Hilary's Desk

Everyone wants answers, just as much as Serenity's grandmother wants answers. There's no doubt that some parents kick kids around like footballs.  The problem is ... where do you get the WHOLE truth? What do the medical people mean by saying that the injuries were "similar to" shaken baby syndrome? Either they are, or they aren't.  And this is important, particularly when, as one expert says, at least half of all parents tried for Shaken Baby Syndrome, have been wrongly convicted. Apart from Tony Wall at the Sunday Star Times, the rest of New Zealand media automatically assumes that any diagnosis that comes from that shrine, Starship, has to be right. Presumably under the guise of "balanced reporting" Sunday Star times, allows Michael Laws to call the family, "feral", as if they are guilty before proven so.  Yet, the internet is full of stories like this one where just maybe, the parents didn't do it after all.  Key lawyers, world wide, are starting to question what they see as serial injustices. Read Full Blog

The function of the placenta is an overlooked non-thought, because the medical system considers it redundant the minute a baby's head makes an appearance.  Don't you think that strange, given that for nearly nine months, the placenta has provided nutrients, oxygen and... stem cells to the baby?  This magnificent organ provides an amazing service, which is utterly abused, particularly when it comes to ... multipotent and lineage-committed stem cells.  That the placenta contains stem cells should present no surprises to anyone.  After all, where do the medical profession think stem cells come from? Thin air?  Perhaps they "just appear" and are unique to, a developing embryo?  Nope.  Cord blood from the placenta, has been described as the baby's first natural stem cell transplant. Which is why anyone who understands placental physiology would never clamp a cord. So why do they? And we also also know that one of the consequences of immediate cord cutting, is brain ischaemia, which can cause brain damage for life.  Read Full Blog

You don't think you need to know?  Well, according to Dr Jerome Groopman, you do.  Dr Groopman belongs to a rare species in medicine who tell it as it is - perhaps because he's been at the butt end of a few medical bum deals in his day. He knows what it feels like to be run over by his own medical system, and has the clout to write about it.  His writing is vitally important, and utterly frustrating in the same breath.  It's vitally important, because everyone who ever walks into a doctor's surgery needs to read this book, but most never will. It's frustrating, because  Groopman misses a very important issue - which is what the next blog will be about. But first, the book itself. Read Full Blog

Mannnnny years ago (1984 - 86), I wrote an article on obstetricians dogmas on cord cutting in hospital ,which landed up in various incarnations in several journals worldwide, finally landing up in Mothering Magazine.  The thrust of this article was that obstetricians had their heads firmly located in the pavement, and that babies of any age, and condition are not born with a scissor deficiency and do not need their cords immediately clamped and cut.  Can you imagine any other mammalian species, like cats, dogs or sheep, frantically asking their peers for a cord clamp and scissors? Wouldn't you think it would occur to medical people that our bodies might have been designed correctly, to do a job efficiently and correctly?  Wouldn't you think they'd wonder what might go wrong if they "interfere"?  Of course not.  But then, I also know mothers who believe that if a clamp isn't used, all the blood will leak back out of their baby, who will then die.  Sigh.  Today, a group of fossilised medical non-thinkers, enraptured their world with the news that delaying cord clamping for babies born before 28 weeks is a good thing.  Perhaps they will get the Nobel Price for this priceless discovery?  Interestingly, they have no questions or shame about their "findings".  Indeed, they say they don't even understand the "mechanism" [choke], when it's blindingly obvious.  By their enthusiasm, you'd think they were telling the world about a new, previously un-thought-of miracle!  But note this... before they implement this, they will require many more multicenter studies to be done....!!!! - kaching.... which might take how long???? : Read Full Blog

It’s mind numbing to me, that in 2010, the medical system would still expound this myth. Oy Vey. But so we read, “Study looks at why mum’s kiss is good for baby”; “Sterile when they are born, babies inherited bacteria from their main carer, usually their mother” … right there, the fundamental premis, which underpins this study, is not supported by the medical literature.  Read Full Blog

Just when you think sanity might prevail, and you write a blog about one doctor with a brain, everything implodes. I decided to do a pubmed search, just to double check when stem cells were first found in cord blood. The answer to that is around 2000 if you count the lag to publish. Then I did a check on third stage cord clamping management, and came across this 2010 article, which exemplifies everything I dislike about obstetric practice in 2010. Read Full Blog

What do scientists know about the flu vaccine? Not much really, in spite of it being used for years. This particular blog is not for the faint hearted. Read Full Blog

“Orgasmic Birth” is an awesome film, in the true sense of the word, talking to the deepest needs of women, at the gut, emotional, and intellectual level. In one sense, words fail me. The film follows home birthing parents growing and being reborn as different people, fulfilling their full potential of parenthood, and in particular womanhood. Interwoven are scenes of emotionally bereft, stark hospital births. This film confirmed what I’ve seen and known for so many years. The two systems can “birth” completely different families.  Read Full Blog

" Bonding stronger if birth is natural". So read the heading on page A17 of the New Zealand Herald today. The article isn't available on the website because it originally came from the Independent. Read Full Blog