Reforming Maternal Care Could Avoid Postpartum Crisis

Earlier this year, Molly Hahn remained purposefully in her bed for two weeks.
She wasn’t ill. In fact, she was lifting weights one day—a week and a half past her due date—and delivering her third child at home the next. A personal trainer and active mom with a 4-year-old and 2-year-old, she ceased all activity immediately when the new baby was born.
Hahn’s goal was to make sure she was nourished with healthy, warm food and plenty of rest for 45 days of personal healing. She was borrowing a Chinese philosophy that a well-nurtured mother makes for a healthier mom and baby. Specifically, she was aiming for 15 days in bed, 15 days on the bed, and 15 days near the bed.
“We figured it out with my husband’s schedule, and I could literally live in my bedroom in the bed with the baby,” she told The Epoch Times. “I put so much effort into resting those two weeks that it really paid off long-term. It was the best postpartum I had.”
After 15 days, she did as much sitting as she could for 15 more days and then spent 15 additional days at home before transitioning into a more “normal” life. The idea, Hahn said, came from her sister who is an acupuncturist trained in traditional Chinese medicine.
Postpartum care is becoming an issue of growing importance in the United States, where two-thirds of maternal deaths occur during the postpartum period, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit organization that calls for a more high-quality health care system.
“Aunties,” a term of endearment for any close family member or even close friend, often stay with new moms to take over responsibilities like cooking, caring for other children, and cleaning the house. The purpose is for new moms to rest so they can heal and focus on breastfeeding and bonding while being well-nourished, according to Keeler, who is president of HypnoBirthing International, an organization helping women achieve more peaceful birthing experiences.
Women who had medical issues or complications during pregnancy should receive additional counseling, the organization suggested, and insurance reimbursement policies should be updated to include care as “an ongoing process, rather than an isolated visit.”
These visits, by a midwife or nurse, lead to better mental health and breastfeeding outcomes while reducing health care costs. “Midwifery-led care models have been shown to provide care that is comparable to, or sometimes even better than, that provided by obstetrician-gynecologists, or ob-gyns,” the report said.
Midwives, who are medical professionals who can offer similar care as obstetricians, could provide 80 percent of maternal care worldwide and avert 41 percent of maternal deaths, the report went on to say. In most countries, midwives outnumber ob-gyns, but in the United States, health care coverage doesn’t always extend to midwives. There’s a lack of ob-gyns—about 8,000 more are needed—as well as midwives.
Hahn, who hired a midwife and gave birth at home, was visited two days after birth, as well as one week, three weeks, and six weeks. She didn’t think she would need the appointments but ended up appreciating that she could ask questions as they arose about back pain, bleeding, milk supply, healing, and her newborn.
“That was amazing to be able to touch base that many times and be checked on that many times,” Hahn said. “You don’t get that care in the other model, which is really too bad, because moms need just as many checkups as the newborns do.”