Saturday, April 04, 2009

Transforming Maternity Care Part IV

Two last things that were interesting at the maternity care summit organized by the Childbirth Connection.

1. Several people pushed to have nitrous oxide -- a.k.a "laughing gas" in the US or "gas and air" in the UK -- be a serious contender with the epidural. Why? It's easy; a woman can practically administer it to herself. That is great when you consider that 18 percent of women giving birth in this country live in rural areas, where the closest hospital does not have an anesthesiologist 24/7, a fact that usually pushes women to drive farther during labor to a hospital where they CAN get an epidural.


2. someone mentioned that infant mortality in Pittsburgh is 12.9 percent. Could that possibly be true?

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