Birth Matters (Bucks and Berks)

05/01/2023

Happy New Year everyone!

I'll be at Cafe Mama next Monday, 9th January to chat about how you can make labour more comfortable.

All welcome 🙂

16/04/2021

Research published in the April 2021 Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology has again highlighted that the idea of a fixed due date "stretches credulity."
⏰
Gerald Wightman Lawson searched and analysed the medical literature relating to "variables on the length of pregnancy, the expected date of confinement, and prolonged pregnancy."
⏰
His research showed that, "a number of factors were found to significantly influence the length of a pregnancy, including ethnicity, height, variations in the menstrual cycle, the timing of ovulation, parity and maternal weight." (Lawson 2020)
⏰
And for those who would like a bit more detail...
⏰
"The proposition that a pregnancy is 40 weeks or 280 days in duration is attributed to the German obstetrician Franz Naegele (1778–1851). His rule adds nine months and seven days to the first day of the last menstrual period. The expected date of confinement from this formula is approximately right in the majority of cases. However, the idea that this rule can apply to every pregnant female – young or old, nulliparous or multigravida, Caucasian, Asian, African, or Indigenous – stretches credulity. In addition, many women regard the 40‐week date as a deadline, which if crossed, may then place the baby under stress. Forty weeks is such a simple, round, convenient figure that it has proved difficult to challenge, despite criticism. Nonetheless, what might have been an appropriate formula in Germany in the 19th century deserves to be revisited in the 21st."
⏰
You can see the paper at https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajo.13253
⏰
For loads more information about "due dates", other approaches and the options available towards the end of pregnancy, see www.sarawickham.com/iol
💜

12/04/2021

Good news for everyone receiving maternity care from Bucks NHS Trust at Stoke Mandeville or Wycombe hospitals!

**UPDATE** from Bucks NHS Trust with regard to restrictions.

Effective immediately, subject to a negative lat flow or PCR test within 72 hours of attending, visiting has been extended to 9am to 9pm on the antenatal and postnatal wards and a partner or designated supporter can attend also all antenatal appointments and scans at SMH or Wycombe. Community appointments will need to be checked in advance with your midwife as these are subject to local venue restrictions.

Lateral flow tests are available at a selection of pharmacies, can be ordered by post or collected at a local test centre - please check the government website for details.

Please read all the full information from the Trust here: https://covid.buckshealthcare.nhs.uk/information-on-this-site/visiting-updates/maternity-visitors/

10/04/2021

Please fill in this survey if you have used the Neonatal services in the last 3 years.

Have you used the Neonatal Service at Wexham Park or Frimley Park Hospitals in the last 3 years?
The MVP and Neonatal Staff would love to get your feedback. Please fill in and share our survey so together we can make the service the best possible to support families at a difficult time. Thank you!
https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/Neonatal/

26/03/2021

I’ve been chatting about suspected big babies and induction of labour (among many other topics) in my ‘Gathering in the Knowledge 2021' online course this week.
🐹
This is still such a key issue for so many women and families that it’s the one sentence from my updated “Inducing Labour: making informed decisions" book which has received more attention than any other!
🐹
Many women are told that their labour needs to be induced because their baby is suspected to be big. Many report back afterwards that their baby wasn't big at all, and some regret agreeing to induction. This is despite the fact that we know that estimating the weight of a baby isn't that accurate. More on that soon.
🐹
The Cochrane review on this topic showed that the difference in the weight of babies born after early induction or ‘watchful waiting’ is really rather small. The average difference is 178g which, as I wrote in the book, is about the weight of the average hamster or a medium-sized pear.
🐹
So here's my hamster, as a reminder of the importance of getting lots of good information before making any birth-related decision, no matter whether that's about induction of labour, whether or not to listen to someone else’s guess (and that’s all it is, even when technology is used) about the possible size of your baby or who's going to look after the hamster on the big day.
🐹
If you'd like to know more about induction and the evidence relating to this, you can find out about my book at www.sarawickham.com/iol That page also has a link to loads more resources about inducing labour.
🐹
And if you're a midwife or birth worker who would like to deepen your knowledge about suspected big babies and many other topics, come and join me in Gathering in the Knowledge 2021. All the details and dates are at www.sarawickham.com/workshops

23/03/2021

Read to your babies, make it a habit from day 1!

22/03/2021

Congratulations to everyone who welcomed a baby in February!

Take a look at all our February births.
Congratulations to all the new families and welcome to the world February babies! 👶🤱💙💜💛

22/03/2021

Can you help Bucks New University with developing a new midwifery curriculum. If you have a view on what the midwife of the future should look like please can you answer this short survey from the university?

From Bucks New University....
Your feedback and experiences could help contribute to developing our education of student midwives. So if you want to help us train future midwives, please click the link and take a few minutes to fill in the survey. We are particularly interested to hear from maternity care users within the Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority communities.
Thank you for your help!
https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=WxHKj81gdUOpcu8rlIwPpZ73_F8PvAtBv2PFI6f-xptUNTdHNVhBMjRSVFQ1S0FaVVRCVjlDUUZQRS4u

07/03/2021

This is an interesting parenting article. If you like the ideas you might also want to read Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohen

When Michaeleen Doucleff met parents from around the world, she encountered millennia-old methods of raising good kids that made American parenting seem bizarre and ineffective.

05/03/2021

So very true!

03/03/2021

‘Put them in water or take them outside’ this advice works for babies and children of any age who are grumpy and don’t really know what they want! It works pretty well on adults too 😄

“Put them in water or take them outside.” It was the first useful parenting advice I ever got. “Sleep when the baby sleeps”? I think the polite word for that gem is poppycock. But this particular axiom has saved me many times over.

I don’t remember how old my son was when I called my mom in tears because I couldn’t stop his, but his age was probably measured in weeks. Maybe days. “Nothing is working; I don’t know what else to try,” I sobbed. “He’s not hungry or sleepy or wet.” “Try giving him a bath,” she suggested. “Or bundle him up and take him outside for some fresh air. I always say to take them outside or put them in water, and usually, the grumpiness goes away.” It worked that day, and it’s worked many times since. We’ve done baths at 10 a.m. I’ve paced our driveway with a baby in my arms at 2 a.m. And today, at 5:15 p.m. when my children were fighting for the 17th time since they got home from school and I was about to lose it, instead I put one in the bath and I sent the other outside and now maybe all three of us will survive until Dad gets home.
Almost nine years later, it still works.
I can’t give you advice about sleep schedules or feedings or Montessori-approved toys. I don’t know what we’re gonna do about Tik Tok and Snapchat in a few years. But when they’re falling apart at the seams for no apparent reason, take them outside or put them in water.
Oh, and it works on grown-ups, too."

Beautifully📷+📝: By Jenn Batchelor https://www.instagram.com/jennbatchelor/?hl=en

01/03/2021

Have you got questions about your maternity care in Bucks?

If you have any questions you would like to ask please send before Thursday or ask on the day during the live.