An article from the Boston Globe “Call (Back) The Midwife” looks at midwifery today in the U.S. and how we need a cultural change to make birth normal and not high risk. Read the article HERE.
Be Like a Princess and Call the Midwife!!
Princess Kate used midwives for the birth of the new little royal Princess Charlotte. Read more about it here.
Midwifery Benefits? Improved Outcomes For Moms Who See Midwives, Review Finds
A review that was just published by the Cochrane Library finds that regular midwifery care for the duration of pregnancy is associated with better outcomes for moms and their babies.
Read more here.
Midwifery Myths Set Straight
The profession of midwifery has evolved with today’s modern health care system. But there are many myths about midwives in the United States based on centuries-old images or simple misunderstandings. You might be surprised to learn the truth about some of these common midwifery myths. Check it out here.
Celebrate Midwives!!
Today is international day of the midwife!
Midwives from all over the world will try to raise awareness for the importance of the profession for women globally. This is the day to call on the public and its governments to invest in healthcare in order to improve services, infrastructure, and reproductive health policies so that all women can have access to safe care. Give your midwife a shout out or hug today.
HealthPartners Midwives 🙂
Take A Virtual Tour Of The Mother Baby Center At Abbott
Don’t have time for the real thing? 
Now you can take a virtual tour of The Mother Baby Center at Abbott Northwestern Hospital.
Of course you can do both. They offer tours every week.
Sign up for a free tour on-line or call 866-904-9962.
Meet The Midwife
Please note the Meet The Midwife at Abbott (The Mother Baby Center) has been changed to Thursday, February 6th from 6pm -7pm.
Is My Cervix Ripe?
As providers we often refer to a cervix as ripe or not at the end of pregnancy. To many women this can be confusing and frustrating. What exactly do we mean when we say your cervix is not ripe? Here is what we are checking for:
- Typically a cervix is 3 to 5 centimeters long throughout a pregnancy. As you get closer to the end of your pregnancy the cervix can start to thin out, or efface. When we check your cervix we can feel how long it is from an exam. If a cervix starts out at 4cm and is now 2cm that is called 50% effaced. When the cx is completely thinned out, then it is 100% effaced. How do we know exactly what your cervix was before…3cm, 4cm or 5cm? We don’t, we make our best estimate. That is often why you will get different numbers from different midwives. Don’t worry, you are not going backwards like it may sound sometimes!
- Next we check the position of your cervix. It can be posterior (meaning far back in the vagina), mid position or anterior (easy to reach, close). Everyone is different, but most women tend to be posterior or mid during pregnancy. As the cervix effaces and gets more ready for labor it will ordinarily be easier to reach or more anterior than it had been.
- A cervix during pregnancy is firm. It should feel somewhat like touching the end of your nose. A sign that your cervix is changing can be that it has gotten softer. As pregnancy/labor advances the cervix usually becomes softer, sometimes almost mushy feeling.
- We also check where the head of your baby is, more commonly referred to as the station. If it is engaged in the pelvis that is a 0 station, its head is at the ischial spines of your pelvis, which is the narrowest part of your pelvic structure. Above the spines means the head is not engaged in the pelvis and is measured in centimeters but with a negative sign in front of it. If the fetal head is 2cm above the spines, then the station would be -2. As you move closer to the pushing stage of labor the fetal head advances past the ischial spines and it is again measured in centimeters but with positive numbers. An example would be the fetal head is at a +1 station. At a +5-6 station you can see the head at the entrance (introitus) of the vagina. Up until the end of pregnancy the baby should not be engaged in the pelvis. When we refer to the baby as ballotable, it means we can move the baby up and down in the uterus.
- Lastly we check the cervix for dilation. During pregnancy the cervix is normally closed. The last few weeks of pregnancy, especially if you have been pregnant before, the cervix can start to open or dilate. This is not necessarily an indication that you will labor early. Some women are dilated several centimeters weeks before they go into labor.
We put all of these assessments into a score called a Bishop score. Each one of the above parameters is scored and then we add them up and come up with how ripe or ready your cervix is for labor. If you are a first time mom a ripe cervix is a score of 8 or above. For moms who have had a baby before it is 6 or above. The higher the score the more ripe or ready your cervix is for labor.
Women often want their cervix checked at the end of the pregnancy during their prenatal appointments. This is where you will hear the report if your cervix is ripe or not. I have seen many women with an unripe cervix go into labor over the next few days and vice versa – a woman with a very ripe cervix go for many more weeks until labor begins. In other words it doesn’t really mean much, so you shouldn’t worry about it.
The one time an unripe cervix does matter is if you need to be induced. In that case we would start the induction with a cervical ripening agent and get your cervix more ready for labor. This however doesn’t happen very often. We try to induce only women who have a medical indication for inducing labor. In my next blog I will discuss cervical ripening and how that is done.
Karin Marshall, CNM
Trans Fat: The Big Fat Truth
We have all heard of trans fat and that we shouldn’t eat it. But what exactly is trans fat and how do you know what food it is in? I decided many years ago to eliminate trans fat from my diet. But just tonight I ate something and then looked at the ingredients…and there it was, YUK!
For years I ate margarine because “they” said it was healthier that butter. Then I found out that margarine is filled with trans fat. Read this blog from the website A Dietician To Go, and find out more about trans fat and how to avoid it in your diet.
Trans Fat: The Big Fat Truth
By: Brittany Carpenter RDN/LD, BS
Happy eating!!
Karin
Happy New Year 2014!
Yes, it is that time of year again when we look ahead to the year before us and consider some new resolutions that we want initiate. You look back at last year and think…hmmmm, I should eat better, I need to exercise more and spend more time with my family and friends. So, great my decision is made and I will do better at all those things. But then you suddenly recall that you made those same promises to yourself last year, and come to think of it the year before too. Then you conclude that you aren’t very good at this and just toss those thoughts aside.
BUT wait…maybe it’s because you didn’t have a plan. You can not move forward without some kind of strategy to help you out. First you need to set a goal, an achievable goal. If you have a hard time changing your habits then set a very small goal that you know you can accomplish. I have found for myself that I can only set one goal at a time. I may also further break it down into smaller steps that make it seem easy to achieve. That way when you look back over the year you will be amazed how far you have come.
This year my goal is eating better. So what does that mean? Everyone will have different objectives depending on what they eat now. I have been working on my diet for some time, but there are still many areas that need work.
1. Stay away from processed foods, eat only real food
2. Eat more veggies (I eat 1-2 servings a day and the recommendation is 4-5 a day)
3. Cut back on chocolate…I love dark chocolate and tell myself that it is an antioxidant and is good for me! I have to limit the number of calories a day of chocolate to 200.
These are my three goals for the year. I will take one at a time and work on it step by step. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but looking back over the last few years I am astonished how much I have learned about nutrition and therefore changing my habits.
Women tend to take care of everyone but themselves. This is the year to look inside and make a resolution and come up with an action plan of how you can become the woman you want to be. Small tiny steps at first. As you achieve one small goal after another your self esteem will rise and so will your self respect. It is a great feeling when you take care of yourself!!
Start by making an appointment with your nurse-midwife to get going on improving your health. Do you need a health maintenance appointment? Do you have birth control that you can count on? Are you up to date with your immunizations? Need to talk about other health concerns?
Planning a pregnancy? We are here to support you in your efforts to be healthier and to set goals for you in 2014!!
Karin Marshall, CNM
Midwife Matters 