A study published in the current issue of the journal Birth examined the number of nursing hand-offs (switches in the nurse responsible for a patient’s care) for women giving birth to determine whether this was associated with a greater risk of having a c-section.
Katie Allison Granju, Knoxville blogger and author of Attachment Parenting, is scoping out locations for her upcoming birth. Katie has specific concerns due to a genetic condition, but also has certain criteria for how she’d like to labor, and has hit several barriers in finding what she needs, as described in this post. Katie would like to labor in water, but the hospital only has two rooms with tubs. She suggested renting one and bringing it in, but was told by the head of nursing that they only allow women to labor in water “if their water hasn’t broken and they aren’t dilated.” In other words, they don’t allow women to labor in water. Why a healthcare professional who presumably knows what labor is would tell a woman that she can labor in water if her water hadn’t broken and she isn’t dilated is beyond me. Nurse Cranky took things one step further, telling her she can’t use a birthing ball because she might fall off, and it’s a liability issue. Katie also describes the hospital’s “support” for women who don’t want epidurals – “support” to them apparently means “we won’t push drugs on you,” but doesn’t seem to include any techniques or strategies for helping laboring women otherwise cope with pain.
This is topic Question About CHTRC in forum New Message Board Members at Tubal Reversal Message Board.