1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,000
Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

2
00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:10,000
Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to stop? Mom? Never told you?

3
00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:17,480
Speaker 1: From House top Works dot Com. Hello and welcome to

4
00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,400
Speaker 1: the podcast. This is Molly and I'm Kristen. Kristin one

5
00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:22,480
Speaker 1: of our most requested topics, and sometimes I feel like

6
00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:25,520
Speaker 1: I say that about all the topics but requests, because

7
00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:27,159
Speaker 1: don get lots of requests. But this is one that

8
00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:31,200
Speaker 1: has stood out is midwives. And so we're going to

9
00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:34,879
Speaker 1: approach midwives today with by asking the question what's the

10
00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:38,400
Speaker 1: difference between a midwife and a doula? Because I gotta

11
00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:42,240
Speaker 1: say I was not aware of the term doula before

12
00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:45,120
Speaker 1: a few years ago. Right, I think that you're seeing

13
00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:48,960
Speaker 1: a really big renaissance in both midwives and dula's being

14
00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,600
Speaker 1: present at childbirth, and it it kind of gets into this, uh,

15
00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,440
Speaker 1: you know, debate over what childbirth should look like. Uh.

16
00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:58,720
Speaker 1: In recent years, you hear a lot of things, a

17
00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:02,000
Speaker 1: lot of terms like the medic clisation of childbirth and

18
00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:05,160
Speaker 1: this move towards natural childbirth UM and a lot of

19
00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:08,000
Speaker 1: so people recommended to us the movie Business of Being Born,

20
00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,520
Speaker 1: which deals with that debate and uh, midwives and duels

21
00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:13,720
Speaker 1: are two people who tend to show up when there's

22
00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:17,720
Speaker 1: a natural childbirth versus one that's um you know, very

23
00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:20,840
Speaker 1: medicalized to use that that term of the debate in

24
00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:23,880
Speaker 1: that you know, your lying float on your back in

25
00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:27,440
Speaker 1: a hospital, you have an epidural, the doctor comes in out.

26
00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:29,679
Speaker 1: Childbirth is you know, that kind of childbirth is often

27
00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:32,679
Speaker 1: a stereotyped, is very impersonal, not the way it's supposed

28
00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:35,000
Speaker 1: to go. That if you want sort of the to

29
00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:38,800
Speaker 1: connect with your ancient uh female ancestors in the way

30
00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:42,600
Speaker 1: they've always given birth, then you contact midwives and dulas well.

31
00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:44,920
Speaker 1: And midwives and duels may also be present in a

32
00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,200
Speaker 1: hospital birth, but we do associate them more with natural childbirth.

33
00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:53,559
Speaker 1: And why don't we start out with midwives what exactly

34
00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:58,000
Speaker 1: midwives do? Because there are different categories of midwives um,

35
00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:00,920
Speaker 1: some of which are more contra virtual in the medical

36
00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,320
Speaker 1: world than others. So let's stop at the top two.

37
00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:07,200
Speaker 1: Start at the top tier with certified nurse midwives. And

38
00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:10,600
Speaker 1: these are trained as both nurses and midwives, as the

39
00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,200
Speaker 1: name implies, and they have at least a bachelor's degree

40
00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:17,480
Speaker 1: and pass a certification exam from the National College of

41
00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:22,160
Speaker 1: Nurse Midwives and receive a state license to practice. So

42
00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:26,480
Speaker 1: these are the most accepted among the more mainstream medical community,

43
00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,280
Speaker 1: and they are often working in hospitals. And then going

44
00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:32,480
Speaker 1: down from there, we have certified midwives, which are a

45
00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:36,320
Speaker 1: relatively new specialty and they're also college educated, but not

46
00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:39,480
Speaker 1: every state is going to license as certified midwife. They

47
00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:42,480
Speaker 1: aren't certified as nurses and midwives. And then we have

48
00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:46,799
Speaker 1: certified professional midwives and direct entry midwives. And direct intry

49
00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:50,240
Speaker 1: midwives are the most controversial because they don't have to

50
00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:53,480
Speaker 1: have a bachelor's degree and they don't go through the

51
00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:58,520
Speaker 1: more formalized training process, so usually apprentice under a midwife,

52
00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:02,280
Speaker 1: but they're not necessarily um passing these exams from the

53
00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,760
Speaker 1: American College of Nurse Midwives, and not all states are

54
00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:10,840
Speaker 1: going to recognize direct entry midwives, and sometimes uh women

55
00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:14,200
Speaker 1: are worried about having a direct instrum mid wife help

56
00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:16,960
Speaker 1: them with a home birth because if something goes wrong

57
00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:19,320
Speaker 1: and they take them to the hospital and they're not

58
00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,920
Speaker 1: recognized by the state, that direct entry midwife could have

59
00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:25,640
Speaker 1: charged legal charges pressed against her right and you know,

60
00:03:25,639 --> 00:03:28,760
Speaker 1: a direct entry midwife would say, hey, it's not that

61
00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:30,799
Speaker 1: I am not trained. It's not that I don't have

62
00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:32,760
Speaker 1: a bachelor's degree. I am trained in the way that

63
00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:35,080
Speaker 1: all midwives have been trained for centuries. You know, this

64
00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:38,960
Speaker 1: was um art that was passed down from woman to

65
00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:41,320
Speaker 1: woman in the village because you know, there were no

66
00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:42,920
Speaker 1: doctors for a long time, and so if you were

67
00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:44,800
Speaker 1: going to deliver a baby, you would call the local

68
00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:47,800
Speaker 1: woman who knew how to do this and direct intry midwife.

69
00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:50,360
Speaker 1: Say they're sort of carrying on that tradition. Uh, and

70
00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,160
Speaker 1: they don't need that, you know, rigid medical training, because

71
00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:55,960
Speaker 1: again there's this debate over whether you know, child worth

72
00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:57,680
Speaker 1: is something that a woman's body just knows how to

73
00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:00,280
Speaker 1: do and she just needs this assistant there or when

74
00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:02,480
Speaker 1: something goes wrong with which is what the medical com

75
00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:04,640
Speaker 1: you would say, can you have a doctor there in

76
00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:07,000
Speaker 1: two minutes to save the baby or save the mother? Right?

77
00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:09,200
Speaker 1: Because the doctor's argue that if something goes wrong, it

78
00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:13,119
Speaker 1: goes wrong very quickly and very suddenly. And even though

79
00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:18,039
Speaker 1: with this idea of ancient midwiffery that women are just

80
00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:21,599
Speaker 1: innately given these capabilities to know what to do to

81
00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:26,040
Speaker 1: help in a crisis, doctors aren't so sure. But let's

82
00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:30,000
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about where this began in the US.

83
00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:32,160
Speaker 1: So it started in the States with a woman named

84
00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:35,200
Speaker 1: Mary breck and Ridge. She wanted to bring better healthcare

85
00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:39,000
Speaker 1: to people living in the remote Appalachian mountains. So she

86
00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:43,280
Speaker 1: goes over to Europe taking some notes. She notices how

87
00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:47,280
Speaker 1: well these British nurse midwives are assisting women who are

88
00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:52,239
Speaker 1: going through labor. So she starts the Frontier nursing service

89
00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:56,400
Speaker 1: in rural Kentucky and it's the first real nurse midwiffery

90
00:04:56,440 --> 00:04:59,839
Speaker 1: program in the country. And that's right, we should know

91
00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:02,440
Speaker 1: that in Europe it's still pretty common to have a

92
00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:05,600
Speaker 1: midwife adula. It's not really even a distinction that people

93
00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:07,799
Speaker 1: have to make. So this is sort of a uniquely

94
00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:12,160
Speaker 1: American question we're asking because while yes, Mary Breckenridge is

95
00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:16,560
Speaker 1: establishing midwife programs in rural areas, the people in the

96
00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:20,039
Speaker 1: more urban areas are electing around this time to start

97
00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,440
Speaker 1: going to doctors. Because doctors are putting out the note

98
00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:26,599
Speaker 1: that you know, they've got the latest medical advances, they've got,

99
00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:28,680
Speaker 1: you know, the ways to save you in childbirth if

100
00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:31,719
Speaker 1: something goes wrong. So it's really it starts a big

101
00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:34,599
Speaker 1: class divide in that the poor rural people are going

102
00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:37,600
Speaker 1: to midwives and the people who have more means are

103
00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:43,039
Speaker 1: going to doctors. So then in nineteen seventy six, big

104
00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:46,960
Speaker 1: turning point, big turning point, a hippie. We'll just go

105
00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:49,720
Speaker 1: in and and call her hippie because she's hippie. Clearly, a

106
00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,760
Speaker 1: hippie named I Am a Gascon writes this book called

107
00:05:53,880 --> 00:06:00,719
Speaker 1: Spiritual Midwiffery that becomes the midwives Bible and not just

108
00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:03,200
Speaker 1: Midwife to get spread around to women of the time.

109
00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:06,480
Speaker 1: And everyone's like, yes, Aina May has the answer. Ainame

110
00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:09,799
Speaker 1: has the answers because, as you can imagine, as part

111
00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:13,880
Speaker 1: of the hippie movement, Aina May is all about home birth,

112
00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:18,320
Speaker 1: and she or bust birth or bust birth right because

113
00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:23,440
Speaker 1: she and her husband and a bunch of other hippies

114
00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:27,080
Speaker 1: get together in a bus in the sixties is how

115
00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:31,360
Speaker 1: all great stories begin. And they go across the country

116
00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:34,520
Speaker 1: and a lot of the women on the bus are priggers,

117
00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:38,800
Speaker 1: and you know, at some point those babies gotta come out,

118
00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:44,200
Speaker 1: and hence all these home slash bucks bus births begin happening.

119
00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:49,679
Speaker 1: An Aname Gaskin becomes kind of like this default midwife. Yeah,

120
00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:51,440
Speaker 1: and you know it was sort of maybe the right

121
00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:53,120
Speaker 1: time for in her life for that to happen, because

122
00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:56,440
Speaker 1: she'd had a really traumatic hospital birth a few years before.

123
00:06:56,560 --> 00:06:59,400
Speaker 1: So she kind of finds her calling and she writes

124
00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:01,039
Speaker 1: this book about how you know, you don't need to

125
00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:02,840
Speaker 1: go to the hospital, you can just have your baby

126
00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:04,960
Speaker 1: in the back of the bus. I mean, I'm paraphrasing

127
00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:09,080
Speaker 1: and simplifying, of course, but um, she becomes renowned for

128
00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:12,640
Speaker 1: starting this commune called the Farm where women still at

129
00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:16,119
Speaker 1: this day can go to um work with midwives trained

130
00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:21,720
Speaker 1: by Anime Gaskin to have these really natural, beautiful uh births, right,

131
00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:23,800
Speaker 1: and uh, just just to go back to to the

132
00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:26,000
Speaker 1: bus situation for a second. And by the way, the

133
00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:28,400
Speaker 1: bus was referred to as the caravan, the strip that

134
00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:31,240
Speaker 1: they were all on. There were eleven babies that were

135
00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:34,880
Speaker 1: born on the bus and gascon rights and spiritual midwiffery.

136
00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:37,680
Speaker 1: When each birth took place, we all parked in a

137
00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:40,640
Speaker 1: sort of protective formation around the bus in which the

138
00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:43,680
Speaker 1: birth would take place, and everyone waited for the babies

139
00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:46,280
Speaker 1: first cry. So you can kind of get hints of

140
00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:50,920
Speaker 1: where that spiritual aspect of us the title comes from.

141
00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:54,000
Speaker 1: But this is really sad actually the tenth birth, that

142
00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:57,000
Speaker 1: of her own child and in death of her two

143
00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:01,920
Speaker 1: month premature son. But that only reinvigorated on his quest

144
00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:06,520
Speaker 1: to improve women's home birth experiences and become a better midwife. Right,

145
00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:09,040
Speaker 1: So people start passing this book around in the seventies.

146
00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:11,960
Speaker 1: Um it's been, you know, just the de facto thing

147
00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:14,400
Speaker 1: that you do to go to the hospital, see the doctor,

148
00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:16,520
Speaker 1: have your baby. You know, the guy waits in the

149
00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:20,120
Speaker 1: waiting room. UM, and Iam is presenting this very radical

150
00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:22,800
Speaker 1: idea for our country that you don't have to do

151
00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:24,400
Speaker 1: that anymore. Like we said, you know, it's kind of

152
00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,800
Speaker 1: very American that this is still um a divide, whereas

153
00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:30,040
Speaker 1: in Europe it's it's not in another place. It's not

154
00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:32,160
Speaker 1: just because you know, there may not be a medical

155
00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:34,839
Speaker 1: facility to go to. But anyway, this book gets passed

156
00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:37,240
Speaker 1: around and tons of women. There's really a huge resurgence

157
00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:41,199
Speaker 1: in the late seventies early eighties, huge new interest in midwives.

158
00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:43,920
Speaker 1: And to give you an idea of the size of

159
00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:48,199
Speaker 1: growth in the midwife practice, it went from around twenty

160
00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,679
Speaker 1: thousand births midwife attended births in the US and nine

161
00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:56,160
Speaker 1: to almost two d and forty thousand in nineties six,

162
00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:58,520
Speaker 1: and I'm sure that number has only gone up. That

163
00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:02,559
Speaker 1: still represents only about six percent of the country's total

164
00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:06,320
Speaker 1: births attended by midwives. But nevertheless, like we said, it's

165
00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:09,920
Speaker 1: still there's there's been a resurgence in the home birth

166
00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:13,880
Speaker 1: movement and along with that the use of midwives and

167
00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:17,320
Speaker 1: gascon I think we should note is credited with the

168
00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:21,280
Speaker 1: development and growing use of something called the gascon maneuver,

169
00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:25,120
Speaker 1: which is an approach to dealing with um a complication

170
00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:29,920
Speaker 1: a birthing complication known as shoulder dystocia in which a

171
00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:33,559
Speaker 1: baby's shoulder becomes stuck in a laboring woman's birthing canal,

172
00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:36,320
Speaker 1: and so she figured out a way to to get

173
00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:39,800
Speaker 1: the baby out safely. And while the American Congress of

174
00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:45,200
Speaker 1: Obsetrics and Gynecologists are very much against midwive assisted home

175
00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:47,280
Speaker 1: births for the reasons that we talked about earlier, just

176
00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:51,160
Speaker 1: due to maternal safety, there are studies to indicate that

177
00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:56,480
Speaker 1: women need fewer um medications. Obviously, there are fewer c

178
00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:59,960
Speaker 1: sections that are involved. There's a study in the Journal

179
00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:03,600
Speaker 1: of American Public Health Association that found that only two

180
00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:07,480
Speaker 1: percent of women who gave birth at home experienced interventions

181
00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:11,400
Speaker 1: such as four steps, vacuum extractors, or c sections, while

182
00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:16,000
Speaker 1: of those getting birth in hospitals encountered these outcomes. Right,

183
00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:17,959
Speaker 1: So it all depends on what your priorities are. You know,

184
00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:19,680
Speaker 1: you hear a lot of people talking about making a

185
00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:21,839
Speaker 1: birth plan, and you know your birth goals and how

186
00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:23,720
Speaker 1: you want just a birth to come out. And for

187
00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:26,000
Speaker 1: a lot of women, this return to natural childbirth is

188
00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:29,920
Speaker 1: really important, and those kind of statistics really, uh, you know,

189
00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:32,200
Speaker 1: speak to the importance to these women of having a

190
00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:35,040
Speaker 1: midwife present, someone who can help you use your body

191
00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:38,200
Speaker 1: to deliver the baby naturally, as opposed to you know,

192
00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:40,600
Speaker 1: maybe a doctor who wants to just get out there

193
00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:43,960
Speaker 1: and hurry it along and stuff like that. Right, But

194
00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:48,280
Speaker 1: we haven't said single word, Molly about the doulas. Let's

195
00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:50,920
Speaker 1: talk about it. Let's talk about dola. Not surprisingly, this

196
00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:53,640
Speaker 1: is a Greek word. Da sounds very Greek. Sounds Greek

197
00:10:53,679 --> 00:10:56,479
Speaker 1: to me. It's a Greek word that is usually translated

198
00:10:56,559 --> 00:11:02,400
Speaker 1: as female servant, and ulas are pretty distinct from midwives.

199
00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:05,200
Speaker 1: They're not actually going to be down there catching the baby,

200
00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:10,240
Speaker 1: doing any Gaskin maneuvers or anything like that. But as

201
00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:12,600
Speaker 1: we'll get to in a second. They will interact with

202
00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:15,480
Speaker 1: the doctor if there's one in the hospital. Duelas, though,

203
00:11:15,559 --> 00:11:18,280
Speaker 1: are pretty much there to make the mother as comfortable

204
00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:21,680
Speaker 1: as possible and help the birthing process along in terms

205
00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:26,120
Speaker 1: of positioning the mother or getting her to do calming,

206
00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:29,960
Speaker 1: breathing exercises, things like that, kind of like a birthing coach. Yeah,

207
00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:31,839
Speaker 1: Kristy and I have both discussed how having just a

208
00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:34,960
Speaker 1: duela for real life would be pretty awesome. Yeah, like

209
00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:37,240
Speaker 1: around three pm when you're getting stressed, someone just comes

210
00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:41,080
Speaker 1: up and he's like Kristin's brief, Hey, Janina, Gina Nick massage. Yeah,

211
00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:43,439
Speaker 1: do you need a cool cloth on your forehead? Man? Do?

212
00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:45,760
Speaker 1: If that's great? I mean I would call my Dulah

213
00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:48,800
Speaker 1: by is there her first name? Because I I also

214
00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:51,360
Speaker 1: would not gender discriminate. I could have a male duela.

215
00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:53,400
Speaker 1: There are a handful of dula's out there, despite the

216
00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:56,960
Speaker 1: translation usually having female in the translation. You mean there

217
00:11:56,960 --> 00:12:00,440
Speaker 1: are some male duelas out They're small, small group, but

218
00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:02,440
Speaker 1: they are out there. I'm surprised it hasn't been made

219
00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:05,679
Speaker 1: into a comedy starring Vince Vaughan. Oh Christ and Your

220
00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:08,600
Speaker 1: Dreams are about to come true, because there is a

221
00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:11,400
Speaker 1: movie in production. I don't know if it's in production,

222
00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:15,360
Speaker 1: it's in it's in pre production. It's a comedy starring

223
00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:18,840
Speaker 1: Vince Vaun about a male dula. Okay see aren't wow?

224
00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:24,840
Speaker 1: Okay great? And like midwives, dulas have become more popular

225
00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:29,560
Speaker 1: in recent years along with the whole home birth natural

226
00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:33,960
Speaker 1: birth movement. But a lot of times they are not

227
00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:37,920
Speaker 1: going to have any type of certified training and they

228
00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:41,400
Speaker 1: are by no means recognized by the American Congress of

229
00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:46,280
Speaker 1: Obstetricians and Gynecologists or the American Medical Association, because like

230
00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:48,760
Speaker 1: we said, they're really there just to make the mother

231
00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:53,839
Speaker 1: more comfortable. And a lot of times they're used by

232
00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:56,840
Speaker 1: more affluent couples because they're sort of like a little bonus.

233
00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:00,520
Speaker 1: It's it's kind of interesting because in a rural areas

234
00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:04,000
Speaker 1: that might not have access to gynecologists who can or

235
00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:06,600
Speaker 1: hospitals where women can go, they might not be able

236
00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:10,080
Speaker 1: to afford it. Midwives will step in. But dulas are

237
00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:12,240
Speaker 1: kind of on the flip side of this, where where

238
00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:15,480
Speaker 1: they cost extra. Yeah, and you know, despite the fact

239
00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:17,240
Speaker 1: that there are a lot of the same benefits of

240
00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:19,680
Speaker 1: using a duela as there are using a midwife there,

241
00:13:19,679 --> 00:13:21,680
Speaker 1: they may not be covered by insurance, whereas you may

242
00:13:21,679 --> 00:13:23,840
Speaker 1: be able to get a midwife assisted birth covered by

243
00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:27,320
Speaker 1: your insurance. So um, adula can cost anywhere from three

244
00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:30,720
Speaker 1: hundred dollars to a thousand dollars and um so, yeah,

245
00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:33,880
Speaker 1: they are seeing a sort of a luxury extra item. Um.

246
00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:37,040
Speaker 1: Although there are programs in some cities to provide low

247
00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:40,400
Speaker 1: cost duelists to low income women, some dulas will barter

248
00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:43,640
Speaker 1: with you. Um so it's they're only used at about

249
00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:45,959
Speaker 1: one percent of births, which is kind of surprising when

250
00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,719
Speaker 1: you hear all of the benefits which a duela can provide. Statistically,

251
00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:52,800
Speaker 1: the Cissian rate is reduced by half, the need for

252
00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:55,680
Speaker 1: an epidural is sixty pc less, and labor time is

253
00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:59,160
Speaker 1: twenty five percent shorter for women who are using dulas,

254
00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:03,200
Speaker 1: So might be worth the extra cost. Yeah. And also

255
00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:05,240
Speaker 1: there's been a study that shows that women who use

256
00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:09,040
Speaker 1: duelists are more affectionate with their babies after the birthing process,

257
00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:11,959
Speaker 1: they're more nurturing. Um than dula can help a new

258
00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:14,920
Speaker 1: mother breastfeed, and you can also hire a postpartum dula

259
00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:17,559
Speaker 1: to help you make that transition to being a new

260
00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:19,880
Speaker 1: mother in your own home. They can run errands, they

261
00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:22,760
Speaker 1: can babysit your older children, they can cook meals. And

262
00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:25,320
Speaker 1: those duelas are usually paid on an hourly reach right,

263
00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:31,360
Speaker 1: And typically duels will either specialize in labor or postpartum

264
00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:35,160
Speaker 1: one or the other. But if you decide to have

265
00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:38,160
Speaker 1: a baby in a hospital and you want to bring

266
00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:47,080
Speaker 1: along your dula, get ready for a due. Uh. Yeah,

267
00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:48,880
Speaker 1: we have a lot of stories out there, and maybe

268
00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:51,800
Speaker 1: the New York Times was just turning making amount and

269
00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:54,280
Speaker 1: out of a mole hill. But duelas don't seem to

270
00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:56,960
Speaker 1: get along very well with nurses and doctors. Well, you know,

271
00:14:57,200 --> 00:14:59,360
Speaker 1: I think some for the same reason that midwives don't

272
00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:02,040
Speaker 1: always get uh the loving support they need from doctors.

273
00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:03,720
Speaker 1: It's just, you know, it's an extra person in the room.

274
00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:06,320
Speaker 1: So from a doctor's per seerspective, that could be annoying.

275
00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:08,640
Speaker 1: But yeah, The New York Times also paints a picture

276
00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:10,760
Speaker 1: of some duelas who get kind of in the doctor's faces,

277
00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:14,720
Speaker 1: or this woman needs some help and you better helper well. Also,

278
00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:18,040
Speaker 1: since they're so focused on keeping the childbirth as natural

279
00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:20,880
Speaker 1: as possible, they might argue with a doctor about doing

280
00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:23,520
Speaker 1: something like a C section or an epidural. They might

281
00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:26,480
Speaker 1: get in the nurses way just trying to keep the mother, uh,

282
00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:29,880
Speaker 1: you knows, as all natural as possible. And there were

283
00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:33,440
Speaker 1: anecdotes of some mothers getting really frustrated with their duela

284
00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:35,800
Speaker 1: for not kind of stepping back and letting them more

285
00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:40,880
Speaker 1: medical professionals take over. But again it might have been

286
00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:43,840
Speaker 1: you know, that's that's a handful of anecdotes. Yeah, and

287
00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:46,280
Speaker 1: you know it's everyone's experience is gonna be different. Probably

288
00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:48,560
Speaker 1: not everyone wants a duela or a midwife, but some

289
00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:52,000
Speaker 1: people really do. And the hospitals and other birth and

290
00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:53,920
Speaker 1: facilities are kind of having a hard time kind of

291
00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:56,480
Speaker 1: figuring out what everyone is going to do in these

292
00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:58,440
Speaker 1: kind of situations. A lot of states are looking at

293
00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:01,680
Speaker 1: laws that would signs or of a midwife to a doctor,

294
00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:03,560
Speaker 1: so the midwife could be doing a birth and if

295
00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:06,520
Speaker 1: something goes wrong, the doctor has to come in. Doctors

296
00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:08,720
Speaker 1: don't love this idea because then they've got to just

297
00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:11,280
Speaker 1: basically come in and take over someone set of problems.

298
00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:14,800
Speaker 1: And we met this woman, so it's it's very sticky politically,

299
00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:17,520
Speaker 1: and you know, the options over what you can do

300
00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:20,560
Speaker 1: when you have a kid um. They don't seem to

301
00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:23,200
Speaker 1: be going away in terms of this natural versus hospital

302
00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:28,239
Speaker 1: or well, because there also hasn't been any conclusive research

303
00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:33,000
Speaker 1: saying that doctors are better than midwives are delivering. You know,

304
00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:36,160
Speaker 1: we've tossed out these studies saying that um there are

305
00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:42,200
Speaker 1: fewer incidences of cesareans and complications and uh needs for

306
00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:46,240
Speaker 1: epidurals with midwife assisted and Dulah assisted birth. But that

307
00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:48,200
Speaker 1: might also have to do with the fact that women

308
00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:51,400
Speaker 1: who are having um children at home might be going

309
00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:54,800
Speaker 1: into it a little bit healthier than women who would

310
00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:56,280
Speaker 1: know beforehand that they would need to be in a

311
00:16:56,360 --> 00:17:00,280
Speaker 1: hospital in case of risks. Right, midwife's I had to

312
00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:03,080
Speaker 1: stay with low risk pregnancies, which means a woman who

313
00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:05,320
Speaker 1: is between a T and thirty four, who has had

314
00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:08,639
Speaker 1: a healthy pregnancy, who doesn't have you know, multiple fetuses,

315
00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:11,119
Speaker 1: who you know, it should be a routine birth. And

316
00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:12,879
Speaker 1: that's the argument these midwives make is that for a

317
00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:16,000
Speaker 1: routine birth, they can handle it, they don't need the doctor.

318
00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:18,560
Speaker 1: And so it's a question of when does that low

319
00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:20,879
Speaker 1: risk pregnancy become a high risk one. Because the doctors

320
00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:23,320
Speaker 1: are saying in a blink of an eye. That's what happens,

321
00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:25,520
Speaker 1: and that's why you need to have a doctor there.

322
00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:28,480
Speaker 1: So we can't answer the question, but I bet plenty

323
00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:33,000
Speaker 1: of listeners out there have had babies a and have

324
00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:35,840
Speaker 1: may or may not have used a Duela and or

325
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:39,800
Speaker 1: a midwife and may have Duela's midwives out there too. Yeah, exactly.

326
00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:42,480
Speaker 1: So if you have any any connection, any experience with this,

327
00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:45,560
Speaker 1: we would love to hear from you and get your thoughts.

328
00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:47,840
Speaker 1: You can send it over to our email address at

329
00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:50,320
Speaker 1: mom stuff at health stuffwork dot com, or we'd love

330
00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:53,800
Speaker 1: for you to share over on Facebook and Twitter. And

331
00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:56,119
Speaker 1: I have an email here from Angela and it's about

332
00:17:56,240 --> 00:18:03,040
Speaker 1: the vitamins podcast and she had two quick tips that

333
00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:06,000
Speaker 1: she wanted to share. Uh, she writes, I donate platelets

334
00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:08,400
Speaker 1: on a regular basis because my blood type is compatible

335
00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:10,200
Speaker 1: with most people in need of them. And when I

336
00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:12,360
Speaker 1: first started giving blood, I noticed I got very weak

337
00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:13,720
Speaker 1: and did not feel well for the rest of the

338
00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:16,679
Speaker 1: day after the donation. The nurses gave me times for

339
00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:18,800
Speaker 1: the cal semuth beginning throughout the donation, but I was

340
00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:21,439
Speaker 1: still noticeably weak the rest of the day. Once I

341
00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:24,600
Speaker 1: began taking a woman's multi vitamin. Though, these weaknesses all

342
00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:26,800
Speaker 1: but disappeared, and I can now give higher amounts of

343
00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:30,720
Speaker 1: platelets on regular basis. While multi vitams are not always

344
00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:32,879
Speaker 1: the best way for your buy to absorb all the nutrients,

345
00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:34,879
Speaker 1: they work for me because of the increased stress my

346
00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:38,600
Speaker 1: system goes through during the donation. And her second tibit

347
00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:41,880
Speaker 1: is that if you are looking into taking a multi vitamin, uh,

348
00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:44,520
Speaker 1: note that it had may have caffeine in it, because

349
00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:48,240
Speaker 1: Angela took wine got a little jumping and Woozy didn't

350
00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:50,439
Speaker 1: need that. Well, I've got one here from Hannah and

351
00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:54,160
Speaker 1: this is in response to our podcast on abortion, and

352
00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:56,240
Speaker 1: she writes that I think you did a great job

353
00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:58,920
Speaker 1: of discussing the topic neutral e and with minimum gore,

354
00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:01,520
Speaker 1: But hearing all the seizures described made me stick to

355
00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:03,800
Speaker 1: my stomach. I was determined to tough it out, but

356
00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:06,119
Speaker 1: did end up doubled overholding my stomach by the end

357
00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:09,320
Speaker 1: of the last description. As negative as this might sound,

358
00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:12,440
Speaker 1: I don't mean it as a criticism. Actually, if more

359
00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:15,320
Speaker 1: young women heard these descriptions in their high school sex said,

360
00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:17,920
Speaker 1: I'm willing to bet that teen use of condoms would

361
00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:20,520
Speaker 1: go way up in my sex said class, we learned

362
00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:23,280
Speaker 1: about all the places you can go for abortion resources,

363
00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:26,520
Speaker 1: but we never learned about abortions themselves. I think a

364
00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:28,200
Speaker 1: lot of girls in their teams feel that if they

365
00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:30,760
Speaker 1: get pregnant, they can just have an abortion, But maybe

366
00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:33,199
Speaker 1: if the information was more widely available, they might not

367
00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:36,760
Speaker 1: take that option so lightly, because the procedure sounds extremely

368
00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:39,760
Speaker 1: unpleasant under any circumstance. And I do want to concur

369
00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:42,280
Speaker 1: in my in my high school, like sex said, kind

370
00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:45,200
Speaker 1: of didn't exist, and we really didn't even talk about abortion,

371
00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:47,320
Speaker 1: which less what was involved in it. So I think

372
00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:49,520
Speaker 1: it would be important for people to know a little

373
00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:53,120
Speaker 1: bit more about it. So if you have any questions, comments, concerns,

374
00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:57,040
Speaker 1: feel free to a email us at mom Stuff at

375
00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:01,719
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com, be Twitter at moms Stuff podcast,

376
00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:06,840
Speaker 1: and see like us on Facebook and me the comment

377
00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:09,200
Speaker 1: and you can always read our blog during the week.

378
00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:12,600
Speaker 1: It's stuff Mom Never told You from how stuff works

379
00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:18,520
Speaker 1: dot com. For more on this and thousands of other topics.

380
00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:20,800
Speaker 1: Is it how stuff works dot com. To learn more

381
00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:23,639
Speaker 1: about the podcast, goog on the podcast icon in the

382
00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:26,760
Speaker 1: upper right corner of our homepage. The how stuff Works

383
00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:32,280
Speaker 1: ipone app has a ride Download it today on iTunes.

384
00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:37,439
Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

385
00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:38,960
Speaker 1: It's ready, are you