Latest news with #Csection
Forbes
3 days ago
- Health
- Forbes
A New Documentary Reveals Why America May Need A Birthing Revolution
A movement may be underway that offers a path toward a birthing revolution that works from within ... More the current healthcare system. If the U.S. spends more money on maternal healthcare than most other high-income nations, why does it also have the highest rates of maternal and infant mortality comparatively? More than 80% of maternal deaths in the country are likely preventable, according to the CDC. Racial disparities persist, with Black women being two to three times more likely than white women to die during childbirth. Roughly one in three births in the U.S. are C-sections, yet the World Health Organization deems the ideal rate to be between 10 and 15 percent. While the challenges are multifaceted and there is no single solution, the statistics indicate that America is in need of a birthing revolution. A movement may be underway that offers a path toward a birthing revolution that works from within the current healthcare system. It's being illuminated in a paradigm-shifting documentary called Fear and Now that premiers in June 2025 at Dances With Films festival in Los Angeles. Liat Ron during her second pregnancy reading about the method of hypnobirthing. It begins with film director Liat Ron sharing her unacknowledged traumatic first birth experience. 'It was a cascade of interventions and forced protocols; I had no control over what was happening to me,' says Ron in the film. The documentary also describes her mission to overcome her extreme fear of birth for her second pregnancy. This mission led Ron to discover the transformative power of hypnobirthing, which gives women a myriad of tools including breathing, relaxation, and visualization techniques, and accounts for both the physical and psychological well-being of the mother. The method reduces and even eliminates the fear-tension-pain cycle to help create a more gentle, enjoyable birth process. Director Liat Ron while filming "Fear and Now." The profound impact this particular method had on Ron to release fear and trauma and enable her second birthing experience to be enjoyable sparked her to embark upon a journey across the country to document the stories of parents, medical professionals, and birth workers who are also using hypnobirthing to put women back at the center of their birthing experience. 'I led myself to the dream birth I didn't know was possible, and that we all deserve to have. It changed my life,' says Ron. 'I do believe it is the best kept secret in the birthing world, but it's about time we all know what hypnobirthing really is. It's time we all have access to this birthing choice, if we decide it is for us.' Teneha Smith, DNP, FNP-BC, RNFA, is a mother of three based in Orlando, Florida who shares her story in Fear and Now. I spoke to Smith who recounts how she had a near death experience during her first birth, and it took her 15 years before she could even consider becoming pregnant again. 'During my first [birthing experience], things happened so quickly out of my control,' says Smith. 'It's like I was standing beside myself watching all these things happen to me. It really traumatized me. I love my daughter and I was thankful for her, but after what I had gone through I told myself I would never do this again. I'm a type A personality. I like to be in control. I like to have things organized. And that experience completely broke me down.' Smith said her husband had been talking about wanting to have more children for years, and she kept avoiding it until she got to the point where she did not want to let her first birthing experience overcome her and keep her from having more children. However, since she'd had her first daughter she had gone into the medical field to become a nurse practitioner, and was required to be present for births during her ob-gyn rotations. 'It just made my fear of birthing worse because it is like all the drama that you see on television,' she says. 'I knew there had to be another method, because my mother had all three of her children naturally.' Smith came across the hypnobirthing method in her research, and at first was skeptical. 'It sounded mystical, like a spell was being cast or something,' she says. 'I did my research, and I found it wasn't Voodoo or something crazy, but it was really about the power of the mind.' Teneha Smith shares her birthing story with Liat Ron while filming for the "Fear and Now" ... More documentary. Smith says she appreciated how hypnobirthing also educates about the physical aspects of giving birth, such as how the uterus works and the way endorphins are released. But the focus is on how your mindset controls your body. 'The mind is powerful,' says Smith. 'Think about the placebo effect and how a patient who believes a pill will make them better often does in fact feel better while taking the placebo just from the power of the mind. So I embraced that.' Smith went to the hypnobirthing class two times before she was even pregnant just to get her mind right, and then took the classes a third time once she became pregnant. She credits hypnobirthing with enabling her to have her next two births without an epidural or pain medication and to feel more in control of her birthing experience. 'Hypnobirthing teaches you to go within yourself, and to find your strength, whatever it is,' says Smith. 'For me, it was my faith in God. For other people it might be something else. But that's how I honestly overcame my fear of birth. And my support system.' Some research shows that pregnant people who learn hypnobirthing techniques are less likely to need medical interventions such as C-sections, and their delivery periods are shorter. Other research finds links between hypnobirthing and reduced labor pain and lower rates of postpartum depression. Delisa Skeete Henry, M.D., a board certified obstetrician and gynecologist of more than 20 years and owner of Serene Health OB-GYN & Wellness in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who is also featured in Fear and Now, says she discovered hypnobirthing from a patient during her early years in private practice. Though it was the first time she heard of the method, she did her research and supported her patient's choice to leverage hypnobirthing, along with having a doula, for an unmedicated birth. Since that experience, Dr. Skeete Henry, who does only hospital deliveries except during COVID, has continued to support women who want to use hypnobirthing, as well as other support strategies such as working with a doula and writing a birth plan. She says her practice's goal is to take a more holistic approach to prepare and educate women about what birth is, versus simply measuring the belly and listening to the baby. "Fear and Now" director Liat Ron filming during COVID with Dr. Skeete Henry and her team at Serene ... More Health OB-GYN & Wellness. 'I've seen through hypnobirthing when women are able to accomplish—either intentionally or unintentionally—that euphoria, that joy, that burst of hormones,' says Dr. Skeete Henry. 'It empowers them. I think that an empowered mom who has been able to achieve something so amazing is going to be a better mom, a better partner, just a better person in society. Even if you're planning medication, planning for an epidural, or have to do a C-section, the hypnobirthing philosophy and education in my mind makes the whole process so much easier.' It's important to note that interventions such as C-sections and inductions aren't always unnecessary and they can create positive outcomes and save lives. However, research finds that fewer interventions are needed when women have more autonomy in their birthing experience, such as by feeling they're able to make choices that are best for them in collaboration with their care providers, practice pain and anxiety management methods such as hypnobirthing, and have labor support such as a doula. 'We absolutely need medical professionals, but when it comes to certain things such as giving birth, you'll get a better experience and outcome if you collaborate with your doctor versus giving them full power and full authority over your birth story,' says Kymaletha Brown, LPC, MA, a mother of two based in Detroit, and a clinical mental health counselor, doula, and hypnobirthing educator. 'You know what's going on in your body. You're the one who's experiencing it. So it's important to get in tune with what you're experiencing, and take that power and align yourself mentally and physically. This will help you be more likely to have a safe, comfortable, and informed birth.' One of a myriad of reasons birthing women in America may experience higher intervention rates, such as inductions and C-sections, is that doctors may feel more in control of the outcome or perceive lower risks by performing an intervention. Dr. Lorne Campbell, M.D., who practiced family medicine in Johnson City, New York tells Ron in Fear and Now that doctors have developed a culture of fear of birthing, because we live in a litigious society and they're afraid of lawsuits. He also shares in the film how hypnobirthing changes the paradigm because the doctor's role becomes more of a support person rather than the driver. 'It's a completely mind-altering experience to be there with a woman and realize that if I put her in control, I get better outcomes than if I do it myself.' The beauty of hypnobirthing is that it is a method that all birthing people can use, regardless of whether a woman is having a home or hospital birth, a medication-free birth or an epidural. 'The goal of hypnobirthing is not to grunt or power through labor so you can say, 'I did it without an epidural.' The idea is to labor with the least amount of intervention so that mom and baby are safe, and it's as pleasant an experience as possible,' says Smith. Hypnobirthing teaches people mindset techniques, but it's also a holistic method that addresses everything from nutrition to having the right support system. 'It takes everything in you to give birth,' says Smith. 'You're in a vulnerable position. If you're not surrounded with the correct team that shares the same understanding and belief system that you do, you will bend to what others tell you to do no matter how strong you are.' Smith says using hypnobirthing for her second and third deliveries helped her move from labor being traumatic to being a very empowering experience. 'It wouldn't have happened that way if my husband wasn't on board, or if my doula wasn't on board, and if I had not spoken to my midwife and let her know this is the way I wanted things to go,' Smith says. A challenge is that in American medical culture rather than viewing birth as a natural process to stay out of unless there's a need for an intervention, it's viewed as a medicalized process. Fear and Now reveals how hypnobirthing is one method that can take something that's medicalized and scary, and turn it into an empowering experience. 'It can turn labor into something that you can look back on with pleasure and share it with your children versus it being like every other birth horror story that we always hear about,' says Smith. 'I really want birthing to be a positive, life-changing experience for women, and not what it has become in America today.' While Fear and Now focuses specifically on hypnobirthing as a cornerstone of the maternal healthcare revolution, the heart of the documentary's message is about women being in the driver's seat of their birthing experience. If women are able to experience birthing from a place of empowerment rather than a place of fear, it could have a ripple effect of impacting how they show up across other areas of their life—and be a gift they give to the next generation. It's about tapping into inner strength, resilience, and ultimately, joy. 'I hope the film brings to light that there are options for birth,' says Dr. Skeete Henry. 'I hope more women are able to at least explore hypnobirthing, and I hope more women are empowered to speak up for themselves."
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Health
- Telegraph
Inside Israel's buffer zone in Syria
The Merkava main battle tank is parked as discreetly as possible behind the makeshift antenatal clinic, but its enormous turret still pokes out. Batal Ali, 25, does not seem fazed, however. Her mind is elsewhere. Nine months into her fourth pregnancy she has just been informed that the level of amniotic fluid around the baby is dangerously low. 'She needs to have a C-section and we're just working out which hospital to evacuate her to – probably Haifa,' says the chief physician. If this conversation were taking place just two miles to the west it would be unremarkable. But we are standing in Syria, part of Israel's controversial 150 square mile 'buffer zone' along its north-eastern border, which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) seized in December 2024 after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. To critics it was a cynical land grab, nothing short of an invasion. According to the Israelis, however, it is a vital defensive measure to safeguard their communities in the Golan Heights from marauding jihadis and ultimately to prevent another Oct 7-style massacre. Nine forward operating bases have now been built across the dramatic countryside between Mount Hermon and the Jordanian border. Machine gun-mounted Humvees bearing the flag of the front-line Golani Brigade, and more ponderous armoured personnel carriers, churn up the roads in clouds of dust while sentries watch from the hilltops. The soldiers are fully armed and body armoured at all times. In the words of one Israeli military official from the 210th Division, the communities here are 'fragmented, suspicious'. Tension radiates out of the hills. The official says that Hezbollah elements have been detected in the region. There are also Isis supporters in the more southern section of the border zone, he claims. Although he concedes that the IDF has detected no active plots for an incursion into the Israel-controlled Golan Heights, he says hatred of the Jewish state constitutes a perpetual threat. 'There are streams that run underground,' he says. 'It's not happening yet but it will happen.' Alongside the military presence, the Israelis are providing humanitarian assistance to the Syrian border communities – those who will accept it at least. By and large these are the Druze, the minority Arab sect of Islamic origin with strong links to Israel thanks to the roughly 150,000 who live there. The liberation of Syria from Assad's tyranny has been a troubling time for many of them, with reports of sectarian clashes and massacres at the hands of the Sunni majority. The new IDF field clinic near the village of Hader is, in part, designed to give the Druze access to advanced healthcare now that the road to Damascus, less than 40 miles away, is so dangerous for them. 'I would rather go to Haifa for the birth than take my chances going to Damascus,' says Batal, who is now sitting in the waiting room, a large khaki tent, with her husband. 'It isn't safe for us.' She is one of about 40 patients who will visit the clinic that day, a collection of temporary metal cabins and army tents in the lee of Mount Hermon that has been open now for nearly a month. There, the team can carry out essential diagnostic work, such as Batal's ultrasound, along with blood tests and X-rays. 'Anyone with an immediate threat to life we evacuate [to Israel],' says the chief physician, an IDF colonel who cannot be named. 'We're trying not to replace the local doctors in the villages, that's a key humanitarian principle. But we'll tell them that, for example, on Thursday we'll have an orthopaedic clinic, on Monday we have our Obgyn specialist [obstetrician-gynaecologist], so they can tell their patients when to come.' Judging by the men's exuberant moustaches, distinctive dark clothes and short-sided white and light-blue hats, all the dozen or so patients waiting are Druze. The official confirms that the Sunni villages, by and large, want nothing to do with the Israelis, although the clinic will treat anyone who turns up. At first patients were presenting with war injuries, some months old, that had been left untreated. Now it's more likely to be everyday complaints. Once seen, each patient is handed a detailed discharge form written in Hebrew and English. In the past, this would have been a highly dangerous practice. During the early years of the Syrian civil war, when the IDF provided some medical care in this border region, they went to vast lengths to do so in secret, cutting the labels out of clothes they gave patients, aware that anyone known to have received Israeli help would be in grave danger. 'It's different now,' says the chief physician. 'Everyone knows we're here and we're helping them.' As well as assisting a community to which Israel has traditionally felt a strong sense of responsibility, the clinic at Hader serves their agenda by reminding the world of the sectarianism and continued violence east of the border, justifying their military takeover of the region and their wider scepticism of the new regime. Since Ahmed Al-Sharaa, a former jihadi with previous links to both al-Qaeda and Islamic State, swept to power in December 2024, Israel has been reminding anyone who will listen that you can't trust a 'terrorist in a suit'. They have continued their campaign of air strikes against former regime facilities and heavy weapons that could be used against Israel, and even bombed near the presidential palace recently as a 'warning' to the new leader not to allow attacks on the Druze. However, it is an argument they appear to be losing, as demonstrated by Donald Trump's decision in May to lift all sanctions to give Syria 'a chance of greatness'. Indeed, rather than fretting about his terrorist past, much more of a neo-conservative preoccupation than a Maga concern, Mr Trump praised Al-Sharaa as an 'attractive, tough guy'. There have even been suggestions of a Trump Tower in Damascus. On Thursday, the US's newly appointed envoy for Syria was in the capital as the Stars and Stripes were raised over the ambassador's residence for the first time since 2012. Meanwhile, seemingly ignored by its closest ally in Washington, Israel digs in, literally. It is digging a vast anti-tank defensive ditch along the border, with 30km now completed and another 30 to go. 'Mortal danger. Active military zone,' reads the sign on the border fence, topped with coils of vicious-looking barbed wire. That more or less sums up Israel's attitude to Syria at the moment, despite the great wave of hope across the Middle East unleashed by the fall of Assad. The day before The Telegraph visited, troops stationed on the Israel-occupied Golan side of the border conducted an exercise to see how fast they could reach certain Syrian villages in an emergency. And they say that while they have had some success in persuading villagers in the border zone to give up their weapons, few communities trust the situation enough to hand over all their guns. 'We don't want to occupy, we don't want to kill,' the official said. 'We just want to protect the border and protect our people.'
Times
17-05-2025
- General
- Times
Here in Gaza, babies are skin and bone. I fear mine will be too
Every morning Shaimaa Ftouh's husband sets out to look for food in the ruins of Gaza. 'Most days, he comes back with nothing, with tears in his eyes,' she said. Sometimes Ftouh boils water and adds a little salt 'just to make a warm soup, so the children feel like they ate something' but it is no substitute for a real meal. 'One day, my daughter asked me, 'Mama, why doesn't this food taste like anything?' I couldn't answer,' she said. 'How can a mother cook when she has no ingredients and nothing to cook with?' In January, The Sunday Times documented the earliest days of Sham, Ftouh's third child, who was delivered via C-section: cut from her mother's womb without anaesthetic, because there was
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New mom furious at husband for choosing friends and barbecue over her and their newborn
A Reddit drama is lighting up social media as a mom of a newborn says she's "going crazy" over her husband's choices and their current family challenges, with a clinical psychologist contacted for insight on the dilemma. "Gave birth six weeks ago and it's been rough," wrote the mom in a Reddit post. "Recovering from emergency C-section, plus they think I may have a liver pancreas issue as I keep being unwell — plus my mental health took a dive, let alone newborn care!" Man 'Disgusted' At Food From Girlfriend's Culture Takes Heat On Social Media She continued, "My newborn is screaming anything from 2-4 hours every night. Trying everything to soothe and remedy her, as [it's] most likely colic. So far, no meds or methods have changed her behavior," the mom added. "We also have a 6-year-old who has very different needs. While the 6-week-old screams, the 6-year-old needs a bath, a bedtime story, etc." Read On The Fox News App The mother said the couple have been "tag teaming this." They've been having one parent tend to one child "to make sure both are OK," she wrote. "But it's still been unbelievably hard on all of us." Now comes an invitation and a husband's choices that sparked debate. "His guy friends invited him to a BBQ tonight and it would literally be him leaving just as [our] 6-week-old kicks off," the mom wrote. "So I said, 'Please don't go. I need help at that time.' Keeping in mind his friends meet regularly and it's not like if he doesn't do it today, that's it for a year," she added. 'Picky Eater' With Food Allergies Is Told She's 'Childish' And 'Needs To Get Over This' The husband replied, "Babies cry, just cope, I'm going," the young mother wrote. She said she "tried to point out that I know they cry, but it's not about coping, and I felt it was really selfish that he was choosing to pick his friends over his family. I even said if it was any other time I wouldn't have a problem with it." Her husband, she said, has "gone back to work, and I'm coping with that — it's just literally that time of night that's tricky." But "he kept saying that I was being 'controlling' by not letting him see his friends. It turned into a really bad moment for us where I was devastated to be called 'controlling.' I really don't think that's what I'm trying to do and that he just couldn't see it from my point of view." The mom said that the next day, her husband apologized. Click Here To Sign Up For Our Lifestyle Newsletter He said "he was completely wrong and [he] could see how bad things would be if he went and said he wouldn't go." However, she added, "fast forward to today — where he tells me he's going and if I can't cope, he'll take the baby and drop her at his [mom's] to look after." The problem, the young mother wrote, is that his mother "isn't close by, doesn't know all the things we are trying colic-wise, like the meds, etc., and would have to deal with a screaming baby. Also, my baby doesn't know her and is only 6 weeks, so all round, not a good solution." She said that her husband "also knows things are a bit tricky between me and his mom, so I feel like this was a bit manipulative on his part. . . . He knows I'd never pick his mom as an option but can now say he's found a solution where he can go." The at-her-wit's-end young mother wrote, "I feel like I'm going crazy here. I just want some support from my partner at the time of the day it's most difficult with our baby!" Fox News Digital reached out a California-based clinical psychologist for insight as other users on Reddit shared their own reactions and comments. One person in a top-rated comment wrote, "'You are welcome to attend your BBQ tonight. Tomorrow night, you will stay home with baby and child while I go out and have my break.' - I can guarantee he won't agree to that," the user added. "The comment 'babies cry, just cope' would have him sleeping in his mother's house if he was my husband," said another person. Said yet another user on the platform, "Sorry, but your husband is being completely unreasonable. We have 2 kids … We have an agreement that if either of us goes out, it's after 7 p.m. once both are in bed. Which means we both still get a social life without leaving the other in chaos." For more Lifestyle articles, visit The same person added, "It's not much to ask him to make a few sacrifices … Especially as he can still go out a bit later." Another commenter was far more worked up about the situation. "This is so infuriating to read. I'm so sorry he is treating you like this after everything you've been through." "If I had a partner who carried my child for 9 months, had major abdominal surgery and suffered ongoing health issues to ensure the safe delivery of my child — I'd be worshipping the ground they walked on for the rest of my life." The same person added, "He's being incredibly selfish, invalidating your feelings and there's just no excuse for this other than pure selfishness." Still another person shared a more nuanced reaction. "I can see it's hard on dads, too, and I don't blame him for wanting a break. But that's exactly the reason why he needs to stay. He can't expect you to go through that alone! He can look for other moments to recharge and meet his mates, but not during rush hour."Original article source: New mom furious at husband for choosing friends and barbecue over her and their newborn
Daily Mail
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Madeleine West details the 'traumatic' birth of her seventh child at the age of 47: 'I've never felt pain on that scale'
Madeleine West has shared candid details about the 'traumatic' birth of her seventh child. The 47-year-old former Neighbours actress penned a column for this week's Stellar magazine, explaining how she 'felt her C-section'. 'My baby's birth was capital T traumatic. I still choke up talking about it. But talk we must, because when things go pear-shaped... we don't do ourselves any favours,' she wrote. Madeleine, who gave birth last month, said she refused to be put under anaesthetic as she underwent a Caesarean section because she wanted to be 'present for my baby's first breath.' 'Suffice to say I've never felt pain on that scale... between passing out, gritting my teeth, and dropping the odd F-bomb, I did my best to make it appear tolerable to avoid sedation,' she continued. 'Immediately my body went into shock. Organs started to fail, and I swelled to Michelin Man proportions with extreme oedema.' 'But my mind proved hardest to wrangle. It replayed the sensations on an endless loop, and tries to still, striving to make sense of the incomprehensible.' Madeleine said she delivered a health baby but this was 'tarnished by pain and an utter loss of control.' It comes after Madeleine shared a touching tribute to her seven children on Mother's Day. The former Neighbours actress posted a throwback Christmas picture of herself posing with her six eldest kids to Instagram on Sunday. A smiling Madeleine can be seen sitting alongside Santa as she hugged one of her children. The actress used a smiley emoji to obscure the identity of each of her kids in the picture in order to protect their privacy. The TV star—who shares Phoenix, 19, Hendrix, 16, Xascha, 14, Xanthe, 12, and twins Xalia and Margaux, 10, her ex partner Shannon Bennett added a lengthy message to her children including her newborn in the post. 'My magnum opus SEVEN times over!' she began. 'My crazy, cantankerous, curious, clever, chaos of children (collective noun trademarked!) 'Thank you. The woman I've become, as your mum, is the best version of myself I could ever wish to be.... 'Thank you for your trust when you reach out for me. Thank you for your forgiveness when I don't have all the answers. Thank you for the love in your eyes when you call my name,' Madeleine said. 'I don't always get it right, but thank you for your patience as I try to do my best. 'The journey has not been easy, what journey ever is? 'It is an honour to bear witness to your trials and tribulations every day, and to witness the incredible people you are and contribute to become,' she continued. 'Please know I love you, now and forever, more than words can say. 'Who knew the human heart could hold so much? And who knew that love could continue to grow, expand and flourish. 'I'm so blessed to be a Mother of Many (even if you lot are a lot harder to train than dragons). 'My babies always and forever. Just call, I'm always here.'
