Dawn's Scrapbook

Motherhood and Mothering Fall 2018

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CELINUNUNU OFFICIAL

Break the norm. Hear us out tmrw on CNN www.celinununu.com

Funny recent advertisement for Celine Dion’s new genderless clothing line.

I think this is very relevant to readings on queer parenting.

What does it mean to parent?  What does it mean to queer parent? What does it mean to queer parent as a heterosexual person? 

Considering Celine Dion’s new genderless clothing line and their steep prices, it demonstrates how economic class is required here.  Is Celine Dion actually envisioning a genderless utopia or is she just wanting to profit off of a new trend?  

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Indigenous women kept from seeing their newborn babies until agreeing to sterilization, says lawyer | CBC Radio

At least 60 Indigenous women are pursuing a lawsuit alleging they were sterilized against their will, as recently as last year. Is there an issue of systemic racism within Canada's healthcare system?

Sad and interesting article about a class-action lawsuit involving 60 indigenous women being forced sterilization in Saskatchewan, Canada.

While many women reported this procedures were reversible, some surgeries performed, such as tube tying has detrimental affects. Forced sterilization is believed to be happening as current as 2017 in possibly not only Saskatchewan, but Regina and Winnipeg as well.

“At least 60 Indigenous women are pursuing a class-action lawsuit launched last year, alleging they underwent forced sterilizations over the past 20 to 25 years in Saskatchewan. Each woman is claiming about $7 million in damages.”

This article links up to the readings in class we did on eugenics.  Similarly the the eugenics movement in the United States, it is believed that only one body/bodies (white, middle to upper class, heterosexual, able) are fit to be parents. The forced sterilization of indigenous women is a crime to humanity taking away total autonomy. 

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New York to Expand Use of Doulas to Reduce Childbirth Deaths

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a series of initiatives aimed at addressing a disturbingly high rate of maternal mortality among black women.

This article is relevant to many of my scrapbook findings thus far and many of the readings from class. Looking at this article and others from the class, it is sad to see how race still heavily plays a roll in birth outcomes. 

“Studies show the calming presence and supportive reinforcement of doulas can help increase birth outcomes and reduce birth complications for the mother and the baby. Still, only a small percentage of women use doulas nationwide.“

I will continue to ask... how do we make these changes happen? 

What needs to happen to make these services available and free of charge?

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246.4k Followers, 9 Following, 5,097 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Birth Without Fear™ (@birthwithoutfear)

My favorite birth related instagram.

Birth Without Fear is all about dismantling fear within our birthing culture. Their instagram is a combination of photographs and videos that show birthing and mothering/parenting done in a variety of ways. Their content is real, raw, and moving. This instagram can be related to so much from class from The Business of Being Born to many of the articles in relation to the current birth politics in this country around midwifery, natural birth vs hospital birth, and doula care.

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Amazing video of underwater childbirth with Dolphin.qt

Amazing video of underwater childbirth with Dolphin.

Another favorite birth videos of mine.  This time an incredible water birth with a dolphin. 

Similarly the women giving birth at their homes in The Business of Being Born, it is important to note the class and privilege it requires to have a kind of birth like this. Sadly living in a system where birth is a medical expense, women don’t often time don’t even know all of their options available such as home birth, water birth, hypobirth, or to have the service of a doula.

How do we change this? How do we work towards making birth care more accessible for all birthing bodies? How do we begin to dismantle fear about birth and birthing bodies? How are we able to radically transform our culture’s fears and stigma the birthing process?

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35 mm film captures of my friend Nicole hours before she went into labor. 

That next day, she birthed, at home, in water, a healthy 9 lb 4 oz baby boy. 

October 2018.

While Nicole’s partner is on a different continent, she is choosing this life for herself. I can’t help myself imagine how hard new parenting can be, especially as a single parent. She plans to fly to Bhutan and relocate where her husband is in the next coming months but until then, she has been single parenting with her newborn.  

How do we as a culture judge this kind of parenting?  

How do we as a society dis-empower or empower women who choose single parenting for whatever reasoning or circumstance? 

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I'm an Abortion Doula—Here's What I Do and See During a Typical Shift

People who get abortions deserve care and compassion.

It’s important to note the different kind of doulas such as abortion and death doulas. The word doula means “servant” in Greek so this can be received in various ways.

This article is related to several readings in the class (especially from week 5, week 6). While birth and especially abortion are taboo topics, support and representation for these women is very much needed. The reading talks about how this one abortion doula got into this type of work,

““During nursing school, a friend told me about DC Doulas for Choice. It’s a collective of twenty volunteers who commit a certain amount of time every month to be an abortion doula at a Northern Virginia clinic. I knew I had to join. I filled out an application, interviewed, went to an intensive in-person training, and then shadowed an experienced abortion doula before starting to volunteer on my own as the sole abortion doula during a shift. I’ve been an abortion doula for a year and a half now.“

“Talking to patients after their abortions just reinforces how important it is for women to have control over their reproductive futures.“

This work is so important and much needed. 

With the training I have now, I would consider being an abortion doula. 

I wonder what type of after care (physically and mental) would be best for not only the client but for the doula herself as well? 

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Questions re: the healthcare system

I wonder how the world / the United States would look like if like we had universal health care?

I wonder how politicians would treat the health care system if they knew what it was like to not have health insurance or poor medical care?

Growing up in Canada and moving to the United States at 11 years old, I see problems on both sides - what is the ‘perfect’ system?  What countries / communities are doing it right - able to provide quality universal health care for all?

If we weren’t so focused on for profit, would we, as a society, be more focused on wellness as a whole?

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“State Medicaid programs are in a uniquely powerful position to address equity issues highlighted by tragic and persistent disparities in birth outcomes, alongside the other concerns raised by Goldstein and Glied. Efforts to expand Medicaid coverage to include doula services have the potential to improve access to low-intervention, physiologic birth and also to reduce costs of maternity services for all women. However, for policy change to be effective, it must be informed by the experiences and wisdom of the community it aims to serve.“

This is a very interesting article about how if Medicaid were to cover doula services that could reduce costs and improve birth outcomes. The article is related to the readings and conversations we had on doula care and the birth rights of women. 

What kind of changes do we need to make this happen? 

What needs to happen in order to improve the health care including sexual reproductive care birth for all beings?

What changes need to happen for Medicaid to start covering doula care for anyone wanting these services?

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Why do women still die giving birth?

Every other minute, a woman or girl dies as a result of pregnancy complications or childbirth. Why has the global decline in maternal mortality stalled?

This article that touches on many subjects related to women dying around childbirth. Recently published this month. In relation to our class, this reading relates to many of the readings we did around childbirth politics and the fact that women are still dying in childbirth.

In 2018, why is this still happening? 

How does capitalism contribute to women still dying in childbirth?

Who is dying most from childbirth?

“Adolescent girls have a particularly high risk of death in childbirth. Last year the WHO found that complications in pregnancy and childbirth, together with unsafe abortion, were the biggest killers globally of girls aged 15 to 19. Hypertension and obstructed labour are among the main causes, since their bodies are not fully developed and ready to give birth. About half of all pregnancies among this cohort are unplanned.”

How can we begin to work towards making actual changes for these women who are being most affected? What other types of countries have successful models for birth that we can we take from? 

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California becomes first state to condemn intersex surgeries on children

California on Tuesday became the first state in the nation to condemn unnecessary surgery on intersex children. The Legislature passed a resolution demanding the medical community halt nonconsensual medical procedures that try to cosmetically 'normalize' intersex children's sex characteristics.

*Additional article related to this topic:

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/baby-cannot-provide-consent-calif-lawmakers-denounce-infant-intersex-surgeries-n903686

“California’s leadership on the protection of intersex children’s rights is not only an expression of solidarity and dignity, but a reminder that doctors take an oath do no harm,” Kyle Knight, a Human Rights Watch researcher and author of two reports on intersex issues, said in a statement sent to NBC News. “Medical professional associations should draw a hard line saying that unless surgery is medically necessary, intersex children have the right to grow up and participate in the decision to undergo surgical procedures.”

Recently California became the first state to medically condemn unnecessary surgeries on intersex babies.  This shows huge progress on making space for non binary bodies within medical institutions. A reading that perfectly aligns with these articles is Not a “Medical Miracle” by Costella, where she talks about unnecessary medical intervention on intersex babies. Other important headway made related to creating space for bodies outside of the gender binary are the states of California, Oregon, and Washington have all added a third gender option on their birth certificate. This is so important and necessary in order to create understanding around intersex bodies and work towards destigmatizing these bodies.

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https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2016/05/birth-wars-politics-childbirth

This article talks about how women divide and separate over personal birth choices. The author, a mother of three, discusses her own personal birthing experiences, noting how vastly difference each one was.  The article poses the question: “What is a woman, anyway?” One critique from this article of the natural birth movement is how classist it is, birthing pains being a privilege. 

This article is particularly interesting to me as it talks about how childbirth is not a feminist act but a human act. I can see aspects to this argument but I still think that birthing is a feminist act. What childbirth as a human act versus a feminist action?

“’Natural childbirth,” she writes, “has nothing to do with feminism . . . and everything to do with manipulating women into accepting the profoundly misogynistic notion that women’s worth is determined by their vaginas, uteruses, and breasts, instead of their intellect or the content of their character.’” (Tuteur)

This article can be related to many different readings from this semester around the politics of birthing, The Business of Being Born, and the readings related to what it means to be a mother (Mother Blaming, To Be Real).

“Be subversive: Love women, not just for the spaces they make, but the boundaries they set. Embrace not the void in which you see yourself reflected, but the other person, with all of her contours, not in pieces, not in pain, but complete in her own right.“