Did you know: “Giving birth in America carries the same risks as it does in Iran, a far less developed nation.” How about this fact: “New analysis shows that the states reporting higher than average cesarean rates had a 21% higher risk of maternal mortality than states with cesarean rates less than 33%.” Lucina Maternity, a new non-profit organization focused on the maternity crisis in the United States, has launched a nationwide Mother’s Day campaign to raise awareness of our dismal maternal mortality rates: Save a Mother's Life through their non-profit, Maternity Crisis. Their images are easy to the eye, but graphic in words. “USA: A world leader in maternal mortality.” “This Mother’s Day 93 women will escape. Two will die.” “This Mother’s Day you’re lucky to be alive.” At first glance I thought, if I didn’t have any kids, I certainly wouldn’t want them now! Death? I don’t want to DIE. I might adopt with those kind of odds (which certainly isn’t a bad thing!). Activists often tell us that we shouldn’t go into the horrifying, death-defying stories behind childbirth touting that we might scare someone away natural birth, or having a baby at all. I think we need to pick and choose our battles. Now, I don't go to every mom I meet and tell them all about my birth trauma complete with perinatal violence and PTSD lasting *years.* But I do tell them that natural, normal childbirth without medical interventions is well, normal. For the prepared mom who has taken a good natural & evidence-based childbirth class (or done a lot of research) and has a great advocate on her side during birth such as a doula, labor will usually be manageable, some might even argue enjoyable. Sure, labor is tough and it hurts. But taking those two measures of learning and advocacy will enable the mom to empower herself with the knowledge and tools necessary to deal with labor head-on. Whereas a mom who is absolutely not prepared at all is at grave risk of a painful, long, and usually medicated or even surgical birth. These additions to the natural process come with more risks. I don’t know why folks don’t understand that. Natural birth has a certain set of risks, albeit minimal. So of course, when you ADD to the birth, you add to the risks. That just makes sense, right? I can’t be alone in that thought process. Well, I know I’m not because these are exactly the points that both the Maternity Crisis and Lucina Maternity campaigns try to get across to everyone possible. We need to be honest: Right now? Our situation IS scary. I don’t like to go into the scary details myself either. I try to take a more “reduce your risk” kind of approach. But the fact of the matter is that you can’t really get into the “reduce your risk” approach until you know there’s a risk which needs reducing. So. Maternal Mortality, that’s a pretty big risk, don’t you think? I mean come on, all those ads you see on T.V. commercials for anti-depressants or even anti-acid medication, they all put it out there: “This medication comes with a lot of risks… AND EVEN DEATH!” We might even giggle about it: That silly commercial, if death is a risk why would they offer it to me? And we just don’t really think about it again – until the commercial comes on, again, and again! The Maternity Crisis campaign feels “Creating awareness will mobilize the American public to demand change.” As a part of their awareness campaign, they are collecting donations. “Every dollar you contribute to US Maternity Crisis will be put into our awareness campaign including; ad placement, print materials and public relations.” Since postpartum hemorrhage is a leading cause of maternal deaths, the Maternity Crisis campaign is suggesting another outlet for helping this cause is to donate blood through your local blood bank. They are also asking folks to “like” their facebook page (click here) and add their awareness button to Websites which can be found here. Maternity Crisis is also working closely on a documentary project to highlight experts and those who have lost their life (or had a "near-miss") during childbirth. More on this project in the coming days! What are your thoughts? Comment below or visit our facebook page!
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AuthorWelcome to Momma Trauma's Blog! Thoughts, empowering posts and stories straight from Momma Trauma herself, Birth Trauma families & birth professionals. Archives
July 2015
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