Divine Design

Ask the Midwives

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Patti Barnes

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Series Code: DIV

Program Code: DIV000012A


00:01 The contents of the following program
00:03 are not intended to substitute
00:05 for the advice of your healthcare provider,
00:07 and the producers of this series
00:09 assume no liability
00:10 for the use or misuse of the material presented.
00:21 Creation or evolution, design or random chants,
00:27 they say it all began with a big bang
00:31 but when we look at the amazing human body
00:34 the answer is obvious,
00:36 the complexity of the design
00:37 exceeds anything man has ever made.
00:41 The body, it only have been designed
00:44 by the master designer
00:45 we read about in the Bible.
00:49 Divine Design.
01:04 Hello, welcome back
01:07 to another episode of Divine Design
01:09 and I'm Patti Barnes and I'm here
01:11 at Hartland College.
01:12 And I have with me a few special guests,
01:15 they are professionals in the field of child birth.
01:20 We're so happy to have you here today.
01:23 I would like to introduce them and they're gonna share with us
01:26 some of their experience
01:28 in what their clients most frequently ask questions.
01:33 I'll just start with Beth,
01:34 Beth you're from Spokane, Washington.
01:36 Yes.
01:37 She used to work in a birthing center
01:40 for 13 years, right,
01:42 and then started your own practicing,
01:43 what is it called?
01:45 Birth by Design.
01:46 That's a really great name.
01:48 So about 20 years of experience you've had?
01:50 Close. Okay.
01:52 Then we have Dr. Cherie Lou Fernandez
01:54 she's an OB/GYN, our gynecologist
01:57 from the Philippines.
01:58 Yes.
01:59 And now also
02:01 a certified professional midwife.
02:03 Yes.
02:04 And she's here at Hartland College,
02:06 and she actually teaching midwifery curriculum.
02:10 So welcome. Thank you.
02:11 And we have Heather from Nashville, Tennessee.
02:14 And Heather Wilson
02:16 is a certified professional midwife,
02:18 and so you started back in the '80s?
02:21 79, Dr. Agatha Thrash.
02:23 With Dr. Agatha Thrash, all right.
02:26 And you had your practice in?
02:28 1983.
02:29 1983 in Nashville.
02:31 In Nashville.
02:32 And now you're trying to retire?
02:34 Trying to retire.
02:36 Then we have Talitha Mills
02:37 she's also from Nashville, Tennessee.
02:39 You first started with helping Heather.
02:42 At Uchee Pines.
02:43 Okay.
02:44 Had the training there also with Dr. Agatha
02:47 and a nurse named Heidi.
02:48 Okay.
02:49 So and you are also
02:51 a certified professional midwife?
02:52 Yes. Welcome ladies.
02:54 We are very thankful for you to be here.
02:56 I mean such a sacrifice to come out here
02:59 and do this for us.
03:01 Okay, Beth let me begin with you,
03:03 you've worked in birthing centers,
03:05 and home birth settings, how would you determine,
03:08 what is a good candidate for either setting?
03:12 That's a great question because it's really important
03:15 that the right women are hooked with midwifes,
03:20 we don't want high risk women in any way
03:24 for the women sake as well as the midwife's sake.
03:26 So when we initially meet with a pregnant woman,
03:29 we go over her health history and her birth history
03:33 to make sure she is low risk and a good candidate.
03:37 Some of the things on that list that we go over are,
03:42 if she has high blood pressure, if she has diabetes,
03:46 if she is a smoker, or has obesity,
03:50 these things are all gonna raise her risks.
03:53 Yes.
03:54 If she has in her birth history
03:56 a history of preterm labors or preterm births,
04:01 or more than one cesarean section,
04:04 and different midwifes vary a little bit on their protocols
04:08 as to what is safe for them
04:09 depending on their own experience.
04:11 Yes.
04:13 And so then once a woman is deemed low risk,
04:15 and is accepted into care for out of hospital birth,
04:19 then there are other things that can come up
04:22 during her prenatal course
04:23 that could at that time risk her out,
04:26 even up through the labor.
04:29 Some of those things might be if she develops preeclampsia,
04:33 which is a condition with high blood pressure
04:35 as well as other things,
04:37 if she uncontrolled gestational diabetes,
04:41 if something would show up in an ultrasound
04:44 showing the placenta is in a bad position
04:48 or a problem with the baby.
04:51 So all of these things could come up,
04:54 so just because of women is accepted initially,
04:57 doesn't mean necessarily
04:58 that she'll continue all the way through to the birth.
05:01 And you do what they call a referral?
05:03 Right, and then at that point
05:04 we may have to refer to see a doctor
05:07 or if need to be transfer her care all together.
05:09 That makes sense. But those things are rare.
05:12 Most women are healthy
05:14 and can have with good lifestyle.
05:17 Good prenatal care.
05:18 Yes, prenatal care can have a healthy pregnancy
05:22 and a good delivery.
05:23 Okay.
05:25 Dr. Fernandez, you have done a lot of cesarean sections,
05:30 we did an earlier episode on cesareans.
05:34 And I just want to know
05:36 your take on having a vaginal birth
05:40 after cesarean or a trail of labor
05:42 after cesarean section.
05:44 Actually if you're gonna say that
05:46 I specialized in cesarean sections,
05:49 it would tickle me
05:50 and because we would sometimes race to see
05:53 who was faster in doing the cesarean sections.
05:56 Really!
05:58 I'm not really proud that we were doing that,
06:00 but it happened, you know and I face it
06:02 and everyday I pray that
06:05 I won't go back to things like that.
06:07 Anyway when I was in my residential training,
06:10 early in the '90s to the mid '90s,
06:13 around that time, the United States started
06:17 doing vaginal births
06:20 and the Philippines followed right after the United States.
06:24 So when I'm on my residential training,
06:25 we started doing
06:27 vaginal births after c-sections.
06:30 And they found out that vaginal births were very safe
06:35 after the c-sections at least.
06:38 But then we were told that you just don't do
06:43 c-sections without knowing
06:44 how the previous c-section was done.
06:47 So there are c-sections like such as the ones
06:50 that they cut straight
06:51 into the contracting portion of the uterus,
06:54 you call the classical section,
06:55 you cannot do a c-section, I mean,
06:57 you cannot do a birth after that,
06:59 a normal birth after that.
07:01 It's higher risk.
07:02 Yeah, it's high risk the uterus can burst.
07:05 Or if you're able to rule out
07:07 the possibility of the women having malformed pelvis
07:11 or like the placenta is ahead of the baby as in previa.
07:15 Previa.
07:16 So when you rule out all the reasons
07:18 why a cesarean section should be done,
07:22 then you can do vaginal birth,
07:25 you can have what you call a TOLAC,
07:27 the Trial Of Labor After Cesarean Section.
07:31 Well, because cesarean sections
07:33 after births after c-sections were relatively safe
07:38 now then they came and got into the bandwagon
07:42 and did all sorts of interventions
07:44 with the VBAC or the TOLAC patients.
07:47 Then we now had VBAC-Lash
07:50 where when they had a peak around the 1990s
07:54 and now the obstetricians are scared to do VBACs
07:58 because of this mismanagements of TOLACs
08:05 and resulting, you know,
08:08 bad results for the baby and the mom.
08:10 So now they're scared,
08:12 it's like they are really scared to do VBACs
08:15 but really
08:16 if you are ruling out with honesty,
08:22 all those like
08:25 previous classical section, and all those other things
08:29 that are indications which are absolute.
08:32 Then you can safely do a vaginal birth.
08:35 Heather, I get a lot of questions
08:38 about ultrasounds.
08:40 Are they safe, how do you feel about that?
08:43 Well, Patti, ultrasound have been
08:46 used for over 40 years now.
08:49 And so far, after 40 years
08:52 they have an excellent safety record.
08:55 Prenatal ultrasound testing uses high-frequency sound waves
09:00 and those sound waves are inaudible to the human ear.
09:03 And those sound waves bounce off baby
09:06 and the echoes are recorded and transformed
09:09 into photographic images and videos.
09:13 The mothers are used to going to a technician
09:18 and getting a topical ultrasound
09:21 or transvaginal ultrasound.
09:23 They're also familiar with in the hospital
09:26 where they use the external video monitor.
09:28 And at home we use the handheld Doppler.
09:31 All of those used sound waves,
09:34 there's no radiation as in X-Rays,
09:37 there's no magnetic residence as in MRIs.
09:41 So far they have no evidence
09:45 that these ultrasounds
09:47 are harmful to the fetus or the baby.
09:49 Okay.
09:50 So now if and it's is big if,
09:54 they use according to guidelines.
09:57 And those guidelines are,
09:58 it should be done by a trained professional,
10:01 it should be medically necessary
10:04 and it should not last anymore than 40 to 30,
10:08 at the most 40 minutes.
10:09 Okay.
10:10 So the ultrasound does give off a slight heat to the tissues.
10:16 So a prolonged use by a non-trained professional
10:21 could raise the risk you know, a little bit,
10:25 which have consequences that are unknown at the time.
10:28 Well, Talitha, you get ladies from time to time
10:33 that are Rh negative
10:34 and I can't feel it's important to explain
10:36 why is a RhoGAM shot important for those, Rh negative?
10:41 Very important,
10:42 the RhoGAM shot is a sterile solution
10:45 that's made from human blood plasma
10:48 and is given to Rh negative moms in pregnancy.
10:52 And it's good to know for them to know
10:54 that the Rh factor is a protein
10:58 that is found in most people's red blood cells.
11:01 And those who do not have that protein
11:03 on their red blood cells are considered Rh negative.
11:08 The Rh factor does not usually represent a problem.
11:12 Okay.
11:14 Unless you become pregnant
11:15 or you need a blood transfusion in the event of trauma
11:20 or something and in pregnancy there's a condition,
11:26 that is Rh incompatibility
11:28 between the blood of the mother and the blood of the fetus,
11:32 especially of course
11:34 a positive fetus in a negative mom.
11:36 Okay.
11:38 If this blood mixes and it can mix,
11:41 it can make events like miscarriage
11:43 or trauma again at delivery.
11:45 Some type of accident.
11:47 All by accident, it can mix, it doesn't usually mix,
11:50 but yeah, it can mix
11:52 and when this mixing occurs the Rh negative moms blood
11:55 responds in a way to produce antibodies,
12:00 and these antibodies really can destroy
12:02 the Rh positive fetus's blood cells.
12:06 And so the Rh shot
12:08 actually prevents the Rh mom's immune system
12:12 from making those antibodies.
12:14 And basically it's been a really,
12:17 it's been wonderful to have that
12:20 since 1968 the FDA actually, approved it
12:27 and since then countless lives have been saved.
12:29 Child birth is such a ministry
12:32 when you're able to help as a midwife.
12:35 And it's such a blessing when you can lead people
12:38 into the faith, and I just want to ask you all,
12:42 have you experienced that?
12:44 You know, I'm thinking of one recent labor,
12:48 where it was a long labor,
12:51 she was in the birth pool, and the husband,
12:55 we were talking about spiritual things,
12:58 they're Christians, and the husband said to me
13:02 "Do you know,
13:03 that Jesus really wasn't born on Christmas day?"
13:07 and I said,
13:08 "Yes, I know that, I think it's true,
13:11 I don't really think he was born on December 25."
13:14 And then he said, "And do you know,
13:17 that the real Sabbath is not on Sunday?"
13:21 And I said to him, "Yes."
13:24 I said, "You're preaching to the choir,
13:26 I'm a Seventh-day Adventist."
13:28 Well he didn't know what a Seventh-day Adventist was,
13:30 he never heard of that.
13:32 But and I asked him,
13:34 "How did you come to that conclusion?"
13:35 And he said, "Just by doing my own research online."
13:39 And so I gave him a great controversy
13:42 and I know that I've planted a lot of seeds.
13:46 Praise the Lord.
13:48 When people come back to me for a second or a third baby,
13:50 they remember.
13:52 They do.
13:53 That I go to church on Saturday.
13:55 And so I know that these things people are remembering.
14:00 What a blessing it has been for you all to be here today,
14:03 I just want to thank you so very much
14:05 for taking the time to come
14:07 and share your experience with us.
14:10 I want to invite the viewing audience
14:13 to please join us again
14:14 for more of the Divine Design series.


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Revised 2016-11-14