Great new birth story found at My Space:
QUOTE:
Q: How did you feel overall?
A: Being pregnant was incredible, I felt great, other than needing extra sleep! I will never forget the first butterfly kicks as the baby moved! It was an awesome experience, and I can’t wait till our next little one is on the way!
Q: Tell us about the birth! How long was labor?
A: Early labor started at 4:30 am Wednesday, March 28. It slowed down during the day and picked back up around 1 am Thursday. Around 6:30 am I called Steven at his work, and told him I needed him home for moral support. (I wasn’t forunate enough to have a pain-free labor, and by this time I was in tears, as it was the most intense pain I’d ever experienced. I do believe that pain-free birth is possible, and hope to achieve that someday.) Around 9 am I ran a tub of warm water and stayed there until about 1 pm, when I decided to try to walk around the bedroom.
After a couple more contractions, my water broke, and I settled on our bed in a reclined sitting position. Within a few minutes my body began pushing and the baby crowned. I purposely resisted the pushing action of my body at this point for a few seconds so the skin could stretch without tearing. Two more pushes and Solomon was in Daddy’s hands! Wow!!!! I was so happy when he placed the baby on my chest that I started crying! It was an amazing experience! One in which I really bonded with my husband!
Q: Would you do it again? What would you do different, if anything?
A: Definitely! We will have all our children the same way! There are only a few minor things I would do different:
– Exercise more
– Drink Red Raspberry tea daily
-Have my husband with me during early labor
-Rest before and during early labor!!! (I didn’t get much sleep Wednesday night ’cause we had company, then I tried to stay active on Wednesday instead of catching up on sleep, as some people recommend being active during early labor. I was so tired on Thursday that I couldn’t think clearly and couldn’t keep my eyes open between contractions! Thankfully, Steven was there!)
-get in the tub sooner and stay there
Q: Would you ever do it by yourself?
A: If I was well-rested, I’m sure I could do it alone, but I definitely would much rather do it with my husband there to help out. He pulled 72 hours that weekend without sleep taking care of me, fixing meals, cleaning the house, cleaning up after the birth, and helping me with the baby! He definitely gets an A+++!!!!!;) Maybe 2 or 3 births down the road, I’ll try catching the baby while he watches, but I definitely prefer to birth as a team!
Q: Any closing words of wisdom?
A: Yes! Stop believing the lies you’ve been told about birth being risky!!!! It’s no more risky than driving a car, or some of the many other activities we do each day!! Unassisted birth or freebirth, as it’s sometimes called, isn’t for everyone. However, there is so much more suffering needlessly caused by the medicalization of birth that I believe every woman should learn the facts for herself, the facts being that 99% of what the doctors and even many midwives may tell you is FALSE! That is no exaggeration! Husbands too, need to know these things and become informed. I encourage you to check out the following websites:
Thanks for your testimonial and story! Awesome!
Jenny Hatch

Do-it-yourself birthing by Elizabeth St. Philip

“When I told my friends that I was working on a story about a phenomenon called “free birth” aka “unassisted births,” the response was always the same.

“Whassat??”

When I explained that it’s when a woman decides to give birth at home unassisted …without the help of a doctor or midwife… and directed them to the videos of woman “birthing” on the Web (Freebirth.com), they almost always recoil in shock.

The reaction was overwhelming negative — and in some cases, hostile. Typically, someone will say that women are putting their babies in danger. One UK doctor has gone as far as stating these women should be charged with manslaughter if anything goes wrong.

But unassisted birthing is not illegal. And what I found intriguing about this story was the number of pregnant women who are ready to do it themselves.

After just one phonecall, I found three women prepared to talk about their experiences on camera (Ultimately, we only interviewed two for the CTV story).

One free birth advocate in Lethbridge told me she knows of ten women who are planning to have their children this way. She had three of her own children without assistance.

Another woman I interviewed mentioned her mother-in-law had all six of her children at home. It was her husband who first introduced her to the concept.

The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada estimates that only 1% of children born annually are born at home. Usually that is with the help of an experienced midwife, so only a tiny fraction of that 1% are “freebirthers.”

Then again, there’s no one compiling statistics, so who knows for sure. The number of women freebirthing may be higher than doctors think. Which means we may be hearing more about this issue in the future.

Question: What do you think of “freebirthing?” If anything goes wrong, should charges be laid?”</blockquote>
This is what I wrote on Elizabeths blog in the comment section (just in case it gets pulled as so many of my blog posts seem to be of late)
Good Question Elizabeth.
As a loud proponent of freebirth and organizer of our second conference, I agree that few people are aware of how many of us are birthing alone at home.
As for your question…
We freebirthers understand that this choice makes some professionals uncomfortable but as to litigation?
Dr. Crippen is calling for us moms who have a babe die during a freebirth to be charged with manslaughter. (Or at least be prosecuted by brain damaged children later on)
I think he is really on to something in his call for criminal charges for dangerous parental decisions around birth.
We freebirthers will gladly accept the responsibility for our birth outcomes WHEN and IF mothers who are choosing elective C-sections are held under the same law.
Nobody is above the law…Right?
So, as long as moms who choose a medical intervention without true medical cause are being prosecuted and locked up for their dangerous and deadly choice for baby, we will gladly bow down to the law and allow ourselves to also be prosecuted and charged for a supposedly dangerous birth choice if baby dies during the birth.
See, we have nature and the lack of chemicals on our side, and I can promise you that the mothers from the medical side will be prosecuted ten to one more often than we mothers who are giving birth alone. Toxic, “blue” chemical laden babies have a much harder time recovering from birth than our beautiful natural babes who are born at home with proper hormonal interactions and lack of deadly drugs like Cytotec raging through their livers and brains.
It seems to me that if poor parental choices are being thrown into the mix of who gets prosecuted and who does not, those babies who are brain damaged from too many drugs at birth, those babies who never reach full genetic brain potential cause Momma didn’t want to breastfeed, and those children who are permanently maimed and disabled by never being fed whole organic foods, should also be enabled to have cause to sue parents for damages.”
Sound fair? Reasonable?
It does to me.
Jenny Hatch
WWW.naturalfamilyBLOG.com

Healthy Families Make A Healthy World!

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Royal College Of Obstetricians And Gynaecologists’ Statement On Unassisted Childbirth Or “freebirth”

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) is aware of the small number of women choosing unassisted childbirth or “freebirth”.

“Whilst the RCOG fully supports normal birth and believes that every woman should have the right to give birth in an environment in which she feels comfortable, the safety and wellbeing of the mother and baby is paramount.

Before choosing a place of birth all women should be fully informed of the potential risks, which may include the need for intervention, transfer to hospital and/or pain relief. Obstetricians and midwives are concerned with the safety of both patients, mother and child.

The RCOG would like to stress that at present, the practice of freebirth is new to the UK and little research exists regarding its safety and success.”

PING!!!

 
Interpretation of this little epistle from on high:

“OK Ladies, we are not quite sure what to do with you, although we do know that we need to say something….or other, about what you are doing. Although the press keeps quoting one of our award winning bloggin’ docs, we realize that he is an anonymous blogger who thinks moms should be prosecuted for manslaughter if something were to go wrong during a free birth, but as for us? Well, we know we have painted ourselves in a corner with our birth practices and the drugging and cutting of women. We also know that we have no moral authority because of the baby killing side of our profession in terms of abortion and birth control. Yet we feel absolutely compelled to make a public statement about you people because frankly, you are creeping us out and we can’t quite put our finger on why that is the case…..but….ahh….well…..we just had to say something or other until we figure out what to do….because really, this simply cannot stand….you mothers are all SMILING in your birth pictures, and really, and one of your birth stories actually show a woman laughing while she gives birth, and some of those birth videos, well, they are just grotesque….nobody is wearing gloves and their is no little machine that goes PING, and, well, we just don’t know what to do with you. But we are going to do something because, well….we are not quite sure what we are going to do…..but WOMEN AND CHILDREN ARE DYING IN THE THIRD WORLD……and you all think you can just go ahead and give birth willy nilly without a problem…..are you actually suggesting that how we deliver babies might be the problem??!!??….well that would mean, uh….well…that would mean that we are doing it bad….wrong….my piece of paper saying I am a medical doctor means nothing…..I’m just a legalized drug pusher???who is knife happy???and babies and mothers are dying who would have done just fine at home??!!?? gag..blush…arrrghhhhh….”this must be stopped…..you women must be STOPPED”. Someone has to save your from yourselves!! Or…uh…we….”gulp”….might be out of a job…and I have student loans to pay off, and what else am I supposed to do for a living????”
Hey Docs, why don’t 90% of you become organic farmers and welcome your own little ones into your own hands at home and just leave us families alone???
AND IF (AND BIRTH STATS BEING WHAT THEY ARE, THIS IS A MIGHTY BIG IF), IF, ONE OF THE MOTHERS OR BABIES WHO ARE A PART OF THE FREEBIRTH MOVEMENT SHOULD HAPPEN TO DIE, LET US BURY OUR DEAD IN PEACE AND LIVE AND LET LIVE.

My son Andrew and I were almost that mother/baby team who died during birth. We could not get him to breathe and I bled out most of my blood volume after the birth. My crit was 4.7, (that is 4 point 7). I felt my spirit leaving my body, and my baby was not able to take a breath. And it would have been so nice if instead of trying to prove to me what a loser I was as a parent, and instead of trying to check my cervix for tears after birthing an eleven pound child, or yanking out my placenta, or tsk tsking away at how evil and stupid and irresponsible I was as a parent just after giving birth to that amazingly huge baby, if someone in that ER had thought to themselves…”you know? she looks a little pale, maybe we should check her crit to see how much blood she has in her body”.

No, the docs and nurses were so determined to “set me straight”, big bad home birthing momma….you simply suck….”, that I lay dying before their eyes, my spirit started to leave my body and I heard a voice say “you wimp, get back in your body”.

And then my competent doctor showed up. Dr. H, our beloved family doctor, who had no idea I was pregnant because I did my own prenatal care. And he asked the vital question. “anyone checked her crit?”

And that saved my life.

You know docs? We understand that you have something vital to offer to those FEW mothers who may need your drugs and surgery. We even understand that some of us may have to transfer during labor or even after birth to help with various complications.

How would it be if instead of flinging poo at each other if we agreed to work together to birth the babies. You show just a little respect for the effort we put out as mothers to get educated and then give birth alone, and when and if we show up at your hospital looking for help…just give us the help. We don’t need the lectures, we have already heard it a thousand times from our own families and friends. We don’t need laws and we sure as heck don’t need litigation.

We families just want to live in peace and birth our young at home, alone, in our own beds, with just our lovers and loved ones present. Could you live with that? Could you just take one step back from the calls for a whole new set of laws and regulations and rules around birth and realize that we are good parents who want what is best for our babies.
 

 

More recent articles about FreeBirth:
C-section triple threat
Increased heart, clot, infection risk

“Women who undergo elective caesarean sections suffer more than three times the number of cardiac arrests, blood clots and major infections than those who deliver vaginally, new Canadian research reveals.”
 

 

HMMMMMMmmmmm

I’ve been participating on a couple of blogs chatting about FreeBirth and before they started pulling my stuff and shutting down my posting privledges (can’t debate that meanie Jenny Hatch, she just thinks she knows everything, and all she ever does is make Medicated Mommies feel bad), I said this in regards to the legality of UCBirth in one of the posts that is still on that blog:

“Dr. Crippen is calling for us moms who have a babe die during a freebirth to be charged with manslaughter. (Or at least be prosecuted by brain damaged children later on)

I think he is really on to something in his call for criminal charges for dangerous parental decisions around birth.

We freebirthers will gladly accept the responsibility for our birth outcomes WHEN and IF mothers who are choosing elective C-sections are held under the same law.

Nobody is above the law…Right?

So, as long as moms who choose a medical intervention without true medical cause are being prosecuted and locked up for their dangerous and deadly choice for baby, we will gladly bow down to the law and allow ourselves to also be prosecuted and charged for a supposedly dangerous birth choice.

See, we have nature and the lack of chemicals on our side, and I can promise you that the mothers from the medical side will be prosecuted ten to one more often than we mothers who are giving birth alone. Toxic, “blue” chemical laden babies have a much harder time recovering from birth than our beautiful natural babes who are born at home with proper hormonal interactions and lack of deadly drugs like Cytotec raging through their livers and brains.

It seems to me that if poor parental choices are being thrown into the mix of who gets prosecuted and who does not, those babies who are brain damaged from too many drugs at birth, those babies who never reach full genetic brain potential cause Momma didn’t want to breastfeed, and those children who are permanently maimed and disabled by never being fed whole organic foods, should also be enabled to have cause to sue parents for damages.”

I think the title of this latest Canadian Article should read: Obstetricians increasingly feeling threatened by those demmed Freebirthers”

Obstetricians alarmed over ‘freebirthing’
 

 

 

Quotes from article: (My responses are in italics)

“A British National Health Service physician who writes a popular blog under name “Dr. Crippen” responded to The Guardian article in his blog, pointing out that a mother owes a duty of care to her baby.”

They keep quoting the famous Dr. C like he is Moses coming down from Mount Sinai with the ten commandments. Thus sayeth the Anonymous Blogging Doctor: “Thou shalt not give birth at home. If you do, umm….well…..uh….we will think you really stink.”

“Dr. Don Davis, the outgoing president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, said the society has no difficulties with women who want to give birth at home with the help of a midwife, as long as emergency back-up is available and the mother knows the risks.”

And this is a steaming pile of horse manure. Why doc do you dudes keep locking our midwives up in prison on bogus and frivilous charges. Why was Gloria Lemay locked away, and midwives all over north america being increasingly harrassed and litigated against if you docs did not want to have a complete monopoly over birth.

And I loved the message, tone, and articulation of the whole debate found in this article:

Home births not as risky as perceived
 

(You’ll have to click on the link to get to the “Buck Naked Bacon-Making” quote)

“Home birth is dirty, we are told, dangerous for mother and baby, you’ll have to sterilize the house, boil the cats in bleach, etc., and even then you’re taking a huge risk. It hurts too much to do it without drugs. Plus you’ll annoy the neighbours. You’re a crazy hippie, global warming is a myth and your mother dresses you funny.

A year-long study in 1999 (reported in the Canadian Medical Association Journal) comparing outcomes between home and hospital births among B.C. women able to choose between the two found: nothing.

Fewer interventions during labour for home birthers, fewer maternal infections, fewer episiotomies and no significant differences in perinatal mortality. Oh, and because women who are able to birth at home typically stay there, homestyling is cheaper, too.

The study concludes: “There was no increased maternal or neonatal risk associated with planned home birth under the care of a regulated midwife.”

Studies in New Zealand, the U.K., U.S., Switzerland and the Netherlands have made similar conclusions — home birth with qualified caregivers is as safe as birthing in a hospital. Last week, a study indicated women who choose caesarean section without medical necessity face a five-fold risk of postpartum cardiac arrest over natural birth; wound infection rates were five times higher.

Pregnancy is not an illness and we are not going to treat it as such. If we need to go to hospital to safeguard mother or baby’s health then we will go and do whatever is needed.

In the meantime, the coffee is on and the curtains are drawn at home — where women gave birth long before there were hospitals.”

Jenny Hatch

The Bloggers are talking: What those who call us crazy don’t seem to understand is that this sort of talk is Pre 9-11 thinking. The comfortable fictions that ruled our society are no more, and fact is that parents taking personal responsibility for birth is just a part of post 9-11 reality. Here is a link to an interview I had with a Mommy blogger a couple of years ago about Provident Living and Post 9-11 pragmatism regarding Family Self Sufficiency.
INTheNuts
ParentDish
Birthpangs and Here
Associated Content
FitSugar
Joanne Jacobs
Tim Worstall
Branching Out
Canadian Content
Titled Forum Project
Thorn Tree Forum
Dundeemedstudent
I thought I’d share a quote from this young chap, who is just starting med school. Yes, the Jenny mentioned in his blog post is me, and he is referencing the debate that I engaged in a couple weeks ago at Dr. Crippens blog.
He obviously has issues with my religion, my beliefs, and my linking birth violence to violence later in life. I guess he has not connected the dots in his own mind, but hey, we all have to grow at our own pace. He does have a way with words, and as a passionate blogger, I really appreciate someone who can write in an articulate way (Steaming pile of *****).
My comments at the blog doctors blog start here.

“Over at Dr Crippen’s right now there is a big debate regarding home births and free births. personally the idea of a free birth freaks me out, I’ll quite happily have my children in hospital and partake of all the nice drugs they give you, hmmm gas. Reading the comments it’s getting into quite a heated debate, with a few hardcore free birthers defending their corner- which I completely agree with however ‘Jenny’ has referenced a wacky not in anyway scientific steaming pile of shite website– birthpsychology.com (I’m not even going to mention her religious ideas- we’d be here for a very long time)

Interestingly she also made reference to assisted births (i.e forceps, C-sections) and referenced and quoted an article regarding the origins if violence. As a person who was delivered using forceps I am outraged and offended by her claims- that by default I am somewhat damaged. What bollocks the way in which I came into this world has NO bearing on my current mental and physical state. Frankly a wee bump on the back of my head is a small price to pay for being ALIVE and oh yeah my mum being alive (anyhoo it’s character building 😉 ) and it sure beats my brain being starved of oxygen.”

Jenny Hatch

I was so inspired by those slide shows below, that I decided to try one myself, re-doing my Lotus Birth Picture Gallery, which I put together in a fog of new baby sleep deprivation when Ben was four months old.
Here is my first effort, it is very difficult to get everything to format right, which is why most of the heads are cut off and the text looks goofy, but I loved being able to add music, as well as video to the show. I hope this is the first of many, many slide/video shows. It will save me boatloads of work as I do my Whole Foods Entries and share music etc…
Jenny Hatch

Benjamin Hatch, A Lotus Born Child