The thing is, that midwife is going to have a lot more experience with out-of-hospital births than your obstetrician. So frankly, in your airplane scenario, as long as there are no complications your midwife may well be more experienced with this particular set of circumstances.
If there are no complications a taxi driver could probably handle it.
Sorry to bump a dying thread, but I wanted to share this article with all of the home birth naysayers and those who think the hospital is the only place a woman should give birth. This was written by a respected OB and includes numerous cites that back up what he is saying. I wish everyone would read this, because it fights ignorance better than anything else in this whole thread (IMO).
http://www.theunnecesarean.com/blog/2011/5/13/an-obstetricians-hope.html
You don’t think that article isn’t a teensy bit biased?
[QUOTE=author]
David Hayes, MD has been offering home births since 2005 and has attended exclusively home births for the last three years.
[/QUOTE]
Hmm.
Is it bias when there’s sufficient evidence to support everything he’s saying? It makes sense to me that a doctor who knows how bad the state of maternity care is would do everything he can towards solving the problem rather than contributing to it.
I saw no evidence to support his assertion that 90% of births can be done at home. That doesn’t even jive with the numbers I’ve seen thrown around on other pro home birth sites, nor does it mesh with the other first world countries he was comparing the US to.
100% of births can be done in a hospital.
Not the birth of a nation! Or the birth of an idea! Or the birth of a birth of a distant melody…
There are a few risks associated specifically with hospitals but, if you play the numbers, you are better off in one that outside of one when things go horribly wrong. I think the whole mythos surrounding birth is puke-worthy in general. It is just a traumatic medical expulsion of another person that is going to happen one way or another. Let’s not confuse the mailman with present. My oldest daughter was supposed to be delivered naturally but went into birth distress so she ended up being pulled via a C-section. I was in the operating room watching much more than they me told I could.
There was blood, mess, pain, moans, and then… NEW BABY IN MY ARMS!!! In other words it was essentially the same thing as it would have been if she was delivered at home or on a hippie commune minus the permanent brain damage from lack of oxygen. We call that a good outcome where I am from. I have no idea why somebody would turn down expert help that is generally paid for by insurance because of their own irrationalities and ego when the health the baby (remember the most important thing in this whole process?) is a stake.
So basically, it doesn’t matter what information is provided, people are just going to stubbornly believe whatever they want. So much for fighting ignorance… I tried.
But… Mr. Bourdain can’t be a midwife, for he doesn’t do reservations.
But home birth offers no guarantee that help will be forthcoming if there is a problem, whereas hospital birth does.
There’s no “trying” about it - objectively, statistically, and anecdotally, the child is better off being born in a hospital than they are at home, and there’s nothing I’ve read in this thread (or on the citations) that has come close to convincing me otherwise.
I read through Indygrrl’s linked article above to see what evidence was cited for the claim that home births had better outcomes than hospital births. The only article he cited to support this claim (#4) compares outcomes in patients with planned home birth versus those with planned hospital births. The problem is that these are not equivalent groups. The patients who plan home birth are going to be those who anticipate uncomplicated deliveries and any patients who are high risk would be in the hospital group. Therefore it would be expected that the hospital group would have worse outcomes, and the results are not valid.
Maybe third time is the charm. Apologies if I missed an answer. Indy, for the third time explain why your friend’s home birth of twins was not irresponsible. Please.
I did send her an email with your questions, but I haven’t heard back. I’m guessing she’s got her hands full with all her kids at the moment (she has five!). I’ll try to ask her again and let you know as soon as I hear back.
The only things I know for certain are that she had one hospital birth and two home births prior to her twins. She had consulted with an OB/GYN upon finding out she was carrying twins, but was not willing to automatically have a c-section at 37 weeks, which was a “mandatory” condition of being his patient. She was not high risk in any other way, and she was very concerned that the girls’ lungs would not be mature enough if she agreed to have them that early. I think she ended up going to 41 weeks when she finally had them, and they were both well over 7 lbs when they were born without complication at home with a midwife.
Again, I don’t want to speak for her with regard to the rest of her reasons for deciding to have them at home, but I am going to send her another message right now and will hopefully have her answer soon. I’ll keep you posted.
I’m not going to spend a lot of time answering this simply because the way you worded your question makes it plainly clear that no matter what I say, you have already decided that you believe it to be irresponsible. You are free to believe this.
My choice to have my twins at home was simply because of the choices that the doctor was going to give me: I could schedule a c-section at 37 weeks OR I could have an induced labor at 37 weeks and ‘attempt’ a natural birth, with pitocin, flat on my back, in the OR, with an epidural–in other words, it would be a planned c-section simply because the deck would be stacked against me. When I asked why I couldn’t wait until going into labor spontaneously, I was told because the babies could ‘get too big’ or that twins usually have their own problems. Now, I had a homebirth with a 9.2 oz baby…so ‘big’ doesn’t scare me. I also know that the vast majority of twins who have a bunch of problems are identical, monochorionic, monoamniotic twins (identical, same sac twins…the umbilical cords usually tangle up, etc). My twins were confirmed dichorionic, diamniotic twins (fraternal, separate sac twins).
My decision to have my twins at home was not made in 1 day. I researched, I kept tabs on the development of my twins. I spoke with other women who had twins at home. It became clear that with my twin pregnancy progressing smoothly, no issues, and with an experienced midwife, I had better odds at birthing my babies in a way that was best FOR THEM.
Pitocin induced labor has a tendency to be too strenuous on babies. The contractions are not the same. This tends to cause distress and, yes, c-sections. Then there is the epidural (which has it’s own set of possible nasty side effects for mom) that has a tendency to stop labor…which then must be augmented by Pitocin, which usually causes distress and ends in a c-section. Induction on pregnant women is a huge reason for c-sections. I’m not against c-sections. I do believe that they have their place. HOWEVER, c-sections have become the go to remedy for everything. Breech? Auto c-section. Baby too high at 40 weeks? Auto c-section. Pitocin induced distress? Auto c-section. The problem is that surgery is taking the place of skill and patience.
People can say that I was careless and only thinking of my own comfort in deciding to birth my twins at home. It was never about my comfort, it was about how to obtain the BEST OUTCOME for my babies. I did my research, I took my own history of pregnancy, labor, and delivery into account. I took the health and well-being of my twins into the highest account. Studies show that babies born during spontaneous labor have better health outcomes than babies born too early due to interventions. My babies were alert, pink, healthy and did not have to deal with oxygen, steroid injections to help mature the lungs, or NICU.
Homebirth is not for everyone. I do believe that if someone is so afraid of homebirth, they are better off birthing in a hospital. But, just because they are afraid of homebirth, it does not mean that homebirth is bad or stupid, or careless. Each choice, during each pregnancy, must be made by each individual.
What would have been irresponsible of me would have been making a decision based upon fear, either way. I based my decision upon facts. I based my decision upon my own labor/delivery history. I made my final decision after months of researching, thinking, discussing, and researching again. It was not a decision that I took lightly.
My twins were born at home, with spontaneous labor at 40.3 weeks. One was 7.3 lbs and 20"; the other was 6.9 lbs and 19.25". They are 5 months old now, crawling, laughing and getting into everything.
Did I make the best decision for myself and my babies? Yes, I did. It may not be the decision that you agree with or that you would feel is the best decision for you, but that is your choice and your freedom.
My choice to have my twins at home was simply because of the choices that the doctor was going to give me:
This should have said was “researched” simply because of the choices that the doctor was going to give me:
While reading through that, I was remembering how uncomfortable that last month or so was for you with the twins. You talking about the boys taking advantage of your slowed-down state was one of the funniest (but frustrating for you, I’m sure) stories from that time that you shared. If you had only been worried about your own comfort and experience, with no regard for the babies, you probably would have taken the c-section instead of carrying full-size twins to 41 weeks!
IMO, there’s no way to look at that and think you did the selfish thing, quite the opposite, in fact. Thanks for coming in and sharing.
He may be a dumbass, but you’re both a dumbass and an asshole.
Yeeeah, I don’t know you and only you can say what the best option for you was. I do consider it a shame that there wasn’t an intermediate solution between full intervention and a home birth. In my mind, the ideal situation would be to find a doctor willing to let you go full-term and/or go into labor spontaneously and to at least attempt a vaginal birth with possibly the help of a midwife but with quicker access to an emergency c-section only if truly needed.