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I haven’t been blogging as much lately. Every so often, I think back to when I blogged every day for over a year and I wonder, “How on earth did I do that?!?” But I’ve been doing other things, including being on the Board of Directors for MS Friends of Midwives, home-schooling my children, trying not to be on the computer as much but still being on it too much, etc. I’ve been reading as many blogs as ever, and probably even more, when you count all the links and articles and blog posts that get shared around on f/b by my birth junkie friends. And there are a lot of interesting things I’ve been reading, but either I haven’t wanted to write a full blog post about it, or I have just gotten spoiled to the ease of sharing things by clicking “share” and “OK” and then I’m done. So, I’ve taken the plunge and decided to start a fan-page on f/b for this blog. [For some reason, the theme song from "The Jeffersons" is going through my mind -- "I'm moving on up!" ] I’ve already got the blog linked so that whenever I post something here, it will appear as a note there; but I will probably be posting a lot more links and things there that I found interesting, but thought my “normal” (as opposed to “those interested in birth”)  friends would think were over the top. Now I feel like I have more freedom to share links that I liked, without worrying about what others will think when I post articles on things like placentaphagy and stuff. So, if you subscribe to my blog and/or like it, you can “like” me on facebook to get even more.

Should We Care How Beyoncé Gave Birth?

Update: after posting this, Beyoncé released a statement saying that she had a “natural” birth.

Right now, the blogosphere, facebook, and apparently the entire internet, are all on fire about how Beyoncé gave birth to her baby. Does it matter? Should we care? My answer is, yes… and no.

Celebrity is a two-edged sword. The same people that want tons of attention when it comes time to sell an album, star in a movie, or play a game, can’t just suddenly plead the interests of privacy, and desire inattention, when it comes to their personal lives. That sort of sucks, but there you are. I wouldn’t want to be stalked by paparazzi, either, and have every bad photo of me and my cellulite plastered over every tabloid, but for the most part, that is unfortunately the price to pay for celebrity. We can argue over whether it should or shouldn’t be, but the reality is, for the moment, that is what is.

I remember a reply by John Lennon, in an interview in which he and the rest of the Beatles were asked if they would like to be able to walk down the street without anyone recognizing them or without anyone causing an uproar; his response demonstrates that he understood the reality that he couldn’t have it both ways; he said: “We used to do that all the time, without any money in our pockets. Why would we want to go back to that?”

Beyoncé, and certainly every other celebrity, justly or unjustly are put under the microscope, and fortunately or unfortunately thousands of people will follow the example of one famous person. In that aspect, those of us who care about issues of birth and pregnancy, and especially those of us who support and promote vaginal birth, unmedicated birth, and/or home birth — “natural child birth” folks — are frequently (and rightly, I believe) dismayed at the high rate of C-sections, and what we perceive as almost the promotion of it in celebrity births.

So, thinking about how that many people (particularly today’s generation of teenage and young girls) may look up to Beyoncé, and possibly may be influenced by reports of her C-section, to plan on having their babies by C-section, it is possible that every celebrity C-section today may result in an increased percentage of C-sections in the future, and therefore, it does matter, and we should care about how others, particularly celebrities, give birth, because of that influence; and while Beyoncé’s C-section may have been the best choice for her (either for medical benefit/necessity or personal preference), and she may have no negative repercussions from it, almost everybody who takes an interest in birth realizes that C-sections as individual choices may be better, but C-sections as an aggregate tend to have worse outcomes for both mother and baby, particularly repeat pregnancies and C-sections.

Unfortunately, births don’t happen in aggregate — they happen to individuals. So, in dissecting birth as a whole, we end up trampling on individual births. This is one reason it’s so difficult to talk about many birth topics, such as C-section vs. vaginal birth, because no matter what you say, there will always be at least one person who said, “I did that, and it turned out horrible!” or “I did that, and it was the best decision I ever made!” Many women report that their C-sections were horrible, with nightmarish recoveries; and many other women report that their C-sections were a breeze; and some women who have had both C-section and vaginal births will say diametrically opposite things — that some found their C-sections to be easier recoveries, and others that their vaginal births were easier to recover from. Unfortunately, there is no 100% certainty in any decision made, no matter what, so women just have to choose what they believe to be best for them (and I hope that they will be given accurate information, and not pressured or coerced in any way).

I don’t know why Beyoncé made the choice she did, though there may have been some medical reason (I haven’t read any of the reports because, quite frankly, I don’t care; I’m not “into” pop culture, and she’s basically just a name to me, though I *think* she was in the Pink Panther movie with Steve Martin some years ago, and I did watch that). I did read this and this commentary on the blowback she has received, which, along with a few headlines, is the sum total of what I’ve read, and several people threw out in her defense that there may have been unreported medical reasons, such as pre-eclampsia or breech baby. I must admit that when I saw that she had had the baby already, I was a tad worried that the baby might be early [it seems just a month or two ago, I saw some headline about her being pregnant, so I thought at first it might be **really** early], and if she had an elective induction/section at or before 37 weeks, I was concerned on her baby’s account, because I know in aggregate, these early births are worse for the baby, though in particular, it may not be horrible for any individual baby. Also, someone suggested that they intentionally gave the wrong due date, to avoid increased press scrutiny at the time of the correct due date, and the baby may have been 40 weeks, or possibly even over 42 weeks, instead of the reported 37 weeks.

Whatever. I don’t care. I really don’t.

I don’t care why she chose it, whether there was a true medical need, too posh to push, desire for being able to schedule the birth, the belief that it was safer, the desire for privacy, or whatever her reason(s) were. [Although I must admit, that if there was a real medical reason, I hope it will be told, because I think the last thing our society needs is another high-profile celebrity having a medically unnecessary C-section, and making it look like it's the smarter, better, easier choice.] For Beyoncé as a person, it makes no difference; for her as a celebrity with influence, it does make a difference to the thousands she may influence.

Her desire for privacy could be the sole reason for choosing a C-section, and I would understand that. I’m not a celebrity, so I can’t pretend to have the same knowledge base or experiences a celebrity has, but I have a pretty good imagination, coupled with sufficient knowledge of the paparazzi and how they work. What wouldn’t one of these people do, to get a picture of Beyoncé in labor, giving birth, having a C-section, holding her baby, or anything else related to this time? It would be pretty hard to impersonate a labor nurse or otherwise infiltrate the L&D floor, but it could be done, by someone with the knowledge and desire to do it. However, it could be easier to pay off an employee to break regulations and get such a picture. Also, put yourself into a celebrity’s place, and imagine trying to relax through the contractions, or push your baby out, with the fear that somebody somewhere had planted a hidden camera and/or microphone, and would be selling it for thousands upon thousands of dollars to some tabloid magazine somewhere. Yeah, that would make renting out a hospital floor and scheduling a C-section more appealing to me, too.

I also don’t have a problem with her renting out the entire floor — it’s her money, she can spend it as she wishes. I’d spend it differently, but that’s me; this is her choice — she can do with it whatever she wants, as long as it isn’t harming anybody else and is not illegal.

Ah, but there’s the rub, isn’t it? Her choice to take over the hospital floor *did* harm others — apparently there were many stories from parents who were not allowed to visit their babies in the NICU, because of this. She went to such lengths to choose what she felt was best for herself and her baby, but in so doing, the rights of other parents to even see their fragile newborns (most of them probably preemies, many of them with serious, even potentially lethal, conditions) was trampled on. It is my hope that she didn’t know what was happening, and when she chose to rent the entire floor so that she could have privacy, that she did not intend for other parents to be separated from their precious babies.

One of the articles I linked to above was sarcastically “Beyoncé Must Be a Terrible Mother” [it was a collection of various comments from people on facebook, reacting to the news that she had had a C-section, though no reason was stated, and that she had rented out an entire hospital floor to do so], and I agree with the blogger’s point of view — that having a C-section, even a medically unnecessary one, does not make one a bad mother. However, I would say, that keeping parents from their children does make you at best an unthoughtful human. I don’t say that’s Beyoncé’s fault; I think that was the hospital’s fault, plain and simple. Even if Beyoncé knew that many parents would be separated from their NICU babies and didn’t care (which would be pretty heartless, if true), it is still the hospital’s ultimate responsibility, so I lay most if not all of the blame at their feet, because the hospital folks should have known what the result would be, and they chose to put money and fame (having Beyoncé pick *them* to have her baby in), over principles, and also over the benefit of the many parents, who likewise entrusted their births and their babies to this hospital, and deserved more consideration.

Press Conference in Jackson, MS, on Monday!

Read all about it here — it’s the final countdown! The bill will die in committee, if it’s not acted on by Tuesday.

Mississippi Pushes to Legalize CPMs

Current MS law states that [paraphrase], “any woman whose sole occupation and source of income is catching babies is considered a midwife, and is not practicing medicine.” There is really no regulation at all, so I suppose the title of this post is a little misleading, because CPMs aren’t currently illegal. However, they are legal only by judicial interpretation, and I don’t know that there is anything to prevent the next judge in line to make an opposing interpretation, and say that all midwives are practicing medicine, and doing so without a license.

Last year, there was an effort made to make all non-nurse midwives illegal in the state of Mississippi. From what I understand, what happened was that there was one or more bad outcomes when midwives (or a midwife) from another state had come to Mississippi to practice, after she/they had lost licensure in their home state.  One or more nurses and/or doctors involved in the case were appalled, and got a bill passed through the House before any home-birth supporter found out about it, but we fortunately rallied against it, “raised a ruckus” about it, and got it killed in the Senate.

Then we got organized.

I became one of several board members of Mississippi Friends of Midwives, and we started working with midwives to get legislation passed to legally define midwives in Mississippi, and to have that definition be the CPM. There are several reasons for that, including, as I said above, that we’re possibly one judicial interpretation away from midwifery being defined as a practice of medicine, and midwives being then guilty of practicing medicine without a license. Also, for consumers, knowing that their midwife has been certified means that she has demonstrated her skills and ability as a midwife, so the consumer doesn’t have to just take her word for it. [This may be easy if the mom has 9 months or more to prepare for it, but what if she were recently moved to the state, or decided midway through her pregnancy that she didn't want to give birth at her nearest hospital because they had a lot of rules and regulations she didn't want to fight - such as requiring her to stay in bed, have an IV, get Pitocin, baby immediately to the nursery for hours, etc.] Also, no state that has passed CPM legislation has gone back and made CPMs illegal, so we view this as a protection of the CPM and of non-nurse midwifery as well as of midwife-attended home birth. Some states, such as Illinois and Alabama have made it illegal for CPMs and indeed all non-nurse midwives to attend births, and last year, Mississippi was just a few days away from joining their ranks. Since CNMs in Mississippi do not (perhaps legally cannot) attend home births, that would have made midwife-attended home-birth illegal. Since there are only a handful of CNMs in Mississippi, and none in the northern half or more of the state, that would have kept most of the state’s women from having a midwife attend them in labor.

Currently, we have legislation introduced into the House, HB 207, which was approved by the committee yesterday (Jan. 26). We’re not sure when it will come to the floor for a full vote, but based on the legislative calendar, it appears that the deadline for passage is Valentine’s Day, so it may be brought up as early as next week.

We’ve worked hard up to this point, with building support among midwifery advocates and home-birth supporters, and now it’s time to keep working hard, and to get others to work with us. Now is the time when the legislators need to hear from their constituents and from midwifery advocates and supporters. You don’t have to plan on giving birth at home in Mississippi (or anywhere else); you don’t even have to want to give birth at home; you just have to support the right of other women to have midwives legally attend them if they choose to give birth at home.

Last year when we killed the anti-midwifery bill, the state Capitol logged about 5000 phone calls on the issue. Is that a lot, or not very much? Perhaps in some states, that’s not too much, but it was “unprecedented” to the legislators, and perhaps set a record. Every phone call counts. Every email counts. Personal visits are most important. MS Friends of Midwives is working to coordinate visits and phone calls, primarily to make sure that every Representative is contacted in person, and also to make sure we know where the Representatives stand on this issue, and to provide education about what this bill does, what midwives do, etc. If they have any questions or problems with the bill, we want to be able to answer those questions. [So if you support us, please at least join us on facebook so we can better coordinate our efforts!]

Because the legislation was heavily modified and made much more simple in committee (much to our liking! thank you Omeria Scott!!) it is being considered as a “Committee Substitute,” which requires a 3/5 majority to pass, instead of just a simple majority. Now, more than ever, every vote counts. Last year, the anti-midwifery bill passed the House by a large margin; however, I don’t think that the legislators are against midwives. Many of our representatives and senators are older, and they and all their siblings were born at home, so don’t have a problem with it; plus, when many legislators were contacted about their voting for last year’s bill, they were confused by their constituents’ irritation at voting for the bill, because they thought they were voting for midwives and for keeping midwifery legal. They didn’t realize last year that their vote would have made midwife-attended home births illegal in the state of Mississippi.

The very good thing about Mississippi, is that we are a rural state, and apparently the legislators still realize that they were elected to represent their constituents, so finding out that one of their constituents supports a bill is worth a lot to them. In fact, in a recent meeting  with one of the legislators, when asked why the legislator voted for the anti-midwifery bill last year, the legislator said that s/he was contacted by a constituent asking him/her to vote for it. One person. Never underestimate the power of one!

What can you do to support our efforts and this bill? Many things!

• If you are in Mississippi, you can call and email your Representative [full list here; find out who is your Rep here], telling him or her that you are a constituent, and that you support HB 207 [and if you're not in Mississippi, or you are contacting other Representatives, you can leave off the "constituent" part ].
• If you know anybody in Mississippi, you can pass the word along to them so that they can call and email (and if possible, visit!) their legislators, asking them to support this bill. If you hear back from any of the Representatives, please pass the information along to our organization [our email is info at msfriendsofmidwives dot com], so that we can keep up with who has been contacted and how everybody is voting.
• Also, donations would be greatly appreciated (even just a few dollars will help)! Mississippi is not a very populous state but it is a geographically big one, and it takes most of us on the Board a minimum of 3 hours (all highway time!) to drive to the state capital; it’s over 200 miles for me , and takes me close to 4 hours to get there, and 4 hours to get back home. As you may realize, it takes a lot of gas to drive 400+ miles, which costs money. We on the Board are just moms, and in addition to doing all this on a completely volunteer basis, spending quite a bit of time on this, all of us have given above and beyond that, including paying for things out of our own pockets when it was necessary. It would be nice to have some of the cost of gas or a hotel room offset by your generous donation. Really, no donation is too small!
• Please join our newsletter! This is the single best way to get the information you need to know about this bill. While we update our facebook page often, you know how it is when you have several hundred friends plus probably another several hundred other groups and pages you like — it’s easy to overlook an update on your news feed. But the newsletter is sent to your email address, so will be there until and unless you delete it after you’ve read it. [And of course, your information will never be given or sold to anybody -- this is strictly from us to you; and we only ask for your address (which is optional) so that we know who your elected representatives are, so we can urge you to contact them as a constituent, if necessary.]
• You can also become a paid member on our Big Tent group (memberships start at only $15), follow us on Twitter, read our blog, and watch us on YouTube.
• Finally, you can blog about it, share this post or other information on facebook and Twitter, and invite your friends to join our facebook group — all that social networking stuff we’re all so addicted to these days.

A few years ago, Wisconsin was the first state to pass the CPM legislation on the first attempt. We hope to be the second. Thank you all so much for your support!

~*~

Updated to add: Here is a link to a spreadsheet with all the Representatives’ office email addresses and phone numbers.

Northeast Mississippi Birthing Project

As a local group of Birthing Project USA, the Northeast Missisippi Birthing Project [blog] has as its goal improving maternal outcomes and reducing infant mortality. By providing at-risk pregnant women with a sister-friend to help them during pregnancy, mothers and babies have better outcomes. ["At-risk" includes teen moms, single moms, moms without insurance, etc., not necessarily a medical risk.] Our primary goal is the reduction of infant mortality. For more information, click the links I’ve already given, because the work is really wonderful and the results have been astounding. If you’ve been looking for something concrete to do to help pregnant women, this is something you really should look into. There are branches all over the United States, so you may be able to find out already started; or you may be able to start one in your area. For a brief overview of what we do, please watch the video below [btw, I made it, so of course I like it! ] –

MS Friends of Midwives on the radio

We were able to get a phone-in interview on a state-wide MS talk show, the Paul Gallo Show, on the SuperTalk MS network, with Board Member Bianca Wooden, and Mississippi Midwives Alliance member Renata Hillman, talking about midwives, midwifery, home-birth, and the bill that we hope will be introduced in the upcoming legislative session that will legally recognize the Certified Professional Midwife credential in Mississippi.

I will try to embed the player below (but I think it will only work on WordPress.org stuff, so if it doesn’t, you can click this link and play it externally):

Falsifying Evolution

What would be a way that evolution could be falsified?

Updated to add…

This is a post that I started to avoid derailing a comment thread on a birth blog. For usage of the term “falsify” as I’m using it, see the Wikipedia definition, for the full description; here it is in part:

Falsifiability or refutability is the logical possibility that an assertion could be shown false by a particular observation or physical experiment. That something is “falsifiable” does not mean it is false; rather, it means that if the statement were false, then its falsehood could be demonstrated.

So, can evolution be shown false by a particular observation or physical experiment? Is it falsifiable?

On the Science & Sensibility post about epidurals and micro-trauma, Dr. Amy said that Amy Romano was dangerously close to “pseudo-science” in her analysis, by (in her view) refusing to allow that epidurals had some benefit. She said, “A key characteristic of science, as opposed to pseudoscience, is that all possible outcomes are allowed. That’s why “intelligent design” is not science; there is no evidence that would lead it’s advocates to announce that there is no “intelligent designer.” The conclusion is predetermined.”

I countered that the conclusion of evolutionists, that evolution is a fact, is predetermined, and that there is no evidence that would lead its advocates to announce that there is no such thing as evolution. [Evolution, here defined not merely as "change," which anybody with one eye and half a brain can see occurring; but as the term is commonly used to mean the spontaneous generation of life from non-life (at some point in the past), and then that early life giving rise to all other life over the course of millions if not billions of years, so that humans are descendants of ape-like ancestors, and that chickens are descendants of dinosaurs (I think that's the current theory in vogue, anyway), and that we're all descendants of that same one-celled life that just happened to appear way back billions of years ago.]

While Dr. Amy not surprisingly ignored my comments (indeed, I did not expect anyone to take it up; I just wanted to get my point out there), Dr. Nicholas Fogelson did, not quite understanding what I said, saying in part, “…there is really no question that the variation of species on this earth is due to evolution. From phylogeny to DNA evidence to fossil record, everything is absolutely consistent with evolution of species over the millions of years that life has existed on this planet.”

I responded that evolution is not falsifiable, and then opened up this post should anyone wish to take me up on it.

Someone named “Aly” responded,

Here’s a quick primer on the falsifiability of evolution, Kathy: http://atheism.wikia.com/wiki/Disproving_Evolution

But that’s a joke. Here is how it says that evolution could be falsified:

Evolution is based on three principles: variation, heritability and selection; if any of these were shown to be flawed then the theory would be untenable. Consequently any of the following would destroy the theory:

• If it could be proven that mutations did not occur.

• If it could be proven that although mutations did occur they were not passed down through the generations.

• If it could be shown that selection or environmental pressure did not favor the reproductive success of better adapted individuals.

What makes it a joke is that while these things are necessary for evolution to be how everything came about solely by blind chance and natural laws (i.e., no creator nor intelligent designer, no force or being outside our world or universe creating or causing things to come into existence), the existence of these things does not prove that evolution is valid. Mutations do occur, they are passed down to succeeding generations, and natural selection does favor the reproductive success of better adapted individuals. But the man who came up with the idea of “natural selection” predated Darwin, and was a creationist! As was the “father of genetics” Gregor Mendel. In fact, his theories were not accepted for a long time, because it overthrew so much of what Darwin believed. [At the time of Darwin, it was widely believed that characteristics were passed on based on their use or disuse -- so that if a bird didn't use its wings very much, the bird's offspring would have smaller, less useful wings. This was the "engine" of evolution prior to the acceptance of Mendelian genetics -- organisms would swim in the ocean, but eventually come onto the land, and those that used their flippers for moving about on the land would pass on stronger land-motion limbs, so that their offspring would be better land-movers than water-movers, and by this means fish would turn into reptiles and land-dwelling mammals would turn into water-dwelling mammals; but Mendel's work disproved that theory.] Finally, there was so much weight of evidence that Mendel was right, that evolutionists couldn’t deny it any longer… and then they co-opted genetics as the vehicle for changing not just moths into moths and dogs into dogs (change we see, due to the built-in variety of genetics), but changing microbes into microbiologists (over billions of years).

There are none so blind as those who will not see

Recently, I read an online article that I can’t find any more, but haven’t been able to get off my mind. It was written by a man who chose to have himself circumcised as an adult. His father was intact, and left the man intact, but apparently he had some problems with his foreskin tearing painfully sometimes during sex, so chose to have it all removed, and is now a proponent of circumcision.

Among the benefits he saw, was that he could now have oral sex performed on him, since before then, the sensations were just way too intense, and did not register as pleasure. So, he proves that removing the foreskin reduces sexual feeling. No surprise there.

In the article, he says that he cannot think of a reason why not to circumcise any sons he may have. But — and this is where the title of my post comes from — in the article he wrote, he gives ample reason why he should leave his sons intact, if he could but view it this way. When he told his father that he was going to have himself cut, his father was incredulous, and just sort of shook his head in amazement and disbelief that his son would do that. What? You mean that his father may have actually liked being intact, and may have liked having a foreskin, and may not have had any pain or discomfort from being whole? Okay, so the son didn’t — I’ll accept that as true; but does it necessarily follow that his future sons would wish to cut like their father, rather than uncut like their grandfather? The man writing the article was glad to be circumcised; fine. But that was a choice he made for himself. Can’t he let his own sons make that choice themselves, rather than forcing it on them as infants? What if his sons grow up and are mad that they are cut? — there are plenty of men who were circumcised as infants who are sad or angry about it, or are at least curious as to what it might have been like to be intact. There are also men who were talked into being circumcised as adults who now regret their decision.

One thing is certain, once it’s done, you can’t undo it. [Well, there are those who attempt surgery or stretching to re-approximate their foreskins, but that takes time, and it's still not the same as being uncut.]

So, open letter to this man who chose to have himself circumcised, and is now planning on making that choice for his sons: Remember your father’s dumbfounded reaction, think of how he shook his head in disbelief, when he found out that you wanted to remove part of your penis. Realize that he never regretted having his foreskin, and can only wonder why on earth you would want to remove yours. And realize that just as you are different from your father, and are glad to be circumcised, even so your sons may be different from you, and be glad to be intact.

I laughed until I cried!

A Man’s Guide to HomeBirth on Dr. Momma [Update: it was removed from Dr. Momma, but here it is in full.]

This is hilarious! Simply hilarious. I’ll give you a taste, but you must read the whole thing:

These are the items that men need to assist in a homebirth (not in order of use by the way): a black-light, princess wand (any type of wand toy will do,) fun-house mirror, catchers mitt/fishing net/soccer gloves, pocket watch, thesaurus, gum, woman who has witnessed a live birth, six pack of beer (or favorite alcohol), shovel, bucket, 1 dozen eggs, shredded mozzarella cheese, shower shoes, swimming shorts, push-up/pull-up bars or a wheelbarrow, old table covers (plastic holiday ones are best,) 1 big steak (or other red meat,) and 1 big cliche. Most of these items are for preparing for the birth, while a few are for the actual birthing….

So when I came down the stairs and was informed that she was in labor at 9am-ish, I felt ready this time since I just slept for 10 friggin hours. Alas, after hanging around downstairs for about ten minutes, my eyes rolled into the back of my head and I went and took a nap. On a side note, this is where the doula’s biggest strength lies – they are highly trained to withstand the Hypno-Fog. It was after that nap during the Hypno-Fog stage that I discovered that women who are about to go into labor cast this area-of-effect spell that can drop a man to the floor in a matter of minutes….

Pregnancy, Prematurity and Pumping

First up — I was invited to do a guest post on the “Breastfeeding with Comfort and Joy” blog on my experience with pumping breastmilk for someone else’s baby. The post was inspired by this video, entitled “Prescription Milk,” which focuses primarily on the importance of babies — particularly premature babies — getting human milk for their nutrition.

It was so touching that the mother featured in the trailer chose to celebrate and memorialize her daughter’s brief life, by continuing to pump milk even after her own baby died, so that other babies might live.

My personal experience was that I had over-supply issues, so being able to pump extra was a blessing, instead of having to try to minimize my production. Some mothers may not be able to pump enough milk to feed their babies, but there isn’t enough donated milk to supply all the babies who need it. If you are currently pregnant or breastfeeding, or know someone who is, please look into becoming a milk donor through the Human Milk Banking Association of North America, your local hospital, some other organization, or (like I did) just giving a friend bottles or bags of milk. You have to be screened to make sure you aren’t carrying any diseases that may be transmissible through breastmilk, so get started on the process as soon as you can.

Pregnancy is the perfect time to start preparing yourself for breastfeeding. The best way to do that is to talk to women who have successfully breastfed, and watch women breastfeed. I emphasize, “successfully breastfed,” because so many women tell horror stories of how awful breastfeeding was, and how they ended up with sore, cracked, even bleeding nipples, or how they “tried to breastfeed, but I never could make enough milk,” or some other unsuccessful breastfeeding experience. You wouldn’t ask a poor man how to become a millionaire; you wouldn’t ask a teenager for tips on a successful marriage; and you definitely wouldn’t ask me for tips on how to run fast or throw a baseball. You would instead seek out someone who had been successful in whatever it is you were wanting to succeed. Likewise, don’t ask someone who had a horrible time breastfeeding for breastfeeding tips (even if the lactation person she saw at the hospital said she was doing everything right, or she is otherwise sure she did what she was supposed to do). Or if you do, don’t be surprised if you, too, have a horrible time breastfeeding! Instead, seek out those who had an easy time, who were successful, who had no pain, who nursed as long as they wanted to (and/or longer than they expected). If you don’t know anyone that fits that description, or feel awkward asking to watch them as they nurse their babies, don’t despair! There is a book filled with beautiful and intimate breastfeeding images, along with clear and simple text, to help you see what a good latch really looks like and how to achieve that.

Get the book now, while you’re still pregnant, read the text, study the pictures, take it with you to the hospital (or just keep it at your bed-side table if you’re having a home birth), and start breastfeeding off not just correctly but confidently. As World Breastfeeding Week draws to a close, let’s not just celebrate breastfeeding, but help support women as they breastfeed, and remove hindrances that would keep them from success.

~*~

Update — I just noticed that WP has added a “like” feature to posts — that’s cool!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koq1HxsuXtU&playnext=1&videos=68fvVhLxQeY