It went really well
It went really well! The marketing director was there as well as the head of the LD unit (she's got a long history in LD nursing, but I guess has moved on to doing policy?) There were only 4 moms & one grandma there out of 1300 invites. Of those 4 moms, one was a emergency CS, one was a planned hospital birth with epidural that ended well, and TWO were planned homebirths - one transfer due to extremely long labor, ending in vaginal birth with vaccume extractor and me who was an unplanned induction & epidural due to ovarian cyst torsion, ending in vaginal birth.
They had a survey with a 3 page list of items/services. We were asked to # the items 1-5 as how important they would be to us. Of the highlights were, waterbirth, double services, double beds for dads to snuggle, sibling/grandparent classes, lactation visits, baby friendly status. I can't remember all of them, but it was a pretty good list I thought, coming from an OB department.
They want to start a parent advisory board & they asked me to join that which I did. They want to have a list of local doulas, and I said I'd get one for them. They want to offer other childbirth classes, either at the hospital &/or a list of contact info to give to moms, I said I'd work on that. They want "peer counselors" for their breastfeeding group & for moms to talk to. They want to have a babywearing class. Me & the other crunchy mom said we'd do that. We brought up cloth diapering - that ws funny. Nobody knew there were still cloth diapers!
We all introduced ourselves, told a bit about us, our children, our births. Everyone shared their hospital specific complaints. We said that the nurses are not homebirth friendly. I reminded them that homebirthing is statistically safe, and my legal right to choose. In the event a homebirther comes to the hospital, they should NOT be treated poorly. I pointed to that the only homebirths they see are transfers, and that's about 12%. There other 88% are fine & they never hear of them. I also pointed out that I have many HB ing friends who delivered successfully, as did the other homebirther.
The "crunchy" mom had a boy, no circ, the other 2 had girls. I gave them a good circ consent form, brought up the AAP policy about "accurate, unbiased info" and how the topic is asked about & that gives the impression it should/needs to be done. They said they were in the process of coming up with a statement about that and she liked my form.
Thanks to the mothering mama who got me that form!!!
I gave them the ICAN white page on PPD, PTSD as it seemed really comprehensive to me.
Thanks to the mothering mamas for that suggestion - I never would have thought of it
They already have a letter of intent from "Baby Friendly" and have stopped formula distribution, although they give the diaper bags out still, but w/o the cans. I pointed out to her that she was taking notes on an "Enfamil" note pad. She laughed & said she didn't even think of that. I pointed out that I made the nurse not use the Enfamil tape measure on Luke's head. Everyone got a kick out of that. The other crunchy mama pointed out that the Zephyrhills water we were drinking is a nestle product & they should check out babymilkaction.org
I gave them info on the mother friendly childbirth initiative.
I gave them tons of LLL info & talked about a CS recovery meeting - they liked that idea. I told them "you don't have to reinvent the wheel" that there are people who would probably be willing to have the meetings there for them. She said they'd love that - ha-ha - wait till the ICANers show up!!!
The one planned hosp birth mom is a pastor wife of the local 7th day Adventist church, and she wants to have LLL mtgs at the church. So I gave her my contact info & will work on that with her.
Then I let the fun begin. I told her that while all of those things are important, and would make a difference, that there is an issue they can fix. It would improve revenue AND dramatically improve mother/baby care. Its something no hospital within 30 miles is duplicating, and only 3 hospitals within an hours drive do it. It's proven safe, has existing protocol, and mothers talk to me & my friends at least once a day looking for it. I told them that the women I know tell women not to have a baby at this hospital because of this. (They were on the edge of their seats ha-ha) I said VBAC, and the faces fell. She told me that she wasn't going to try & defend the practice, but "bla bla bla 24 hour anesthesia bla bla bla"
I very calmly said, "What I'm about to say, may sound somewhat 'attacking' but there isn't a better way for me to frame the question. I so much appreciate being invited here, and I really want to help, so please, keep an open mind. (they were nodding & looking a little worried) "First of all, I believe the standard is that you have to have anes available within 30 min of an incident, not actually 24 hour anes. (They agree) "If you can't provide surgery to a patient in 30 min, you shouldn't be called a hospital. What are you going to do for me as a healthy laboring woman with NO CS if I have uterine rupture or cord prolapsed or a separation? What about a patient on another floor you determine has a blood clot that can kill them in 40 min?" She says "Very good point"
That's when the emergency CS mom lost it about how afraid she was to have another baby b/c the CS was so horrible & she already knows no Dr will do it & until they change that there's no way in hell she'll ever come back to this hospital. The lady starts talking about the "risks" of rupture. I flip to my ICAN white page on the statistics & the highlighted portion of the fact sheet & share with the group. She is looking at me disbelieving and asks where it came from. I look at the footnote & quote the orig source and she shut up.
She says that they have been getting a LOT of pressure from their main OB group to do VBAC, as they've lost 2 clients this week b/c of it & they loose many more regularly. I told her that one of those 2 clients that changed practices is named "Jane Doe". She's one of my good friends, and she transferred because of me. I pointed out that women like me may be the minority (in that we care so much about birth VBAC & maternity care) but we're an extremely active & vocal minority. I told her that if they could get us "on their side" it would benefit them tremendously. I also pointed out that there are HUGE bio-ethical & legal issues surrounding CS & VBAC ban, and they ARE going to get caught in the fray. I gave her the info I printed on the Vermont/NH project the local ICAN mama sent me
. She said it was interesting & would talk to the others about it, but she didn't know. I pointed out that ACOG thought it was great & gave her a copy of the ACOG press release about the award VT/NH proj got. That impressed her more than anything, I think - that I had the protocol, the contact info, and the ACOG award info. We'll see.
I feel good about it. I feel like I got my foot in the door. They were impressed with my local involvement & history with the hospital - I dropped a few names. I will get working on all the stuff I said I'd do (SOMEONE STOP ME BEFORE I VOLUNTEER FOR ANYTHING ELSE!) and stay in close contact with them. I'd appreciate your thoughts....
Thanks so much for all the info people got to me
I think it turned out to be pivotal. There's a celebration & nurse-out at Wal-Mart from 10 - 2 this Sat in honor of breastfeeding week. Me, my youngest, my sling, lots of LLL info, my "support, encourage, protect breastfeeding" bracelet (
thanks to the MDC co op mama
), and my "lactivist" T shirt (
from Breast or Bust, thanks to the MDC Banner ad
) are gonna be there. I'm keeping close to these people. I think it might help.
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