Esteemed Lactnetters,
This is a rant, so skip if you wish...
I, too, wish there were MUCH less interventions done
during pregnancy and birth...but a healthy balance of
astute care and hands-off is the ideal.  A recent post
denigrated ultrasound examinations in pregnancy; I
found this quite distressing.  There are no studies to
indicate that ultrasound exams in and of themselves
are harmful.  They are non-invasive and can provide
information about the growing baby that routine
prenatal care may miss.  And as to routine prenatal
care...it is a simple thing to check Mama out
regularly during pregnancy.  Urine dipstick, blood
pressure, weight, fundal height...How are you feeling?
 Is Baby moving?
Many of you who work/worked in OB fields know that
women who do not receive routine prenatal care often
present to a facility in an emergent situation; these
ladies are "train wrecks" (not a kind description, but
accurate) and outcomes for Baby, and sometimes Mom,
too, are poor.  As to ultrasound, I had a recent
experience of visiting a mother whose baby had been
stillborn at 32 weeks gestation, severely hydroptic,
due to thalassemia.  An ultrasound would have revealed
this condition; Baby would have had problems, but they
are correctable, albeit with high-tech measures.  This
family could have taken a little one home; instead,
they are making funeral arrangements.  So very, very
sad, and really unneccesary.
Just my thoughts this early AM...
Carole Jernigan, RN

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger
http://phonecard.yahoo.com/

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html