The Other Side of the Glass

Part One was officially released June 2013 in digital distribution format. To purchase to to www.theothersideoftheglass.com If you were a donor and want to download your copy send an email to theothersideoftheglassfilm@gmail.com.

The trailer

Go to YouTube

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Non-Profit Established to Address Viral Infections in Newborns

My condolences to the family of Baby Rebecca who died of a viral infection at nine days of age in July of 2006. They have turned their grief into preventing other families from experiencing such a loss. Their non-profit will specifically address the issue of viral infections in the neonatal period. You can visit their website, www.rbabyfoundation.org to read about their plan.

Their plan does not include an action I have long advocated for that would eliminate many of the issues associated with maternal and infant mortality and morbidity in the US, especially due to infections --- remove Maternity labor and delivery and PICU/NICU units from general hospitals where very ill and diseased people go. Build completely separate and self-contained, free-standing Maternity and NICU units. Of course, all of the cost alarms go off for hospitals. In the United States is the cost of this really prohibitive? Where there is a political will governments, businesses, and individuals will pay for what is a priority. As I write the Iraq price tag nears $365 Billion dollars and close to seventy percent of the people disagree with the war. Instead, we could have insured 218,116,628 children for one year or we could have built separate, safer facilites for birthing babies. http://costofwar.com/index-kids-health.html What is our collective social and political will?

When will babies become America's priority?? Striking a balance between what makes hospital birth safe (ie, availability and access to technology) and what makes homebirth safe (ie, no foreign germs and a more gentle experience of coming into the world) is the answer to resolving the maternal and newborn mortality issue. Not sqabbling over a slight difference in mortality rates between home and hospital --- while the majority of babies who die in first month of life were born in hospitals.

News article about R Baby Foundation here at this link or in full below. http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/757417/new_nonprofit_
foundation_established_to_save_ newborn_babies_lives/index.html?source=r_health


New Non-Profit Foundation Established to Save Newborn Babies' Lives

The founders of R Baby Foundation, Phyllis and Andrew Rabinowitz, today announced that they have established a non-profit organization dedicated to saving the lives of newborn babies. R Baby is committed to reducing the high level of infant mortality in the United States, and will focus on supporting the medical community and educating the public about the risk of newborn deaths, particularly those that occur as a result of misdiagnosed and untreated viral infections.

Facts on infant mortality

Following are some facts on the disproportionately high rate of infant mortality in the United States:

-- Babies born in the U.S. are twice as likely to die than those born in many other developed countries, including Sweden, Japan and Spain; the U.S. is ranked 36th among 196 nations.(1)

-- The infant death rate in the U.S. is one in 141 live births within the first 28 days of life, with the odds decreasing to one in 531 after the 28 days.(2)

-- There are approximately 20,000 newborn deaths within their first month of life and close to 30,000 in the first year.(3)

The creation of R Baby

Phyllis and Andrew Rabinowitz, the founders of R Baby, lost their daughter Rebecca Ava Rabinowitz when she was nine days old as a result of a viral infection that was not diagnosed or treated.

Motivated by their grief, the Rabinowitz's researched not only the specifics of their daughter's case, but also learned that many babies may be at greater risk as a result of lack of information, training, technology, equipment and procedures associated with treating infants in emergency rooms and pediatric units. Unwilling to accept the status quo, the couple began contacting friends about the possibility of developing an organized effort and formal foundation to focus specifically on the issue of infant mortality related to untreated viral infections, the cause of Rebecca's death.

"Our wish is simple: to save as many infants' lives as possible," said Andrew Rabinowitz, co-president of the new foundation and chief operating officer of Marathon Asset Management. "While we intend to help all infants in intensive care, our primary mission will be to focus on the proper diagnosis and treatment of newborn babies with viral infections so that they receive the highest possible quality of care. We'll do this through supporting education, research, training and the funding and provisioning of life-saving equipment."

Phyllis and Andrew Rabinowitz gave birth to daughter Rebecca, four weeks early on July 13, 2006, in a suburb of New York City. After five days in the hospital, Rebecca was sent home and shortly thereafter showed symptoms of a viral infection that was misdiagnosed by her pediatrician and ER physicians as just a common cold. She died eight days later on the morning of July 21, 2006.

"We received an outpouring of support," said Phyllis Rabinowitz, co-president of R Baby. "It was overwhelming. Not only did our friends, families and business colleagues step up to help, organizations and individuals, including physicians and researchers, all rallied to help us establish a focused effort to highlight the issue and drive the funding that will be required to have a short and long-term impact on improving outcomes -- saving babies' lives."

"Almost 20 years after the United States set a goal of reducing infant mortality, the rate of deaths among infants is still extremely high. In fact, the rate of deaths in the U.S. is higher than in some nations in the developing world. Access to appropriate pediatric evaluation and emergency care, upgrades to equipment, and more adequate training -- all things R Baby is focused on delivering -- can really make a difference," said Dr. Ian Holzman, Chief of Newborn Medicine at Mt. Sinai.

Contributing to R Baby

R Baby Foundation is seeking private and institutional contributions, primarily through a one-time fundraising event to be held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City on May 2, 2007. The organization is hoping to finance the creation of a non-profit organization focused on programs including: upgrading monitors, respirators and other equipment, funding scientific research, developing educational programs, creating and distributing training materials, and supporting and educating parents with babies in Newborn Intensive Care Unit facilities.

R Baby Founding Sponsors

R Baby has also already attracted substantial support in the form of advisory services, donations and board participation, from prominent individuals in the financial, philanthropic, scientific, and medical communities, such as John J. Mack, Chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley as a supporter, Marathon Asset Management, a global hedge fund, as a premiere sponsor with a significant financial commitment, and other global investment banks and professional service firms to be named. Other organizations have provided support and guidance, such as Lowenstein Sandler PC for legal services, Brunswick Group LLC for public relations, Richard Fleishman Associates and WestCom for website and communication development.

ABOUT R BABY FOUNDATION

R Baby Foundation was established in 2006 to organize and fund efforts to improve the outcomes of medical care for infants, particularly those who contract certain viral infections. The R Baby Foundation is dedicated to helping newborn babies, primarily in their first month, with often misunderstood viral infections and other infectious diseases, receive the highest quality of care and service through supporting education, research, treatment, training, and life-saving equipment. R Baby has filed for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status as a non-profit charitable organization.

For more information about R Baby Foundation, please visit www.rbabyfoundation.org.

(1) WebMD (2) WebMD (3) World Health Organization

Contacts: Nina Devlin / Ellen Gonda Brunswick Group 212.333.3810 rbaby@brunswickgroup.com

SOURCE: R BABY
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"Soft is the heart of a child. Do not harden it."

A public awareness reminder that things that happen behind the scenes, out of our sight, aren't always as rosy as we might think them to be. Perhaps its a restaurant cook who accidentally drops your burger on the floor before placing it on the bun and serving it to you. Here it's an overworked apathetic (pathetic) nurse giving my newborn daughter her first bath. Please comment and rate this video, so as to insure that it is viewed as widely as possible, perhaps to prevent other such abuse. -- The mother who posted this YouTube. How NOT to wash a baby on YouTube Are you going to try to tell me that "babies don't remember?" There is no difference to this baby's experience and the imprinting of her nervous system/brain and one that is held and cleaned by the mother or father either at the hospital or at home? By the way, this is probably NOT the baby's first bath. The nurse is ungloved. Medical staff protocol is that they can't handle a baby ungloved until is has been bathed (scrubbed if you've seen it) because the baby is a BIO-HAZARD -- for them. Never mind that the bio-hazard IS the baby's first line of defense against hospital germs.

Missouri Senator Louden Speaks

Finally, A Birth Film for Fathers

Part One of the "The Other Side of the Glass: Finally, A Birth Film for and about Men" was released June, 2013.

Through presentation of the current research and stories of fathers, the routine use of interventions are questioned. How we protect and support the physiological need of the human newborn attachment sequence is the foundation for creating safe birth wherever birth happens.

Based on knowing that babies are sentient beings and the experience of birth is remembered in the body, mind, and soul, fathers are asked to research for themselves what is best for their partner and baby and to prepare to protect their baby.

The film is designed for midwives, doulas, and couples, particularly fathers to work with their caregivers. Doctors and nurses in the medical environment are asked to "be kind" to the laboring, birthing baby, and newborn. They are called to be accountable for doing what science has been so clear about for decades. The mother-baby relationship is core for life. Doctors and nurses and hospital caregivers and administrators are asked to create protocols that protect the mother-baby relationship.

Men are asked to join together to address the vagaries of the medical system that harm their partner, baby and self in the process of the most defining moments of their lives. Men are asked to begin to challenge the system BEFORE they even conceive babies as there is no way to be assured of being able to protect his loved ones once they are in the medical machine, the war zone, on the conveyor belt -- some of the ways that men describe their journey into fatherhood in the medicine culture.

Donors can email theothersideoftheglassfilm@gmail.com to get a digital copy.
Buy the film at www.theothersideoftheglass.com.

The film focuses on the male baby, his journey from the womb to the world and reveals healing and integrating the mother, father, and baby's wounded birth experience. The film is about the restoring of our families, society, and world through birthing loved, protected, and nurtured males (and females, of course). It's about empowering males to support the females to birth humanity safely, lovingly, and consciously.

Finally, a birth film for fathers.

What People Are Saying About the FIlm

Well, I finally had a chance to check out the trailer and .. wow! It's nice that they're acknowledging the father has more than just cursory rights (of course mom's rights are rarely acknowledged either) and it's great that they're bringing out the impact of the experience on the newborn, but I'm really impressed that they're not shying away from the political side.

They are rightly calling what happens in every American maternity unit, every day, by its rightful name - abuse. Abuse of the newborn, abuse of the parents and their rights, abuse of the supposedly sacrosanct ethical principal of patient autonomy and the medico-legal doctrine of informed consent, which has been long ago discarded in all but name. I love it!

In the immortal words of the "shrub", "bring it on!" This film needs to be shown and if I can help facilitate or promote it, let me know.

Father in Asheville, NC


OMG'ess, I just saw the trailer and am in tears. This is so needed. I watch over and over and over as fathers get swallowed in the fear of hospitals birth practice. I need a tool like this to help fathers see how very vital it is for them to protect their partner and baby. I am torn apart every time I see a father stand back and chew his knuckle while his wife is essentially assaulted or his baby is left to lie there screaming.
Please send me more info!!!!
Carrie Hankins
CD(DONA), CCCE, Aspiring Midwife
720-936-3609


Thanks for sharing this. It was very touching to me. I thought of my brother-in-law standing on the other side of the glass when my sister had to have a C-section with her first child because the doctor was missing his golf date. I'll never forget his pacing back and forth and my realizing that he was already a father, even though he hadn't been allowed to be with his son yet.

Margaret, Columbia, MO

In case you don't find me here

Soon, I'll be back to heavy-duty editing and it will be quiet here again. I keep thinking this blog is winding down, and then it revives. It is so important to me.

I wish I'd kept a blog of my journey with this film this past 10 months. It's been amazing.

I have a new blog address for the film, and will keep a journal of simple reporting of the journey for the rest of the film.

www.theothersideoftheglassthefilm.blogspot.com

I'll be heading east this week to meet with a group of men. I plan to post pictures and clips on the film blog.

I'll keep up here when I can -- when I learn something juicy, outrageous, or inspiring related to making birth safer for the birthing baby.

Review of the film

Most of us were born surrounded by people who had no clue about how aware and feeling we were. This trailer triggers a lot of emotions for people if they have not considered the baby's needs and were not considered as a baby. Most of us born in the US were not. The final film will include detailed and profound information about the science-based, cutting-edge therapies for healing birth trauma.

The full film will have the interviews of a wider spectrum of professionals and fathers, and will include a third birth, at home, where the caregivers do a necessary intervention, suctioning, while being conscious of the baby.

The final version will feature OBs, RNs, CNMs, LM, CPM, Doulas, childbirth educators, pre and perinatal psychologists and trauma healing therapists, physiologists, neurologists, speech therapists and lots and lots of fathers -- will hopefully be done in early 2009.

The final version will include the science needed to advocated for delayed cord clamping, and the science that shows when a baby needs to be suctioned and addresses other interventions. Experts in conscious parenting will teach how to be present with a sentient newborn in a conscious, gentle way -- especially when administering life-saving techniques.

The goal is to keep the baby in the mother's arms so that the baby gets all of his or her placental blood and to avoid unnecessary, violating, and abusive touch and interactions. When we do that, whether at home or hospital, with doctor or midwife, the birth is safe for the father. The "trick" for birthing men and women is how to make it happen in the hospital.

Birth Trauma Healing

  • Read Miracle Boy's story

    • Ani DeFranco Speaks About Her Homebirth

    Ani DiFranco Interview with Mindful Mama Magazine from Mindful Mama Magazine on Vimeo.

    "Self-Evident" by Ani DeFranco

    Patrick Houser at www.Fatherstobe.org

    Colin speaks out about interventions at birth

    Dolphins