March with Midwives in the Palisades 4th of July Parade

Join your midwives and friends at the Palisades Parade and Picnic. March together to celebrate and spread the word about midwifery in DC.

When: Wednesday, July 4th
Line up at 10 am, Parade begins promptly at 11 am

Where: Line up on Whitehaven Parkway NW between Our Lady of Victory School and the fire station

Our theme is “Midwifery is Catching.” Get festive! Bring your bellies, your babies, your tricycles and your wagons and come find us at the pick-up truck decorated with pregnant bellies! Bring a drum to beat along the way!

Next "Meet the Midwife" session, July 25th at 6:45 pm

What: Meet the Midwife sessions are for couples who are considering GW Midwifery and want to learn more about us. 

When: Wednesday, July 25th at 6:45 pm
Please arrive by 6:30 to allow time to go through hospital security.

Where:  George Washington University Hospital
900 23rd Street, NW, Washington DC  20037
In the Basement Auditorium

Parking/Metro: There is a parking lot at the Academic Center at 22nd and I Streets, NW. Or take Metro--the Foggy Bottom-GWU stop is located at the entrance of the hospital.

RSVP: Send an email to midwife@mfa.gwu.edu if you plan to attend.

This is an informal group session where you can meet us and get your questions answered. In lieu of a charge for this session, we request that you make a donation to The Medical Faculty Associates, Inc., a not for profit organization. 

C-section may boost child obesity risk, study finds

"Babies born by C-section may be more likely than those delivered vaginally to become obese children," the Washington Post reports on a new study.

Read the article: C-section may boost child obesity risk, study finds

"What to reject when you're expecting" -- 10 overused procedures and 10 things you should do during pregnancy

In this on-target article, What to reject when you're expecting: 10 procedures to think twice about during your pregnancy, Consumer Reports offers top reasons for rising numbers of maternal deaths and of premature and low-birth-weight babies in the United States. One reason is that mothers are less healthy -- but another key reason, Consumer Reports says, is the "health-care system that has developed into a highly profitable labor-and-delivery machine, operating according to its own timetable rather than the less predictable schedule of mothers and babies."

The article discusses C-Sections and other overused procedures. It also offers "10 things you should do during your pregnancy." #3 is Consider a midwife.

Read the article: What to reject when you're expecting: 10 procedures to think twice about during your pregnancy

Current research: Nutrition in pregnancy impacts outcomes

We believe that you can get all the nutrients you need to have a healthy pregnancy by eating healthy food. Our dietary guidelines are designed to keep your blood sugar at an even level throughout the day (and minimize nausea and dizziness) and expand your blood volume properly so that you can circulate for both yourself and the baby. Following our guidelines will also help you grow a baby that is appropriately sized for your body and pelvis.

Here is a current research article about how dietary and lifestyle interventions in pregnancy can reduce pregnant women's weight gain and improve outcomes for both mother and baby: "Effects of interventions in pregnancy on maternal weight and obstetric outcomes"

Thought for the day

If you think you've had your fill of weeds, think again...

photo by Barbara Damrosch

In today's Washington Post article, "Foraging for dandelions, that edible weed," writer Barbara Damrosch tells us about "dandelions, that edible weed." She writes that dandelion weeds are full of vitamins and minerals and delicious tossed with a light vinaigrette, coarse salt, cracked pepper, and herbs - and topped with a fresh soft-boiled egg.

Free online cooking series on natural sweeteners

Join WISDOM mom, Cameron Laurent, for Naturally Sweet, a free, online cooking series on how to use natural sweeteners to help with sugar cravings. This program is perfect for pregnant moms -- and anyone else --  looking to reduce sugar in their diets.

Naturally Sweet
When: March 26-April 8, 2012
Where: Your computer (it's a virtual program)
Cost: Free

Practicing with The Pearls: Primary Cesarean Prevention at The George Washington University

Whitney Pinger was selected to present Practicing with The Pearls: Primary Cesarean Prevention at The George Washington University at the 2012 conference of the American College of Nurse-Midwives.

WISDOM Midwifery at The George Washington University is demonstrating that, when applied to clinical practice, and faithfully followed, The Pearls optimize a woman’s chances of having a normal vaginal delivery.

The Pearls have led to what Pinger calls Primary Cesarean Prevention. When The Pearls are our clinical guides – and we are supported by practice laws that make midwives independent providers and OB Departments that consider midwives Attending Providers and Clinical Professors – a Cesarean Section Rate of less then 5% can be achieved.

Video: What babies learn before they're born

Watch this fascinating video of a talk by science writer Annie Murphy Paul about her work on what a fetus learns before birth: What babies learn before they're born

Murphy Paul is author of Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives and writes a weekly column at Time.com called Brilliant: The Science of Smart.

Soulfull Wellness: WISDOM Mom Writes About Nourishing Your Life

One of our WISDOM women writes Soulfull Wellness, a blog about nourishing your life from inside and out. Find recipes for healthy eating, ideas for healthy being, and thoughts on motherhood.

We recommend an especially touching and poignant post on breastfeeding: When Breast Isn't Best.

Whitney Pinger and WISDOM profiled in the Washington City Paper

Whitney Pinger and the WISDOM Midwifery practice at the GW MFA is profiled in a new piece in the Washington City Paper.

Read the story: "Real Midwives of D.C"

Here's an excerpt:

Pinger says she was first exposed to the idea of natural birth in a high-school biology class and apprenticed with local midwives. At the University of California-Berkeley, she wavered between medical school and midwifery school until visiting the Frontier Nursing Service in rural Kentucky, one of the country’s first midwifery practices. “I really didn’t like the operating room,” Pinger says. “My tribe was the midwives.”....

Nowadays, Pinger says, her vision for maternity care is bigger than GW: She wants to see what has happened there go national. “The model is definitely replicable,” she says. “Doctors, nurses, midwives—we can do it all, high-risk and low-risk women, all together.”

This may be the moment to go forth. Concern of a workforce crisis in obstetrics, combined with a new swell of activism around birth issues, spurred by The Business of Being Born and the book Pushed, present a political climate ripe for collaboration. Those involved in promoting this kind of maternity care say they see an awakening among consumers about what kind of birth they want to have.

Pregnant mom dances herself into labor at 40+ weeks [video]

What a great video! A woman who is 40+ weeks pregnant with twins dances herself into labor to "Let's Get it Started."

The mom writes: “Trying to induce our twins at 40+ weeks after trying everything else. I went into labor two days later and had a natural, un-medicated hospital birth (with the support of my awesome husband and our amazing midwives).” Here's the video.

Primary Cesarean Prevention: New Initiative Headed by Whitney Pinger, CNM

Whitney Pinger, CNM, Director of WISDOM Midwifery at The George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates, puts her Pearls for Normal Birth into clinical practice, and she and her staff of talented midwives follow them faithfully. As a result, she is demonstrating that following “The Pearls” optimizes a woman’s chances of having a normal vaginal delivery.

As Whitney explains it, "With the Pearls as our clinical guides -- and with policies that respect the independent practice of midwives -- we can achieve a cesarean rate of less than 5%." Practicing with "The Pearls" is the essence of the new initiative, Primary Cesarean Prevention.

The story of WISDOM at GW Hospital

Read about WISDOM
Midwifery at GW Hospital

Here's the story of how WISDOM and Whitney Pinger's team of midwives came to be at GW Hospital -- and their model of care:

"Choosing Natural Childbirth: Options Offer Women the Best of Both Worlds" (pages 4-5) in the Fall 2011 issue of the GWU Hospital Health News.

The bottom line: Overall, the midwives at GW Hospital have a vaginal delivery rate of nearly 95% and a C-section rate of less than 5%. Meanwhile, the national cesarean section rate is 32% (as of 2007).

The story of two births: one with midwives, the other on a 24-hour clock

by Ami Thakkar
I gave birth to my baby daughter at the GW Midwife Center with Whitney Pinger in early 2011 in a starkly different experience than I had two years back at Sibley when I gave birth to my son.

I live overseas in Lao, PDR, and came back to Washington D.C. (which is my permanent home) to give birth after Whitney and I stayed in touch over email and phone while I was living abroad. 

I was able to have a natural vaginal birth (in fact, it was a VBAC) because of Whitney's care and support. She knew all the right things to say and do, beginning at the moment I started having contractions. At every stage, she was able to give me the right advice to help my contractions develop and to make my breathing and laboring and pushing as effective as possible. I trust her 100%. I also want to commend the nursing staff at GW Hospital whom I found extremely attentive and caring, with their priority always being the mother and baby.

In contrast, when I had my baby boy at Sibley, the doctors were extremely aggressive and put me on a 24-hour time clock to have my baby. They immediately started me on pitocin, even though they knew my strong desire was to have a natural birth. They poked and prodded me on the hour and after 26 hours, I had to end up getting a c-section. I felt the hospital was more interested in selling me things than taking care of me and my baby. Within 24 hours of giving birth, I was visited by professional photo company and asked if I wanted to buy nursing bras. In addition to this, the nurses pushed for my newborn to have formula, when I wanted to exclusively breastfeed. I am 100% convinced that if I had been with Whitney for my first birth, it would have also been a natural vaginal delivery. I know this because she would have given me very different advice than what the doctors at Sibley had given me. 

I can only hope that the medical field will fully back and support Whitney and the midwifery field.

Happy Midwifery Week!

National Midwifery Week is October 3-9 -- a week organized by the American College of Nurse-Midwives to recognize midwives and increase public awareness about the excellent care that midwives provide.

Here's how you can celebrate: Join Team Midwife to show your support for WISDOM midwives and help communicate the value of midwifery care to the public, hospital administrators, and legislators.

One year later...

Dearest Whitney,
Today is Henry's 1st birthday and while we are all rushing around buzzing with excitment and preparing for a fun family celebration, I am constantly thinking about you and the day that Henry was born. The weather was a lot like it is today (maybe not quite as chilly), and by this point in the day (mid-morning) I was deep into pushing, pushing, pushing! There is no way I could have known just how much my life would change in a few of the longest short hours I've ever known.

Today, Henry is an amazingly happy, bright, healthy, strong, confident, curious child. He has a light in his eyes like I have never seen before. He brings such joy into my life everyday, and he has taught me how to love in a way that I never knew existed.

You were there when Henry came into our lives and into this world. You taught me how to birth, how to believe in myself, how to be patient, and how to trust. These are all things that have helped mold me into the mother I am today and therefore the incredible being that is Henry. I know you touch many souls everyday in this same way. You will always be connected to this day deep inside of me and I will continue to thank you endlessly.

Thank you for sharing your love and light with with me. I am so blessed to see it and live in it everyday. I hope you are well!
Love,
Erin

Midwives are the guardians of normal and natural birth…

This month, Our Bodies Ourselves celebrates 40 years as an invaluable resource for so many women.

Whitney Pinger reflects on the impact Our Bodies Ourselves has had on her: "As a young teen in the 1970s, OBOS taught me that women’s health was ours, and that we did not have to give up or strength and power. I learned that midwives are the guardians of normal and natural birth and that is what I have come to incarnate... Read her full post.

See also Our Bodies Ourselves on the midwifery model of care and Choices in Childbirth: A Statement by Physicians, Midwives and Women’s Health Advocates who Support Safe Choices in Childbirth.

Whitney Pinger and natural birth featured on NBC Washington

Whitney Pinger and the WISDOM Midwifery practice at George Washington University was featured recently on NBC Washington.

Watch the story.

The theme: WISDOM midwives support women in having a natural birth in a hospital setting with a c-section rate of less than 5%. In this way, WISDOM midwives optimize the chance of normal vaginal delivery with the back up of hospital technology if intervention is necessary. "It's the best of both worlds," Whitney says in the video.