I wonder what we'll do if we determine that these hemorrhages are *not* normal - that they are an artifact of prolonged labors or supine deliveries or instrument assists or induction or a loss of infant endorphins, and that they don't occur with anything like this frequency during home births when the mother begins unmedicated labor on her own, doesn't travel to a strange place during labor, and assumes any position that works for her.

My unhappy guess is that, instead of reverting to home births with minimal interference, we'd move toward more c-sections because they're "safer."

Let's hope these tiny hemorrhages turn out to be normal for *all* babies, and not just hospital-birthed ones, or we may actually be in for more interventions than ever.  Happily, I doubt that the researchers would ever think to look at truly normal births...

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC   Ithaca, NY  USA
www.wiessinger.baka.com

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