Back Pain = Cesarean Sections

 Australia trials sterile water injections for laboring back pain in an effort to drop 30% c-section rate.

Interesting.  I would not have thought that a woman's experience of back pain in labor is a significant contributor to the high rate of c-sections.  Although of course epidurals increase the likelihood of a c-section, so pain that causes a woman to request/accept an epidural would account for some of that... Well.  We shall see. 

A shoutout for the Science & Sensibility site

Science & Sensibility » The NIH VBAC Consensus Conference: Will It Pave the Road to Hell with Good Intentions?

I recommend this blog post as a brief, yet sensible, look at vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC).  Thank you for presenting the data in an intelligent (read: non-panicky) way. 

Shackling pregnant women

Ok, I have been trained in security, so I understand some of the concerns, although they were overblown.  But this was an atrocity. 

Arrested woman shackled during labor and postpartum recovery.

Also, Arnold Schwarzenegger's veto.  Really?   

And no, this is still not the controversial post I promised.  Just building the anticipation. 

Pause for thought.

I read this blog post and all the comments following:

Birthfaith on Pitocin 

What struck me most was the comment, "Pitocin use at birth has really been studied relatively little, considering how prevalent it is."

The sad history of some routine birthing procedures in medicine - the lithotomy position and episiotomy are the first that spring to mind - leaves me more disheartened than hopeful.