circumcision...would you cut parts of your daughter??

My journey to discovery isn't just about birth. The many abuses that are done to pregnant women, laboring women, and babies in birth don't end once the baby is out in the new world. The abuse continues with a procedure that is "cosmetic" and just plain unnecessary! Cutting a piece of skin off your baby boy is now really only done for looks. BUT not enough people are willing to do the research on this topic and still think that it "needs" to be done for "cleanliness" reasons or to protect them from HIV/AIDS or protect their partner from cervical cancer or just because they think it "looks" better. Those are all the reasons I "wanted" to have my son circumcised. I am so thankful that he was not due to GBS that he contracted from the hospital. I have since learned so many things that are done with NO medical evidence I started looking into this and was horrified to learn that there is no medical reason what so ever to cut good skin of your boys penis. Studies have shown time and time again that circumcising doesn't protect them from HIV/AIDS, I doesn't protect future partners from cervical cancer and is not dirty or unsanitary in any way. So why then is it still "routine" to circumcise?? Here are some facts on Circumcision:

How is Circumcision Done?
Most parents don't know what is actually done
to a baby when he is circumcised. The baby is placed spread-eagle on his back on
a board and his arms and legs are strapped down so that he can't move. His
genitals are scrubbed and covered with antiseptic. His foreskin is torn from the
glans and slit lengthwise so that the circumcision instrument can be inserted.
Then his foreskin is cut off. Most parents who see what is done to a baby when
he is circumcised and how he reacts decide against circumcision and let their
baby keep his foreskin intact.

I know I did once I saw an educational video of it being done to a baby complete with sound I said Nope none of my babies will have that done. Here is a video of a circumcision.

When and why did doctors in the U.S. start circumcising babies?

Doctors in the English-speaking countries started circumcising babies in the mid-1800s "to prevent masturbation," which was blamed for causing many diseases, including epilepsy, tuberculosis, and insanity. Other reasons have been given since then, but all of them, including the claim that circumcision prevents cancer of the penis, cancer of the cervix, and venereal diseases, have been dis proven. We now know that the foreskin is a normal, sensitive, functional part of the body.

Wow, and yet even though all those reasons have been proven wrong we are still mutilating our children's penises for the sake of looks!

Is circumcision painful?
Yes. Circumcision is extremely painful - and traumatic - for a baby. Just being strapped down is frightening for a baby. The often repeated statement that babies can't feel pain is not true. Babies are as sensitive to pain as anyone else. Most babies scream frantically when their foreskin is cut off. Some defecate. Some lapse into a coma. The reason some babies don't cry when they are circumcised, is that they can't cry because they are in a state of shock. Most babies are circumcised without anesthesia. Anesthetics injected into the penis don't always work. Being stuck with a needle in the penis is itself painful for a baby, just as if would be for anyone else. Babies are rarely given pain medication right after they are circumcised or during the week to ten days it takes for the wound to heal. Pain medication is not always effective and is never 100% effective.

Hmm would you want something cut off your body if you were going to feel the whole thing?? I think not so why do this to your newborn baby as one of their first experiences in life??

Does circumcision have risks?
Yes. Like any other surgery, circumcision has risks. They include:

Excessive bleeding
Infection
Complications from anesthesia
Surgical mistakes, including loss of glans and loss of entire penis
Death

Many circumcised males suffer from:

Extensive scarring
Skin tags and skin bridges
Tearing and bleeding at the scar site
Curvature of the penis
Tight, painful erections
Difficulty ejaculating
Impotence
Feelings of having been violated
Feelings of having been mutilated

What a list of risks! I know when I asked my care provider the risks of this I was not told over 75% of the risks on this list.

I know alot of people who do it only because they are worried their child will be teased. The is a possibility but you can say the same for their hair color, eye color anything about them so why start removing body part only to prevent teasing. Would you cut off your daughters labia to keep her from being teased? Would you cut off her nipples just because others were doing it to keep her from being teased? I know I wouldn't so why should a boys penis be any different!?
Here are some links with alot of info:
http://www.nocirc.org/
http://www.notjustskin.com/
http://www.circumcision.org/
http://www.noharmm.org/
http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/

Kaiser Permanente Doc kills baby and still has a job!

This is one of the worst stories I have ever read to be all honest. I am so tired of seeing and reading about children dying, being injured, families being torn apart and all that can come with hospital births. The article is really long so I am going to paste a few paragraphs but please read the whole story. You never know the truth about who you are trusting your and your babies life to.

"I've been telling these guys for years that he was going to kill someone,"
said Dr. Gilbert Moran, the former ob-gyn chief. "And no one would
listen"

So the Chief of the OB department reported it and the hospital STILL kept him on. What a shame that the safety of the patients didn't come first.

Late one April night, the first of Sarah Valenzuela's twins arrived with little trouble, but the second stayed put.
Though the baby was not in distress, Kaiser Permanente perinatologist Hamid Safari attached a vacuum extractor to the boy's head to draw him out. Again and again he tugged, but still the baby would not come.

OK if that baby wasn't distressed why not let him come on his own. Its perfectly OK to let them come on their own. It can take minutes or hours. I have even seen a day go by between twins. If the baby was OK he should have just let nature do its awesome work!

It took 90 minutes and six tries -- the last with Safari on his knees, pulling. Horrified staffers -- and the boy's father -- looked on as baby Devin finally emerged. His skin was a bloodless white, his neck elongated and floppy.
His spinal cord had been severed.

OMG! I feel so badly for those poor parents! For a grown man to use all his force on that tiny baby what the hell did that OB think was gonna happen!

Safari lashed out at a nurse. "What did you do to that baby? I gave you a good baby," he said, according to a complaint letter the nurse sent to her union representative.

Yeah ok blame the nurse. That poor women was probably horrified at what she had just seen! And then for him to try and blame her! Uggg I feel sick.

Over the years, doctors and nurses repeatedly had complained to higher-ups -- including Kaiser's top medical officer in Northern and Central California -- about problems they saw in Safari's skills and behavior, according to interviews and documents.
This is a story not just of tragic medical outcomes, but of a health plan that did not prevent them.

Just tragic this little boys life could have been spared had the administrators listened to the people who watched his work everyday.
There is so much more to this story that I could go on and on about but I want you to read if for yourself. Make your own conclusion. Is this the kind of system that our women and children should be exposed to. Until we stand up and demand that the treatment of pregnant women and infants stops there will be more stories like this, more babies dying and more mothers going home with no babies or worse babies and kids living a life without their mother.
To see the full story follow the link and on the right side of the page click the print button to get the full text version.
LA Times story

The legality of VBAC

Ok so I am getting much better at researching things lol I was ok at it in the beginning now I am getting better and better with a little more free time to look through the pages and pages that come up when you search. Anyway I stumbled across this and thought it was a great read on the "truth" about why OB's don't like to do VBAC and why the ACOG has such an interest in it. Not for the better of the patient but for the better of the OB. Here is the intro!

The percentage of births that are cesarean is at an all time high in the United States while the rate for a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) is at an all time low. Legal, medical and economic factors amalgamate to influence these rates. The recommendations of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) have also impacted the VBAC and cesarean rates. The ACOG’s recommendations are an example of defensive medicine because the recommendations are not based on scientific evidence; they were imposed solely to prevent obstetrician/gynecologists from medical malpractice lawsuits. As a result, many pregnant women are restricted in choosing a delivery method and are subjected to unnecessary cesarean sections. This paper will examine the legal, medical and economic factors concerning VBACs and cesarean sections. Next, this paper will explore why a woman with a cesarean cannot deliver vaginally in a subsequent pregnancy. Finally, this paper will discuss the ACOG’s recommendations and explain why they constitute a defensive medicine procedure.

And this is all too true. All the scare tactics they use to discourage VBAC is soley because of malpractice and fear of law suits not based on the evidence. The only thing I can say so far that I don't like was this reference:

Eliminating VBACs may result in attempting a VBAC at home or visiting a birthing center that cannot perform an emergency cesarean.[121] Additionally, women trying to avoid another cesarean “have endangered themselves and their babies by staying at home in labor – or even staying in the hospital parking lot – until the last minute.”[122]

VBACing at home is just as safe if not safer then VBACing in a hospital. More one on one care that can catch the signs of a rupture before it happens instead of a few nurses juggling a bunch of patients and soley relying on a machine to tell them the well being of the mom and baby, able to be relaxed and move and eat as needed to keep labor progressing and not having 20 people come in during your labor to only shove their fingers in your vagina so less chance of infection. Over all its so refreshing to see this written by someone who has no ties to the VBAC controversy. Its about time!

1 out of 3 women will have a c/section

This is an awesome sideshow of women who have gone through the pain of a c/section. Very powerful and raw. The truth needs to be out there! That c/sections are OVERDONE and COME WITH RISK. It goes so far beyond just physical but the emotional part is worse.



Too many women bury their feelings as we are told that all that matters is a healthy baby. NO that is not ALL that matters. Yes of course we are so happy that are children are healthy but that doesn't erase the pain, the sadness, the loneliness that can come with a c/section. Some women will never get over the experience.

Cytotec is what??

Uhhh so with all that I have learned this one is something that really bothers me more then anything. OK I know that so many meds are used off label but are perfectly OK to do so.But Cytotec is not one of these. It is an ulcer med that too many Ob's across the country are using to induce labor. OK first of all induction is already not a good idea unless there is a true medical need to get the baby out but then again if the baby is in that bad of shape would they really be able to handle the induction process?? So once learning of the use of Cytotec and all the agencies who are against its off label use to induce including the FDA, AAP, AAFPD and the Manufacturer themselves! I felt like I wanted to ripe my hair out. Why do they think its OK when there have been numerous bad outcomes that could have been prevented all for the sake of being able to schedule birth!??? Finally a news channel picked it up and brought it to light. The whole time I am watching this I am cheering and soo happy that finally someone is paying attention to the unneeded horrors that are done not only to pregnant women but laboring women and babies! Now if only a national show would pick this up and really shed light on the truth about birth in America!

A new begining

Hi there, sorry if my page is a little blah right now. I am still learning all this blogging stuff and how to get this arranged right. I will go into my story in a little bit. I can say that I can never have enough thanks to ICAN for all the support I have so needed in the last few years of my life. I have learned so much not just about birth but about myself. Why for so long did I sit back and allow someone else make the decisions for and about me and my children? Why isn't it just standard that EVERYONE educate themselves instead of just taking someones word for it because they have some initials behind their name (Ex: OB, MD, etc). I have come so far. I have changed they way I think about so many things it almost appears I don't really fit in with my mainstream friends anymore. Come with me while I share my ongoing journey not just about birth issues although I will admit that is what I am most interested in.