Effects on the fetus and newborn of maternal analgesia and anesthesia: a review

Click here for the full review, published in the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia.
Here is one paragraph of interest:
All opioids have the potential to decrease baseline FHR and reduce variability, making interpretation of fetal CTG recordings potentially problematic. It has been documented from observational studies that parenteral narcotics can be associated with neonatal respiratory depression, decreased [...]

Medical Abbreviations

As a pharmacy tech for five and a half years, I got quite familiar with certain medical abbreviations. Obviously, there are numerous ones we didn’t use much if at all in a pharmacy, and I’ve not worked in a pharmacy for nearly six years now, so this is not intended to be a comprehensive list [...]

Squatting

When I was pregnant with my first child, my childbirth instructor recommended squatting as an exercise (along with walking, pelvic rocks, etc. — start off slow and build up in either duration, frequency, or both), either as beneficial in general, beneficial in pregnancy, or to make us feel more comfortable about squatting which is a [...]

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is the best holiday — it really is. It’s not centered on gifts (so no headache or hassle trying to come up with the perfect gift for the in-laws, or making sure you don’t give them the same thing two years in a row, or getting your kids the gifts they want); it’s not [...]

Breech Birth Study

Yesterday’s post about the breech birth books brought this study from 2004 to mind. I’ve known of its existence for several months, but haven’t blogged about it yet, so far as I can remember.
I have mixed feelings about it, as the conclusion perhaps will show:
Safe vaginal breech delivery at term can be achieved with strict [...]

Breech Birth Books

Over on The True Face of Birth, Rixa has reviewed two books on breech birth. Quite interesting! Rather than repeat what she says, I’ll just link to it and highly recommend that you read them — you never know when the information may come in handy!
But one thing I noticed is that there are three [...]

You learn something new every day

My new “something” today was from a birth story I just read, in which the mom said she had learned on “some birth list or other” that if the umbilical cord is still active, the baby will startle if you touch the placenta end. Of course, that is assuming the cord is not clamped and [...]

Miscellaneous “birth junkie” info

Pregnant in America (a book)
Understanding the Dangers of Cesarean Birth (a book)
Petition for Premies (March of Dimes)
Why Breastfeeding Matters, free webinar from the Lamaze website
Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/858252376
Looking to educate families about breastfeeding and its benefits? This webinar presents key facts about breastfeeding, offering [...]

Collection of C-section videos

Most of these videos do not include footage of a C-section birth itself, but rather the aftermath some women find themselves in after an unwanted and unnecessary Cesarean. I’ve seen some of these and will watch the rest — I recognize the first one as one of my favorites: “Question CPD”, and many of the [...]

Midwives on Missions of Service

Click here to see the awesome write-up MOMS got in a San Francisco paper. They are an organization whose goal is to teach women in underdeveloped countries how to more safely attend births. Read the article to see what countries like Sierra Leone have for their typical birth. And with Thanksgiving coming up, we should [...]