CATHERINE BELL BIRTH CARTOGRAPHER
  • Home
    • About >
      • life BC
    • Is IBP for You?
    • Informed Decisions
    • Birth Support (doulas)
    • FAQs
    • Contact
    • information policy
  • Birth Cartography training
    • Intensive
    • Retreat
    • Birth Cartographer Online training
    • expressions of interest
  • THE BOOK
    • The Birth Map
    • ORDER TODAY
    • Event Pick up
    • Where can I buy the book?
    • Reviews and Testimonials
    • Talking about The Birth Map
    • feedback survey
  • Bellablog
  • Events
  • Stay up to Date
    • Newsletter Archive
    • StoryTime
  • Member Area
    • Read The Book
    • Support Group Discussion
    • Webinars and podcasts
    • links and recommended books
    • Resources (research articles)
    • example maps

April 2019

17/4/2019

0 Comments

 

New, relevant  and updated blog posts

 Induction: yes or no? 
I have heard some extraordinary reasons to justify induction, but this one takes the cake:
"we can't be sure of the conception date, so it would be dangerous to go past your due date"
err...then how do you know the 'due date'? and why would not knowing this make a random date passing dangerous?


​Recovering from Birth: Eve Syndrome 
​We have a huge problem in our society.
And it is not that women need time and support to ‘recover’ from birth.


Elimination Communication
Cloth or Disposable...that is the Question....or is it?

Before Consent 
A poem, and an announcement.

Autonomy in childbirth: why does it matter? 
In which I introduce the Five Stage of Being
Picture
Picture
Picture
From Fear to Celebration: The Five Stages of Being

Some important work from some fabulous women

Picture
 Elly Taylor: Becoming Us 
(informed birth AND BEYOND preparation...the beyond is critical to the story)​

Rebecca Schiller: Birth Doulas are misunderstood.  Here's what we actually do. 

Emma Svanberg: Birth Demands 
(this is touching on the answer...it goes so close...articles like these make me cheer and also cry out: Birth MAP, the process you seek is Birth MAP!)
​
Emerging Research into epigentics and the microbiome  
​features two papers by Australia's Prof Hannah Dahlen.  

Coaching a slow birth with the woman in an empowered position may be less harmful than routine hands-on practice to protect against severe tears in birth – A discussion paper


Wise Gatherings is a new initiative by my friend Hollie B.  These events are happening near me.  Coming up in May is a Mens Gathering and a five day meditative silent retreat.

Have you ever wondered why we submit to authority?

Why do we do as we are told, even if it seems ridiculous, if we perceive them to have authority?
Dr Chris and Dr Xand set up an experiment (probably based on the Milgram Experiment).
​After seeing this segment whilst my children watched the ​Operation Ouch program, I was prompted to look into this phenomenon when it comes to childbirth.
Picture
I knew, anecdotally, from my experiences as a doula and from hearing the stories of other mothers and their partners, that many people felt a loss of power when they enter a hospital.  Was this obligation? or intimidation? or cultural expectation? or was it a desire to be relieved of a responsibility that felt too great?
And more importantly - what can be done to change this narrative?

How can we ensure that women and their partners feel powerful when entering a hospital to birth?

Rhea Dempsey  refers to this as the 'trance of acquiescence'.  It is a state of being where we will hand over our power (and the responsibility) to the person who seems most in control - the one with the 'authority'.  In this state we will agree to things that afterwards, when the trance is lifted, we question ourselves.  Then try to find justification.

I feel confident that a Birth Map is the key to answering this.  The birth map aids not just the birthing woman, but her partner also.  This power comes from the advanced decision making that provides the big picture.
Informed: means you understand your choices and how one intervention might link to another.  It means you know when an intervention is warranted and when it is reasonable to continue without intervention.  It means understanding that 'consent' is flawed and being prepared to provide your informed decisions when required.
Supported: means that you have developed a team around you.  Your partner is prepared, and can advocate for you if needed and can communicate on your behalf using your map. It means enlisting a doula, particularly in the absence of continuity of carer.  
Confident:  With solid preparation, advanced decisions and support, your confidence rises.  No longer uncertain, reliant on authority - you become the authority.  You know you best, and the medical staff become part of your team.  If you are confident and self assured, the medical carer will respond accordingly.  If you are uncertain, they will take responsibility - they will take control - because that is what they are trained to do.

​If you want the power: you must take the responsibility. 
​The best way to do that is through knowledge.

Picture

In the News:

Some news articles that caught my eye this past month:
​
The Conversation: what is a doula and how do they help women giving birth? 
Meghan and Harry have employed a doula - apparently - so doulas are making headlines!

​Banning Nappies in Vanuatu
Is it possible? 

european bias in genetic studies missing diversity 
This one is particularly interesting...and of great concern.  How can we all be 'treated' the same when we differ so much?

"It felt like a violation of my rights": the issue of consent during childbirth

0 Comments

    The Newsletter

    SIGN UP HERE to have the newsletter  sent to your inbox.  The email will contain additional, subscriber only content, along with a link to the newsletter. Here you will find the archived versions of all The Newsletters, covering the topics below.  

    Explore
    ​The Newsletter 
    by Topic

    All
    Advanced Maternal Age
    Antibiotics
    A Walk And A Chat - Video
    Baby Needs
    Baby Wearing
    Belief
    Bias
    Birth Cartography 101
    Birth Choices
    Birth Classes
    Birth History
    Birth Influences
    Birthing On Country
    Birth Map
    Birth Plans
    Birth Preparation
    Birth Story
    Birth Team
    Birth Time Film
    Book Review
    Bottle Feeding
    Breastfeeding
    Breastfeeding And Alcohol
    Breastsleeping
    Breech
    Caesarean
    Care
    Child Development
    Christmas
    Climate Change
    Community
    Complementary Therapies - Research
    Consent
    Continuity Of Care
    Controlled Crying
    Cord
    Cord Blood Banking
    Cord Clamping
    Critical Thinking
    Csection
    Cyber Safety
    Death
    Default
    Development
    Dignity
    Do I Need A Doula?
    Doulas
    Dying
    Elimination Communication
    Epigenetics
    Ethics
    Evolution
    Exercise And Movement
    Fast Birth
    Father
    Fear
    Fed Is Best
    Feminism
    Feminist Mother
    Fourth Trimester
    Free Birth
    Gbs
    Gestational Diabetes
    Getting Older
    Gratitude
    Handing Down The Knowledge - Song
    Homebirth
    Hormones
    Human Rights
    Identity
    If Birth Types Were Cars
    Imposter Syndrome
    Induction
    Informed Decisions
    Interventions
    Introducing Solids
    IVF
    IV Fluids
    Jaundice
    Kegals
    Kindness
    Labels
    Lactation Cookies
    Language
    Lip And Tongue Tie
    Looking After YOU
    Marketing
    Massage
    Maternal Assisted Caesarean
    Maternal Feminism
    Matrescence
    Menstruation
    Mental Health
    Microbiome
    Modern Birth
    Monitoring
    Mothers Matter
    My Health Record
    Navigating Research
    Newborn Birth Weights
    NICU
    Nipples
    Normal Birth
    Pain
    Parenting
    Parenting History
    Pastiche
    Perinatal Anxiety And Depression
    Perineum
    Placenta
    Pocket Money
    Podcast
    Poetry
    Postnatal Depression
    Premature
    Purple Crying
    Quality Time
    Questions
    Quotes
    Reading To The Unborn
    Resources
    RISKS
    Roadside Birth
    Rockabye Baby
    Self Care
    Seven Healthy Habits
    Sex
    Sleep
    Sloth Being Born!
    Sphincter Law
    Standard Pregnancy Care
    Storytime
    Stretch And Sweep
    Summer Pregnancy
    Summertime
    Support
    Taboos
    Tea
    Technology
    Teeth
    The Golden Ticket
    The Nocebo Effect
    Therapeutic Harp
    This Is Your Birth Sneak Peek
    Tocophobia
    Toilet Training
    Twins
    Unassisted Birth
    Unconditional Love
    Universal Basic Wage
    Vbac
    Visual Birth Plan
    Waterbirth
    Weaning
    Wellbeing

Picture

​About | The Book | FAQs | Member Area  | ​Contact | Newsletter  
​ This website (including the Member Area) is free to access and free of adverts, ​thanks to contributions and sales of The Book
Picture
All links are GOLD.  External links open in a new page.  ​I endeavour to only link to safe and non-spam websites. ​ ​This website, and any provided links and reviews, ​are intended as information only.  
How you use this is up to you.
Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Photos used under Creative Commons from anyulled, Someone's Name
  • Home
    • About >
      • life BC
    • Is IBP for You?
    • Informed Decisions
    • Birth Support (doulas)
    • FAQs
    • Contact
    • information policy
  • Birth Cartography training
    • Intensive
    • Retreat
    • Birth Cartographer Online training
    • expressions of interest
  • THE BOOK
    • The Birth Map
    • ORDER TODAY
    • Event Pick up
    • Where can I buy the book?
    • Reviews and Testimonials
    • Talking about The Birth Map
    • feedback survey
  • Bellablog
  • Events
  • Stay up to Date
    • Newsletter Archive
    • StoryTime
  • Member Area
    • Read The Book
    • Support Group Discussion
    • Webinars and podcasts
    • links and recommended books
    • Resources (research articles)
    • example maps