Comments on: Homebirth prosecution http://www.bellytales.com/2006/04/12/homebirth-prosecution/ The Diary of a New Midwife Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:09:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: J http://www.bellytales.com/2006/04/12/homebirth-prosecution/#comment-851 Sat, 15 Apr 2006 04:14:17 +0000 http://www.bellytales.com/2006/04/12/homebirth-prosecution/#comment-851 I have two children, with the first I was scared and felt I should be in a hospital (I wavered, I knew all the risks of hospital births, but I was so convinced I NEEDED to be there I went) I continued to be scared throughout labour as intervention after intervention (gel, IV, gas, "do you want drugs? You poor dear take some drugs.")and criticism after criticism were hurled at me, ("You're too short, you're baby is too big, you probably won't be able to do this") SURPRISE I needed a C/S. With my second I made sure I had a fabulous doula (K 2 comments up) and a great midwife team who supported me and made me feel comfortable and lo and behold my second son was born at home in 4 hours (plus some irregular contractions throughout the afternoon) with no stitches, no gas, or drugs of any kind (ok I had a glass of wine just before the midwife came, as per Dr Sears...I thought I was going to have a chance to sleep for a while...Ha ha ha) and I was up walking around (and got yelled at for it...nicely) half hour after the birth. My recovery was awesome, my eldest felt part of things, because he got to meet his little brother right away, I never had to leave my house until I went shopping a couple of days later. I knew there were risks, I weighed them against more interventions with greater likelihood of poor result. I made sure that the people in attendance knew what they were doing, I made sure that I was prepared if we had to transfer to hospital, and I would do it all again...in fact I hope to in about a year, this time however I need to find an alternate location as we have moved out of the safe transfer range. And that still won't stop me! I have threatened both my Mom and my doula that I'll just have the kid in one of their basements, we'll have to see, but it sure is going to take a lot more than some bad press and a few uninformed (but very vocal) people to dissuade me. I have two children, with the first I was scared and felt I should be in a hospital (I wavered, I knew all the risks of hospital births, but I was so convinced I NEEDED to be there I went) I continued to be scared throughout labour as intervention after intervention (gel, IV, gas, “do you want drugs? You poor dear take some drugs.”)and criticism after criticism were hurled at me, (”You’re too short, you’re baby is too big, you probably won’t be able to do this”) SURPRISE I needed a C/S.
With my second I made sure I had a fabulous doula (K 2 comments up) and a great midwife team who supported me and made me feel comfortable and lo and behold my second son was born at home in 4 hours (plus some irregular contractions throughout the afternoon) with no stitches, no gas, or drugs of any kind (ok I had a glass of wine just before the midwife came, as per Dr Sears…I thought I was going to have a chance to sleep for a while…Ha ha ha) and I was up walking around (and got yelled at for it…nicely) half hour after the birth. My recovery was awesome, my eldest felt part of things, because he got to meet his little brother right away, I never had to leave my house until I went shopping a couple of days later. I knew there were risks, I weighed them against more interventions with greater likelihood of poor result. I made sure that the people in attendance knew what they were doing, I made sure that I was prepared if we had to transfer to hospital, and I would do it all again…in fact I hope to in about a year, this time however I need to find an alternate location as we have moved out of the safe transfer range. And that still won’t stop me! I have threatened both my Mom and my doula that I’ll just have the kid in one of their basements, we’ll have to see, but it sure is going to take a lot more than some bad press and a few uninformed (but very vocal) people to dissuade me.

]]> by: heatherw http://www.bellytales.com/2006/04/12/homebirth-prosecution/#comment-850 Thu, 13 Apr 2006 15:52:24 +0000 http://www.bellytales.com/2006/04/12/homebirth-prosecution/#comment-850 <i> The current law, Ms. Welch said, drives midwives underground. “I don’t want to have a midwife hesitate to take a woman to the hospital because she is afraid she will be arrested,” she said. </i><i> This is exactly why, after considering a home birth for my second child, with sadness I opted for a hospital birth. It weighed very heavily on my decision. Glad I did! My doctor discovered meconium in my amniotic fluid after my water broke. I understand that many homebirth midwives would transfer the patient to the hospital for that, but some won't. Although my daughter did not need to be resuscitated, she did need oxygen, a chest X-ray, and some pretty aggressive suctioning. Boy, was I happy to be at the hospital! She probably wouldn't have died if I had given birth at home, but it would have been much more unpleasant. As it was, because I arrived at the hospital fully dilated (oops), the nurses though I was a homebirth transfer anyway! Hahaha! HeatherW </i> The current law, Ms. Welch said, drives midwives underground. “I don’t want to have a midwife hesitate to take a woman to the hospital because she is afraid she will be arrested,” she said.

This is exactly why, after considering a home birth for my second child, with sadness I opted for a hospital birth. It weighed very heavily on my decision. Glad I did!

My doctor discovered meconium in my amniotic fluid after my water broke. I understand that many homebirth midwives would transfer the patient to the hospital for that, but some won’t. Although my daughter did not need to be resuscitated, she did need oxygen, a chest X-ray, and some pretty aggressive suctioning. Boy, was I happy to be at the hospital! She probably wouldn’t have died if I had given birth at home, but it would have been much more unpleasant.

As it was, because I arrived at the hospital fully dilated (oops), the nurses though I was a homebirth transfer anyway! Hahaha!

HeatherW

]]> by: k http://www.bellytales.com/2006/04/12/homebirth-prosecution/#comment-849 Thu, 13 Apr 2006 02:30:38 +0000 http://www.bellytales.com/2006/04/12/homebirth-prosecution/#comment-849 My daughter was born blue at home. My midwives were calm and effecient. She had no respiratory effort, poor tone, less than 100 bpm... When the 6 emergency personnel (yes, SIX) showed up in my livingroom four minutes later... they did not have an infant resus kit. They did not have an infant mask. No one was trained in IR! Nary a one. The second midwife handed her oxygen and gear to one of the twits, picked up my daughter and carried her to the ambulance. Many women turn to midwifery when the medical community scar(es) them. Sometimes home is the safest place for them. I know it was for me! I will never regret it. I have a letter from the neo-natal neurologist who cared for my daughter that night. She said "So rarely do I get a call to treat a baby whose mother has chosen to do the best she can to birth her baby in a healthy environment..." HOMEBIRTH! My daughter was born blue at home. My midwives were calm and effecient. She had no respiratory effort, poor tone, less than 100 bpm… When the 6 emergency personnel (yes, SIX) showed up in my livingroom four minutes later… they did not have an infant resus kit. They did not have an infant mask. No one was trained in IR! Nary a one. The second midwife handed her oxygen and gear to one of the twits, picked up my daughter and carried her to the ambulance.
Many women turn to midwifery when the medical community scar(es) them. Sometimes home is the safest place for them. I know it was for me! I will never regret it. I have a letter from the neo-natal neurologist who cared for my daughter that night. She said “So rarely do I get a call to treat a baby whose mother has chosen to do the best she can to birth her baby in a healthy environment…” HOMEBIRTH!

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