Myth busting #1: There is no alternative to the CTG
There really is an alternative to CTG use…
Reflections
My thoughts and ideas
Does CTG monitoring work for women with risk factors?
Today’s post shares the back story behind our paper. #CTG #EFM #PerinatalMortality #CP
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Water birth and the perineum – what is all the fuss about? Part 3
This week I’m returning to an exploration of the literature about water birth and the perineum. The recently published paper by Sanders and colleagues (2024, in press) has already generated two letters to the editor. I want to start by looking at their criticisms and considering their validity, before making some conclusions about what I think the POOL study can teach us. Letter number 1 The first of the letters […]
Water birth and the perineum: Part 2
As I was pondering on the question of why water birth seems to get obstetricians in a bit of a tizzy – I realised my own experience of learning to support women at water births provides some clues. This week’s post is a reflection on what I have learned as an obstetrician who has been present at over 100 water births. The early days While I had been interested in […]
Words have power
Words have power. I know this – the approach I used for my doctoral research requires you to look closely at how language shapes the social world. If you have hung around the birth world for a bit, you have probably made some conscious choices about whether you use the words “patient” and “delivery”. I spend most of my working week choosing which words work best to get the job […]
Does counting each baby save babies lives?
Why did the Each Baby Counts program not made a difference?
Can you assess variability with intermittent auscultation?
Let me begin, like the good researcher I am, by defining some terms. Intermittent auscultation is a type of fetal heart rate monitoring. A device of some sort is used to make it easy to hear the fetal heart rate, so the person listening (auscultating) can assess certain features of the heart rate, to determine whether it is considered normal or not. Typically, a handheld Doppler device is used. This […]
Just try harder, then it will work! An allegorical tale.
A tall tale about Chris and his attempts to make his daily commute safer. (But it’s actually about CTG monitoring….)
High risk obstetrics and high risk women: a wee rant about language
“High risk” is a term that gets tossed around a lot in maternity services. Have you ever stopped to think about what is being hidden under the surface when it is used?
Birth Small Talk 