Hi all,
In response to Cathleen. I just went back to the CDC website just
now. You are indeed right, data for 2005 puts the c-section rate at
an appalling 30.2%. I guess we do need to keep in mind that it's
preliminary data, but the upward trend continues.

I really appreciated the circumcision points you bring up as well.

For me, I felt that the section regarding gestational diabetes left
out some information as well. I should disclose that I work at a
diabetes center as a nurse educator with kids.
The authors pointed out that in Canada routine screening for
gestational diabtes is not considered necessary by some. But the
population in Canada is different than ours. We have a much larger
population of African American and Latina moms who have a greater
risk. Also, the first intervention for many moms with gestational
diabetes is a healthy diet. Good advice for any pregnant moms!
Another thing to keep in mind is that often mothers with gestational
diabetes have undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes. This is especially true
in women that haven't had regular health care before they were
pregnant.

Any comments?

Rebecca



In BOLDBookClub@yahoogroups.com, "cathleen_barstow"
<cathleenbarstow@...> wrote:
>
> I have to say that the book wasn't this for me at all, Michelle.
>
> In fact, I enjoyed it enough to purchase a copy for myself to be
part
> of my personal lending library (I originally got it out from my
local
> library thinking I didn't want to buy another birth book) and also
> purchased a copy to give as a gift for a friend who is pregnant
with
> her first.
>
> Even though I have a whole bookshelf of childbirth books, I read
> Giving Birth With Confidence with great interest and kept wanting
to
> go back to it whenever I put it down.
>
> I love the Lamaze "Six Care Practice Papers" from the Lamaze
website,
> and send links to them all the time. I found the book is a
wonderful
> expansion on those.
>
> I also loved the messages on page 26...the tapestry & page 40 2nd
> paragraph "Look beyond what is..." (and many, many more but I have
to
> save some for later discussions, right :-)
>
> I will say I was highly discouraged by the section on
circumcision.
> It is not simply cutting skin from the "tip" of the penis. It
> completely removes the protective skin of the glans and removes
all
> of the mucous membrane which keeps the glans moist, and thereby
> completely changing how the penis is designed to function.
>
> Other key pieces of information are missing from the information
> provided on circumcision in this book (as most others) -- a
complete
> description of the wonderful functions & purposes of the foreskin,
> how many nerve endings it has, all of the useful purposes it
serves
> for both to infants and adult males (and their sexual partners),
> etc. I thought it was a true missed opportunity to educate people
> and go beyond the standard information that's typically provided
to
> parents, most of whom are not receiving adequate information to
make
> truly informed consent about this operation.
>
> I'd be interested to learn more about where info in this section
came
> from, since the only references listed for that section come from
the
> AAP (not really an unbiased source)?
>
> Have to run for now, but overall, I really did enjoy the book &
look
> forward to discussing it more!
>
> Cathleen
>
>
> --- In BOLDBookClub@yahoogroups.com, "Michelle Adelewitz"
> <michelle.adelewitz@> wrote:
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I'm having a hard time getting my teeth into a discussion of
this
> one. Have
> > you ever watched an old movie and felt like it was a total
cliche,
> and then
> > realize that it's actually what all the cliches are based on?
> That's what
> > reading this book was like for me. It wasn't a new and fresh
> approach, it
> > was the original new approach. So I guess I felt like it was a
lot
> of the
> > same old information, which is now available in so many places
and
> formats.
> > It didn't feel more or less accessible than other sources.
> >
> > Agreement? Righteous indignation?
> >
> > Michelle
> >
>