Please tell all pregnant women you know...

PLEASE TELL ALL PREGNANT WOMEN YOU KNOW:

Obstetricians are closing birth canals up to 30% and keeping birth canals
closed the "extra" up to 30% when babies get stuck...

LADIES: it's easy for women to allow their birth canals to OPEN the "extra"
up to 30%.

See below.


Usenetters,

Periodically, women contact me for birth position recommendations.

(I am blessed by being mentioned at Dr. Andrew Saul's popular
www.doctoryourself.com website.)

I usually take the liberty of answering publicly as I am doing here...


Lisa,

First of all, congratulations on planning a THIRD homebirth!

Cool!

Three of my children were born at home too.

Regarding posture during delivery...

Semisitting and dorsal delivery positions close the birth canal up to 30%.

Just about every other birth position allows the birth canal to OPEN the
"extra" up to 30%.

Side-lying, hands-and-knees, knee-chest, crouching on one knee, squatting,
standing allow the birth canal to open the "extra" up to 30%.

Michel Odent, MD has said that women allowed to labor feeling unobserved
spontaneously get off their sacra as part of the "fetus ejection reflex."

Odent also says that no one - not even the woman herself - can predict what
position she will be in when she finally pushes her baby out.

To allow your birth canal to open the "extra" up to 30%, just make sure you
are NOT semisitting or dorsal as you push your baby out.

Talk to your midwife, of course - my bet is that you and she have already
talked about these things.

Todd

Dr. Gastaldo
Hillsboro, Oregon


PS Some homebirth midwives do use the birth-canal-closing semisitting and
dorsal delivery positions. Women push babies out all the time in these
positions. I myself (hospital birth) was pushed out with the birth canal
closed the "extra" up to 30%. Most babies do "fine" - but some might be
able to do "finer": an estimated 4.6% of "healthy" term babies are born with
unexplained brain bleeds.

One last note...

I asked the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists/ACOG a long
time ago to stop placing women semisitting and dorsal - but here it is 2005
and ACOG is still recommending it.

NOTE WELL: ACOG is still, in 2005, recommending KEEPING birth canals closed
the "extra" up to 30% (keeping women semisitting)) when babies get stuck and
they use forceps to pull (about 1 in 10 births)...

See ACOG's 2005 edition: How NOT to birth
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group...t/message/3606

Please tell all pregnant women you know, that obstetricians are routinely
keeping birth canals closed the "extra" up to 30% when babies get stuck -
and that it is easy for them to allow their birth canals to open the "extra"
up to 30%...


on 7/13/05 9:30 AM, Lisa wrote:

I am 9 months pregnant with my third child, and preparing for my third home
birth. Any suggestions for posturing during delivery? Thanks, Lisa...


Thanks for writing Lisa.

Sincerely,

Todd

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"Todd Gastaldo" wrote in message
...
snip for brevity
Semisitting and dorsal delivery positions close the birth canal up to 30%.

Just about every other birth position allows the birth canal to OPEN the
"extra" up to 30%.

Side-lying, hands-and-knees, knee-chest, crouching on one knee, squatting,
standing allow the birth canal to open the "extra" up to 30%.

snip for brevity

OK, I recognize all those positions except "knee-chest". All I can picture
is the typical birthing position shown on "Baby Story" etc...woman sort of
on her back/semi-sitting, holding her knees back to her chest, but I think
that's considered the semi-sitting position. Can you give a description of
what you mean by "knee-chest"?

Thanks,
Amy V.
EDD 11/25/05

in article , V. at wrote on
7/16/05 10:35 AM:


"Todd Gastaldo" wrote in message
...
snip for brevity
Semisitting and dorsal delivery positions close the birth canal up to 30%.

Just about every other birth position allows the birth canal to OPEN the
"extra" up to 30%.

Side-lying, hands-and-knees, knee-chest, crouching on one knee, squatting,
standing allow the birth canal to open the "extra" up to 30%.

snip for brevity

OK, I recognize all those positions except "knee-chest". All I can picture
is the typical birthing position shown on "Baby Story" etc...woman sort of
on her back/semi-sitting, holding her knees back to her chest, but I think
that's considered the semi-sitting position. Can you give a description of
what you mean by "knee-chest"?

Thanks,
Amy V.
EDD 11/25/05


Amy V.,

Knee-chest: Picture a woman on hands-and-knees. She lets her upper body
down so that she is resting her chest on the bed. That's knee-chest.

Thanks for calling this possible knee-chest position misunderstanding to my
attention.

Others likely wondered what I was talking about.

Todd

PS For any new readers, semisitting, the typical birthing position shown on
"Baby Story" (described above by Amy V.) should not be typical - it closes
the birth canal up to 30% because the woman is on her sacrum.

"Todd Gastaldo" wrote in message
...
in article , V. at wrote
on
7/16/05 10:35 AM:


"Todd Gastaldo" wrote in message
...
snip for brevity
Semisitting and dorsal delivery positions close the birth canal up to
30%.

Just about every other birth position allows the birth canal to OPEN the
"extra" up to 30%.

Side-lying, hands-and-knees, knee-chest, crouching on one knee,
squatting,
standing allow the birth canal to open the "extra" up to 30%.

snip for brevity

OK, I recognize all those positions except "knee-chest". All I can
picture
is the typical birthing position shown on "Baby Story" etc...woman sort
of
on her back/semi-sitting, holding her knees back to her chest, but I
think
that's considered the semi-sitting position. Can you give a description
of
what you mean by "knee-chest"?

Thanks,
Amy V.
EDD 11/25/05


Amy V.,

Knee-chest: Picture a woman on hands-and-knees. She lets her upper body
down so that she is resting her chest on the bed. That's knee-chest.

Thanks for calling this possible knee-chest position misunderstanding to
my
attention.

Others likely wondered what I was talking about.

Todd

PS For any new readers, semisitting, the typical birthing position shown
on
"Baby Story" (described above by Amy V.) should not be typical - it closes
the birth canal up to 30% because the woman is on her sacrum.





Ah, if this is not standard terminology, you might consider calling it a
"sphinx pose". That's the lingo used to describe this position when talking
about sleeping positions. Surprisingly comfortable to sleep in, actually!