Article: Extreme Birth

[Keira]

A friend of mine was pregnant with her first child last year and her and DH went to their usual checkup in the morning to make sure everything was progressing in her late stage of pregnancy and the Doctor said everything was fine and sent her home, her DH went off to work.

By the time DH had gotten to work she was having heavy contractions and was at home by herself and she called him asking him to come home because she thought this was "it"! He didn't make it home in time, and she birthed her first born son by herself on their bathroom floor...

I don't know about you ladies but a situation like that would be terrifying to me!
The women that birth like that must be very brave!

[paradise lost]

LOL, so many people told me i was brave to want to homebirth! It isn't brave to stay at home in control where you feel safe! It would have been brave if i'd gone to hospital where i am terrified!

I chickened out and stayed home. I wouldn't set out to homebirth unassisted but if i don't manage to call the midwife in time next time....oh well

H

[Lucy]

Good on any woman who wants this.

It wouldn't be for me, but I can relate to the desire of wanting the birth to be in the manner of a womans own choosing.

it sort of balances the scale somewhat. It's obviously not a choice for everyone, but I think it's great that there are women out there trusting their bodies to do their thing, without help.

Very true, IMO.

I am kind of with Deb too, in as much as during my births I need a strong connection. DH is brilliant, but I need another womans voice to be honest! (I have been extremely blessed with brilliant midwives for all 3 of my births, and my gut tells me that if I was ever going to give birth again, I would need this again, whether at home or not.........)

[azima]

Like some women say to me that they'd love a homebirth but just couldn't do it, I feel the same way about unassisted birth. I'd love to do it but just couldn't! I'd always plan to have a MW, and then call her when I felt I needed her. Maybe next time I'll get through without having to call!

[chocolatecatty]

Renee Switzer
May 27, 2007

Page 1 of 2 | Single page
A GROWING number of Australian women are choosing to give birth without help from doctors, drugs or even a midwife.

Termed "freebirthing", the method involves a woman giving birth with the support of a partner, friend, family member or doula (an assistant who provides support to the mother but is not medically trained) or sometimes completely alone.

Its advocates say freebirthing is safe, and women are drawn to it because of high medical intervention rates in birth and a lack of independent midwives.

But it's a trend that has alarmed the medical profession, with the Australian Medical Association and Australian College of Midwives arguing that freebirthing is too risky for mother and baby.

The exact number of women choosing to freebirth is not known, but its popularity is growing, largely through freebirthing websites.

Janet Fraser, national convener of Joyous Birth, an Australian home-birthing forum, said more women were freebirthing than two years ago.

"There are many reasons women choose to freebirth and the foremost reason is because they want to be solely responsible for what happens in their birthing space and don't want input from people who have fears or whose ideas may not mix with theirs," she said.

Ms Fraser said a lack of independent midwives was also forcing some women into freebirth, while for others, high caesarean rates (30.2 per cent of babies born in Victorian were by caesarean section in 2005), deterred them from giving birth in hospitals.

"It's about what the woman wants and not necessarily a criticism of the medical or midwifery model," she said.

Ms Fraser said freebirthing women had back-up plans and always put their baby's safety first.

"If something goes wrong you go to hospital," she said. "Nobody is going to stay home and birth a dead baby in preference to getting the technological help you need."

It is not illegal for women to give birth without a medical professional in attendance. But AMA president Mukesh Haikerwal said that in an era when maternal and perinatal death was much lower then decades ago, people had forgotten how dangerous childbirth could be.

"The major benefits from interventional approach obstetrics has been a significant dramatic reduction in maternal and perinatal mortality," he said.

Dr Haikerwal admits there has been an increased tendency towards medical intervention in birth but says there are a number of reasons.

"One is that we do have an older population now for first childbirth, another is that because of the medical legal situation, people are much more likely to intervene and try to avoid problems rather than taking risks.

"But nobody is sitting there with a knife wanting to do a caesarean, nobody is sitting there with forceps wanting to take the baby out with forceps — the ideal is to have a natural childbirth," he said.

Dr Haikerwal said the association supported home birth for low-risk women when attended by a midwife or doctor.

Obstetrician Andrew Pesce, vice-president of the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians, said Australian home births carried a high death rate compared to hospital births, and there were some complications mothers might not pick up if giving birth unassisted.

Australian College of Midwives communications manager Shannon Morris said the college supported home birth but not freebirth.

"We think a midwife should be at every birth," she said.

Ms Morris said she also knew of many midwives turning women away because of heavy workloads.

Some women were also deterred by the cost, with a home birth on average costing $4000 with a midwife in attendance.

She said that while the college supported home births for low-risk, healthy women, freebirthing was a serious safety issue.

"For the majority of women left alone, they will birth, but for a few women there are risks and a midwife is the best person to have there. A midwife is an expert on what is normal in birth and what can go wrong in every situation."

[chocolatecatty]

What are the stats re. death rates with home births that Pesce talks about? Hmmm. And why all the sudden articles on home and free births?!

[sirhokko]

All the talk about home birth is because it is well documented to be the safest way to birth your baby, at home with a midwife. Pesce hasn't any stats to back him up, just anecdotes about when he was working in a third world country. There was the Bastien study which wasn't put together properly and was immediately shown to be totally wrong. However, There are a few Obs who will quote this conveniently forgetting it has no credit. But of course it suits them to do it.

All over the world most of which homebirth with a midwife is totally acceptable the stats show that it is the safest way to birth your baby. You only have to look at the figures for the country and then locally at a hospital near you to realise this. the WCH Adelaide have a 11 per 1000 neonatal mortality rate, these are figures that haven't changed for more than 20 years but our section rate has more than doubled and our induction rate is huge.

With intervention comes many complications, difficulty breast feeding, bonding. Difficulty in baby settling and dis empowerment of women causing depression.
These things are not made up by mad hippie's they are solid well researched evidence based facts.

Lisa Barrett
Midwife

[Ellibam]

i to would like to see these figures!!
everything i have read has not shown home births to be a higher risk!
but alot of the medical field like to scare 'us' and also the media dont really tell the whole truth!

i think we are seeing more stories cos its stemmed from the c/s debate that has been around lately! they want to show another "bad" side
although i dont see any of it as bad

[Yael]

But all the stats supporting the safety of homebirth are with a specific context (low risk women with medical help/midwife present)

You cannot extend these stats to include a birth with no help present, they are an entirely different kettle of fish that would need to be evaluated seperately, just because they happen at home, doesn't make them the same as the homebirth stats.

I do believe that in the right circumstances, homebirths are as inherently safe as hospital delieveries (if not more so), but freebirthing is not the same as this, and even the midwifery assocation acknowledges this.

With intervention comes many complications, difficulty breast feeding, bonding. Difficulty in baby settling and dis empowerment of women causing depression.
These things are not made up by mad hippie's they are solid well researched evidence based facts.

I doubt that the level of complications and associated problems stems from a homebirth with supporting midwife model of care, and freebirthing is not supported by "solid well researched evidence based facts".

IMO - it is incredibly dangerous to do freebirthing, and midwifes and other medical practitioners truely have the level of knowledge and experience to detect problems and try to prevent further ones before others will occur.

The statement

"If something goes wrong you go to hospital," she said. "Nobody is going to stay home and birth a dead baby in preference to getting the technological help you need."

will not help you if you wait to late. At least homebirths with midwives, there in oxygen present, and they have the training to know what to do. I seriously doubt the non-medical people in attendance can really make up for that...

I'm not against homebirths at all, but i think the distinction (at least the supporting evidence of homebirths), needs to be seperated from freebirthing, as they aren't the same thing at all.

[Trillian]

There is already a thread about this here Article: Extreme Birth

[christy]

I've just merged the two threads, please continue

[Roryrory]

Although I don't think I would go in for freebirthing (and am too chicken to do a homebirth) I can really understand the desire to do so, despite my ealier reservations about the idea. I remember saying to DH when I was in labour with Flynn that it just didn't seem like I needed to go to hospital. I think I actually said to him "I think I could do this here". As it turns out, I probably could have, and would have had an easier time I think.....

[Trillian]

I've been thinking on this a bit more and I wonder who is the type of woman giving birth this way? are they women who genuinely want to birth alone for more 'purist' reasons - that they have done their research etc and truly believe that this is the way for them to birth - or are they more competitive/adrenaline junkie types doing it purely because they can or just so they can say they did it? (for the novelty value?)

[paradise lost]

Hey Sherie, I would do it because i'm more scared of hospital than i am birth.

I don't think it's competitiveness as i am genuinely (you can see it on the BP machine!) terrified in hossie. My midwives were great but all they did was catch the baby and if they hadn't made me lie flat on my back to do a VE (having told me i wasn't in real labour yet and i mustn't push - DD was CROWNING) i could have caught her myself, my fingers were already on her crown when she began to emerge.

I guess i know things can go wrong but it hasn't been my experience and i've seen a hospital birth with masses of intervention which DID go wrong and that adds to my fears. Spiritually i think birth is a miracle but physiologically i think it's a pretty everyday sort of thing. I only go to the docs when something is wrong, so i'm not too fussed to go into hospital for a normal delivery, and my only concern freebirthing would be PPH, but i'd probably book for a homebirth and call the midwife too late so she'd be there if necessary for the 3rd stage and the few hours after.

Hana

[Cherie]

Sherie, from the couple of years I've been part of an unassisted birth Yahoo group, I can definitely say that none of them are adrenaline junkies. They all honestly believe that it is the safest way to give birth. They do their research, in great depth, more than any of us do during our pregnancy. Many hire dopplers and conduct their own prenatal care. They have planned what to do if complicatons arise (e.g. eating their placenta for PPH). They usually have already decided in advance their own personal comfort level for when they would go to hospital.
I've been on the list for about 4 years now .. many many women have given birth unassisted during that time. Only 1 has ever needed emergency transfer to hospital, for a severe shoulder dystocia. One transferred a few hours later for PPH (but had already had a bite of her placenta and taken Shepherd's Purse herb, which stems bleeding). All the remaining births (and I'm talking upwards of 100) were completely incident free.

When I first heard of unassisted childbirth (known as UC), I thought it was completely insane. I was so intrigued that I started googling UC, out of some morbid curiousity. The more I read, the more I was amazed. Over a period of time I went from thinking it was completely insane, to thinking it wasn't so insane at all, to thinking that I would like to UC myself one day. Maybe I will, maybe I won't ... but I still think the idea of having an intimate birth experience with my baby and my husband is not so crazy

[Trillian]

Thanks for the info Cherie. I have never even come across the concept of it and when you think 'extreme birth' you tend to automatically put it in the same category as 'extreme sports' - kwim? where people are doing it for the rush the get and just so they can say they 'did it'.

Hana I can understand why you would choose one, and no doubt that there are many women who have the same fear of hospitals as you and it is great that there are alternative ways of doing things (even if it is a bit too much for me )

[bon]

Not my cup of tea - I needed support around me when giving birth. There is no way I could do it on my own without anybody else there, especially without a midwife. But if it is the right thing for somebody else, so be it.

[Janet]

Freebirthing doesn't mean just you on your own I had several days of support to birth my second child, my doula stayed overnight TWICE despite having four kids of her own at home, my best friend came down from Brisbane and my partner was there. Hardly alone

Your observation of UC, or autonomous birth, is the same as mine, Cherie. Just like all vets know, the less interference the better the birth. And yes, I'm the Janet interviewed in the article.

It is interesting that surgeons can make these statements and no one challenges them. Study after study shows homebirth to be safe as, and often safer than, hospital. Yes it's different from freebirth and some women move between the two for different reasons. I have to admit the idea that I birth as I do for competitive purposes makes me laugh hysterically. There is a competition?? Do I get a prize for being a marathon mama?

Doesn't it seem kinda odd that birthing in the way we're designed to is "extreme"? Next thing you know pooing at home without medical attendants will be Extreme Pooing