Our condolences go to the family of this amazing St. Louis doctor who delivered babies at home for decades.  He will surely be missed!

Homebirths As A Safe Alternative article from Oregon.

More Moms To Be Are Turning To Midwives from the Northwest Herald.

The Medicalization of My Natural Birth is a great birth story, and gives some great advice.

Russian Babies Switched at Birth, Now 2, Are Ordered to Switch Back–a statement from the hospital said it happened because of understaffing.

In a New York hospital, the staff accidentally switches two babies, apologizes 18 hours later and switches them back.

Polish Families Awarded in case involving switched babies at birth.

I remember being shocked at the major cause for problems: doctors and nurses were not washing their hands.  Gross.

I also remember when I went to the hospital in Texas to visit my friend who had a baby and watched in horror as the cleaning service took a wet mop and mopped up the bathroom, which had a bit of blood on the floor, and then dragged the mop through the rest of the room without rinsing.  Ugh.

A news station in Boston recently reported on the problem of hospital acquired infection, stating:

…prevention efforts are focusing on getting hospital staff to wash their hands with soap and water more frequently…

Here is just a sampling of recent articles regarding the fact that many doctors and nurses are not washing their hands, and it puts your life at risk:

From an article in Memphis, Tennessee (which also appeared in the Washington Post:

Despite recommendations, nearly 60 percent of health care workers do not wash hands while on duty.

And from the Ottowa Citizen:

…according to an audit last year…found nurses do a better job, but their rate of compliance is still just 40 to 50 per cent – even though research shows nearly a third of hospital-acquired infections can be prevented through handwashing.

From Newburyport News:

The push for education was prompted a couple of years ago after the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention found infections transmitted by hand were responsible for 80,000 deaths and $5 billion to $10 billion in costs nationwide.

The New York Times also has an interesting report that a study shows patients are not willing to ask doctors safety questions, like “Did you wash your hands?”  Another report in Time Magazine states that 90,000 people died in the United States due to hospital acquired infections.

And in London:

Doctors and nurses who fail to wash their hands cause as much damage as drunk drivers, a top NHS adviser said today.

According to recent research, as many as one in five clinical staff neglect to wash their hands between patients, despite evidence it reduces hospital infection.

BirthLove has an excellent compilation on hospital acquired infections following Cesareans.

When I was about to deliver my fourth baby, we were going to be delivering at a great hospital, with one of the best OBs in New South Wales. (We were living in Australia at the time)  Fortunately for me, at around 30 weeks, I thought I was having pre-term labor and went to the hospital to be monitored.

I walked in to the maternity wing from the outside back door, and there was no one manning the nurses station, but to my horror, there was a row of six babies in their bassinets right there…for five minutes we waited, then 10.  Finally someone came out.  I turned to my husband and said, “There is no way in the world I am having a baby here. Any one of those babies could have been taken and no one would have known. ”

Just this last week, in California, an abducted five hour old baby was found safe after missing for several hours.

Just this last week in Norfolk, Virginia a woman who posed as a nurse attempting to abduct a baby was sentenced.

In Ontario, Canada, the courts have lessened the sentence for a mentally unstable woman who kidnapped a four hour old baby from the hospital there.

In Richmond, Virginia another young woman was sentenced for the attempted abduction of a newborn in the hospital there.

That was just what I found from a quick Google search.  Most people who are looking for a newborn baby will think of a hospital maternity ward.  I, personally, am relieved that when I give birth at home, no strangers can walk in and look around, and that I feel completely and totally safe and at peace in our environment.