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You can read the article here. I'll keep my opinion of the "expert doctor" to myself, but I'm wondering what you think of his statement. The article also states:
The baby could be born in a breach position, or with the umbilical cord wrapped around its neck. The mother could suffer from significant tearing or from a maternal hemorrhage and bleed to death in as little as five minutes.
As for the baby being born in a breech position, the fact is that doctors nowadays are not really taught how to vaginally deliver breech babies. Only in certain situations is it not possible to vaginally deliver a breech baby. Many women give birth to breech babies at home, without any complications. As for having the cord wrapped around the baby's neck, in some situations that can present a problem. But in most....just unwrap it.
Rixa wrote a great post with a response from Gloria Lemay concerning the doctor's concern that women "could bleed to death in as little as five minutes".
There's also a video available to watch.
I believe I've stated my own personal opinion concerning Unassisted Childbirth before, but I'll state it again. Unassisted Childbirth is not for me, however I understand why a woman would choose to go that route. When I was planning my homebirth with the Guppy, the Knight and I very briefly considered doing a UC before deciding that we felt more comfortable with a midwife present. Personally, I love having a midwife, an experienced woman, at my side. I am definitely not a lone birther, I love to be surrounded by loving and supportive people. While I do feel that it is a little more "risky" giving birth without at least a midwife there, I do acknowledge and respect the fact that most women who choose Unassisted Childbirth are not taking their decision lightly: they are serious about educating themselves about the risks and how to act if an emergency does come up.
I'm interested in hearing what your views on Unassisted Childbirth are.
4 comments:
While I definitely think that Dr is not a well rounded "expert" I do not really think UC is the wisest choice.
I understand the desire to birth alone and a good midwife should be able to let you do what you are comfortable with while just keeping an eye on everything. Things do go wrong in birth. Babies and mothers do die. Even animals sometimes die from birth complications. It's rare and all, but it happens. My concern would be, what if a mom starts hemoraging and was not able to get help fast enough... or if her blood pressure drops and she passes out. There is no trained person there to step in and help if you are completely alone.
I know that there really is a maternity care crisis going on right now. The standard Dr/hospital birth is not the way things should be. But I think going completely unassisted is too far in the other direction.
Just my 2 cents.
I just wish GMA would've done a more balanced story. They made all homebirth, not just unassisted, sound stupid and dangerous. I personally would not feel comfortable going unassisted, but it still makes me angry when the media treats women who choose alternative births like they're irresponsible and dumb.
I planned for a home birth with a midwife but after 18 hours of labor (without a vaginal exam and with no interventions), had to be rushed to the hospital to give birth (there was a lot of meconium when my water broke and the baby's heart rate was accelerating)). My son ended up being fine but I had to go to surgery immediately after the birth due to a deep tear. If I had given birth at home, I would have been in danger and my son would have had to have been transported along with me. I was so thankful for the wisdom and support of the midwives in the midst of our emergency. I recommend having assistance for first births especially, since there are so many unknowns. Midwives are usually happy to be as hands-on or hands-off as the mother requests, but would be available for an emergency. It's the "happy medium" I will be choosing for my future births and what I recommend to others.
What's the big deal. In Korea, all births are c-sections.
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