Posted on 06/06/2007 11:39:42 AM PDT by gobucks
Going it alone
Why would anyone choose to give birth without a doctor, midwife or even her partner in attendance? Viv Groskop reports on the growing trend for freebirth
Wednesday May 9, 2007 The Guardian
In the USA, this movement is made of UCers ...unassited childbirthers
http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,,2075395,00.html
Hey,if that’s what they want,good luck to them. The government should stay out of it.
And of course nothing could possibly go wrong and endanger the baby’s life, right?
Not me. Give me drugs. Lots of them.
It's not so kool'n'krunchy being a "freebirther" when the umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby's neck.
gee, what did women ever do for the last 6000 years of recorded history?
Well, the article doesn’t mention the provisions made for complications, but its reasonable to assume the car is fully gassed up on the birth day...
We came close to freebirthing ourselves, but were arm twisted by a scared female relative. So, the environment wasnt’ home, but the birth had no needles, no medications, and was an unreal event for us. (the doctor and nurses were very stunned too - unmedicated births in that hospital averaged only 3 or 4 a year).
Sure, infant and maternal mortality was much higher in the pre-obstetrics days, but that's mainly because there wasn't enough access to banana bread, patchouli and Phish albums in those olden times.
Yeah, and what were the infant and maternal mortality rates back in the caves where women did it alone? I can understand wanting to get out of hospitals where the mother is treated as a sick person, and into a comfortable home with a midwife (as was tradition before the hospitals took over the business). But this is just dumb.
“gee, what did women ever do for the last 6000 years of recorded history?”
Well until modern medicine came along, giving access to doctor-provided on-demand abortion, it may be reasonable to say that per capita, more kids lived, than died. So is the answer to your question “what women did was be a mom more often”?
There was another FReeper who recently posted an article in which she is quoted about her experiences freebirthing. It was very interesting.
I will definitely be going the route of less medical intervention with my next one, but freebirthing is just a bit too far for me.
Yeah, back in the Colonial period, women had a 1 in 8 chance of dying in childbirth. I have a number of friends who have experienced either complications in childbirth or complications with their newborns. Luckily, there was staff on hand to intervene immediately. If a woman wants to do this, more power to them! I personally would rather be in a sterile, hospital environment than take the risk.
They frequently died while giving birth, or from complications of childbirth.
The still do, in third world countries.
Two of my brothers would probably not have survived birth if my mother hadn’t been at a hospital. Another was so breech, he’d never have come out...
That said, doctors forced my mother to have ceasarian sections, perforated her uterus, and missed the severity of her placenta previa, so it’s not like I think they’re gods but when I give birth I want access to emergency surgeries or life-saving measures.
My wife went all natural, too. The doctor who delivered the baby told the nurse, “Pay attention - this is the closest thing you will ever see to a home birth.”
We used the Bradley Method, which was great. Once we were educated about the entire process, the need for medication disappeared. Plus, without an IV hanging from my wife’s arm, she was able to move around and get comfortable as necessary. She found that the shower was best for reducing the discomfort of contractions. That and the counter-pressure techniques I was using.
The problem with the birthing industry today is that they want to force the issue. They are too eager to induce labor before the mother’s body is ready, and ALL too eager to jump right to a Caesarian just to speed along the process.
Here’s the funny dichotomy when it comes to babies: go tell your doctor you took morphine for recreational purposes while pregnant. Watch how fast they scold you - if they don’t just call social services on you. But, as soon as you go into labor, they want to pump you full of drugs. Drugs that typically *extend* labor. Drugs that will surely pass to the baby over the course of that labor. (The nurses in the maternity ward can tell the difference between epidural babies and non-epidural babies - just ask.)
Really. If something went wrong, who would you sue?
And no one to sue.
Two minds functioning as one.
Ridiculous argument.
Modern obstetrics existed from 1920-1970, which coincided with the greatest decline in infant mortality in history.
Modern obstetrics does not equal abortion.
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