Reading Pushed

Although Jennifer Blocks book Pushed - The Painful Truth about Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care has been out for over a year now, I have just started reading it. So far I have a love/hate relationship with the book because although it is very well written and researched, it points out so many of the blunders in mother/baby care that are frankly heartbreaking. I don't know about you all, but I am getting pretty tired of hearing yucky birth/hospital/doctor stories that I almost don't want to listen any more...but I do, to help me remember why I feel so called to help women and families.

Pushed starts off by describing this amazingly crazy patented device, called the Blonsky, that helps get babies out using centrifugal force as the mom is spun around at seven times the force of gravity. The machine stops spinning when the baby hits the net surrounding the contraption.

I am wondering what Evidence-based Midwifery would say about that...

There is a new report out as of October 12th,
Evidence-Based Maternity Care: What it is and What it can Achieve.

This report published by Childbirth Connections, the Reforming States Group, and the Milbank Memorial Fund is very exciting as it is the first national report of it's kind focusing on "least harm" practices in maternity care.

The full document can be seen at

http://www.milbank.org/reports/0809MaternityCare/0809MaternityCare.html

and there is definitely no mention of the Blonsky!