Birth Allowed Radio

MOTHER MAY I SERIES - http://bit.ly/consentmovie Rebecca Dekker, a nurse, teacher, PhD researcher, and founder of Evidence Based Birth®, talks with us about the hierarchy of oppression that exists in maternity care, and how that oppression relates to birth (especially doula) work and advocacy. You can learn more about Rebecca’s work at www.evidencebasedbirth.com. > The Hierarchy of Oppression in Birthing In the middle of the night one night, Rebecca got up and started doing research on systems of oppression. She found a theory that said that within any system that has a strong hierarchy, that hierarchy is propped up by two pillars of oppression. The first pillar is the oppressor and includes oppressive factors, like cultures, institutions and people with power that want to keep that oppression in place. Within the system of maternity care, this would include things like the laws governing midwifery. The second pillar, which people don’t think about as much, is the pillar of *internalized oppression*. T

There have been a lot of changes to how midwives can practice in Maryland – what was once a felony is now a regulated practice. Yet, it isn’t necessarily easier for parents or midwives now that it's "legal" to give birth at home with a professional midwife. In this episode of Birth Allowed Radio, we talk with a midwife who has been practicing for 38 years about what she has seen change, and what it means for healthy births moving forward. My special guest is Karen Webster, of www.womanwisemidwife.com. Karen has been investigated and charged in Maryland, Delaware and Virginia for practicing midwifery--and she says she would do it all again! She puts herself on the line to help women give birth as they choose. “I was illegal.” From the 1980s until just recently, it was a felony to practice professional midwifery in Maryland. It is now legal now, but so restricted that it makes practice difficult. “Not a week that goes by that I don’t have a mom say to me ‘they said that my baby might die if I don’t do this

In this episode of Birth Allowed Radio, we talk about obstetric violence, aggressive court orders, and the special trauma of early separation. My special guest is Lindsay Askins, a birth doula and birth photographer, and my partner in Exposing the Silence, a photography and interview project about birth trauma and obstetric violence. www.exposingthesilenceproject.com/ > The journey from doula to obstetric violence activist While acting in the role of birth photographer, Lindsay watched a mother fight to see her newborn baby after it was immediately taken from her by the medical staff. "She never even looked at the baby’s face. They just took it." Recently, a doula client had been given a court order to comply with a caesarean, despite having no medical indications that it was necessary. So many ethical and legal issues are raised when you witness birth. Sometimes mothers are not told anything about the procedures that are performed on them; informed consent is often not even an option. > What does obs

In this episode, we talk about the world of pregnancy, breastfeeding, and marijuana use. To help make sense of this topic – and sort the science from the pearl-clutching - I brought in a special guest: Heather Thompson, PhD. Heather discusses the research and helps make it relevant to worried moms and birth workers. Heather has a doctorate in molecular and cellular biology and has worked in clinical research in maternal and infant health for 25 years. She is now Deputy Director at the reproductive justice organization Elephant Circle. http://www.elephantcircle.net/ > First, a note about the relevance of most drug research. As a whole, drugs are not tested on pregnant women to see how they respond. Most drugs are tested on a “control” made up of white men, and we cannot always extrapolate drug effects onto other groups. The female metabolism, especially in pregnancy, differs greatly. *What are the benefits of marijuana use during pregnancy/post-partum?* During pregnancy, it is often used for morning sickn

In this episode of Birth Allowed Radio, we talk about what it means to say no to a procedure in the delivery room, when and if implied consent overrides refusal, and who is the boss of your body. Spoiler alert: it’s you. This podcast is an extension of a recent article Birth Monopoly article. You can check it out here. http://birthmonopoly.com/impliedconsent/ My special guest is lawyer and birth rights advocate Hermine Hayes-Klein. http://www.hayeskleinlaw.com/ *Let’s Talk About Consent* Implied consent is a concept that has become skewed, in all aspects of life on the sexual spectrum, including birth. Whether we are talking about date rapists or hospital administrators, there is a lot of misinformation about what implied consent actually means. We are talking about the right to consent to or refuse treatments in the context of labor and delivery, as well as the absence of direct consent. This includes such things as medications, cutting or episiotomies, induction, and all other interventions and treatme

In this episode, Cristen speaks with Gena Kirby, doula trainer extraordinaire, about her remarkable success at getting dads and partners involved in birth, mommy brain/birth brain, and how to survive a zombie apocalypse. This is a must-listen for doulas!

In this episode, Cristen speaks with Kesha Chiappinelli, an Arkansas lawyer who represents consumers working for better midwifery regulations.  Right now, for example, the law requires a number of vaginal exams for home birth midwifery clients--something Ms. Chiappinelli describes as "state-sanctioned rape."  (The regulations are similar to what is described in Birth Monopoly's 2014 article "Arizona: Mandatory Surgery or Forced Vaginal Exams" [www.birthmonopoly.com/arizona].) SEPT. 2017 CONSUMER ALERT: The Arkansas Department of Health will hold a public hearing on September 21, 2017, at 10:00 a.m. in the Auditorium of the Arkansas Department of Health, 4815 West Markham Street, Little Rock, AR in conformance with the Administrative Procedures Act, Ark. Code Ann. § 25-15-201 et seq. It is proposed to revise the Rules and Regulations Governing the Practice of Licensed Lay Midwifery in Arkansas pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act as amended, and by authority of Ark. Code Ann. §§17-85-101 et seq. and

In this episode, Cristen speaks with Traci Weafer, a Southern doula who believes that speaking up for laboring women and having great relationships with hospital staff are not mutually exclusive. As an example, she shares about the time she stopped a doctor from cutting her client when he started to do an episiotomy without consent.

In this episode, Cristen speaks with Caroline Malatesta, the Alabama mother who won a lawsuit against her hospital after she was permanently injured in a "wrestling match" with her nurses during childbirth--in a place that promised support for unmedicated birth. One piece of Caroline's journey that she has not spoken about publicly before is how, in the aftermath of the assault, her doula and the local doula community responded to her. It's an important perspective from a birthing mother and doula client.

In this episode, Cristen speaks with an experienced Labor & Delivery nurse about the obstetric violence she has witnessed and even participated in ("I’ve seen doctors pry women’s legs apart with their elbows… I’ve seen doctors check people [vaginally] while the women were saying, ‘no,’ ..."). She also talks about advocating to change a patriarchal system ("I truly believe that the women in any given community have way more power than they realize. [They] can take over if they really put their minds to it.")

In this episode, Cristen speaks with "J," an Indiana mother who recorded the meeting with her hospital about a non-consented procedure during labor that the hospital defended as "appropriate" and "part of" routine care. We'll hear the recording of the meeting, as well as the professional opinions of respected legal and medical experts on why the hospital's defense is dead wrong.

In this episode, Cristen speaks with Zawn Villines, lead organizer of the community effort to push back on Dekalb Medical's policies involving childbirth options and rights and their decision to push out a midwifery practice and doctor known for respecting patient decisions. Katie Kissel, a local mother, shares her surprise at discovering that the head of obstetrics at Dekalb as these events transpired is the same doctor who laughed at her birth plan and gave her an episiotomy without consent during the birth of her first child.

In this episode, Cristen speaks with an obstetrician who saw her practice's Cesarean rates drop after they implemented a feminist model--putting women in charge of their own medical decisions. She also discusses her own job-related trauma and medicine's blame culture.

In this episode, Cristen speaks with an Alabama doula about how her clients are treated in a maternity care system that is improving slowly, but still characterized by paternalism and a resistance to change. **TRIGGER WARNING** for description of assault of a laboring woman

In this episode, perhaps the most experienced midwifery law lawyer in the U.S. talks about why midwives need lawyers, as well as the David vs. Goliath struggles of families fighting hospital and medical lobbies for the right to maternity care outside of hospitals. BONUS: That time she was one of the first women lawyers to argue (and win!) a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In this episode, a doula based out of New York City talks about the abuse she experiences and witnesses as she supports clients during childbirth.

In this episode, Lexington, KY, couple Helen & Kris Nonn describe the home birth of their son, born "illegally" with Certified Professional Midwives, and talk about why they made that choice for his birth.

In this episode, Cristen talks with Mary Carol Akers, a certified nurse midwife who has been fighting local hospitals for years to open an independent birth center in Kentucky; Mary Kathryn Delodder, the head of the consumer coalition working to legalize out-of-hospital midwifery in Kentucky; and a Central Kentucky couple who was turned away from two hospitals *while the mother was in labor* for wanting to have a vaginal birth after Cesarean.