Dannii Minogue transfers to hospital...

[Jaycee]

I did watch it fleur, it was a complete one sided argument, I was fuming watching it!!

[Fleur]

it was a complete one sided argument,

That's what I mean! not so much an argument... more a soapbox for the anti-hb's

And, like I said, I don't know much about home birth, I can't quote figures etc... i know BellyBelly, is all.. but even if I wasn't on BB; blind freddie can see that it's all one sided, I would STILL want to hear BOTH sides of the story. And it's not being put out there..which I actually find really disturbing.

[ladybird11]

I heard Amanda Blair on the radio this afternoon (in SA) make all sorts of negative comments "I don't want to give birth when the kids are hanging around wanting to know when dinner will be ready or have my husband ask me to feed the dogs". Hmmmm, *rolling eyes & shaking head*.

Good on ya Danni - and welcome Ethan :-)

[meow]

I heard Amanda Blair on the radio this afternoon (in SA) make all sorts of negative comments "I don't want to give birth when the kids are hanging around wanting to know when dinner will be ready or have my husband ask me to feed the dogs".

Because a midwife hanging around telling you you have 15 mins to get the baby out or an ob hassling you onto the syntocin or c-sect because it's getting close to his home time is SOOO much better.

[PollyA]

I just replied to the 7pm project thread but this one seems more general and buzzing.
The media is sinking to new lows. It made me laugh to read that Today Tonight seemed to be the most balanced on this issue...doesn't say much for the rest of the media.

As far as 7pm project goes
No matter what the argument or which side you fall it is bad journalism to present a story by saying its controversial and proceed to present a very biased, one sided patronising piece.
Schmickers made the good point that its a comedy news show, but the truth is loads of people watch it as a palateble way of keeping up to date, and there are other shows doing the same one sided rubbish.
I hope they give a right of reply to someone who can point out that the "evidence" quoted by Mr "doctor-knows-best" RANZCOG is flawed and that the kind of home births that are mainstream in many developed countries (including the UK where the NHS supports homebirth), that is low risk, healthy women are actually supported by the evidence,
Aaarrggh!
I am ashamed to identify as a doctor after hearing such patronising views presented. In Ina Mays Spiritual Midwifery there is a doctor who decides that her MD stands for midwife in disguise. We're not MDs in AUstralia but I think thats me too. It is this issue that will be the other thing that sends me to NZ should we have an Abbott prime ministership. Its a scary prospect to practice obstetrics (the way it should be practiced) in this country at the moment.

[PollyA]

Also there is something so very wrong with someone who thinks that kids would be asking for dinner or a partner asking about feeding the dogs, when a life changing, amazing event was happening in their family and their home. That might be a sad reflection of her relationships, or a poor attempt at humour.
So frustrating to portray something so beautiful in such a blah way.

[Taurean]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! What a stupid article!! I commented it and it made the list. Here it is:

Regardless of whether it is safer to birth at home or in a hospital, shouldn’t us women have the choice?! It is, after all, our bodies and our babies. What sort of backwards country do we live in?

I gave birth to my daughter under private care in a private hospital as that was my ‘choice’. Why can’t those who want to birth at home have the same freedom of choice?

Babies sadly die in hospitals too. All women take a risk giving birth, regardless of where it occurs. To call homebirths ‘silly’, ‘fashionable’ and a ‘fad’ is downright stupid. Women all over the globe have been doing it for years and will continue to do it for many years to come. I only hope Australia will grow up and allow women to decide where we have our babies.

Stupid articles like that make me so damn angry!!!

[Inertia]

I am very much over the blinkered responses all over the show that tout the same "There is doctors at a hospital" as though that is some earth shattering argument that no one before them has ever thought of and home birthing mothers are too stupid to realise. Sometimes that is in and of itself the very heart of the problem with a hospital birth. They feel like they have to do something! They cannot just stand back and let it all happen and ONLY step in when it becomes appropriate. They do things that are not required for the safety of the mother or child but can create complications because of their impatience.

It just irks me how they sit there on their computers spouting their morally superior nonsense when truth be told, the extent of their knowledge and experience is having read that one article in the daily telelgraph.

And don't even get me started on how on the other hand, DT runs stories about the soaring cesarean rate...

[loulabelle]

Grrr.I have no words.I am so over reading this kind of thing.

[meow]

A really great article about the safety of HBs. It dissects the flawed SA article the AMA like to keep pushing and shows better stats such as:

Only 1,141 of these were planned homebirths and they were found to result in a similar overall rate of child deaths compared to planned hospital births (7.9 deaths per 1,000 planned homebirths compared to 8.2 deaths in planned hospital births).
For babies born at home the news is even more encouraging. There were only 2.5 deaths per 1,000 actual homebirths making homebirth 328% safer for babies than planned birth in hospital.

Statistics

[Kazbah]

Oi to your friend! I had a baby on the floor without pain relief on the weekend! In Australia! In a hospital!

Just shows how uneducated people get so scared at letting your body do what's best. Way to go RE!

[Alan]

There is no difference between this transfer and a person being transferred from a small hospital to a larger hospital. Doctors do this all the time and it is not a problem. Yet if a homebirth transfers to hospital then it is, apparently, a failure and a good reason not to birth at home.

[ShellyBean]

Aghhh!! Why can the media never present a balanced view of anything! This fiasco now has DH doubting our homebirth decision and I am not looking forward to trying to convince him again

[allycat06]

There is no difference between this transfer and a person being transferred from a small hospital to a larger hospital. Doctors do this all the time and it is not a problem. Yet if a homebirth transfers to hospital then it is, apparently, a failure and a good reason not to birth at home.

That is an excellent point Alan, never thought about it like that.

[meow]

Aghhh!! Why can the media never present a balanced view of anything! This fiasco now has DH doubting our homebirth decision and I am not looking forward to trying to convince him again

Give him that stats link I posted for starters- refutes the exact claims that are being touted at the moment. And tell him not to read rag-trade rubbish before making decisions.

[ShellyBean]

Give him that stats link I posted for starters- refutes the exact claims that are being touted at the moment. And tell him not to read rag-trade rubbish before making decisions.

Lol, Thanks

[~Kaz~]

Y'know, there's actually a story/investigative jounalism angle on how this whole issue has been and continues to be misrepresented to the general public in Australia. Surely some of these so called journalists are actually breaching their own code of ethics? I wonder which media outlet/programme will be brave enough to do the story on their colleagues?

[meow]

Good point Kaz- maybe we should contact media watch too. The papers are just quoting the obs, but they're quoting incorrect information so it needs to be investigated.