Question re homebirths & the 2010 thing...

[Liz]

Was just reading the poll on FB about what people would do should it become illegal. And it made me wonder a few things.

If it's made illegal and people still do it anyway.. will they still have access to assessment for whether they could/should homebirth? At the moment certain risk factors etc are taken into consideration for homebirth aren't they? Will this disappear with the assumption that everyone will be going to hospital? Hope that question makes sense.

Can you still employ a private midwife for antenatal care who could do this for you? Or is private midwifery being abolished all together?

Also, as a side note... I voted that I wouldn't choose homebirth (personal choice) but I really didn't like the way it was worded.. because that choice sounded very anti-homebirth.. which I'm not at all. I have personal reasons for wanting to be in a hospital.. but would love a homebirth and agree that it's all about choice. I've also noticed a lot of homebirthers are commenting with things such as "i wouldn't risk my baby's health by birthing in a hospital" or something like that anyway. I mean.. woah.. I thought homebirthers were about choice.. not anti-hospital? But then I guess there's extremes in both camps hey. haha.

[BellyBelly]

hahaha I made the poll... i'm not anti-homebirth though

[Oorki Galoorki]

very few women have access to publically funded homebirth.. this is where you get the "rules" about home birthing.
Most HB IMs will birth how and where you want no matter of your history.. as long as they are aware of it.

i wasnt assessed for a hb i just had one..
i know that i will probably give birth with a friend next time.. she knows my history anyway

[Schmickers]

You may have access to a midwife for antenatal care in the community who meets certain government criteria - one of those criteria being that she will bring her clients to the hospital to give birth. So I guess you could discuss hypothetically with that midwife whether you would be an appropriate client for a homebirth.

Midwives who do not work within the government system will not be allowed to call themselves midwives, though, so providing antenatal care will carry with it the same risks as providing care during birth - a fine for practising as a midwife unregistered.

[firespiral]

Midwives who do not work within the government system will not be allowed to call themselves midwives, though, so providing antenatal care will carry with it the same risks as providing care during birth - a fine for practising as a midwife unregistered.

yeah .. this is the bit where i realised that it is not just the birth the government are taking control of with this proposed legislation .. but all aspects of antenatal, labour, birth, placenta care, postnatal and breastfeeding ..

the term midwife is an ancient latin word for 'with woman' .. i ache that this term has been taken off women and become part of an insitiution.
i use the word medwife
and birth support worker for those who truly midwife - ie listen to the woman above all else, regardless of what doc or ob is in the room

as for the homebirth thing in the future .. there will be publically funded homebirths.
but don;t get too excited .. you only qualify if you do every single test they expect off you (no exceptions) .. and meet their ridiculous criteria .. but they are not being to outspoken about that either of course

[firespiral]

very few women have access to publically funded homebirth.. this is where you get the "rules" about home birthing.
Most HB IMs will birth how and where you want no matter of your history.. as long as they are aware of it.

i wasnt assessed for a hb i just had one..
i know that i will probably give birth with a friend next time.. she knows my history anyway

being accessed and given permission to have a homebirth is hardly freedom of choice
i don't qualify for a multitude of reasons ..

but will have one with the birth support worker who was present for my previous 3 births over a hospital birth .. one can never under-estimate consistency of care and how beneficial it can be!

the more they make is compulsary for me to go to the hospital .. the more i will resist!

[Smoke Jaguar]

Saying one doesn't believe in hospitals for normal birth doesn't make them anti-choice, just anti-hospital
I am pro-choice, I am anti-hospital for normal birth. I can believe that till the cows come home, it's never going to become a political movement on my part. Hopsitalisation is too much part of our culture now (since last century when medicos convinced us it was because of them we had better births, yet there is a lot they leave out of the equation that has led to better birthing outcomes, not least of which is vastly improved diets and general hygiene practices which improve health over the lifespan...much more than just at the time of birthing in hospital) for that to happen.
There is nothing unfounded in someone saying there is too much risk in having a normal birth in hospital - those concerns are very real and quite founded! That's why being railroaded into a hospital birth is not only offensive, it's a violation of a woman's informed choice. There is no polar opposite being proposed and never will be - where women are railroaded into homebirths against their will - because that's taking choice out of it. Whatever your reasons for wanting a hospital birth is fine with me. It's when policy is formed at the expense of women who don't hold ideas of better care in hospital - i.e. the perception of increased safety over the facts, which is what has driven policy thus far and is informing the 'good' minister into denying indemnity insurance to private middies.
So, I have personal, empirical as well as political reasons for wanting homebirth (the campaign to marginalise midwifery started centuries ago) as a choice without sending my favourite midwife bankrupt after having to pay a fine for doing her trained job! I want to CHOOSE my midwife and not be precluded from homebirth because I refuse to undergo what are presumed to be 'routine' prenatal tests that I object to, or because I'm over a certain age (risk factors are combinatorial, I think lots of caregivers forget this!!).
The hospital HB plans will make homebirth an option for women who would ordinarily qualify for birth centre births, and we already know how narrow that criteria is - there will only be further restrictions on these, surely. So, no, it's not a 'win' for true homebirth.
And my midwife team are set to still be unemployed after July next year