Article: Extreme Birth

[BellyBelly]

LOL Janet! Thanks for the laugh, I needed it today...

[Trillian]

Janet, when you read about it in the context of the article without acutally knowing exactly what 'freebirth' is, you must admit that to the average person that it does sound pretty extreme and when you read this part,

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.

That the first image you get of it in your head isn't about what it truly is kwim?

[Inanna]

mmm this is interesting... I have known a number of women who have had unassisted births... I see it as quite different to homebirth where a woman engages a midwife and has antenatal care, support and guidance...

The women who had unassisted births did it because thee was no availability of midwife...

I still believe that birth isn't something to do alone. I think it's a time when womengather to support each other, nurture etc...
Has anyone read "The REd Tent'? There have always been birthing assistants from the beginning of time.

Again though each to her own... I will have to go and google Cherie!

[Janet]

I still believe that birth isn't something to do alone. I think it's a time when womengather to support each other, nurture etc...

I see this as my birthright as a woman, to receive and give this care in turn. Very few women want to birth utterly alone, but remember that adrenaline counteracts labour hormones and causes extreme (there's that word ) whitecoat hypertension and you can understand why some women prefer support to be a room away.

[paradise lost]

OMG Janet! PMSL! (that's Peed - no need to call a doctor yet )

It's funny, when people asked me about the wisdom of my planned homebirth i told them i didn't call the doctor when i needed to take a dump so why would i call when i needed to birth. LOL. Got me some funny looks i can tell you. I also asked people how they thought they'd get on doing a poo if there was 3 strangers 2 feet from their arse telling them when to push! People obviously don't look at these things the same way.

I also think it's weird how it's seen as "lonely". Sure, if the woman wants to be alone that's her choice, but really i wouldn't be alone. I'd have my friend (who's had 2 homebirths) or her sister (2 kids, one at home) or a doula i know (who is currently in training, so i need to wait a wee bit for her ) or maybe even my MIL if she's willing. People who know and love me and who are familiar with birth and also one (the doula) who is more medically up to speed so she can identify if things are going wrong. DP (hopefully DH by then) would also be fully educated in exactly what should be going on and what is a problem and what isn't. I would be more "alone" in a room with 2 medically-trained strangers! I liked my midwives (loved them in fact, full of post-birth feel-good hormones) but i'd only met one of them once and i'd never seen the other one before in my life - that's not the sisterhood of the red tent ideal! Far from it. If i could have afforded a private midwife (3000-7000 GBP for prenatal and delivery and postnatal care) i would have, but i couldn't so i didn't, and the downside of that is that a (very qualified, very kind) stranger caught my baby. We made it as lovely and holy as we could, but would still have been nicer if the midwives i'd known through my pregnancy could have been there for me.

If the healthcare system worked so you got one or 2 midwives at book-in and they did all your care up to and including delivery and postpartum checks then maybe people wouldn't feel they wanted to go with UC...?

[Janet]

Perhaps they wouldn't But like I said, most women choose autonomous, or family birth, because they want that utterly sacred and intimate experience and to have complete decision making power. I think the hospital system is the best recruiter of homebirthers ever but freebirthing is a little different in it's focus. How great that you birthed and enjoyed it. I did once remark birth is like pooing but then the poo comes and lives with you for 20 years. Anyone I can't see myself pooing in front of is NOT coming to my births!

[paradise lost]

Just a random qu... How do you get a birh certificate for a UC baby? My midwives left a form with me that i took to the registry office for DD's registration. Can you request them in advance? Or what happens? I can remember Ina May writing about one of her ladies going to register a birth and the registrar was like "how do i know it's yours" and the woman just stood there with her tiny newborn in her arms and milk leaking through her shirt and was like "WHAT?!". LOL.

Bec

[Roryrory]

Wow, Hoobley! I've heard men being asked "is it yours" but that is ridiculous

All this stuff on freebirthing is really interesting to me (although I must admit whenever I hear the word freebirthing it conjures up images of pregnant naked women skydiving - don't know why!) I found BB when I was at a similar stage in my pg with Flynnie and was all set for the OB/private hospital/he knows best route. With an "easy" vag birth (well, easy til I got to hospital!) with him and help from BB I am all set for a birth centre birth with this one. I can just see if this pattern keeps up I will have a HB with number 3 and if we decide on number 4 I might even end up as one of those naked skydiving women LOL

[Cherie]

PMSL @ Extreme Pooing

[Morgaine]

Sorry about the long post, I just joined and saw this thread and had to catch up!

Extreme birth? You know what the first thought that entered my mind after reading that? Extreme sports! Since when did birth become one of those risky sports that involve speed, height, high level of physical exertion, highly specialized gear or spectacular stunts?

I'm sitting here visualising women jumping out of planes in labour to give birth mid-air. Now that's spectacular!

How typical of the media to put a sensationalist slant onto women who have birth without *gasp* some medical professional to extract their babies from them.

this kind of birthing, IMO, seems as "competitive" as the whole "my post-baby body is perfect in 6 days" thing that goes on in Hollywood.....

ETA Cherie not saying you are competitive darl - I would love an unassisted birth too in a perfect world but I think it is more a backlash against the over-interventionist climate we live in than anything that is actually ideal....

I find it interesting that when someone you know expresses their desire to freebirth, they are an exception to the rule and that the majority of freebirthers must be doing it for some other reason like to be competitive!? Hasn't it occurred to you that a lot of freebirthers may feel the same way that Cherie does?

Is homebirth a backlash against the over-interventionist climate? Many homebirthers would argue that, a lot of them just want to give birth at home simply because birth is a part of life and they don't see the need to travel in labour just to give birth in another place that is not their home.

I had a homebirth with a midwife for that reason. Why should I go somewhere else? I was in my home, I was in my secure comfortable private nest. Why would I want to leave that to birth in some foreign and uncomfortable environment? Funny thing was, when it came to labour I didn't feel the need to call my midwife, and wasn't going to call her only, I had my mum as a support person and unbeknowst to me she was "timing" my contractions and called the midwife when she thought it was appropriate. Sigh. After my midwife arrived, everyone stopped relying on me for sources of info and started looking to her. When I got pushy, she tried to tell me it wasn't time to get pushy yet. Well she was wrong. I wasn't pushing. My body was doing that spontaneous fetal ejection reflex which she had me try and control just so she could make sure I was "ready" to push with an exam. I was too far gone into labour to do anything but comply.

Afterwards it was like gee. I didn't NEED help. She didn't NEED to do anything. Hmmm. How would it have looked for her if she came and sat at the door and DID NOTHING and left after my baby was born? Gee I'd sure wonder what I was PAYING her thousands of dollars for. In hindsight, I would have gladly paid her even more for her to not come to my birth and just to be someone to talk to during my pregnancy.

My next child, I had a freebirth. Having a midwife attended homebirth was great but it wasn't quite right. Wonderful, awesome birth yet something wasn't right. When I heard about freebirth from Laura Shanley and read the book she sent me, that did it for me. Here was a truth that echoed from my bones. I knew this was my birthing option, I could feel it click within me.

So I did and I can say now it was so biologically normal. Birth is birth, it was as natural as breathing, and my body knew what to do, I knew what to do without THINKING about it. Amazing. I saw Psalm and Zoya: The unassisted birth of twins on DVD when I was pregnant with my second and it hit me so hard that I haven't quite yet recovered : ) It was like plop, plop... plop and done. What's the big deal here? That came across really clearly in that movie how birth was just a part of life like having sex, bowel movements, breathing, eating.

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.

And what about the woman's knowledge? I know a homebirther who KNEW there was something wrong and wanted to transfer when her midwife said everything was fine. Turned out her cord was really, really short and she had an emergency cs and everything was fine.

I've heard many freebirthers transfer merely on the basis of a feeling, a type of knowing when on all appearances, things were fine. Saved their baby's life or theirs. Another freebirther did what she had to to get her baby out by getting on a chair, arching her back and pushing with all her might because she felt something occur within her. She knew she had to get her baby out NOW and that if she transferred to hospital it would be too late. She also knew if she had been a hospital birther, it would of also been too late because the drs would of had to diagnose the problem and then get OR prepped etc. Her placenta had ruptured and partially come away from the uterus during birth. Because she did what she did intuitively, her and her baby were okay. Her story is on unhindered living.

most women choose autonomous, or family birth, because they want that utterly sacred and intimate experience and to have complete decision making power.

Janet that is exactly it!

Just a random qu... How do you get a birh certificate for a UC baby?

It varies by state. All I had to do was to e-mail the BDM, ask to speak to the head of the Registry, explained to him that I was freebirthing and needed the necessary paperwork mailed to my house prior to birth so I didn't have to worry about it while looking after a newborn. It arrived shortly after and I filled out a statutory declaration, got it signed by a JP then sent it all back in. When the BC arrived, I took it to Centrelink and got my payment.

[paradise lost]

Cool, so you just let them know and they sort it out. I'm in the UK but i'm sure there's a mechanism here too, just not used enough!

I'm pretty interested in this, i'll certainly homebirth next time, who knows, maybe i'll freebirth too!

Thanks

B

[Janet]

There's a freebirth community in the UK

[Shanti]

I saw an unassisted birth on foxtel on the home & health channel a few weeks back and oh my gosh, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen! I thought "how is that woman doing that alone?" and she was standing up too and caught the baby in her hands as it slipped out and it did literally "slip" out! She was so calm too, i'm sure in lots of pain also. The husband was filming it on the video camera and she wasn't letting him touch her or help out. Fair enough... each to their own I believe too... I don't think I would be able to do that unless I had no choice (if didn't make it to the hospital in time!). I would be so worried about something going wrong though....
I thought it was quite "beautiful" to watch though and did not scare me off from giving birth whatsoever.... it's just such an amazing thing...

[paradise lost]

I've seen a clip of Psalm and Zoya's birth - home UC of twins. 2nd was a FOOTLING BREECH - normal emergency c-section time, but mom (who was a CBE with one kid already) got her out just fine, no "help" needed. She was kneeling on a towel and caught both of them herself and BREASTFED her toddler between #1 arriving and #2 putting in her appearance. I heard that lady's pregnant again - wonder if there'll be another inspiring vid?

Her twins were such big babies too! THey both looked like single-birth babies. Big and fat and beautiful.

[Tobily]

I've seen a clip of Psalm and Zoya's birth - home UC of twins. 2nd was a FOOTLING BREECH - normal emergency c-section time, but mom (who was a CBE with one kid already) got her out just fine, no "help" needed. She was kneeling on a towel and caught both of them herself and BREASTFED her toddler between #1 arriving and #2 putting in her appearance. I heard that lady's pregnant again - wonder if there'll be another inspiring vid?

Her twins were such big babies too! THey both looked like single-birth babies. Big and fat and beautiful.

I saw this as well and it stayed with me for weeks.
I'm absolutely fascinated by this whole subject.
As someone who has had two highly intervened hospital births...if only I knew then what I'm learning now...my babies may have come into the world very differently.

[Morgaine]

Ooh I didn't know she was pregnant again. I hope there's another video, videos of truly unhindered births are hard to come by! They are so wonderful to watch!

[azima]

Talking to a woman I met at a friend's place the other day reminded me of this article. She told me how when she arrived at hospital there were 6 other women in labour on the ward, so she was left alone with her husband and the midwive only running in and out for the hour she was actually birthing her bub! Now is it just me or is that pretty much 'unassisted birth'? There are people labeling such a practice 'extreme' when it's obviously an everyday occurence in our hopitals. (I had more attention during my 'dangerous' homebirth!)