baby_bods_021208

Sources: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h2_IyFabYfllWKbrFuPHs6X2nqOQD91LUGRG0
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1031243/Naomi-Watts-pregnant-second-child--best-friend-Nicole-Kidman-prepares-labour.html
http://www.usmagazine.com/naomi-watts-is-pregnant

Caesar movie

This is mini-movie (5 minutes) about why caesars are dangerous. Watch it:

Keep your bits to yourself during birth

So Dr. Michael Odent thinks that men should be banned from the birthing suite? You know what I think of that.

Today, in the Daily Mail, some moron decided to reinforce that one's sex life will be ruined if a male partner sees you give birth:

"A woman needs to preserve some mystery.
It's the key to eroticism.
Far better to let him see you propped up in bed, babe in arms, looking radiant.
Let him think you do this kind of thing effortlessly.
And unless you want your infant to be an only child, spare him the gruesome reality."

Seriously. Seriously?! I'm so sick of this 'childbirth is grotesque' thing in the media that is perpetuated by women first and foremost. Why in the world would you want to pretend that giving birth isn't a badge of honour and something to be proud of? Having to worry about what your male partner thinks about your bits while you're in the middle of labour sounds like a good way to set yourself up for post-natal depression.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=561558&in_page_id=1879

Michael Odent says birth is women-only business

Leading obstetrician Michael Odent says he is finally able to say what he really thinks about birth: men should stay away. According to the doctor who has been delivering babies for 50 years:

"The effect of this is that, with a man present, a woman cannot be as relaxed as she needs to be during labour, and hence the process becomes longer and more difficult."

Odent says that when men are present in the birthing room, often their anxiety rubs off on the birthing women and disrupts the natural release of oxytocin (the wonder hormone that starts labour and helps with bonding). Moreover, Odent argues that men are at greater risk of negative post-natal symptoms particularly if they see their partners through a difficult birth.

Finally, and this is the part that really annoys me...Odent thinks that if a man sees his partner give birth he might be turned off by her sexually forever:

"There are many things we do in private in order to preserve a degree of modesty and mystery.
And, for the benefit of our sex lives, it may be worth adding childbirth to this list. "

This is so old school. Whilst some men I talked to in my study, for instance, were a bit freaked out by the whole process of birth, when they saw their babies being born that same fear just turned into love. The men I spoke to found their wives more attractive and felt more in love with them after birth because they felt it united them as a couple.

What do you think? Should men be kicked out of the birthing suite?

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=559913&in_page_id=1879

Cate Blanchett: new baby

All of Australia is abuzz with the news that Cate Blanchett, who only yesterday gave birth to her third son, Ignatius, is still slated to attend the 2020 Summit this weekend, just six days later.

There has been plenty of talk about Blanchett's promise to co-chair the creative Australia panel following her latest birth as being 'too soon' to be engaged in activity which I think is ridiculous.

Most women who give birth 'normally' without complication recover very quickly. There is no reason why Cate can't get on her with life like any other person. No doubt that a new baby will challenge a good night's sleep but the idea that she should lock herself because she has just given birth is preposterous! Besides women who give birth in most hospitals these days get discharged within 24 hours so there is no reason to believe that birth should be treated like an illness.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/2020-summit-still-blanchetts-baby/2008/04/14/1208025090843.html

J.Lo's $1.4 million birth

Following my own report this week that J.Lo allegedly hired a baby masseuse and colour therapist to ease her newborn twins into the world, comes a new breakdown of the costs of her actual birth.

$700,000: reserve birthing suite for three weeks (including leather couches, 2 plasmas, private kitchen, wood floors and computers)

$300,000: private obstetricians

$300,000: security

$100,000: personal assistants before birth

Motherhood literally comes at a price (a very, very big one). Just think, she probably could have had an equally positive experience if she had a midwife and gave birth at home. As more 'older' mothers with discretionary income are having babies, hospitals are cashing in on their anxieties about birth and also ostensibly, on their taste for luxury. Some New York hospitals are offering post-natal suites for $750/night including concierge services just like a hotel.

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/4424052a1860.html

Nicole and Harlow working it for People

*Yawn* Another celebrity who gives birth and talks about it.

I bet I can summarise the article:

'Motherhood is amazing. Blah Blah Blah. I'm not worried about losing weight (yeah, right). Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah'

Source: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20180683,00.html

Bring on the epidural.

"More and more women are planning on getting epidurals, and I don't blame them," said Dr. Jerry Konialian, a fertility specialist at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, who has delivered thousands of babies since 1985.

"They were not common 20 years ago, but now they are demanding it. You don't even have to suggest it. It's wonderful, and it's safe. I tell my patients who do question it, `You wouldn't have a tooth pulled with no local, so why would you want this huge baby pulled out of you with no anesthetic?"'

A discomfiting point of view at a time when having a baby is riskier than ever, despite women living in a time when technology and medical advances are at their peak. No one is disputing that birth hurts. Women should be able to choose an epidural if they want one. However, I find it really appalling that obstetricians might be encouraging women to have epidurals under the assumption that a woman's body is incapable of birthing a baby without intervention. Moreover, the assertion that women are just giving up on natural birth in favour of anesthesia is ridiculous. Birth is very complicated in a hospital and women's 'choices' are often circumscribed by the context; if a doctor says she needs to have an intervention, many women are reluctant to dispute an expert opinion. Moreover, a number of women are so scared to give birth (tokophobia) they decide during the pregnancy that they do not want to feel any pain.

As I discussed a few posts ago, epidurals can slow labour right down and are just a link in the chain of interventions that often lead women down the path to an unwanted caesar. Having an epidural is no joke. It is essentially a spinal block and there are a number of risks:

*forceps or vacuum extractor are required more often (20-75%)

*may slow labor, requiring Pitocin (synthetic oxytocin)

*increases the chances of a cesarean delivery by two or three times

I don't think any woman takes this decision very lightly.

Source: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_8319895

http://www.childbirthsolutions.com/articles/birth/epidural/index.php

Christina A opens up about being opened up

In the latest edition of Hello! Christina Aguilera talks about having an elective caesar because she was too scared to give birth vaginally. She says:

"I'd heard horror stories about tearing. I really wanted a calm and peaceful environment. I didn't want any surprises."

Uh huh. Calm and peaceful is pretty easy when you can't feel the lower half of your body and there is a big screen shielding you from the view of your own body splayed open. Sure, squeezing a big baby from a tiny opening and tearing is no walk in the park, but one wonders why the thought of having one's abdominal muscles cut in half isn't viewed as a far more horrifying prospect?

Source: http://www.hellomagazine.com/music/2008/02/15/aguilera-baby/

Image: Caesarean, 1666 http://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/sept00/delivery4.html

Christina plus baby = $1.5 million photo op

This is literally the 'money' shot. Christina Aguilera and new baby Max posing for Hello! magazine.

Hmm. Seeing as how she is trying to cultivate a more 'natural', 'motherly' look, one wonder if she has her makeup artist(s) on permanent retainer.

And where are the nannies in the shot? Of course being a mother is great when you can hire people to look after your baby for you:

"I'm enjoying him every second. I can't stop staring at him, studying him. You can't believe you created this. Me and my husband couldn't be happier."





Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=514348&in_page_id=1773

'Girlie Gowns' have landed

Argh. Just when I bagged J.Lo for having custom-made hospital gowns, some clever woman is now capitalising on the trend by producing 'Girlie' gowns for birth because, as she says, 'your delivery should be girly and not grungy'. These gowns have the exact same cut and embarassing open flaps at the back as the standard hospital gowns:

"The top half of the back is open (got to be accessible for that epidural, right?)"

Is an open flap for an epidural really a selling point? I'm not EVEN going to go there.

Nevertheless, they are charging $49(!) for a bloody piece of fabric that has polka dots and ribbon. Seriously!

If you were so concerned about wearing a hospital gown, wouldn't you choose to not wear one at all? Or to wear your own clothes? Why would you participate in such a ridiculous hospital ritual by having a friggin monogrammed gown?

Having a baby is one of the few times in a woman's life when she shouldn't have to worry about how she looks.

Birth is not an event in which women need another reason to buy a new outfit.

Source: www.girliegowns.com

J.Lo too good for paper hospital gown

It seems the more time I devote to following celebrity pregnancy, which at one time used to give me an unsettling thrill, now is just starting to make me angry. Celebrity preggos no longer appeal to me as 'real' women with the luxury of a bit of fame and fortune, but rather caricatures of 'isms': flagrant consumerism, narcissism and old school maternalism. Or maybe it's just because I have serious issues with J.Lo.

What has prompted my rant? Well, according to MSNBC J.Lo has not only had couture hospital gowns prepared for her hospital stay but has apparently elected to have a caesar for the birth of her alleged twins. I don't know what makes me more angry, the fact that J.Lo is too good for a paper hospital gown and requires a matching couture robe or that she's having an elective caesar. Why in the world would you choose to have a caesar unless it was medically necessary? Given that all of these celebrity women apparently want to have babies so badly, I find it really hard to believe that they are all so 'busy' that they simply do not have time to allow a baby (or babies, whatever the case may be) to come into the world in its own time. A caesarean does not make birth easier contrary to popular belief. It's amazing that such smart, successful women continue to believe their bodies are not capable of pushing out a baby.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22940662/

Uterus news

Word on the street has it that Angelina Jolie is looking to 'sell' her twin pregnancy story to the highest bidder. Christina Aguilera is set to make $1.5 million from Ok! for the first photos of her son and Nicole Richie is to earn $1 million for photos of Harlow.

An open letter to all of the celebrities who are pregnant or are thinking about getting pregnant anytime soon:

As part of the tabloid reading public, I am sick and tired of you farming out the contents of your uteruses to the global media for millions of dollars before your belly even starts to have a hint of swell. Sure, you say, it's all going to charity, you're doing this 'for the children', blah blah blah. Wake up and smell the new millenium. Everyone loves a good baby cover story but don't you think selling your baby's image before he/she even develops the ability to hold their head upright is just wrong?

You complain that the paparazzi are constantly following you; that you can't go out to the supermarket without having your photo taken; that you feel like a prisoner of your fame and fortune. Yet, you sell the most private moments of your 'perfect' family to every gossip-loving mag hag in the free world! Since when did motherhood become an opportunity to make a cool mill? Has the new baby cover shot become a replacement for paid maternity leave?

Let's face it. Just because you are a celebrity, doesn't mean that motherhood won't be overwhelming. Sure you have nannies and drivers and trainers to help you 'bounce' back but fame will not save you from the baby blues, or even worse postnatal depression or feeling like the person you were before baby is lost forever. Seeing you pose on the magazine covers, so sweet and 'happy' with your 'motherhood is amazing'-isms makes my teeth hurt because any mother will tell you (and you probably know this already), motherhood changes you forever and it's not an easy ride. So forget about posing and preening for the camera. Save your baby's retinas from the blinding camera flashbulbs and just be a mother out of the spotlight. Your children will thank you for it some day.

Source: http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/40274/angelina-jolie-to-sell-pregnancy-confirmation