"The Perils of Homebirth"? Did you guys see that?

• 10-01-2009 5:21 PM

  Mom~of~Munchkins Joined on 09-14-2005 Posts 250

  "The Perils of Homebirth"? Did you guys see that? Reply Contact Did you ladies see the Today Show when they did a segment called "The Perils of Homebirthing?" It used to be called "The Perils of Midwifery," but I guess someone reminded them that midwives also tend hospital births, so they made sure to change it. It was a completely frustrating thing to watch. Here's the link. The ACNM has had a field day with this one, too. I'm not a midwife, but I do have some quesitons about their perception of what happened during the labor and birth. Like being in labor for 4 days? That seems a little excessive, even for a home birthing midwife. Who knows. Either way, its biased and non-factual. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/32795933

• 10-03-2009 9:04 AM

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  *Christa* Joined on 09-06-2005 Posts 644	Re: "The Perils of Homebirth"? Did you guys see that? Reply Contact Didn't like it at all.  ICAN was asking pepole to leave comments asking for a different point of view.

• 10-03-2009 10:50 PM

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  Mom~of~Munchkins Joined on 09-14-2005 Posts 250	Re: "The Perils of Homebirth"? Did you guys see that? Reply Contact You know, with the whole rumor that has been going around about the AMA and ACOG asking for failed home birth stories, perhaps this is where that came from. It does seem out of the blue that a failed home birth story would be exploited like this. It has AMA/ACOG written all over it.

• 10-04-2009 10:24 AM

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  Stacie1747808 Joined on 11-17-2006 Arizona Posts 121

  Re: "The Perils of Homebirth"? Did you guys see that? Reply Contact I feel so bad for that family. 4 DAYS of labor?!?!?! Just to have a deceased baby put in her arms, its tragic. I dont think it was the fact that she had the baby at home, more the fact that she asked them if what she was going through was normal and they didnt offer any advice!!!! The babys death was a result of the midwife, not the fact that she decided to have a homebirth! I think the midwife should be held 100% responsible. I am praying for the McKenzies and their loss of their beautiful baby Noa. May she rest in peace.

• 10-08-2009 7:13 PM

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  Anne100678 Joined on 12-07-2004 MN Posts 202

  Re: "The Perils of Homebirth"? Did you guys see that? Reply Contact Hmmm, sounds very odd. I feel like an important part of the story is missing. It is tragic that her baby died, but babies also die or face debilitating birth injuries in hospitals too. It is always horrible but there is never a guarantee. They wouldn't necessarily had a healthy baby if they were in a hospital. I think it is ridiculous to say homebirth is like a spa trend.... did he use the word silly in there? I thought I heard it..... and they could easily do the research studies comparing the two, if they chose women of the same low risk demographic and compared them. But they don't want to do that because homebirth would look better! I guess I think it's insulting to me to think that people would think I chose homebirth because I follow fads. I chose it because I had a terrible induced labor that ended up with every intervention, and when I refused the csection in the end I ended up purple pushing on my back for 3 hours and getting a 4th degree tear. I was told to have no more vaginal births. With my second I was doing my hypnobabies in a tub in front of my fish tank, had pain for about an hour, pushed for 7 minutes. I had the same sized baby (almost 10 lbs) with no tearing or bruising, and ate a half a pizza before she was born and after! lol. THis baby is for sure gonna be a homebirth too! But if a fad is what it is, I'll line up with my legwarmers, Zubah pants, and fringe leather jacket to go to my midwife appointment!

• 10-22-2009 10:49 PM

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  Enomrah Joined on 04-21-2004 Arizona/Utah border Posts 2

  Re: "The Perils of Homebirth"? Did you guys see that? Reply Contact I am new to this board but I am strongly hoping that my next baby will be born at home. I have 3 children and each birth at the hospital has gotten worse. I check in here from time to time to read the latest. Did anybody else find it odd that their recomendations to ask your midwife were if she has malpractice insurance maybe I don't understand the issue but how would that have prevented what happened? The second was do they work with a doctor it also didn't seem they had a hard time getting her to a doctor when they chose to go.

• 11-30-2009 11:36 PM

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  Mom~of~Munchkins Joined on 09-14-2005 Posts 250

  Re: "The Perils of Homebirth"? Did you guys see that? Reply Contact Enomrah: I am new to this board but I am strongly hoping that my next baby will be born at home. I have 3 children and each birth at the hospital has gotten worse. I check in here from time to time to read the latest. Did anybody else find it odd that their recomendations to ask your midwife were if she has malpractice insurance maybe I don't understand the issue but how would that have prevented what happened? The second was do they work with a doctor it also didn't seem they had a hard time getting her to a doctor when they chose to go.   Oh yeah. THat part hit me, as well. Make sure your midwife has malpractice insurance, you know, because lawsuits aren't the reason that so many physicians and hospitals place unreasonable restrictions on mothers and babies during birth, right? I've grown to understand that homebirth is not for everyone, and it has nothing to do with the pain or fear factor. It has to do with accepting personal responsibility. Women who choose to home birth are typically more educated in their options, understand the physiology of labor and birth, have read and learned about the process, and understand the built-in rates of complications as part of life, no matter how tragic. In some ways, home birthing IS becoming a fad, because women are birthing at home because...well...they think its cool! There is a crucial difference between homebirthing with a midwife and birthing in a hospital. In the hospital, a mother can let loose. She obeys orders and the doctors take over, assuming all responsibility for monitoring and reacting to complications as they see fit. At home, mom has WAY more responsibility. She needs to understand the physiology of labor and familiarize herself with rates of complications to make an EDUCATED decision. Knowing what I know about labor, I would never allow myself to labor for 4 days. That's just BS. We don't have her medical records, so we don't know if she was in active labor for 4 days or if her water broke 4 days before birth or if she was just having sporatic contractions for 4 days. Moms who birth at home need to be willing to assume partial responsibility for what happens in their birth. If they are not willing to do that, then home birth is not the way to go. But that's just my personal opinion on the whole thing after being confronted with so many women accusing me of doing something trendy.

• 12-01-2009 6:05 AM

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  stephanie3194171 Joined on 01-04-2009 Arlington, TX EDD 6/25/10 Posts 454

  Re: "The Perils of Homebirth"? Did you guys see that? Reply Contact I totally agree: women go to hospitals to absolve themselves of responsibility. I regret my hospital birth so much because I was not in control of anything. But I do feel for them because it sounds like she did not educate herself and truly regrets her decision to birth at home. I also think it's interesting that nobody mentions how babies die in hospitals: a lot more than die at home. This case is news because it's the exception, the rare tragedy in child birth.