Home births a major risk- *DEBATE today on the herald sun website*

[Freya]

Im horrified. For Susie and at her ignorant opinions. I was 5lb 4oz at 39wks and my mother birthed me just fine vaginally - and she was 4ft11 and a size 4! So I fail to see how she could have a pelvis so small that a 5lb 5oz baby couldnt fit out, then they can manage to fit forceps in there to pull him out. For a 37wker I would think 5-6lb would be a good weight? My 37wker was 6lb 8oz. My OB told me he was a pretty decent size for his gestation.

[Bathsheba]

I remember a time when journalists at least pretended they were well read Susie claims to have done her research but she clearly hasn't.

[Freya]

I remember a time when journalists at least pretended they were well read Susie claims to have done her research but she clearly hasn't.

She justified being told just that by saying it was an OPINION peice; therefore implying imo that she doesnt need to back up her "facts".

[Bathsheba]

What a load of bullocks (but yes I do recall reading that now that you mention it). Why should an individual's OPINION then have any greater platform than anothers??? She is not providing any service to society at all... her role is simply to provoke strong emotion to sell papers to the outraged. She needs to stop taking advantage of the fact that many people could mistake her writing as the result of thorough research!

[Dansta]

that article just caused enough heat to rise out of my body to warm up the house.

how DARE she say HB should be illegal! where the heck was this womens head at? i'm sad that she can publish such codswollop and get away with it. she stuffed a traumatic birth, which i am truely sorry for. but why did she not explain WHY she birthed her baby at 37 weeks, maybe talk about he could have been in the wrong position? ohh thats right, she wouldn't. its not fair that people like this can say HB is darngerus. and useing the example from SA isn't really applicable - as she's talking or VICTORIAN readers I would love a home birth - but DH isn't keen on it due to the complications we had with our DS post-birth. maybe she feels disimpowered by her first birth - but there is no need to disimpower other women who choose to birth differantly to her. yes its her POV, but its views like this that make me want to melly bash the holders of the view and open their eyes to birth - how it works - while some births yes - they do need intervention and assistance most don't. what would she be saying if her son had of been birthed at 40 weeks no worries at all? would she still be saying home births are bad? pfft, i'm temped to go buy the herald sun tomorrow to see what slanted biased replys they put it (if any)
and her in that comment chat thing...doing would make more sense as she runs away mid-way though!

[Dansta]

that article just caused enough heat to rise out of my body to warm up the house.

how DARE she say HB should be illegal! where the heck was this womens head at? i'm sad that she can publish such codswollop and get away with it. she stuffed a traumatic birth, which i am truely sorry for. but why did she not explain WHY she birthed her baby at 37 weeks, maybe talk about he could have been in the wrong position? ohh thats right, she wouldn't. its not fair that people like this can say HB is darngerus. and useing the example from SA isn't really applicable - as she's talking or VICTORIAN readers I would love a home birth - but DH isn't keen on it due to the complications we had with our DS post-birth. maybe she feels disimpowered by her first birth - but there is no need to disimpower other women who choose to birth differantly to her. yes its her POV, but its views like this that make me want to melly bash the holders of the view and open their eyes to birth - how it works - while some births yes - they do need intervention and assistance most don't. what would she be saying if her son had of been birthed at 40 weeks no worries at all? would she still be saying home births are bad? pfft, i'm temped to go buy the herald sun tomorrow to see what slanted biased replys they put it (if any)
and her in that comment chat thing...doing would make more sense as she runs away mid-way though!

[Jennifer13]

It seems some people confuse having a home birth with shunning all medical assistance, pre and post natally. We are planning on a homebirth for #2, where for #1 we had a scheduled c/s because of placenta praevia. This was picked up at u/s at 20 weeks, then again at 32 and 37 weeks. I fully intend to take advantage of the same level of prenatal care (probably better, because I'll have a midwife who personally visits me at home throughout the pg), complete with blood tests, GD tests and u/s. If there's something that means I or the baby will need medical assistance beyond what can be offered at home then I'll book myself into the hospital (which I was very happy with for #1, btw, so it's not always a choice following a traumatic experience).

I just will not take the short drive to hospital during or after labour unless something happens to cause my midwife to think it's necessary. As I've pointed out to DP, if I was labouring in the hospital birth suites and something went wrong, it's not like they whip the ob and anaesthetist into your suite and perform a c/s right there. Everyone needs to be called in and you have to be prepped and taken to surgery. I may as well be spending the 10 mins riding over in an ambulance (with everyone getting ready at the other end anyway) as waiting in the corridors...

Plus, there's the fact that I'm far less likely to have something go wrong during labour while I'm comfortable at home without pressure and intervention, so less likely to need that emergency c/s anyway.

[Cassius2]

I can totally vouch for the effectiveness of transfer to hospital for extreme emergencies. recently a friend's baby was born with an incredibly rare condition that meant that he cannot breathe/swallow without full assistance. he was born at home with two midwives in attendance and they started performing resus on him while an ambulance was called. bubs was safely transferred to hospital and the staff were ready to immediately assist on arrival. the hospital made it clear from the get go that him being born at home had NO adverse affect on his outcome or the timing of assistance. the hospital persisted with the same resus methods as the midwives and ambos had been doing and in fact it is only 2 WEEKS later that they have worked out how to stabilise him and keep him breathing (with full assistance). his being born at home HAD NOTHING to do with his outcome and made NO difference to his care and assistance in the immediate minutes after birth.
In fact, now that i have seen just how effective midwives/ambos and the hospital can be when working together in such an extreme situation only hardens my resolve that HB is a safe, valid and valuable option for women and their families, and also reassures me that even in extreme cases like this one can be handled and managed with amazing efficacy.

not for a minute have i ever believed that a family that chooses to birth their baby at home is ignorant of adverse outcomes (whether due to birth process or baby's development). i guess this however, is a matter of education for those that have not had experience with a homebirth setting or research?