Cat-Cow pose, one of several daily exercises recommended for moving baby into an ideal position for birth (photo via SpinningBabies.com)

Another roundup of links that first appeared on Williamsburg Mothering’s Facebook page – “LIKE” Williamsburg Mothering on Facebook to get the latest links as soon as they’re up!

• Honest Toddler! The Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/HonestToddler) will make you laugh. A lot. The blog (http://thehonesttoddler.com/) will make you laugh more!

• CDC Releases Final Birth Data for 2010. The CDC just released their final 2010 birth data! The national C-section rate is down for the first time since 1996, to 32.8% (still far over the 5-15% rate the WHO recommends, but it’s a start). Teenage births, preterm births, and even births by women age 20-39 are down as well, but births by women age 40-44 are up! And there are even some births by women over 50! (Transforming Maternity Care)

• Labor Day 2012: The State of Evidence-Based Maternity Care in the United States.  Labor Day! A perfect time to reflect on maternity care, the excellent chart in this post, and this sobering truth: “The vast majority of U.S. women are not receiving evidence-based care during childbirth.” (Evidence Based Birth)

• Planned Hospital Birth Versus Planned Home Birth.  The latest from the well-respected Cochrane Library, which compiles reviews of the medical literature on topics such as the safety of hospital vs. home birth: “Increasingly better observational studies suggest that [for low-risk women] planned hospital birth is not any safer than planned home birth assisted by an experienced midwife with collaborative medical back up.” They go on to state that, instead, the evidence is that hospital birth “may lead to more interventions and more complications.” More data are needed, but it’s a step forward for families desiring home birth. The next step for our community? Putting true collaborative medical backup in place for our homebirth midwives, I think… (Cochrane Library)

• Activities for Every Pregnant Woman.  Labor and delivery are smoother and easier when baby is in an ideal position for birth (head down, yes, but also: chin tucked and baby’s back to the mother’s left). These exercises, done several times a week (or daily!) can help align your womb and pelvis and ensure that baby can move into that ideal position. (Spinning Babies)