Yes!

http://www.smar.info/article-30653416.html

'Mommy, What Did You Do In The Industrial Revolution?'
Brilliant feminist critique of current trends in surgical delivery by Lauren Plante, MD, MPH, FACOG. Read it and weep...I did.

Hang onto your ovaries!!

No, really. Hang onto your ovaries, if you can. Turns out that whole line that OB/GYNs feed women about their post-menopausal ovaries being shriveled up like raisins, and just hangin' around waiting to get cancerous is WRONG. Shocking, I know, but now we have the science to prove it. A study in May 2009 issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology titled "Ovarian Conservation at the Time of Hysterectomy and Long-term Health Outcomes in the Nurses Health Study" showed that women who had their ovaries removed had a higher risk of death from any cause, primarily heart disease and lung cancer. Furthermore, removing the ovaries at any age did not improve the life span.

My two moms have both had their ovaries removed. I say this with a heaviness in my heart, because I love and adore both of these women, and want nothing to stand in the way of a long and healthy life for both of them, and many, many years of their company. One mom had a hysterectomy for prolapse, and it could safely have been partial and her ovaries spared, had they not been cancer sprouting raisins. The other mom had really bad adhesions that were all over her ovaries, so who knows? But so it seems to go with our cavalier hacking up of our bodies. A little vaginal-bypass here, a little nip and tuck there, a little hysterectomy, and hey while we're at it let's just...I fully support womens, indeed all humans, rights to do what they will with their bodies(see suture post). But the verdict is still out on so much, and the level of informed consent so minimal, that it seems prudent to avoid it if you can. So, please, hang onto your ovaries!!!

Just Right...the Retrospective Diagnosis

One of the two April babies came. It was a much longer labor and push than we all anticipated, due to a posterior presentation. I hate to be a pessimist. I have a running dialog of silver-lining reassurances during times like these, but I was concerned about the outcome of this birth. When the head went from asynclitic and relatively evenly applied to posterior and ballotable at -1 with a consistently 6 cm cervix, I was wondering what the night would look like. In the end, the posterior resolved with some hard work on the part of the mom, and a little help from her midwives. The take home message, for me, was this: the diagnosis of dysfunctional labor is a retrospective diagnosis. Had the outcome of this birth been different, I would have termed it clearly dysfunctional. However, with the good outcome and 20/20 hindsight, I am able to clearly discern a pattern that made sense and contributed to the vaginal birth of the baby. Sure, it may have taken the better part of all of our lives had we not urged it along, but the change in the babies station and the sometimes easy going contraction pattern allowed for position change that resulted in a vaginal birth. I'm not sure that I will let my guard down about posterior, I've been stumped by it too many times. But was this woman's labor dysfunctional? Nope. It was just right.

It's like she's lving my life.....

A little pregnant. Check it out, I promise you will laugh!

http://www.alittlepregnant.com/alittlepregnant/

In addition to struggling with similar questions about the Easter Bunny, I'm getting crazy amounts of gardening done(peas, beets, lettuce, potatoes, and broccoli in, most of the grass out...phew!), reading Farm Friends(about 60's Communal Farming, so far OK) and Devices & Desires (review to follow). Nursing Em through her four I teeth (literally and figuratively, she has breast fed baby poo again. This is not OK, *sigh*) and URI, and waiting on two babies that REALLY need to come before NAF in PDX and the Swanman Lecture Series at Legacy, also PDX(review to follow!). So, I am in a domestic holding pattern, but looking forward to having lots to write about!