Childbirth - a wimmin's political issue of our times

me + homebirth = dead. before going into a home birth, make sure you don't have any complications going into it. one of the issues of home birth is that women will go into it when they're not healthy and get to the hospital too late, then sue the doctor for not saving the mother or the baby.

that's my only caveat. i think women should be able to give birth in the comfort of their own home, surrounded by family. it seems exceedingly unreasonable not to allow it.

 

MamaKCita, keep in mind that a midwife would have likely found the complications either during prenatal visits or in early labor. Babies are wonderful at indicating they are in distress!

I have never heard of someone sueing a doctor after a failed home birth, and I have the statistics somewhere in my notes, but something like 75% of OBs will be sued (if not higher than that number), while under 5 CNMs (the most common form of midwife since insurance will cover them/legal in all states) have been sued. This includes data from 1970's through today.

While things can go wrong in a homebirth, there is an extremely low (exxxxxxtremely) low chance of maternal death. I doubt, to be honest, there have been any documented with a legally practicing midwife. They are just too trained to see someone with that sort of complications, or to allow them to stay at home. Fetal deaths happen, but they happen in the hospital too. At a higher rate. And considering the lawsuits that arise, I would say something else happens there too as far as standard of care.

Certainly homebirths are not for everyone, but the idea a midwife would have missed a complication and you would have died is unlikely. You would have been transfered out of either prenatal care, or transferred in labor. In the case of Post Partum Hemmhorage, you would have been given a shot of pictocin and some tinctures. Midwives are very trained to deal with PPH. Variations of normal are common, and they are trained in that too. I'm not suggesting midwives transport you for any complication, most they do not. Shoulder dystocia is dealt with at home, breech babies are dealt with at home if need be (unexpected for instance), some midwives do twin births, different presentations. Fetal distress is often caused by hospitals, but in the case it appears at home and is not just indication of bad position, they would be transported. And as I said, babies rarely wait to display these needs.

 

not at a failed HOME birth, but at a "getting to the hospital too late for me to fix it" birth. it's also not in a doctor's best interests, in this litigious society, to tell a woman "you're fit enough for a home birth." because sometimes an unforseen complication will arise. it's rare, but still not in a doctor's interest to recommend one.

i would LOVE to see a more cooperative relationship between doctors and midwives. homebirths are so much easier on the mother and more comfortable for EVERYONE. man. it'd be beautiful. but docto means money and money means lawsuit.

 

I don't have children, and I don't want children.
However, that said...
I understand there ARE serious risks that can happen during birth that would be far less serious in a hospital...and yet, If I ever did decide to have kids I find the idea of doing it in a noisy, beepy, florescent, sterile (not in the germ-free way) hospital with coldly professional strangers and while on drugs pretty horrifying.
Women have been having children on their own, naturally, since...well...since women!
And midwives have been helping them probably since women, too.
That is most certainly our right.

 

Believe in the traditional way of midwifery and have a deep trust in the natural process of birth and the loving energy of the universe. “I believe your body is perfect and knows exactly how to birth your baby when given the right support and trust.”


http://www.sagemidwifery.com/midwife.html

 

nah. sorry, ladies. i'd have just been another woman dead doing that "natural thing" women have been doing (and dying from) for millenia. i believe everyone has the right to their own way of doing things, and mine included using every advantage available to me as provided by doctors and science.

 

birth politics.

http://www.themidwife.net/index_files/politicsofbirth.htm