This video is timely and a valuable resource for birth workers. It’s a good length (20 mins) and it addresses that large number of women who are not ready for a home birth for a VBAC. It’s also a very good promotion for hiring a doula. Chileshe Nkonde-Price, a cardiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, wants to avoid an unnecessary Cesarean. This is the last week of her pregnancy. Enjoy and tell me what you think of it. Gloria
An Unnecessary Cut? How the C-section Became America’s Most Common Major Surgery – The New Yorker
Producer: Sky Dylan-Robbins
Hmmm, I thought I read somewhere that the maternal mortality rate is more like 28 in 100,000, NOT 17 IN 100,000…
Funny how the cardiologist-mom doesn’t mention why she had her first cesarean
CREEPY how much her OB looks like Pres. George W. Bush (I know, probably not his fault)
“JOY” is why you don’t hurt after the baby’s out??? Funny, I would have said “because the contractions stop.”
Yes, exactly, what the doulas said toward the end: the OBs do NOT tell you what you need to know; you have to advocate for yourself & take responsibility for worming that info out of them somehow, which is COMPLETELY counterintuitive. It’s assumed that OBs are trustworthy & are only doing what’s in mom’s best interests, and to the extent that they don’t volunteer necessary info, they PROVE THEMSELVES UNTRUSTWORTHY. Call me a crank, but I think that calls for some really sinister-sounding mood music. Well, you asked.
Glad to see that someone else gets cranky at those things, too, Jill. Thanks for commenting.
You’re welcome.
I think this is a great resource. Thanks for sharing!
Excellent well produced video. The joy on Chileshe’s face and her words say it all really… I thought the message from the obstetrician’s was an honest appraisal of the system in the US and the causes of the increasing cs rate and maternal mortality and morbidity. As a independent midwife in the UK, what struck my most, however was the absence of any MIDWIVES in this film. Where are they? The midwife is the guardian of normal birth; have more of them and bingo!! You will have INCREASED NORMAL BIRTH leading to increased maternal satisfaction, physical, mental and emotional health, breast feeding rates, neonatal well being, AND reduction in cost to the nations, death, major morbidity, decreased breast feeding rates, sicker babies and obese children in later life ……. I could go on. Saving the future of mankind?? It’s THAT profound.
True–but in the U.S., health care is primarily about PROFIT, and interventionless births, optimal birth outcomes, and midwives generate a lot less profit, at many different levels, than medicalized births. Read about it in my book, WHY THE U.S. GETS THE WORST CHILDBIRTH OUTCOMES IN THE INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD.