Free birthing

**meow** · May 11th, 2010, 06:36 PM

I am all for home birth definately but free birthing can be dangerous. Google what happened to one of the largest advocates of free birthing in Australia Janet Fraser.

As for the paper work that can be difficult. Not sure how you get your birth certificate and medicare forms etc as the midwife at your babies birth is the one to sign it and not sure how you go about proving you birthed your bub etc. I know a friend who had an unintentional birth at home and it took her months to get her money for bub as she was alone.

Hmm... so you know of a friend personally who had a freebirth with no problems yet you suggest googling a person who it didn't go so well for? I could also suggest googling all the women who have lost their babies in hospital. Death is sometimes a very unfortunate fact of birth.

As Alan mentioned, there is a lot more a birthing baby may need than is covered in a first aid course. Hence why midwives have all that training. Perhaps you could call the ambulance for medical backup once you are getting close?

**Tegam** · May 11th, 2010, 07:11 PM

sorry dont understand new forum setup and just wanted to be able to find this later. Interesting topic and i have something to offer but not when then kids are here 'helping' me!

**Smoke Jaguar** · May 11th, 2010, 07:21 PM

Agreed, I'm not a friend of Janet's and won't be visiting her forum again, but I wish people would stop attaching neonate mortality with her name. It must be distressing for those who DO know her (and there are members on BB who do) to see this done. She's a real person, someone who has birthed, like you and me and I wouldn't want to be the flagbearer for an outcome that actually happens FAR more frequently in hospital settings because of the lack of continuity of care and the lack of awareness of complication indicators that experienced midwives know about and pick up on early because they see women labouring. IM's don't tend to tell women they'll be there and interested when they are nearly fully dilated. Hospital staff in maternity wards aren't that well-versed with normal birth as it occurs from beginning to end - they catch the end bit, that's why I ONLY wanted to present to our local FBC once I had laboured entirely at home, because hospy and FBC policy is determined by what THEY think is enough labouring time before intervention cuts in

Sorry, that is a bit long-winded, and the crux of it is that undisturbed birth has, by far, much better outcomes, even where there are complications (Marjorie Tew's book has great examples of this occurring in the UK over the last century and a bit, esp rural areas where GP's used to do these deliveries without specialist intervention...they were afforded the experience adn actually LISTENED to birthing women. They had to, they paid their wages, not hospital management teams!).
You see, birth is very political in our society. Birth is not birth is not birth. Peel away at the layers and you find a history of misogyny, privilege and subjugation of women with careers and experience with childbirth.
A read of this book can give you confidence in birthing outside of hospital settings

**Little Chicken** · May 11th, 2010, 07:42 PM

I think we have to distinguish between an unintentional home birth and a planned freebirth. They are 2 different things and one can happen to anybody if we labour faster or differently then we think we will. i was led to believe that a true freebirth had no medical care whatsoever, including antenatal care, and the woman and her partner take absolute responsibility for the preganacy and birth. But that is just recall from conversations and not any major research done on my part.

I have worked in a major maternity hospital for the past 9 years and can recall very few instances where a term birth has gone so catastrophically wrong where the baby has died or suffered major disability because of lack of care during labour. Most problems I have seen occur due to complications or emergencies occuring during delivery. I have also seen the outcomes of homebirths with complications as well. In fact about the same number. Unfortunately hospitals HAVE to have these pathways and timelines due to liability and insurance. If they don't have them they can't be accredited, and if you don't follow them the hospital will basically wash its hands of you in the case of a lawsuit or coroners case. Also the UK used to have a system of flying squads where a specialist team could rush out to the aid of a GP or community midwife experiencing trouble at a birth. Such a shame they got rid of these as it would enable many more women to birth safely at home.

**Oorki Galoorki** · May 11th, 2010, 07:46 PM

No matter where a baby is born a mother alwasy feels responible if that baby does not survive!
using threatening language "can you handle your baby dying" is disgusting! this is what women face every day in hospitals, this is why there are so many who fear birth and that are forced in to unwanted intervention or unwanted c/s!
If you dont support it fine dont but do not pull the dead baby card on any one!

fruit tingles i hope where ever you have your baby you enjoy it and its the birth you want!
check out my sig for what i have to say on it!

**Smoke Jaguar** · May 11th, 2010, 08:14 PM

I agree with you, Muminalice - hospitals DO need to have these, because without some kind of framework things would get unmanageable for staff. Knowing that the parameters of hospital policy are so firm puts me off hospital birth, and lots of women like the idea of it, for various reasons. I agree that complications occur during delivery. What I really believe from many conversations with midwives and birth practitioners, is that those complications present symptoms during labour that IM's tend to pick up on a lot more readily and ahead of time than most hospy midwives, because IM's see a lot more of normal labour and abnormal labour in the earlier phases than hospy ones. Just by virtue of location and not being bound by hospital policy of labouring duration. Most IM's won't wait until the point of delivery to do a transfer in the case of complications. Transfers occur much earlier in the piece than the point of disaster.
Yes, support services ARE better in the UK. This country is a disgrace for birth support services - perinatal support in general.

**dialectica** · June 15th, 2010, 10:27 PM

Hi,

I'm new here and was just browsing around the forums, when I came across this thread. I had a homebirth with my first daughter (now 4) and freebirthed my son (now 1). The freebirth was the most amazing experience of my life. Freebirth is not for everyone, and those who feel safer in hospital or assisted by a midwife should not do it, obviously. But there are many reasons to freebirth. OP, I think Emergency Childbirth is a great read if you are considering freebirthing, as is Laura Shanley's book. Educating yourself about what is normal in birth, and how to deal with any possible complications, is useful for everyone, even if you don't end up freebirthing. There are many resources to help you prepare for a freebirth, both in terms of information and birth supplies, both online and offline.

Olivia

**studentmum** · July 9th, 2010, 06:44 PM

Hi Tegam - I do hope my next labour isn't 10 mins - I just don't thinki dh could handle that!!

I am still annoyed at the lack of options in my little town, it is very frustrating and I am still not happy with the idea of fb. But I feel I have no choice.

Honestly to all still reading this thread, here's the situation...

You desperately want a hb (It's my 4th and probably last bub) you have tried to get an IM or local MW or birth assistant and it's not happening. You don't have $10k to rent in the city and get your IM and you really, really don't want to drive 100km's in labour esp. given that if you go too early you will be harrassed to have a cs (just like with your last 2 births) and if you go too late you could end up having to birth in the red dirt on the side of a road that has 54m road trains hurtling along it.

What would you choose to do??????????????

Ta
Sarah

**Tegam** · July 9th, 2010, 06:56 PM

hey babe.... Id have to pick FB. CS just scare me to death! I understand that you wouldnt choose it but what do you do. PM if you want to become Facebook friends or talk more!

Do you have family in a city you could stay at?

**studentmum** · July 16th, 2010, 11:02 PM

Mum and dad have my bro and sis at home still, aunt and uncle have 3 kids too = not enough room for the 5 of us +bump!

**Fruit Tingles** · October 2nd, 2010, 04:08 PM

Thank you all for helping me with this topic

I thought I would come in and update you all as to how it all turned out.
I had a 5 hour drug free labour, and did not stay at home for much of it as I had to go to hospital for antibiotics as my waters had broken.
I had an amazing birth and recieved wonderful care by my midwives. I will post a birth story when I am on the computer next.