Laureen and I are delighted to announce that we have inspired Gloria Lemay to start a blog! Check it out at http://www.glorialemay.com/blog. 

WHERE IS YOUR BLOG?

We are in the process of setting up a new discussion forum and blogging network in preparation for some blog carnivals. Let’s get all the health and environmental topics we care so much about higher and higher on the search engines through a new spirit of cooperation and collaboration!

Conscious Woman Online: Create Your Blog
The women who are giving birth nowadays are digital natives; they have grown up with the internet and the internet is their main source of information. Put your books aside for an hour, and join us in learning how to tap effectively into this population. Do you really want women to learn about childbirth from Christina Aguillera’s or Dr. Amy’s blogs? We believe that yours would be a far better resource! Let Conscious Woman help you get yours on the net! Learn from the Master of it all, Laureen Hudson.

ONLY TWO MORE SESSIONS REMAINING!

Friday, September 19 at 12:00 p.m. Pacific / 3:00 p.m. Eastern (hey, that’s tomorrow!). Click here to register for this session.

Monday, September 22, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific / 12:00 p.m. Eastern. Click here to register for this session.

Program Length: 1 hour

Cost: $35

Don’t miss out - space is limited to 48 attendees per session, to allow for maximum interaction with Laureen and with the other attendees. In order to maintain the quality of our highly interactive sessions, we use a teleconference format (you need a telephone); there is no VoIP through your speakers - we want you to participate!

Monday, August 11, is my younger daughter Sofie’s 4th birthday. Most of my education regarding childbirth and health in general took place while she was in utero, and her VBAC birth was the beginning of my true healing journey. Sofie marked the beginning of my consciousness and the wisdom I have gained (I named her for it). She is a beautiful, affectionate, and fiesty little redhead whose self-confidence and love for others knows no bounds. 

We’re doing plenty of celebrating around here.  We have had a stream of visitors coming in and out all summer, and Sofie’s birthday party took place last weekend with a children’s yoga class and waterplay. That was a bit wild, since Sofie invited more boys than girls to the party.  

At this point in their lives, my daughters know my work only as something that keeps their mommy from giving them all of her attention; since there is little I can do about my time at the screen, I feel compelled to give something in honor of their special days.  As I did on my older daughter Amelia’s birthday, I’m offering discounts for Sofie’s as well.  Enter discount code SOFIE (case sensitive) into the Gift Voucher/Discount area at checkout for $5 off any of our live programs.  This discount begins right now and ends on Tuesday, August 12. This is IN ADDITION TO any early bird discounts that are currently being offered.  

A special thanks to our current Conscious Woman presenters (they get a percentage of our income) for participating in this special day.

I hope you enjoy celebrating with us!

Well, it has been a 3 month, rather than a 9(+) month gestation, and the new registration system is here! Nearly all of our Fall 2008 programs are now available, with 4 programs offering significant EARLY BIRD DISCOUNTS (hint: check out the current course listings and find them!).

NEW SYSTEM HIGHLIGHTS
We are still working through all the bells and whistles of this system, but the live program registration is up and running beautifully. Here are a few highlights of some of the new system’s features:

1. A shopping cart. What a novelty! You will be able to register for more than one course at a time now.
2. Flexible payment options. You can now pay via credit card or through your Paypal account.
3. Account credit. If you need to reschedule a class for any reason, your account credit will be stored in the system and can be claimed by you at any time for another course. More control for you, and less administrative time for us!
4. Discount coupons. More discount coupon options that are not limited to a single course.
5. Other products for sale. This new system accomodates the Conscious Woman recorded archives (coming soon!), Conscious Woman e-books (coming Fall/Winter 2008) and other products (although I’m not sure what they will be yet).
6. Subscriptions/Memberships. We won’t be implementing these just yet, but it’s in the new business plan!
7. Security. Top security for all credit card transactions has always been a top priority; this system meets the highest standards available on the web.
8. And more!

A SPECIAL THANKS
A very special thank you to Melissa Collins, who has worked selflessly in the programming of this new system and in the upgrades to the Conscious Woman website.  Melissa, your gifts are many and are most appreciated!

A slide from Sarah Buckley’s lecture on Epidurals: Impact on Mother and Baby (part of the Gentle Birth: The Science and the Wisdom series):

At the end of her What Would Mammals Do? presentation, the internationally renowned lactation consultant Diane Wiessinger stated: “For the past 30 years, I’ve been looking at the wrong end of the mother!”.   Here’s what Diane had to say after participating in Sarah Buckley’s class on epidurals:  “I’m an IBCLC.  But I’m more and more in awe of the effect the birth has on breastfeeding, bonding, and the future well-being of both mothers and babies.  Sarah Buckley is presenting a knock-your-socks-off 6-part series on the effect of birth interventions.  I’m oh-so-glad I’m seeing them all.  The one on epidurals gives us the science behind our suspicions.”

We would make so much more progress on both the birth and lactation fronts if we worked together.  What will it take?

I just received another email regarding the Daily Mail article that quoted Michel Odent as  having said that men should not be at the birth of their child.  Being too impatient to take the time to figure it out, I emailed Dr. Odent directly.  He responded within an hour:”About the pages in Daily Mail, first I was not the author of the article. It was written by a journalist after an interview on the phone. Also it is probable that people just read the sensational title. In fact I have never said that men  â€˜should not be at the birth of their child’.  Warmest regards, Michel”

I hope that clarifies things for those of you who have been questioning that piece (which -as you may notice - I am not linking to).  Beware the media, especially when it comes to childbirth!

One of my favorite people to visit with is my dear friend, midwife and author Nancy Wainer.  She has a fabulous house in Needham, Massachusetts that is filled with birth artwork, sculptures, a framed scrabble game with birth words, an uncircumcized penis costume, and so much more .  The last time I stayed with her, Nancy was called to a birth and I did something that I had desired to do since I first set foot in that place.  I took all of the comics and quotes off her refrigerator and cabinets, ran to the copy machine, and xeroxed nearly everything (note that I put everything back in its place, and all with fresh tape).  

One of my favorite quotes - taped on the cabinet with the mugs, if I remember correctly - seemed fitting for an Earth Day blog entry.  I don’t know who the author is, but I found a link to where you can buy a poster of it online:  http://www.northernsun.com/n/s/4426.html:

“I pledge allegiance to the Earth
and all the Life which it supports.
One Planet
in our care,
irreplaceable,
with sustenance and respect for all.”

Happy Earth Day.  

I was just sent a long, but interesting YouTube video on the dangers of pharmaceutical drugs, vaccinations, and more.  Had I done it, I would have included my references (and added a little something about childbirth) - but this still worth watching.    Click here: YouTube - Why I Left Mainstream Medicine - From A Nurse

I would welcome emails and/or comments below on your thoughts, critiques and/or verification of the claims made on this video.   Note that Tedd Koren covers the dangers of vaccinations in detail in his Childhood Vaccination series (only one more run, in June/July), and Jim Turner of Conscious Activism (coming back next month!) is a tremendous source of information regarding artificial sweeteners.  Also, Sarah Buckley describes the impact of pitocin, epidurals and cesareans on mother and baby in her Gentle Birth: The Science and the Wisdom series, and Sharon Storton covers the postpartum effects of medical interventions in Mother-Friendly Mental Health Care - which is open to care providers of all disciplines as well as the general public.  Participants in these webinars have had quite an education these past few months!

The comments and follow-up to the Maddy Oden Conscious Woman of the Month article are still coming in.  Gloria Lemay just sent me a reference to an older case involving cytotec and failure to obtain informed consent - this one with a large verdict. Maddy has informed me that there is also a cytotec lawyers site - she is not sure how successful they are in gathering and winning cases, but some are won. Apparently most are settled out of court with gag clauses.

$2 million
Failure To Obtain Consent For Off-Label Use Of Cytotec
Case name withheld.
Plaintiff’s Counsel: Joseph J. Wadland and James L. Ackerman, Wadland & Ackerman, Boston and Andover
The plaintiffs were a 38-year-old woman and her husband who were expecting their first child. At about 41 weeks of gestation, the decision was made by her primary Ob/Gyn to induce her labor. A dose of 25 micrograms of Cytotec, a drug that the FDA has approved for the prevention of gastric ulcers, but not for the induction of labor or cervical ripening, reportedly was given vaginally. The care providers did not obtain the mother’s informed consent for the use of Cytotec that was being administered for an “off-label” indication in a high-risk situation. A series of complications arose, including the deceleration of the fetal heart rate and the baby was delivered via Caesarian section. The baby was lifeless and resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful. The mother also required a hysterectomy as a result of off-label use of Cytotec. When the claim settled on Aug. 7, 2001, it was the first reported settlement or verdict in Massachusetts involving the drug Cytotec.  And a few more maternity related lawsuits among the largest settlements in MA in 2001: http://www.masslaw.com/reprints/breakstone011402.htm 
 

Although the facts of this case are horrific, it is encouraging to see this as nearly all verdicts against OB/GYNs are for failing to do a cesarean or failing to do one soon enough.  These kinds of verdicts play a major role the rise in the cesarean rate - for every woman who sues for those reasons, hundreds of others are cut unnecessarily, causing unnecessary trauma and increased risk to the mothers and their babies.  Defensive medicine at its worst. 

Furthermore - and worthy of similar attention and concern - new obstetricians are no longer taught the skills necessary to handle out-of-the-ordinary vaginal births.  If your birth doesn’t go like clockwork, you’re off to the OR.  If your baby isn’t in a good position, you’re off to the OR.  Breech? Forget it - directly into the OR. Vaginal breech birth is no longer part of the curriculum. I could go on and on — and I know there are exceptions, but they are becoming increasingly rare.

More widespread publicity of cases such as the following is essential - the public needs to know about the dangers of these drugs, among others and of the risks inherent in many obstetric practices.    And that babies don’t all come out “on time” and in the same presentation.

I am delighted with the response we have received to the article I wrote on Maddy Oden, our Conscious Woman of the Month.  Commentaries and references to this article have been appearing on numerous blogs, including Laureen Hudson’s ElementalMom, Heather Crawford’s Birthing Spirit (Australia), I Am A Monkey’s Mamma, and in online discussion forums - including ICAN’s main (international) list.  I hope that everyone on the Conscious Woman listserve (soon to exceed 600!) takes the time to read about Maddy and the Tatia Oden French Memorial Foundation.  Maddy - with the assistance of our own James S. Turner  - will be going back to the FDA this June in an effort to put an end to the off-label use of Cytotec for labor inductions.  Perhaps some of the other dangerous labor-inducing drugs will follow Cytotec into oblivion in years to come. 

The women of ICAN understand this all too well.   Many of the ICAN women - myself included - began with an unecessary labor induction and ended up in the OR - what I recall as an unnecessarian preceded by a little bit of hell.  We can count our blessings that we did not meet Tatia’s fate - but blessings are still few after a birth experience like that, especially when the experience is followed by some real education and raised consciousness about what could have been.  For a terrific dose of quality childbirth education,  check out Sarah Buckley’s Gentle Birth: The Science and the Wisdom (Part II:  The Impact of Interventions, focuses on induction of birth).  Gloria Lemay just completed her workshops on Induction of Birth, but they are still available as unedited recordings for those who sign up for the Advanced Doula Training series; also, keep an eye out for a repeat of this series and edited recorded archives this Fall. 

April is Cesarean Awareness Month - consider joining ICAN for $8 off any of Dr. Buckley’s lectures or $50 off her entire series (that more than pays for your membership fees!).  To get the member discount code, contact ICAN’s Education Director, Lisa Houchins at education@ican-online.org.   Also, check out ICAN’s gorgeous new website at www.ican-online.org - beautifully done by Melissa Collins and Laureen Hudson.