Guest Post By Missy David, Honeybee Mama - Improving Birth Rally.

I'm pleased to have Missy David, local DONA trained Birth Doula and blogger at Honeybee Mama, providing the amazing guest post below about tomorrow's Improving Birth Rally!

Visit Missy's blog, Honeybee Mama and her Facebook page to follow her posts about motherhood, family life, local businesses in Tulsa, pregnancy & childbirth

Thousands of men, women and children will gather tomorrow, September 2, 2013 as part of an International movement to improve birth for women all over the world.  Supporters of the Improving Birth movement are rallying to bring awareness to a problem and a solution. So many people are unaware of just how much room for improvement there is in our maternity care system. So many women are unaware that respect and compassion in childbirth aren’t just luxuries; they’re a human right.

Did you know maternity care in the U.S. is in crisis? We spend the most money (98 Million) and have some of the worst outcomes among developed countries. According to Amnesty International, “Women in the USA have a higher risk of dying of pregnancy-related complications than those in 49 other countries, including Kuwait, Bulgaria, and South Korea.”

Here are some statistics for you:

·         In Oklahoma our average rate of cesarean births is 32.4% which is well above the 15% suggested by the World Health Organization.

·         Nationally the average is about 33%, so more than half a million C-sections a year may have been preventable.

·         9 out of 10 of those women will give birth by a repeat C-section, which adds significant risk for further health complications even though vaginal birth  after cesarean (VBAC) has been deemed safe and more desirable for most of those women.

·         2 out of 3 women will have their labor forced before they go into labor on their own or have their labors intensified with drugs without a sufficient medical need to do so, which isn’t supported by evidence and is proven to increase complications.

·         6 out of 10 women are prevented from eating and drinking during labor and are also confined to a bed, which also is not based on evidence and is proven to increase risks and complications.

·         Many women feel bullied or that they weren’t given adequate information with which to give informed consent for various procedures and interventions and end up feeling disappointed by their birth experience.

·         What we want to do is increase awareness for Evidence Based Birth Care and empower women to have ownership over their birth experiences.

·         The Improving Birth Rally is not natural vs. medicated birth or hospital vs. home birth or birth center births. It’s about respect for women and their decisions in childbirth, including how, where, and with whom they give birth; and the right to be treated with dignity and compassion.  

Improving Birth seeks to change these statistics and is holding their 2nd annual Rally for Change on Labor Day 2013.

 

 

For those of you in the Tulsa area, join with other local families and childbirth professionals on September 2, 2013 at Green Acres Market in Jenks, Oklahoma for the Improving Birth Rally for Change.  From 10am - 12:00pm, there will be a rally with local speakers and people holding signs to raise awareness for the change we want to see in maternity care. From 12:00pm - 3:00pm there will be a maternity fair with local birth professionals, healthcare providers and other vendors available for expectant parents to meet and get information about their births. Join us to make your voice heard and to learn about your choices in childbirth and help us improve birth in Tulsa!

 

To search for an Improving Birth Rally near you, visit www.ImprovingBirth.org.