Pregnancy, Parenthood & Playtime

Daddy and Camden walking through the fair

What did you do this weekend? I can tell you that it was a very busy weekend for  our family here in Connecticut between the Orange Country Fair, The Riverlights, and the Connecticut State Fire Fighters Convention and Parade in Litchfield this weekend. It all started when Daddy got home from working a half day, and off to the Orange County Fair we went, like we do every year.  Unfortunately this year, my toddler decided he was deathly afraid of any of the farm animals so it cut a huge portion of the fair out for us. (Haha) We had a great time, enjoyed some good food, especially some homemade cinnamon donuts, which are my husband’s favorite, and in turn he got me hooked on them!  We were also able to pick up some adorable Elmo, and Pooh Christmas ornaments for our tree. Every year we make sure to pick up a couple hand made for our tree. Camden’s new love is Elmo, so we figured it was only appropriate.

Later on that night we made our way down to Stratford for “Riverlights” which was a great time. The whole concept of it was, local boat owners decorated their boats with all kinds of lights, in a theme for a competition that benefits the great local charity Swim Across the Sound, and they drove their boats down the Housatonic River from the Route 1 Bridge, to Knapp’s Landing and back. Some of the boats were truly creative, but I have to say, my favorites were either the Halloween Boat, or the Disco Boat. All were creative and for a great cause. I am excited I actually opened up the Stratford Star last week and read about it. While my husband himmed and hawwed on the way there, he was really glad we went. All in all, Camden loved it and formed his first complete sentence while we were there.  “Lights on the boat”

A great Saturday alright!

My favorite sign from the parade.

On Sunday I was fortunate enough to be able to ride with my husband and his fire company yesterday in the Connecticut State Fire Fighters Parade which was part of the convention that took place this weekend. I was amazed first by the side of the parade, and how many companies from all over Connecticut took part in it, but I was also amazed at how many people came out this year to support the fire departments and cheer them on and thank them for their service in our communities, since so many are volunteer companies.  We are still waiting to see if my husband’s fire company won any kind of awards or trophies, but they looked great coming down the road!

What a great weekend for families here in Connecticut!

Today with the high number of women having cesarean sections, there is a need for education about VBAC, better known as Vaginal Birth after Cesarean section. But the problem is, as most women enter the hospital to give birth after having a cesarean section they are not only fed much incorrect, inaccurate, and biased information, but they are also put against very rough odds in order to actually achieve a VBAC with rules and policies inside the hospitals.

So because there was such a large need for an educational resource for information on VBAC, The International Cesarean Awareness Network put together something called Journey to a VBAC : What you need to know.  It is an online webinar that will be available on  Sunday September 27th 2009, for anyone interested to sit in on it.

You can find out more information about this webinar on the ICAN website, as well as on the links above.

If some insurance companies have their way, a cesarean section will soon be considered a pre-existing medical condition, which in turn is going to render millions of women either un-insurable, or left paying drastically increased medical premiums. Why do I think this is unfair? Because of my own personal experiences with the births of my children. Now that I have had two cesarean sections, is my husbands insurance through work going to change their mind and tell us one day that I am un-insurable?
This is a reason I support an overhaul of our health care system. The laws that currently surround our medical insurance, and these big bucks insurance companies need to be reformed and become stricter, as well as a huge needed reform to the medical malpractice laws so Doctors, especially OB/GYN’s can stop practicing something that is now being called defensive medicine.

I came across an article about cesarean sections being considered a pre-existing medical condition, and I wanted to share that. There are more than a couple statements in this article that I find disturbing as a woman in her child baring years.

“The point of insurance is to insure against catastrophic care costs. That’s what you’re trying to aggregate and pool for such things as heart attacks and cancer,” said an Anthem Blue Cross spokesman. “Having a child is a matter of choice. Dealing with an adult onset illness, such as diabetes, heart disease breast or prostate cancer, is not a matter of choice.” – According to  Anthem Blue Cross.

Having a child, for many women, is just a part of life. While the pro choice movement has made it clear that all women have the choice to continue or terminate a pregnancy, that choice has no baring on a woman choosing to have a child. These same insurance companies have no issue throwing money at viagra and unnecessary medications that are for men though.  Pregnancy is a normal and until recently a common biological function for millions of women, why should they be punished if they make the choice to become a parent?

When a woman isn’t currently pregnant, she often still cannot get coverage. Many insurers consider a Caesarean-section pregnancy a pre-existing condition and refuse to cover women who have had the procedure. From a 2008 New York Times story about a Colorado woman who had Golden Rule Insurance:

She was turned down because she had given birth by Caesarean section. Having the operation once increases the odds that it will be performed again, and if she became pregnant and needed another Caesarean, Golden Rule did not want to pay for it. A letter from the company explained that if she had been sterilized after the Caesarean, or if she were over 40 and had given birth two or more years before applying, she might have qualified.

Now this boils down to insurance companies making these choices for mothers, instead of women being allowed to make their own informed medical decision unless they want to pay out of pocket. Now I can tell you, after my second child was born, I obtained a copy of what my insurance was billed for my cesarean section, and 3 1/2 day hospital stay. $15,600.  Believe it or not, a medical bill like this, in reality, would bankrupt a family in today’s society. With the current economy, the unstable job market, and the questionable banking and housing industry… we shouldn’t have to be worrying about simple things like our medical coverage.

Now I will bring this back to why we need to reform health care. Right now in the US we have something I like to call “sick care” not “health care”. People only go to the doctor when they are sick because that is what insurance will cover. Preventive care like Chiropractors, which are proven to help for many illnesses and overall just staying healthy, are not being covered by many insurances, or you are only given X amount of visits for a year. I know my insurance only covered 34 visits for a year, and during my pregnancy alone, I went to the Chiropractor almost triple that amount.
Just another reason there is a serious need for an overhaul.

The number of cesarean sections are increasing yearly. An example, in 2007 39.40% of all births at Stamford Hospital were cesarean sections. That increased in the 2008 fiscal year to 43.35%. That is a huge jump for one calendar year. These numbers are not only sad, but they are dangerous. The World Health Organizations says that a safe cesarean section rate for mothers and babies in The United States is 10-15% at most. The amount of cesarean sections has risen in the United States for 11 years in a row, and I have no doubt it will increase next year also, dispite large name organizations such as The American Medical Association saying that the rated needs to be reduced.

What is your take on all this?

I know as a parent, I am always looking at labels and trying to see what is inside the products I use for my children, like soaps, cleaning products and even the foods that I allow them to eat, but now there is a new website that will help to make your search and label reading much easier. Healthy Stuff is a website dedicated to researching the chemicals that are being put into products our children use on a frequent basis.  Not only that but they are an action group trying to get certain chemicals removed out of the things we and our children use.

Such a great thing they are doing!

Today brings a slight bit of closure, as well as a bit of closure to a horrible tragedy that unfolded over the past week. Now I know most days I write about pregnancy, birth, parenting, and health care but today, I need to write about the Annie Le murder because I have so much to say, and have been watching it so closely.

When it all started I am sure many people though what I did, she was a bride that got cold feet, then my thoughts turned to her fiance, maybe he did something. But the more that came out, the more mysterious and upsetting the case became. Then they discovered her body on Sunday in the building she was last seen in. Discarded like a piece of trash behind a wall. Did the guy that killed her seriously think they wouldn’t eventually find her?  And on the same day that her body was discovered in that building on Amistad Street, he was off playing softball like nothing happened. Really?

As a parent, with two children, I first feel for the Le family for the loss of such an amazingly promising and intelligent daughter. As a parent, I cannot even begin to wrap my head around the sorrow that they must be feeling during this time. I would never want to bury my own child.  Then my thoughts turn to the family of the man arrested in her death. Raymond Clark III, you haven’t heard much about his family other than some family members also worked at the Lab where Annie Le was killed. But as a mother I wonder what happened for this poor man to get to this point in his life where he would take the life of another person with no regard at all.

I sat and watched the coverage of the arrest and press conference this morning, and while I am happy for the family that the court sealed the case and arrest record at this point, I have a feeling over time it is not going to sit well with the public because of the mass amount of unanswered questions. I know as someone who has watched this since the beginning, even to the point where I would get up and read about press conferences at 2am, I am going to have tons of unanswered questions until the trial is over and done with.

What is your take on the Annie Le case?

This weekend there are a couple great family events taking place.
On Saturday and Sunday, is the Orange Country Fair, my husband and I, as well as family make it a point to attend every year, since our first trip last fall. It is a lot of fun, lots of cute arts and crafts, animals, good food and activities for the children.  It is a lot of fun for all ages. The fair takes place at the Orange Fair Grounds on Orange Center Road.
Also, on Saturday is the Milford Irish Festival for those of us who enjoy Irish food, culture, and crafts.
It will be taking place at the Fowler Pavilion in Milford.

I hope to see some of you there!
I will be sure to take lots of pictures so I am able to write a lovely piece about whichever event we attend.

Today, it is estimated that over 40% of all births will be medically induced, and less than 10% of them actually are medically necessary. When the term medically necessary is used, it means for a valid medical reason, not because it is your due date, or because you are uncomfortable. Let’s face it, all of us are uncomfortable come the last month of pregnancy. If women wanted to be comfortable, we would never get pregnant right?

But the concern today is that the rise in non medically necessary inductions is having a huge impact on not only our mothers, but babies too. 40% of all women who have their labor induced will end up in the operating room having a surgical delivery, A.K.A. a C-section. Also, what women are not being told, is that non medically necessary labor inductions are not approved by the FDA, as well as one of the most popular labor induction drugs, cytotec.Cytotec has grown in popularity, but not for its intended use, a ulcer drug,  but with all the problems it has caused in labor inductions, some parts of the country have started to discourage the use. What was the problem with this drug? It causes something called uterine rupture. That is where the mother’s uterus ruptures during labor, and if the baby is not immediately delivered (we are talking no more than 10 minutes at most) you will have a dead baby and/or mother. This tragic situation has popped up all over the country, and even has a foundation about stopping the use of this drug on pregnant women. Yet still the FDA has not stepped in, neither has our government or hospitals.

The Packaging the drug cytotec comes in. Note the large picture expressing not for use in pregnant women.

Another popular drug used for labor induction is pitocin, a synthetic form of oxytocin that is given through IV which causes contractions. What is the problem with pitocin, like most labor induction methods is, it causes unnaturally strong contractions which are not only hard on the mother, but can be dangerous to the unborn baby, by compromising their air supply, as well as doubles the risk that the baby can be born in a poor condition. For mom, it causes increased blood loss as well of a serious increased risk in a cesarean section, which in itself holds risks.

So why are women being induced at record numbers today?  Various reasons, like before I stated comfort and convenience. But there is more to it. There is doctors going on vacation, scheduling births around their office hours, not wanting to be called away to a birth in the middle of the night. Some practices even have an induction rate of 80-100%!!! Now, not all doctors or practices are like this, in fact most are not, but being educated is key.

Another thing that I must point out while writing about this subject is the increase in births that are taking place on week days between 9am and 5pm. It is no coincidence. Mothers are not magically giving birth during the most convenient hours for their care providers. It is directly linked with the number of unnecessary inductions that are taking place.

Now, many of you say, who cares… I will not induce or I will induce, of course, you have the risk to informed consent to any medical procedure you see fit, as does anyone else. But before making these choices you should be fully informed.

Some risks of induction :

• Increased risk of abnormal fetal heart rate.
• Increased risk of fetal distress.
• Increased risk of shoulder dystocia.
• Drastically increased risk of your baby being admitted into the NICU.
• Increased risk of vaccum extraction or forcep delivery.
• Increased risk of a cesarean section.
• Increased risk of prematurity.
• Increased risk of jaundice.

One specific I would like to go into detail about is the risk of prematurity and how inaccurate due dates are, even with early ultrasound dating. Due dates can be up to 2 full weeks off. So lets do a little bit of math. If a mother makes the choice to be induced at 38 weeks pregnant, when a full term pregnancy is 40-42 weeks gestation, and your due date is inaccurate, you can be delivering your baby at 36 weeks and there may be serious risk to the baby.

When making decisions surrounding your pregnancy care, do yourself, and your baby a favor, and seriously research your choices. It could mean a better delivery and healthier baby for you!

A couple suggested articles are :

Henci Goer : Elective induction of labor
5 Reasons to Avoid Labor Induction
What you should know : Risk of Labor Induction
Why so many inductions?
Cytotec Induction and off label use

I am going to be conducting an interview with a local home birth midwife in our area.

I would appreciate all of my readers submitting some questions that they would like to have answered so I can submit the questions to her!