March 2009 - There is a very real threat that independent Midwifery services will be illegal as of July 2010
The attached sheet "Women- Push 09" has been prepeared by the maternity coalition to guide people who want to help protect future access to the services of independent midwives in responce to the recent Birthing Services Review.
The report is very clear that it does not support reforms which increase or fund womens access to homebirth. The Report proposes Commonwealth support for Medicare and indemnity insurance for midwives, but only working in non-homebirth practice. Midwives working outside these restrictions would not be able to legally practice, due to impending reforms:
P53: “For privately practising midwives, it is not currently a requirement in most jurisdictions to have professional indemnity cover in place before registration is granted. However, this situation is expected to change under the proposed new National Registration and Accreditation Scheme.”
The consequence of all this is that homebirth practice by private midwives (most homebirth care) would not be insured, and would be illegal under national registration laws, scheduled to take effect in July 2010.
And the vidoe made this week by Homebirth Australia's Jo Hunter is on the Homebirth website.
Also if you go to the HBA website www.homebirthaustralia.org Scroll down slightly and click on the link where it says save private midwifery video.
So get writing folks. How effective will that be?.... well certainly better than doing nothing at all.
Our federal government needs to take this on at this point and this is why there needs to be numerous small voices in the ear of the local Federal MP. That then gets sent on to the health minister but it is noticeable when it comes from multiple petitioners via letters from the MP's. Write a letter to the Health minister and go see your MP as well. Support the profession of midwifery and the right of
women to choose.
July 2008 - New PCOS Support Group in Melbourne
We are Positively Curious of Other Solutions... are you?
We have been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and are creating an autonomous support group with the aim to explore our bodies and empower our beings!
We have come to believe that there is more to this condition than meets the eye of the medical model and are focused on alternative and holistic approaches to PCOS with an interest in the wider socio-cultural reasons for hormonal disturbances in women today.
We want to build a strong network of mutual support through fortnightly meet ups around Melbourne and envisage a whole range of different group activities including menstrual health workshops, womens sweats, womens circles, Chi Gong, art therapy and talks from alternative therapy practitioners.
We have a conscious desire to develop our physical, emotional and spiritual health with regards to our PCOS and beyond! Join us to meet other women with similar ideas, to share stories, have fun and feel empowered!!
Please send us an email at polly_cysters@hotmail.com!
We look forward to hearing from you!
Warning: Using a mobile phone while pregnant can seriously damage your baby
Women who use mobile phones when pregnant are more likely to give birth to children with behavioural problems, according to authoritative research. A giant study, which surveyed more than 13,000 children, found that using the handsets just two or three times a day was enough to raise the risk of their babies developing hyperactivity and difficulties with conduct, emotions and relationships by the time they reached school age. And it adds that the likelihood is even greater if the children themselves used the phones before the age of seven. The results ... follow warnings against both pregnant women and children using mobiles by the official Russian radiation watchdog body, which believes that the peril they pose "is not much lower than the risk to children's health from tobacco or alcohol". The research – at the universities of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Aarhus, Denmark – is to be published in the July issue of the journal Epidemiology. They found that mothers who did use the handsets were 54 per cent more likely to have children with behavioural problems and that the likelihood increased with the amount of potential exposure to the radiation. And when the children also later used the phones they were, overall, 80 per cent more likely to suffer from difficulties with behaviour. They were 25 per cent more at risk from emotional problems, 34 per cent more likely to suffer from difficulties relating to their peers, 35 per cent more likely to be hyperactive, and 49 per cent more prone to problems with conduct.
To get homebirth publicly funded in Australia politicians must actually receive letters for your intentions to be enacted into law. Click here to find out how you can help.
PRIVATE HEALTH INSURERS IN AUSTRALIA
COVERING MIDWIFERY AND HOMEBIRTH @ 30 August 2007
Compiled for Birth Matters (SA), Homebirth Network SA, and the Maternity Coalition
Here is the latest information we have collected since August 2005 via mothers and midwives in Australian birth and midwifery networks about private insurance companies who have reimbursed for the services of an independent/private midwife covering homebirth or other midwifery services. Do send advice if you find more recent information, or can add information about other insurers, to
matcoalitionsa@yahoo.com.audownload
report.
April 13, 2007
Caesarean risks by Dr Sarah Buckley
Caesarean surgery: is it simply another way of being born?
Does a caesarean give babies the safest possible entree to the world, conveniently protecting the mother’s pelvic floor at the same time?
Or is a caesarean a substantial deviation from normality that introduces potential risks for mother and baby? Could our current caesarean epidemic even be a reproductive time-bomb, increasing risks as caesarean mothers proceed through subsequent pregnancies and births?
Read more...
April 7, 2007
Women will not be allowed to insist on caesarean deliveries in NSW public hospitals without a medical reason
under a new health department policy.
The policy was devised to tackle increasing safety concerns about the high surgical birthrate.
"Maternal request on its own is not an indication for elective caesarean section," says a circular distributed to maternity units, doctors and nurse groups this week. "Specific reasons for the request must be explored, discussed and recorded." Read more...
April, 2007
What Women Want (Australia) aims to be Australia's first female political party dedicated to advancing issues affecting Australian women
Dear Friends and Supporters of Birth Reform. Over the past 7 years I have given my heart and soul to reforming Australia's maternity system, with particular emphasis on women being able to choose the care of a known midwife (funded)...
I have thought long and hard about forming a political party. Nervously I announce that I plan to register a political party called What Women Want to contest senate seats and key marginal seats across Australia. Read More...
March 10, 2007
Dr Sarah Buckley responds to "sleep training" article in the Sydney Morning Herald
New motherhood can be exceptionally tiring but sleep training may not be biologically wise (March 3). Prolonged stress and crying raises cortisol levels, which may be neurotoxic to the baby's developing brain (SMH 3/3/07 p 5). A smart alternative to
'baby whispering' is 'baby snuggling'.
Shared sleep between mother and baby gives the biological benefit of 'mutual regulation', including synchronised sleep cycles and increased levels of hormones of love (oxytocin) and pleasure (beta-endorphin). Snuggling with my four babies has given me more rest, less fatigue and relaxed, contented babies. And-one needs to get out of bed.
October, 2006
Pregnancy And Lactation May Affect Maternal Behaviour And Coping Skills
These new findings indicate that the maternal brain is a dynamic and changing structure, and suggest that increased activity of the prolactin receptor system in females who have given birth and breast fed their offspring may help mothers improve their abilities to both nurture children and manage stress.
This possibility warrants further investigation as to how reproductive experience alters the mother's physiology and
behaviour. Read More...
08/31/06 PARIS -- Women who opt for an elective caesarean have a threefold higher risk of mortality than those who choose vaginal delivery, according to investigators here. Read More...
C-Section Rate at All-Time High in U.S.
By Kathleen Doheny
The Caesarean section delivery rate stands at a record high in the United States, resisting efforts by federal health officials to reduce the rate to 15 percent by the year 2010. Read More...
We are Positively Curious of Other Solutions... are you?
