Midwifery, Doppler Danger, Ultrasound Risks, & Carla Hartley

***sorry about the formatting here, no idea.  No idea.

I have been thinking about birth, again, lately. At one point I thought I might work in the birth "industry", but I am clearly not cut out for it. The flack and abuse that women working for women take--not to mention the outright persecution and even the threat of imprisonment. Wow. And there are the inane assumptions made about the benefits of registered midwifery. No thanks. The more babies I have, the more convinced I am that birth is safer the further away from the hospital one can get. Can you get yourself pregnant without the assistance of a physician? Then you can give birth without an expert, too. At one point, I was optimistic that the birth culture of our society was being transformed for the better. This was over 10 years ago, and I was an idealistic young doula. Unfortunately, things are clearly worse than ever. Feminism stops at birth; the majority of otherwise-liberated women allow themselves to be assaulted and their babies subjected to harm during the birth process, and then they turn around and smile, justifying the experience as normal, or even lifesaving. Then they wonder why they suffer from postpartum depression. But wait! There's a little pill for that, too...

Carla Hartley is one of the bravest and most outspoken critics of hospital birth, midwifery legislation, and the use of ultrasound radiation on unborn children. Her writing tends to be polarizing, and she has certainly made enemies by courageously sticking to her convictions...and I completely agree with most of what she has to say. Her style is raw and...somewhat uncut, like mine, I guess. (And we're both staunch intactivists, so thats nice) 

As with Carla, one of my own pet subjects is ultrasound. For the past 12 years, I have been sharing what I know about ultrasound: mainly that there is no proof whatsoever that ultrasound is safe, and that there *is* evidence to show that ultrasound creates changes in the infant brain. Enough said (as far as I am concerned). I really appreciate, in Carla's little piece below, her mention of the effect of ultrasound on whale migration, and other facts. Enough said. Nonetheless, the grand majority of all the women I know have chosen to subject their babies to this procedure--even the smartest, most well-educated, and most embodied of these women. In fact, most of my shares with other women on the subject of the potential dangers of ultrasound have been met with outright hostility if not deep suspicion that I am trying to disturb the status quo, or push my own personal agenda. I *really* don't get it. Apparently, the thrill of finding out the sex of the child, and that souvenir ultrasound photograph are more important or desirable than taking a cautious first-do-no-harm approach to protecting the infant's brain development. I DO understand the pressure that women feel from the so-called experts. But considering the information widely available on the dangers of ultrasound, and the lack of evidence that ultrasound contributes in any positive way to outcomes...it is not something I would ever choose during my pregnancy.

Breathe. Yeah. I get really upset about this. 

The following is a little overview of Doppler and Ultrasound dangers by Carla Hartley. She is on facebook, and I believe she is the administrator for the group called "Doppler Danger", which I highly recommend checking out if you are a parent, or thinking of becoming one.

Ultrasound*********By Carla Hartley

These are a few of the articles I have posted on Doppler Danger....more to come

* Don't stop researching when you find the answers you want.

* Please remember that there is absolutely no ethical way to PROVE that ultrasound, including dopplers, is safe for the unborn and there will be no funding for studies to prove that this cash cow is dangerous.* Study the many ways this technology is applied, connect the dots. HOWEVER, Just based on how they respond to it, we need to stop shooting sound waves at babies. Just to be completely honest.... I had one ultrasound with one of my babies and cried the whole time....she kept turning her face right and left trying to get away from it but she was trapped. That experience made me more determined than ever to research this topic and share what I find. (I also used a doppler on her several times....she is by far the shortest of my children...none of the rest had any ultrasound exposure.) Please share this note with your friends....if the actual data that is damning concerning babies doesn't change their minds....maybe just reading about the other uses of the technology would help them connect the dots..it cleans rust off of pipes, it kills sperm, it heats muscles, it changes the migratory patterns of whales........IF more mothers are stroking during pregnancy, birth and right after....could it be connected to the ultrasound breaking up clots as one of my brilliant students pointed out today? We need to take this seriously and not brush it off as another "birth choice".....if there is potential to harm babies that outweighs the potential to help babies, should it be considered a choice? If the potential to help outweighs the potential to harm (and how the heck would we ever actually know that since we can neither predict or measure the potential harm to any individual baby at any given moment) then it would be appropriate use of technology but even then should be used only by those with calibrated machines under strict guidelines based on actual data....in other words uncalibrated dopplers would NOT be considered safe....under any circumstances....ever dropped the bag the doppler is in? there goes the calibration....Start with these, and if you find more you think I should add to the list, please let me know. Babies are worth our best efforts....really. - doppler dangerhttp://www.drmomma.org/2010/07/ultrasound-powerful-dangerous-unethical.htmlhttp://feminine-earth.com/questionable_safety_of_prenatal_ultrasound.pdfhttp://www.wddty.com/scans-linked-to-baby-deaths.htmlhttp://www.livestrong.com/article/136464-fetal-ultrasound-risks/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfaUQCp6L1s&feature=youtu.behttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20149552http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=107398242640953http://www.sovereignindependent.com/?p=3613http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1678458/pdf/bmj00028-0017.pdfhttp://www.nibib.nih.gov/HealthEdu/eAdvances/30Apr10http://www.primalhealthresearch.com/search.php (several here)http://www.pnas.org/content/103/34/12903.fullhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC522144/http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/12/19/ultrasound.aspx?aid=CD945http://www.facebook.com/notes/ana-sola/can-a-single-musical-note-repair-your-dna/1015027046483012http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0816/is_2_23/ai_n19328634/http://www.chem-tox.com/pregnancy/ultrasound.htmhttp://douglassreport.com/2004/05/28/negative-effects-of-ultra-sounds/http://www.slate.com/id/2131574http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/youropinions.php?opinionid=5239http://www.aamishop.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=115http://aamishop.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=155http://www.ehow.com/about_5347776_dangers-fetal-doppler.htmlhttp://midwiferytoday.com/articles/ultrasoundrodgers.asphttp://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/ultrasound.asphttp://www.jultrasoundmed.org/http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100817161100.htmhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1364783/Ultrasound-scans-linked-to-brain-damage-in-babies.htmlhttp://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=190088292561&id=100000311853481&ref=sharehttp://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=190088292561http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=327078&id=100000311853481&ref=fbx_albumhttp://www.plus-size-pregnancy.org/Prenatal%20Testing/prenataltest-ultrasoundsafety.htmhttp://www.themidwifenextdoor.com/?p=410http://www.squidoo.com/noultrasoundhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZDinmnt60shttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100315103808.htmhttp://www.birth.com.au/Ultrasounds/Physical-effects-and-research.aspx?p=1http://www.naturalnews.com/028853_ultrasound_fetus.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfaUQCp6L1shttp://www.kindredcommunity.com/articles/ultrasound-scans-cause-for-concern/p/1279http://www.greenhealthwatch.com/newsstories/newslatest/latest0701/ultrasound-hurt.htmlhttp://authenticmidwiferyeducationfromaami.blogspot.com/2009/09/high-tech-midwifery-i-wrote-for.htmlhttp://www.ob-ultrasound.net/history1.htmlhttp://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm095508.htmhttp://www.planetc1.com/cgi-bin/n/v.cgi?c=1&id=1155156248http://www.aims.org.uk/Journal/Vol11No4/ultra2.htmhttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21874769u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aims.org.uk%2FJournal%2FVol17No1%2Fultrasound.htm&h=49108http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/uog.6381/abstracthttp://icpa4kids.org/research/pregnancy/ultrasound.htmhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21874769http://chem-tox.com/pregnancy/ultrasound.htmhttp://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Is-Pregnancy-Ultrasound-Risky-/56304http://educate-yourself.org/cn/2001/ultrasoundandbraindamage19dec01.shtmlhttp://www.birth.com.au/Ultrasounds/Physical-effects-and-research.aspx?p=1http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=136084462561&id=100000311853481&ref=sharehttp://www.joyousbirth.info/forums/showthread.php?t=71http://www.unhinderedliving.com/pultra.htmlhttp://cnx.org/content/m16192/latest/http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=100000311853481&start=100&hash=4f61283458b3f1f602c7d80b34c3829dhttp://www.brooksidepress.org/Products/Military_OBGYN/Ultrasound/2ndand3rdTrimesterUltrasoundScanning.htmhttp://www.thefreelibrary.com/Ultrasound+safety+and+collapsing+bubbles.-a04600240http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Ultrasound+in+pregnancy.-a0223286198http://www.scienceblog.com/community/older/2001/D/200114632.htmlhttp://www.everyday-wisdom.com/dangers-of-ultrasound.htmlhttp://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0816/is_2_23/ai_n19328634/https://www.asrt.org/content/News/IndustryNewsBriefs/Sono/studyshows062408.aspxhttp://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=25545&id=100000311853481&ref=fbx_albumhttp://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=188616677561&id=100000311853481&ref=sharehttp://showdogsupersite.com/kenlclub/breedvet/doppler.htmlhttp://www.compleatmother.com/ultrasound_danger.htmhttp://www.drbenkim.com/articles-ultrasound-pregnancy.htmlhttp://consumercide.com/health/preg_ultra_uhl.htmlhttp://www.alternamoms.com/ultrasound.htmlhttp://consumercide.com/health/preg_ultra_edyo.htmlhttp://www.prohealth.com/autism/blog/boardDetail.cfm?id=27http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=187152516598&id=661010165&ref=sharehttp://www.phulson.ca/ptl/ultrasonic/img003.htmlhttp://www.autismspeaks.org/science/science_news/ultrasound.phphttp://www.naturalnews.com/025396.htmlhttp://www.bigbaby.org.uk/are_estimates_of_weight_accurate.htmlhttp://www.lamaze.org/OnlineCommunity/AskanExpert/tabid/363/aff/12/aft/19097/afv/topic/Default.aspxhttp://fullmoonsdaughter.com/blog/category/ultrasound/http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9304/articles/kristol.htmlhttp://radiology.rsna.org/content/131/1/177.shorthttp://www.sarahbuckley.com/ultrasound-scans-cause-for-concern/http://www.aimsusa.org/ultrasnd.htmhttp://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/ultrasoundwagner.asphttp://www.dangerousdecibels.orghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_weaponhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasound#Ability_to_hear_ultrasound read Anne Frye's opinion on the topic in Holistic Midwifery