In the News

Ah, some interesting material for my first "real" entry. Last week I was interviewed by Kevin Darst, a local newspaper reporter from the Fort Collins Coloradoan, regarding the recently released c-section statistics. Nationwide the c-section rate has risen to 29% and our local Poudre Valley Hospital is reporting a rate of 30%. Kevin was looking for local comments on this trend toward higher c-section rates and I was more than surprised to get a phone call asking for my input. At the time my cell phone rang I was running low on batteries and made arrangments to get in touch with Kevin later in the day. I'll admit that I considered declining the interview for fear of how my comments on such a controversial subject would be used in the paper. But I made a conscious decision not to be ruled by fear and called back to move forward with the interview. It was a great personal lesson on moving through fear in search of the reward on the other side, something I hope to support in others when I am their doula. And appropriately, it was my comments about the consequences of our cultural fear of birth that made the paper. And in the end I was mostly pleased with the content of the article and my comments therein. I had given Kevin some statistics that were not included but I believe they speak volumes about the state of birthing care in this country so I will include them here:

• The World Health Organization states that c-section rates should not exceed 10-15%
• The United States has a higher infant mortality rate than 41 other countries worldwide, including Taiwan and Cuba.

Getting Started

After much thought (read: a spur of the moment decision), I'm getting started with a doula blog. This will be a great place for me to ponder all things birth and will hopefully give others a peek into the doula life.