My pals over at Free Republic are talking about Freebirth too!
Here is the link
My favorite comment was the second one:
“Hey, if that’s what they want, good luck to them.
The government should stay out of it.”
Amen and Amen.
Jenny Hatch

DIY birthing:

“DO-IT-YOURSELF home birth websites are putting women at risk by encouraging them to have babies without medical help, doctors have warned.”

But yesterday, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists warned women that “free birth” was the least safe way to have a child.

President of the college, obstetrician Christine Tippett, said women should be grateful for Australia’s high standards of maternity services.

“We have an incredibly safe system,” she said. “I think we should acknowledge that luxury, because there are women around the world who are very envious of us.

“Women getting information about ‘free births’ from the web need to make sure they don’t just access the sites that are very enthusiastic about this.

“If something goes wrong, it could end up in a very sad outcome.”

I loved the comments attached to this article, our Australian and New Zealand sisters definitely have the issues down pat.
This was my favorite comment:

“I’m so sick of reading narrowminded views on birth. I read a GOOD article recently where the author stated that it seems as far as birth goes, choice is a one way street.

So we are allowed to choose a medically unnecessary caesarean (and the hospitals are allowed to inflict enough interventions on us to guarantee an unnecessary caesarean – been there done that!) but we are irresponsible to choose to take on the responsibility of birthing our babies by ourselves?

I know of NO women who have chosen to freebirth due to it being “free” – believe me it’s not, my first child was born completely free in the public system (well the cost of it cannot be measured in monetary terms anyway) and this birth is going to cost me considerably more, even without a midwife. I certainly don’t just consult websites either.

Perhaps the College of Midwives needs to point out how the Queensland Nursing Council has an agenda against QLD homebirth midwives, making it virtually impossible for QLD homebirthers to find a suitable midwife.

Personally, I would rather have no midwife than an unsuitable midwife as my first birth was destroyed by my (Birth Centre) midwife breaching the trust I placed in her – so although I did choose a midwife at the start of this pregnancy, when she pulled out on me due to HER issues I decided I had to trust myself instead.

I think most women are intelligent enough to transfer to hospital if trouble arises (and women who plan freebirth are usually well-researched, not following a stupid trend like this article implies).

Oh and Christine Tippett – safe by whose standards? Typical that an obstetrician would speak out against something that takes the power away from them and puts it back in the hands of birthing women.”

Posted by: Gollum of Gold Coast 5:14pm June 03, 2007

Growing ‘freebirth’ trend alarms doctors

“Dr. David Stronge, a retired physician from Lantzville, said he can think of multiple reasons why freebirth is a bad idea.

“You will have no method of dealing with an obstructed labour,” he said. “I’ve delivered babies at home. It’s pretty gruesome.”

Stronge said if a woman starts to hemorrhage, the situation becomes very serious.

“You just bleed out. You can’t deal with a ruptured uterus,” he said.

“It is inappropriate in a modern society to deliver at home.”

Angela Flegel works as a doula, still a relatively unknown profession, in Nanaimo.

“I’m a professional support person,” said Flegel.

Flegel also helps fathers provide support to the mother and works in conjunction with a doctor or midwife.

“I can offer suggestions that will help with comfort,” she said.

“But I don’t attend the births alone, that’s a big no-no. Doulas are strictly for emotional support.”

This line was the kicker for me:
“It is inappropriate in a modern society to deliver at home”
I really believe these doctors are suffering from a complete failure of imagination about our society. They have spent two hundred years convincing mothers that birth is dangerous and only a professional can attend a birth, yet they believe our society is just going to continue as is with no major infrastructure disruptions to make it impossible to birth with a professional.
I believe those disruptions are just around the corner and it is going to be interesting to watch our civilization contort and twist to adjust to the realities that may smack and hit the innocent most painfully. The last time we had a pandemic, most babies in america were being born at home. The vast migration from home to hospital did not happen until the 40’s and 50’s.
When hospitals are overun with disease, mommas are going to want to stay home. Bringing hospital birth to home is what is deadly and dangerous. And the first problem crops up with the positioning of the mother. My own religion, which is so focused on Provident Living, must have had a doctor write a primer on Emergency Childbirth contained in the churchs preparedness manual. Because it tells the support person to help the mother lie down on her back to “assist” her with the delivery. This immediately puts the baby into distress and makes the contractions more painful for the mother.
Teaching parents practical information about natural childbirth, which the doctors themselves don’t know and are in no position to teach, is the best step our society could take to help mitigate the deadly childbirth situations that will immediately present once a virus starts raging around the planet.
But no, the medicos have nothing but scorn for those of us who are seeking to learn for ourselves the facts of birth.
Doctor Stronge, what is inappropriate is for you to live in your la la land of “modern” unreality and believe that everything is going to stay as is for the duration of my birthing life.
Jenny Hatch

Jenny Hatch