Leave it to those coffee loving, fault line dwelling northwesterners to come up with a brilliant new twist on lowering incentives for unneccessary c-sections. Beginning this month, the state of Washington will pay hospitals the same amount for an uncomplicated C-section as for a complicated vaginal birth when it reimburses them through Medicaid. Almost half …

This summer, scores of midwives and advocates are working relentlessly to lobby federal lawmakers as they draft language for the Health Care Reform bill. The Obama administration has promised Americans a new law by fall of this year and Congress is working all summer on multiple versions of an omnibus bill that will bring sweeping …

An incredibly bold and insightful article from a US Obstetrician.  If there are physicians like this within the bureaucracy, then there is hope for our future.  Please pass this along and send this woman some huzzahs! The following wins the Midwife Monologues award for “Best Quote of the Year”: Industrial obstetrics strips the locus of …

A recently revised Position Statement from the American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM) seeks to limit recognition of midwifery providers to those who have received their training through government accredited programs. The North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) oversees the credentialing of midwives who have received their training through time honored and evidenced based systems …

Please take a moment to comment on this article about the struggle to practice evidenced based care in the medical community. Believing in Treatments That Don’t Work Here is my favorite quote: Treatment based on ideology is alluring. Surgeries to repair the knee should work. A syrup to reduce cough should help. Calming the straining …

On March 30 Governer Kaine signed HB 2163, giving final approval to a bill that will set an historic precedent for setting standards for informed choice in maternity care.  Effective July 1, 2009, regulations for Certified Professional Midwives will require that midwives disclose to their clients “evidenced based information” about the risks associated with vbac, breech, …

It was enough of a pleasant surprise when Consumer Reports analyzed maternity care in the US and gave the midwives model top ranking,”Maternity Care: High-tech vs high-touch“.  But when the stodgy and mainsteam biased Time Magazine comes out with a story this week in the Health and Science section titled “The Trouble with Repeat Cesareans“, you …

Though you might not know it from my  previous post about squeezing lemons in our Capital this week, I have actually just returned from the jungles of Belize feeling somewhat transformed and completely inspired by my Professional Training in the Arvigo Techniques for Maya Abdominal Massage (MAM).  It wasn’t just the breathtaking views from Rosita Arvigo’s mountain …

Start with two lemons: Two bills introduced by a freshman Delegate from Harrisonburg who “loves midwives” but lends his ear to obstetricians in his community who feel quite differently. Throw out the rotten fruit: HB 2167- a bill intended to eliminate VBAC births at home but written in a way that singled out low-income women from accessing midwives for normal …

More and more women are asking us about the benefits of ingesting their own placentas after their birth.  The practice is becoming more well known, CBS just did a story on it.  The benefits are considered worth the yuck factor; better milk supply, reduced postpartum depression and more balanced hormones in the weeks following birth.  There are some intriguing recipes …