You know I am so incredibly happy about your future fatherhood! And you know I completely respect and fully support your spiritual philosophies. Right?
But sometimes when “time is of the essence”, we’re talking minutes or even seconds, not the time it takes to get a pregnant woman in labor to a vehicle and (safely) transport her during what would obviously be an emergency, to a facility that could potentially deal most successfully with said emergency.
I know this because I have a family member who will suffer life-long disabilities, personality changes and issues with temperament, because it took 5 full minutes to stabilize her when she suffered an amniotic fluid embolism during a “low risk” delivery.
Five minutes. That’s all the time there was. One minute more and she’d have been dead. As it was she spent a week in a coma and no one knew whether or not she’d even come out of it, let alone how serious the brain damage would be.
And for having survived with minimal brain and nerve damage, she was the lucky one.
The baby didn’t make it.
If that had happened at home, we would have lost them both with 100% certainty.
I know it’s a relatively rare occurrence. But we always think those “rare” things won’t happen to us, they happen to other people.
Aren’t there any birthing centers near you where you can have a like home birth experience, but still be where there is life-saving medical equipment on site?
I do respect your logic and reason for wanting to do this, but that doesn’t mean I can’t worry like hell about it. I’m sure tons of women have had perfectly normal, healthy at-home births (hell, my husband was home-birthed!) and I will send all the good thoughts I have your way. But I hope you understand that I hope you’ll reconsider.
Does yours? I’m guessing not, because the objection to them is that it’s harder to move around, which is one of the things your wife wants to be able to do. And that’s fine, I completely understand that. I’m just saying that fetal monitoring isn’t just some capricious thing the doctors do for no good reason…it really can save lives. But there are tradeoffs either way, and it’s important to understand them.
I understand what you are saying, but I still think those words can be very dissmissive and hurtful to someone who has had birth trauma. Just pushing the hurt and disappointment down and focusing on the healthy baby probably is what most women do. But it’s still important to deal with those feelings.
I think there’s a misconception, even in this thread, that a desire for a natural birth is putting the “experience” over all else. And I don’t know any natural birthers who think like that. Most women are pretty damn realistic about birth, and know it’s going to be painful and difficult at times, and that changes from “the plan” can happen. Like the saying goes, “hope for the best, and plan for the worst.” And if that worst happens, take the time to acknowledge and grieve for that loss. That’s all anyone can do.
Actually, continuous fetal monitoring has not been proven to improve outcomes in normal labor. That’s yet another of the interventions that are forced on women in the hospital. Intermittent monitoring has been shown to be just as effective, and the mother doesn’t have to lay still for it.
In Colorado, there’s no shortage of feel-good birthing options. I mean, Colorado (especially the Boulder area) is home to Waldorf schools, Whole Foods, vegetarians, hippies, free recycling and all of the typical granola parenting things…I think a safe balance can be found here.
Sorry, but that continuous fetal monitoring helped save my cousin’s daughter’s life. They had about 2 seconds for that C-Section, and poor Rachel (the mom) had to suffer it with general anesthesia.
Of course it’s fallible and of course modern medicine doesn’t know everything. But it is going in the direction of knowing more and being able to offer better treatments as time goes by. I’d rather take medical advice offered to me by a health care provider who can benefit from all we have learned up through 2011 than from one who only knows what we knew in 1975, 1940, or 1860.
I know I’m late to this thread but I have been reading it all along (cheering Sarahfeena and others who have eloquently expressed my views). One irony that strikes me is how casually the home birth advocates dismiss the privilege of immediate access to first-world medical care. Where I live (Indonesia), the vast majority of the population gives birth in local health centers with midwives. I’m willing to bet most of them would gladly give up that “comfort” in exchange for the option of delivering in a clean, modern hospital with medical professionals, equipment, and supplies that could save them and their babies in the event of a medical problem.
Kind of. There’s a dearth of randomized studies due to the nature of the beast, and it can reduce neonatal seizures. But you’re right, ACOG says that the proven benefits are not huge compared to the resulting intervention. http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr06-22-09-2.cfm
By the way, could you please address the concern I had as to your friend home birthing twins. Where midwives are allowed many states will yank their licenses for that.
How are we dismissing the privilege? Everyone has agreed that, for high risk pregnancies, heck, even for medium risk pregnancies, we’re very glad that hospitals exist. I’m even glad they exist for low risk pregnancy- I don’t think every low risk woman should be giving birth at home. I only think every low risk woman *who **wants **to *give birth at home should be supported, not harassed, in her decision. For the majority of women, I am absolutely aware of the privilege and advantages of immediate access to first-world medical care, and damn grateful for it, and for those women who attempt homebirth and need transport. Of course most women in Indonesia would love to birth in hospitals like ours. Most women in the US would, and do, love to birth in hospitals like ours. And that’s fine. It’s wonderful that we have them here so they can.
Re your last paragraph, that’s exactly what I was thinking. I actually started to search for some compromise alternatives and the first hit I found was this review of the Boulder Birth Center. But then I decided to try to stay out of it. But since you’ve brought it up, I may as well share it. Who knows, maybe it will help sway his decision?
I wish them luck whatever they decide, even if their decision is not the one I’d make.
Reminds me of one of my favorite comediennes, Rita Rudner.
Anyway, “dismiss” is just a word - I’ll be glad to let go of it in favor of this characterization: To insist that home birth is a superior choice for oneself/spouse/child, as our OP has done, is indeed to say that you value the home-birth experience more than you value immediate access to the equipment, supplies, and specialized professional that can save lives in a medical emergency. Such values probably seem odd to many of the people who don’t have the luxury of choosing between the two.
It’s for pain management, a way to breathe through the pain…have you ever heard of Lamaze? It’s a way to manage pain during birth. What are you laughing at incidentally?
or for people wanting the medical meets comfort, Boulder Birth Center that utilizes these women
or University Hospital, which also offers waterbirth
In Colorado, there’s no shortage of feel-good birthing options. I mean, Colorado (especially the Boulder area) is home to Waldorf schools, Whole Foods, vegetarians, hippies, free recycling and all of the typical granola parenting things…I think a safe balance can be found here.
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What do you mean odd photos? There are photos of naked people including babies…but that is not odd to me. Our midwife is in one of those photos.
We are already attached to that birthing center, it’s one of the best in CO.
**Shayna **- We have taken every precaution minus being present at a center. Our birthing team is all going to be present, after a 7 page thread and opening several cans of worms, and being pitted for the first time…it’s been tiring here. Love to chat about the process and other stuff…but somewhere else
