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You'd think that between Erykah Badu's home-birth twitter and Ricki Lake's film success and the New York Times coverage that we'd moved beyond dissing home birth as fringe -- "extreme." Apparently not. The current New York magazine titles a feature about it "Extreme Birth." The piece, by Andrew Goldman, tries to be a character study of Cara Muhlhahn, the home-birth midwife and now memoirist featured in Lake's film The Business of Being Born. But after raising her to a teetering pedestal, crowning her "the fearless -- some say too fearless -- new leader of the home-birth movement," Goldman shoots her down. It feels more like a character assassination -- of both her and the movement.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-block/extreme-birth-indeed_b_181009.html

A cesarean section, also called a C-section, is when a woman has a surgical procedure through an incision in her abdomen and uterus to give birth to her baby. A cesarean section is an option that is used for childbirth when a woman can't safely have a vaginal delivery.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/670467/april_is_cesarean_awareness_month.html

The fourth month of the year welcomes spring, according to the popular rhyme. April is supposed to bring showers, and is usually associated with renewal when spring cleaning rituals may take place. April also represents birth with Cesarean Awareness Month, also known as CAM, and is a warning to all expectant mothers, women trying to get pregnant, or anyone trying to stay informed about the safest way for his or her family to go through the birthing process. This April, the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN), composed of over 100 local chapters, is hoping to spread the word about National Cesarean Awareness Month.

http://www.healthnews.com/family-health/pregnancy-childbirth-parenting/cesarean-awareness-month-2886.html

In an era of soaring malpractice premiums, technology that sometimes sets off false alarms, physicians pressed for time and mothers-to-be conflicted by fear, cesarean-section birth is soaring to its highest levels ever.

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20090329/NEWS01/903290311&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

Ladies, the physicians of America have issued their decree: they don't want you having your babies at home with midwives.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ricki-lake-jennifer-block-and-abby-epstein/docs-to-women-pay-no-atte_b_107845.html

BOSTON, March 23 (UPI) -- Hospital practices, such as supplementing newborns with formula or giving them pacifiers, reduce the odds new mothers will breastfeed, U.S. researchers say.

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/03/23/Hospitals_influence_breastfeeding_decision/UPI-85531237862043/

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Pregnant women who stop smoking before the 15th week have rates of preterm birth and small-for-dates babies comparable to those of non-smoking women, new research indicates.

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52Q6PO20090327?rpc=60

Most midwife-assisted births take place in hospitals, although Janus isn’t alone in her desire to give birth at home. Nationally, midwives reported performing nearly 15,000 home births in 2006, National Center statistics show.

http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2009/03/26/r_jkfkb7yysnquv3wfrxnyhq/index.xml