October 21, 2011
Childbirth. Despite having what a shop assistant once described as “splendid childbearing hips,” I don’t know much about it. Even with my lack of maternal knowledge, there were a few things I took as fact. –It takes about nine months to grow a baby. –There is a lot of kicking from within the bump. –There’s ...
June 21, 2011
Promoting midwives could help us solve many of the world’s health and child care issues, according to a report compiled by over 30 health organizations and presented to the U.N. today. The report surveyed 58 countries that represent under 60 percent of all births worldwide but 91 percent of all maternal deaths. Two-thirds are ...
Tags: AIDS,
Ban Ki-moon,
childbirth,
midwifery,
Millennium Development Goals,
newborns,
pregnancy,
Promoting midwives,
study,
United Nations,
women’s health,
world health
May 4, 2011
We shouldn’t need an official report to enlighten us about the situation of mothers around the world. We should already know. It’s all well and good for Save the Children to give us a yearly report of what mothers are facing from the top of Mommyville (Norway) to the pits of it (Afghanistan). People need ...
Tags: best place to be a mom,
childbirth,
health care,
impoverished women,
infant death,
maternal death,
mortality rate,
Mother's Day,
poverty,
Save the Children,
State of the World's Mothers 2011,
war,
women in Afghanistan,
women's health,
women's rights
September 14, 2010
World leaders are getting together next week to discuss global poverty, education, and health. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals agreed upon by UN members. The one farthest from its target is number five: to reduce the number of women who die in pregnancy and childbirth and increase access to ...
Tags: childbirth,
contraception,
death in childbirth,
feminism,
infant mortality,
international development,
Millennium Development Goals,
pregnancy,
third world,
United Nations,
women's rights
July 30, 2010
Another medical group has said that women should not have the right to home birth in certain circumstances. There is so much condescension among doctors towards pregnant women I have to wonder where it will all end. Will they be caged like animals and monitored by nicotine and alcohol bracelets like criminals? The Lancet, a ...
Tags: babies,
childbirth,
complications of birth,
consent,
home birth,
hospital birth,
human rights,
informed decisions,
labour,
labour complications,
midwife,
natural birth,
pregnancy,
problems with home birth,
women,
women's rights
July 23, 2010
The current trend of women delaying childbirth until their 30s and even 40s on a regular basis has impacts for society as a whole. One of these may be that we will evolve to have children naturally at a later age. Personally, I’m skeptical. Researchers at the University of Sheffield studied marriage and birth trends since the ...
Tags: babies,
childbirth,
evolution,
fertility,
fertility evolution,
IVF,
menopause,
natural birth,
older mothers,
parents,
reproductive technology,
women's rights
July 1, 2010
Choosing to give birth at home is often considered dangerous because of the problems that might arise. But many women want to avoid unnecessary medical interventions and be in an environment where they feel they have control. But do they really have control? And is it really a safe option? There have been few studies into ...
Tags: benefits of home birth,
childbirth,
empower women,
home birth,
hospital birth,
infant mortality,
labour,
labour complications,
midwife,
natural birth,
problems with home birth
June 29, 2010
The World Health Organization has withdrawn its recommendation that no more than 10 to 15 per cent of babies be born by Caesarean section. Is this a silent acknowledgment that c-sections are a legitimate alternative to a natural birth? I certainly hope not. The number of Caesarean sections in the world is climbing, and in ...
Tags: babies,
c-sectiion problems,
c-section,
caesarean section,
childbirth,
complications of birth,
labour,
medicalised birth,
mother's rights,
mothers,
natural birth,
older mothers
April 16, 2010
We all know China has a one-child policy. And we have all heard that they aren’t exactly up to snuff with their human rights. But did you know that they are kidnapping family members, imprisoning people, and forcing sterilisation for having too many children?
Tags: babies,
birth control,
birth rate,
childbirth,
children,
China,
equality,
human rights,
overpopulation,
population control,
sex education,
sterilisation,
tubal ligation,
vasectomy,
women's rights
December 15, 2009
Michelle Duggar gave birth to her nineteenth child on Thursday. The premature baby was born at only one pound, six ounces and the mother is still recovering from the emergency c-section. While we wish them both health, it begs the question, how many babies is too much? Where I live, women are basically baby making ...
Tags: babies,
birth control,
c-section,
childbirth,
conservatives,
contraception,
fertility,
Michelle Duggar,
mother's rights,
parents,
polygamy,
pregnancy,
premature baby,
religion,
women's rights