rants and ramblings of utter randomness

There's a PROMO VIDEO for the baby shooter.

I'm appalled, insulted, amused, embarrassed, and disgusted. ALL AT EXACTLY THE SAME TIME.

An excerpt from Marsden Wagner's book Born in the USA:

( Florida woman forced to have Caesarean section against her will )

Original blog article is here.

Ms P's whole name is Laura Pendleton. A link to the lawsuit ruling is here (.pdf file)

In summary: The hospital called the cops on her, and the GOVERNMENT took away her reproductive rights by forcing her to have MAJOR ABDOMINAL SURGERY against her will. Holy shit.

Obviously, neither the hospital nor the Florida courts have read this (taken from here):

( It's called INFORMED CHOICE, America )


This may very well be the scariest thing I've read about birth, ever, and I've been reading about birth since I was a child, and about birth politics since I was a teenager. WTF, AMERICA? (well, okay, Florida, but last time I looked Florida was still a US state).


Okay, now I'm going to bed because I worked all night and I'm knackered.

From birth_is_normal. Gods, this is gorgeous. And triumphant and inspiring and all those good words:



In other news, I think my writers' block is going away! \0

So, to give it a push,

Name a character and I'll tell you three (or more) facts about them from my own personal pseudocanon.

(meme lifted from dragonflymuse)


Also, if anyone has any ABBA, could you share? I'd love to hear me some ABBA (shut up), and I don't want to open my computer-sucking file-getting program to get it.

In case anyone cares, and even if you don't, the answers to my fandom love letter meme are ( under the cut )


In other news, after fits and starts, I'm finally finished watching H20. Holy Jesus on a unicycle, talk about an edge-of-your-seat story. The sequel? Cannot be here fast enough. *bites nails*

Oh, and on a related (at least in the synapses of my weird and overactive brain) subject: Stephen Harper and Paul Gross were born on the same day.
They don't just share a birthday, may it do ya, they were born on the same day. Coincidence or Evil Plot? Discuss. (the fact that Willie Nelson was born exactly 26 years earlier may or may not be noteworthy).


In birth news, the news isn't good.

( C-Section rate rises to 30.2% )

patchfire says this, and she's right:

"The rate, the article notes, has risen by half since 1996, undoubtedly a result of ACOG's reversal on VBAC. This is, quite simply, intolerable. Caesarean section is surgery and should be reserved for times when it is needed. Not when the doctor is impatient, or the non-medically necessary induction didn't quite take, or the bag of water has just been broken 'too long' without a sign of infection. Most authorities suggest rates should be somewhere between five and fifteen percent, depending on the source."

Also, listen to this. Finally, someone mainstream is admitting that External Fetal Monitors don't change the outcomes in any way except to increase the already outrageously high Caeserian rate, and that the only reason docs use them is so they won't get sued (the guy who invented them even said they should only be used for high-risk births). And it's nice to know that at even though EFMs are epidemic, at least the latest Stupid Gadget didn't getting accepted without question. NPR actually says "births that occur in hospitals", acknowledging that um, no, not all births do occur in hospitals. They do persist in calling birth a "medical event", though, which it is NOT, unless a. There's an actual problem, in which case the problem is the medical event, not the birth, or b. So many interventions are used by obstetricians (and yes, a lot of nurse-midwives) that it becomes a medical event.

I'm almost impressed that this press release actually appears on the ACOG website.

It's accompanied, of course, by with disclaimer:

Studies published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, the peer-reviewed scientific journal of The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), do not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of ACOG. ACOG is the national organization representing over 51,000 members who provide health care for women..

Hence the 'almost'. Because it's not like ACOG is actually planning on DOING anything about it.


In other, far less serious news, I am v. v. amused by this bit of badinage:

In which Missy attempts to draw out my inner bitch, who apparently is on permanent holiday in Rio. (note: not a whit of her comment is even close to her actual opinion. Except the part about Ewan McGregor. *g*)

Also GIP! Because one can never have too many Geoffrey/Ellen icons.

Copied from patchfire's LJ:


"Through the act of controlling birth, we disassociate ourselves with its raw power. Disassociation makes it easier to identify with our 'civilized' nature, deny our 'savage' roots and connection with indigenous cultures. Birth simultaneously encompasses the three events that civilized societies fear - birth, death, and sexuality."

- Holly Richards, "Cultural Messages of Childbirth: The Perpetration of Fear."



Also, I feel a long fileshare post coming on. Probably tonight. This could be good or bad, and all.

Also#2, can anyone get me the lyrics to the Headstones' "Nickels for Your Nightmares"? That would be the song itself, not the entire album, natch. Um.

I don't need the song file; I have it already. For some weird reason I can't find the lyrics anywhere on Google, which means either Google sucks or I do. I'm going with teh Google. Either that or it's some weird conspiracy between the interwebz and a shadow government of some terror state, the focus of which is entirely dedicated to make sure I never learn the words to this one particular song, because it might end up being like that "Louie Louie, ohhh, ohhh, we gotta go, yeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeah" debacle, and OMG THAT WOULD BE TERRIBLE. [/blithery randomness]

ZOMG, not a DEVIL BABY!


The sad thing is? In the US, she'd probably get her way.


ETA: Happy 34th birthday to Manny Ramirez!

From an article linked in naturalbirth:


Triplets, vaginal birth, mum breastfeeding.

Obviously, this isn't America.


ETA: The original post is locked (the community is, I believe), but the article is public, so I don't feel I'm violating anything. Go, read.

kukupello (and others on my flist from Finland) might be interested to know that as of 1997, Finland has the lowest infant mortality rate in the world, with 3.9 out of 1000 infant deaths in the first year of life.

The others in the top five are:

2.Singapore (4.0)
3. Japan (4.0)
4.Sweden(4.2)
5.Switzerland (5.0)



mr_t00by, you might want to tell your friends in Munich that Germany ranks ninth with 5.1 out of 1000.

Anyone want to guess where the UK, Canada and the US are on the list?
( Click here after you guess )

More stats:

The infant mortality rate for black infants was twice that for white infants from 1998-2000. Poverty and lower levels of education are cited here as a couple of reasons, but I don't see a citation of source for that info.

Hispanic infants have a lower IMR than whites. It's speculated by some that this is due to the fact that Hispanic women are more likely to use midwives (in Texas in 1986, when midwives attended 5,832 births for mostly Hispanic women, the IMR for the midwives was 3.6 per 1000, compared to the doctor's rate of 9 (Stats from ALACE CBE training manual, quoted from Friends of Homebirth Newsletter).


I'm getting SO much information out of this course, and I'm just finishing the reading on the first module.


Oh, and book rec for anyone who either is or whose partner or loved one is thinking about becoming pregnant, is pregnant, or is either a birth professional or might like to be one. Also for anyone, anyone at all who doesn't think that birth is a feminist issue (and a lot of those who dont, surprisingly are women!.

Birth As an American Rite of Passage by Robbie Davis-Floyd

I read parts of the first edition of this book back when I was first starting to investigate All Things Midwife (for a profession, not for myself). I actually didn't read much of it, although it was sitting on my shelf for years. Now I have to buy it again, because I no longer have it, and just reading one part of it that's reprinted in my training manual makes me want to start reading it again right this second (it should be here tomorrow or Thursday at the least). Fortunately, it's one of my required reading books for the course. The books on this list sound so very good, I don't think it's going to be a chore at all to read them. Elizabeth says that what I'm learning with ALACE should dovetail quite nicely with her midwifery course. Speaking of which, I should be able to send off the deposit for THAT programme tomorrow!

Things are going well. Except for not being packed, not having clean clothes, not having pre-trip shopping done yet, not having a set schedule for Mary and Caleb to (alternately) feed my cats/fish. I'm gonna have to force myself to do most of that tomorrow. Ah, my dear friend Procrastination, I can always count on you!