Home Birth vs. The State (for discussion)

Self | 3/11/05 | Bear_Slayer

[Bear_Slayer]

Hypothetical scenario:

A devout Christian couple decides to home-birth.

The mid-wife is asked, "If any complications arise, do not call 911; let us pray first."

The mid-wife declines and will not assist.

The delivery date arrives and a normal healthy baby is born.

Subsequently a 2nd (unknown) twind begins to deliver. The cord is wrapped around the babies neck and it is strangling.

The father begins prayer

In this hypothetical scenario, it is unknown if the father or mother attempts to remove or cut the cord.

Susequently the 2nd child dies

A funeral is held on private property.

[Marie Antoinette]

Ping for my birth attendant :)

It depends on your locality. MO is not a midwife friendly state.

[HairOfTheDog]

I just pulled the most fascinating lint out of my navel! I think I'll post a thread about it!

[Marie Antoinette]

BTW, an unattended homebirth is not illegal anywhere in the US that I know of. I think Nebraska comes the closest to being very hostile to any homebirth.

[HairOfTheDog]

"Devout Christian" does not mean "backwoods people who seek no prenatal or medical advice or intervention". You're talking about nutcases. Call 911. then pray.

[HairOfTheDog]

The answer is yes to all your questions: birth/death notifications for all states:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/misc/itop97.pdf

[Grammy]

I have a friend who just miscarried on a cruise. The people on the ship were just going to toss out the body with the trash. My friends got a box and took the body home and buried it in their yard.

[Bear_Slayer]

"Devout Christian" does not mean "backwoods people who seek no prenatal or medical advice or intervention". You're talking about nutcases. Call 911. then pray.

I don't believe I would choose home-birth, but before the advent of modern medicine, or even in the absence of US healthcare, what does a nutcase do?

Woman have been birthing children seen God created us. or evolution occurred (pick your favorite) in either case, why is one a nutcase, because they want to birth at home? In most instances, medical is not required and when complications arise, they can usually be fixed w/o medical school knowledge.

[Bear_Slayer]

It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life!)

Unless you wish to have a baby at home, and not include the state in the entire process.

[HairOfTheDog]

There is nothing wrong with having babies at home. There is something wrong with deciding against medical care and advice, especially in the case of an emergency, and in your state (as most others, I'd think) a requirement that if a death occurs, it's reported. The baby birthed is not just the parents' to decide to birth, kill or allow to die, it is a citizen of this country, with rights due all citizens.

[HairOfTheDog]

Why have you set up this very unusual and particular circumstance as a hypothetical anyway?

[Tax-chick]

(The same thing we do every day, Pinky. We're going to TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Countdown to #8)

?

Are you going to get ahead of me?

[Marie Antoinette]

Err, ummm, I didn't mean to cut in line, honest. LOL

I thought I'd chart for the first time ever in January, and lo and behold... I thought things would slow down biologically as I got older, but apparently not. LOL

So we're looking at late October. :-)

Your turn!

[Tax-chick]

Well, congratulations! I hope you have an uneventful pregnancy.

Things are slowing down for me - James will be 14 months old next Saturday, and I'm not pregnant yet. It's probably because he's still nursing at night. I wouldn't mind if another few months pass; I'd rather have a baby in the spring than in the middle of winter like the last two.

[Marie Antoinette]

Thanks! William gave up the night feedings in December, I thought I'd have about 3 months (my usual) but not so this time.

I've had a couple spring babies, April is a good month. I'll be watching you, now. ;-)

[Tax-chick]

I've had babies on March 27, March 30, April 2, and April 6. It would be cool to have another one in the same 10-day window :-).

[spunkets]

"What legal responsibility would a person have?"

You can't even fix your own toilet, w/o a licence and permit in most places. What makes you think they'd allow you to do babies. So far, you're allowed to feed yourself, and wipe w/o license and permit. Soon you'll need training, license and permit to do that.

Negligent manslaughter.

[Osage Orange]

I just pulled the most fascinating lint out of my navel! I think I'll post a thread about it

Any dog hair in it?

That would be odd......er, well, on second thought...maybe not.

[HungarianGypsy]

Also, parents are given the option of getting an ultrasound from a local lab. It costs extra, though.

[HungarianGypsy]

Midwives are very particular about the health of the mother. They will take over an hour for each appointment and will not take high risk pregnancies. If anything comes up before the birth that looks problematic, the midwife will refer the mother to a doctor. A lot of them even have doctors on call for some situations.

I do not recommend home births for everyone. Like a lot of things, it takes research and full responsibility. My sister-in-law also would have died if she were not in a hospital. But having been around for all of my births (both hospital and home), my in-laws are comfortable with me doing it.
To be honest, I have heard more horror stories about hospital births than home births. It's just the home birth stories get more of a spotlight.

[Marie Antoinette]

Wow! It looks like if anybody could do it, you can! Do you have one big birthday bash for all of them?