So, do you like contests?

Well, do ya? I have a sweet prize lined up for a contest -- perhaps in April for Cesarean Awareness Month, perhaps in May for International Doula Month.

Stay tuned!!!

VBAC Calculator

Something Dr. Kaminski shared was this VBAC Calculator. It factors in several variables to give the odds of a vbac success. I thought it was very interesting and could be a great tool in making the decision for either a vbac or a repeat c-section!

Certified Bra Fitter

I attended Heart and Hands' 10th annual Family Centered Maternity Conference -- a nice day with lots of terrific information. I found Dr. Bob Kaminski's presentation on VBACs to be very positive and informative, but I have to say, Dawn from Mommy Gear was great -- and now thanks to her, all attendees are Certified Medela Bra Fitters! I have a pin and certificate to prove it. A fun day but I'll be frank -- it was hell on Charlie to be away from home all that time. he was NOT a happy guy for the last few hours.

Welcome Baby J!!!

I am so thrilled for my wonderful friend, J. and her husband T., who welcomed their second child yesterday. Welcome to the world little boy -- you hit the mommy jackpot. And congratulations, my dear friend!!! I am beyond happy, beyond proud, and so wishing I lived closer so I could give you all a big hug!

Stupid google ads

So I added google ads to my blog to make a few bucks while I'm still not quite ready to start doula-ing again. I see today that there is an anti-health care reform ad there with a schmuck-y picture of Rep. Pelosi, urging you to call your representative.

For what it's worth, I support health care reform and I urge you to click the heck out of that ad and spend that advertiser's money.

Just wanted to make it clear where I stand on the matter since that ad is on my blog and I don't see eye to eye with it :)

Lowering Gestional Diabetes Cut-offs

Panel Calls for Lower Gestational Diabetes Cutoffs

Lower glucose thresholds for gestational diabetes called for by an international consensus panel may double the number of women diagnosed.

True gestational diabetes is nothing to sneeze at. However, many already think that GD is over-diagnosed. I know for a fact that I'd have been diagnosed with GD with Badger if my care provider hadn't been as accepting of a range of normal.

Panel Urges New Look at Caesarean Guidelines

The New York Times reports on the recommendations of a panel at the NIH regarding VBACs and Cesarean sections:

A panel of medical experts on Wednesday recommended steps to reverse a trend that has dismayed many pregnant women: the increasing difficulty of finding doctors and hospitals that will let a woman try to give birth normally if she has had a Caesarean section in the past.

I myself tried to keep up with the tweets (twitters? twittles? I dunno.) as it was happening and I just couldn't make heads or tails of it. Trying to do just about anything that requires sustained attention is not that easy when there's potty training going on. Which Badger is doing, by Jove! He had just one accident yesterday. Progress, progress.

Lessons at Tuba City Hopsital, Run by Navajos, About Birth

An excellent article in the New York Times!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/health/07birth.html

As Washington debates health care, this small hospital in a dusty desert town on an Indian reservation, showing its age and struggling to make ends meet, somehow manages to outperform richer, more prestigious institutions when it comes to keeping Caesarean rates down, which saves money and is better for many mothers and infants.