Kym Kani Provided almost all of the source materials for this article!

Kym Kani gave birth to her fourth child at home unassisted.  Her husband wrote up a birth story on her blog, and she also documented what happened during her pregnancy and birth.  He was born perfectly after a two hour labor.  This youngest son was born at home medically unassisted on September 21st (2008).

Kym and her husband and this youngest son, (11 months old) travelled to Canberra from Melbourne by car in September (7th) of last year (2009).

Kym felt motivated to go protest Medical Tyranny, she said:

“This was my first protest of any kind and this is an issue that I think is of utmost importance. I think the way we enter this world can affect us as a society. I had three babies in hospital and it wasn’t where I needed to be in labour. I don’t remember enjoying much of my older children being newborns and infants. With my youngest, I had a gentle undisturbed labour and amazing birth, I was able to enjoy and relax in those first hours and have a most welcomed babymoon in the first week (even though we were moving house!).”

In describing her Freebirth Kym said:

“The first year was a real joy. I was the first to touch our baby, which was very important to me. My husband was very much involved in the birth (filling the pool and taking photos, then changing J’s nappies for the first 24 hours, being the second person to touch OUR son, no strangers and this is the way I need to bring our children into the world, nothing like what happened in my hospital births) but I birthed him as I did my older children, but this time without interference.”

Kym summed up the changes that have taken place in her heart this way:

“I bonded very well to my little boy and it has really changed the way I look at myself as a parent and as a person.”

Kym has never protested anything before, yet in the past few months she has attended three protests and plans to attend a fourth next week.

“In Canberra, we protested peacefully outside Parliament House. We were mostly ignored by the media and the Government. There were women and their families, men and children as well as midwives. It was a huge crowd.

Next we protested outside Julia Gillard’s office in Werribee (Melbourne). We crowded the footpath and again I felt we were mostly ignored. Most recently we rallied outside the AMA offices in Parkville where there was a fair crowd.

All have been largely ignored peaceful protests with powerful voices (consumer and midwives) and songs bringing us the messages we want everyone to understand. “Dr Andrew Pesce cites his greatest AMA achievement as successfully lobbying Health Minister Nicola Roxon to make amendments to home birth legislation. I feel this translates as a direct attack on a basic human right.”

In a Letter to the editor titled An Attack on Womens Rights:

The author states: 

“I AM a university-educated, professional woman who recently exercised her right to give birth at home. I had highly experienced, caring, trained midwives. I had the full energy and full attention of my team. I cannot remember having to ”jostle” for anything or anyone. I never had to wait in a ”chaotic” waiting room.

Dr Andrew Pesce cites his greatest AMA achievement as successfully lobbying Health Minister Nicola Roxon to make amendments to home birth legislation. I feel this translates as a direct attack on a basic human right. Not only have we seen our rights infringed, but we have lost our faith in the power of the human body.”

 The Courier Mail Newspaper has been quoting the bogus homebirth study as if it was scripture:

Homebirth ‘more risky’ than hospital delivery

Yet Homebirth groups have not been shy about pushing back against the study:

“The overhaul has outraged homebirth groups, which say the practice will be forced underground, a concern that was also highlighted in a recent Senate inquiry.

The Australian Private Midwives Association and Homebirths Australia also dispute the latest study, saying the findings are hazy, and insist homebirthing is safe.

Association president Liz Wilkes says only one of the homebirth deaths was attributed to factors that were unlikely to have happened in hospital.

“Many of the homebirth deaths occurred in hospital, but we don’t know what was actually attributed to the death so the findings are still out,” she said.

She says the proposed laws won’t stop women from wanting to have a homebirth.

“So they will put women in quite a dramatically unsafe situation because they won’t be able to find a registered midwife to attend them.”

She says doctors are also unlikely to support the practice because of their own insurance concerns.

Homebirth Australia secretary Justine Caines, who has had seven successful homebirths, agrees and said the planned changes are a major erosion of women’s rights.

“Birth is very personal and a decision each woman should have the right to make” she said.

“So the AMA’s responsibility should be to make the practice of homebirth as safe as possible whether they like it or not.”

Less than one per cent of births registered each year in Australia are homebirths.”

Journalist Melissa Sweet took the time to crunch the numbers and reported these facts to the curious:

 “If you’ve been half awake in recent days, you might have heard of a new study showing that “babies are seven times more likely to die during home births”.

It’s worth having a close look at what the study actually found (the full article is available here in the Medical Journal of Australia), and also considering some of the broader context that has been sadly lacking from most of the coverage I’ve seen and heard.

Please bear with me — I’m about to hit you with a stack of figures — but it is worth taking the time to examine them in some depth. You may end up with a different impression from what the headlines have been saying.”

Meanwhile, it seems more pertinent than ever to borrow the final words of the study’s authors:

“Although it is not anticipated that large numbers of women will opt for home birth, women’s autonomy in choosing reproductive behaviour is a fundamental human right enshrined in Australian law. Respecting their choices and achieving the best outcome for all concerned is likely to remain a challenge that will require more light and less heat than it has received thus far.”

What we’ve learnt in recent days is that we can’t rely on the media — or medical organisations — to contribute much light to this debate.”

Finally, Kym Reports: 

“At the Parkville rally, I was given a breakdown of what the study found. It was only a small number of women involved in the study, it was of planned homebirths and only one baby died at home and it was known as a possibilty as she was considered high risk (baby could have died at hospital too).

If anything, it shows homebirth is much safer and even ideal especially for healthy women and babies. I want freebirth to be a choice. Many women don’t want to birth on their own but rather that than birth in hospital.”

Screen Shot of Study

If you would like to stand publicly with the Mothers of Australia, our sisters down under would appreciate some support at the upcoming Protest scheduled this week.  Here is an overview of the many Protests that have been planned for this thursday February 18th, 2010.

MY BODY MY BABY MY RIGHT TO DECIDE

*Come and tell Tanya Plibersek (Kevin Rudd), that it is a woman’s right, not his, to decide where, with whom, and how she gives birth.

Here is a list of all of the various protests:

• Newcastle/Hunter MY BODY MY BABY MY RIGHT TO DECIDE

• Canberra – MY BODY MY BABY MY RIGHT TO DECIDE

• Adelaide – MY BODY MY BABY MY RIGHT TO DECIDE
  

• Gosford – MY BODY MY BABY MY RIGHT TO DECIDE

        * Ballarat MY BODY MY BABY MY RIGHT TO DECIDE

(Kevin Rudd will attend this rally)

• Darwin – MY BODY MY BABY MY RIGHT TO DECIDE

• Cairns – MY BODY MY BABY MY RIGHT TO DECIDE

• Perth – MY BODY MY BABY MY RIGHT TO DECIDE

• Brisbane – MY BODY MY BABY MY RIGHT TO DECIDE

• Sydney – MY BODY MY BABY MY RIGHT TO DECIDE