Freebirthing - your thoughts

[mbunting 10]

Peaches I am with you.........

 

To my mind I would much rather have my baby in the hospital where help is on hand if needed (I had an emergency C Section with my daughter) and where all the mess is dealt with by someone else. There is help and support there 24 hours a day.

 

Yes women used to have babies without assistance years ago but unfortunately you were far more likely to die in childbirth or for your baby to die too.

 

Everyone has their own opinion and I truely believe that it is up to the individual. I am comfortable in hospitals, some are not. Birth is a very personal thing.

[Michelle Bar 10]

I WANT professionals there "just in case" anything goes wrong. However, I would have had home-births if my consultant would have allowed it, and as long as they would make sure they arrived in plenty of time to deliver. Personally (and this is just for me, my opinion) I know women have been going through child birth for years without help but I figure why take a risk with your own and your child's life if you don't have to.

 

I had to laugh when I read this because we all want professionals there "just in case" the trouble is this is not what is happening in maternity units today. Health professionals are intervening with interventions that are not for the good of the mother or the baby. If only you could go to hospital and be allowed to give birth in peace......

 

I never wanted to feel the pain of childbirth either but god I wish I'd stayed at home and felt it rather than experience the highly medicalised birth I was subjected to in hospital.

 

I feel extremely lucky that me and my baby walked out of hospital alive and I would never again risk my own or my Childs life by having blind faith in a 'one size fits all' maternity system. A system that is governed by perverse economics i.e. payment is so much higher for caesareans so there is no real incentive to reduce the section rate.

 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared that there was no health improvement for either mother or baby when caesarean sections exceed 10%, yet Jessop Wing have a CS rate of 24%.

 

So in answer to the original question I do believe freebirthing is a safe option in the current climate and something I would seriously consider if I was ever crazy enough to get pregnant again.

[SpeedDemon 10]

I had to laugh when I read this because we all want professionals there "just in case" the trouble is this is not what is happening in maternity units today.

 

Maybe you had a bad experience, but I have nothing but praise for Chesterfield hospital, having had 4 out of my 5 kids there. They didn't interfere, just did what they had to do, in order to get my babies out safely

[LilMissAlien 10]

I feel extremely lucky that me and my baby walked out of hospital alive and I would never again risk my own or my Childs life by having blind faith in a 'one size fits all' maternity system. [...] I do believe freebirthing is a safe option in the current climate and something I would seriously consider if I was ever crazy enough to get pregnant again.

 

If I hadn't been in hospital I would have been lucky to be alive. I by no means had blind faith - as with all medical matters, if you are self-aware enough and can be calm and firm about what you need and expect you can and will be treated well. I let them give me a blood transfusion and things went downhill from there. However when they wanted to give me more blood I knew how to be firm and refuse because that was what was right for me. If I haemorrhage when I have another child I know I will likely refuse a transfusion unless they can meet strict requirements or it is an emergency.

 

Just as a 'one size fits all' maternity system does not work, neither does the opposite extreme work for everyone. There could and would be a rise in maternal and neonatal deaths if/when more women began freebirthing. Yes, some interventions are unnecessary, but some are lifesavers, for both mother and child. If a woman is freebirthing and something suddenly goes wrong there is no window in which to get to hospital and sort it out. Ok, if other women want to play that kind of roulette with their (and their babies') lives then fine, but whilst I support homebirthing with a midwife or doula present, I think freebirthing would be a return to older times, when neonatal death was very common.

 

The other issue about freebirthing which concerns me is the idea that women have been birthing for thousands of years with no one to help them, no medical professionals, helpers etc. But it was very rare that women in years past didn't have someone like a wise woman (the original midwifery) or doula with them, at least someone with experience of delivery babies. In this sense, truly unassisted childbirth as it is now (ie. without even a midwife) is a bit of a myth.

[Michelle Bar 10]

There could and would be a rise in maternal and neonatal deaths if/when more women began freebirthing. .

 

A report by the think-tank Reform in 2005 pointed out that maternity care now generates more than half of all negligence claims against the NHS. Most are allegations that brain damage or birth defects were caused by mistakes at delivery. The bill is potentially enormous, up to £4 billion. That is eight times the size of last year’s deficit

[Michelle Bar 10]

= Ok, if other women want to play that kind of roulette with their (and their babies') lives then fine, but whilst I support homebirthing with a midwife or doula present, I think freebirthing would be a return to older times, when neonatal death was very common.

 

 

Most women actually just want a good midwife they can get to know and

trust. Unfortunately you don't get this with the NHS, not even for a homebirth and it's not always easy to get support for a homebirth (unless you live in Crookes or Sharrow).

 

I don't understand why you would support homebirth with a doula but not freebirth? What could a doula do in an emergency? A midwife who knows you should be able to spot any potential problems early on and transfer you into hospital.

 

Lots of emergencies are actually caused by medical intervention for example when they routinely break your waters because you've had an epidural this can cause baby to become distressed and then they have to rescue you from the disasters just caused.

 

Neonatal death was common in older times because people were living in slums and in some cases didn't even have access to clean water.

[Corbyn 10]

I agree with some of the other comments that I would rather be in hospital just in case something goes wrong. Whilst I can see that things might be less likely to go wrong in the first place in a home birth, I feel that if there was an emergency it couldn't be dealt with quickly enough at home especially with no midwife there. I would never forgive myself if something went wrong which could have been rectified at hospital.

 

I had a fairly good experience at Jessops, although I was induced at 42 weeks which was something I hadn't wanted, so the birth was very medicalised. I was in a lot of pain and did end up having an epidural which may or may not have been responsible for the rest of the problems with the birth. I felt the staff listened to what I was saying and I didn't meet one midwife the whole time I was there that I didn't like or find very helpful. I think hospitals are short staffed and this does lead to poorer care but I think the individual people (the staff) want to provide a good service. I wonder if some of the people who sue maternal units really would have had that much smoother birth at home.

[LilMissAlien 10]

I do think that homebirths should be more readily available, which is why I support them. Where I am originally from (North London/Hertfordshire) it is much easier to get a homebirth (or hospital waterbirth) and independent midwives who have also trained in more holistic doula methods are more common too, hence my comment, sorry for the confusion!

 

I know that some interventions cause more complications - ie. I was induced and terrified I would need a c-section, but they are necessary in some cases. I was pre-eclamptic and needed induction; my friend's womb stopped contracting because she was so exhausted because no-one was on hand to give her any pain relief so she couldn't push and needed a c-section; one of my neighbours twins heartrate dropped so low they had to do a c-section to get her out even though the first twin was born naturally. Personally even though I was induced I had a textbook labour and delivery, it was just the blood transfusion which was the bummer, and I'd simply refuse it if I had my experience again.

 

My knowledge of freebirthing (as limited as it is) is that it is more or less completely unattended (by anyone with medical knowledge). There's no way of knowing if something is wrong and I am just concerned that there are women who have been so traumatised by their previous hospital/birth experiences that they will risk not knowing if something is wrong (and there is no window if something major goes wrong). Then there will be more issues stemming from that.

 

I am sure that there are some birth interventions which cause damage and are unnecessary, but I feel that a lot of the allegations of damage being done through interventions are just that - allegations. The NHS trusts can't definitively prove that they weren't at fault because they don't know how it would have gone if they hadn't intervened (and the medical oath is that they will do no harm, so interveions are done with the best interests of the mother and baby in mind) so they have to compensate/admit liability. It could have been that the child was already in trouble or if nature was allowed to run its course then the baby would have been damaged anyway or even stillborn - to some extent this is natural selection in action. If more women birth unassisted then there could well be more issues and more brain damage/stillbirth (indeed I read a story on the internet about a young woman and her child who died after going into sudden labour on her own at home, only for her husband to return from work and find them) and then who will be blamed and where will the compensation come from? I agree with Corbyn when she says that she wonders if the people who sue maternal units would have had better births at home - I think in a lot of cases they wouldn't and the interventions they received would still be needed (and inaccessible if they were freebirthing).

 

Blaming hospital interventions for all of those alleged cases just highlights how humans are always looking for a reason as to why things happen, and that someone or something has to be accountable. This was in evidence with the MMR controversy. Sometimes things just happen and no one is to blame.

 

As a health psychologist in training I have to admit to being pro-hospitals. However I do agree that birth is over-medicalised. My knowledge however prevents me from saying that freebirthing is the answer. I do think though that homebirth needs to be more available, and I think that there needs to be a shake up in the way that maternity units work in order to provide better experiences.

[treadlightly 10]

People have made some interesting points through this thread, and I think a lot of it makes sense. There is something, however IMO, lacking from this thread, and that is antenatal education. It can be a really powerful thing and totally change the course of birth. Knowledge of how your body works helps, along with other things, to eliminate fear, which is the cause of tension adn pain, and often prolonged, therefore exhausting births. HypnoBirthing can help to rid you of this fear, as well as provide you with techniques you can use during birth to help the baby be in the correct position, working with your body to make labour and birth smoother and quicker. Not least it allows you to feel more in control of your birthing experience with a true awareness of what is going on and how you can decide on the best thing to do with every twist and turn your birthing may take. I will be running information sessions on HypnoBirthing for free to give a taster of what it is all about. Please PM me for more details.

 

When you have gathered lots of knowledge and understanding about the mind and body during birthing, you can trully look forward to a positive birth experience, at home, hospital or birth centre.

[steelerbabe 10]

A midwife who knows you should be able to spot any potential problems early on and transfer you into hospital.

 

This is true in some cases, however I had a normal, problem free pregnancy but had to have an emergency c-section after 26 hours in labour. That could not have been predicted when my waters broke let alone in the latter stages of pregnancy !

 

I had a fantastic midwife who checked me all the way through and in whom I had every confidence however I dread to think what would have happened if I had tried to have my baby at home.

 

Like I said before it is a very personal thing but should I be lucky enough to have a second child I will be booking myself into Calow hospital again.

[Moon Maiden 10]

There's no way of knowing if something is wrong and I am just concerned that there are women who have been so traumatised by their previous hospital/birth experiences that they will risk not knowing if something is wrong (and there is no window if something major goes wrong). Then there will be more issues stemming from that.

 

Not true. Most of the UC women I have come across are as much if not more informed about the natural birth process than many midwives.

In fact I would say the same for most assisted homebirth mums as well. The AHB mums HAVE to be informed about all sorts of things associated with pregnancy and birth because they get so much confrontation from maternity services just to get a basic assisted homebirth...they have to argue the toss.

 

Since my own traumatic experience 10years ago I have researched books, internet, spoke to health professionals within the field of obstetrics and got a sneak peak of a conference lecture by Dr Denis Walsh for consultant midwives here in Scotland. As well as reading thousands of birth stories and spoken to lots of different women about all aspects of their birth experiences.

Ignorance is most definately not something you could accuse a UC mother of.

 

Of course it is extremely concerning that women maybe turning to freebirth due to a traumatic experience in hospital, but then that should be more reason for maternity services within the UK to sort themselves out, rather than trying to scare, intimidate and harrass mothers into a hospital environment. Which will then subsequently mean more in their payments by results balance!

 

I have experienced birth in 3 seperate NHS districts and it doesn't vary much from one to the other.

I also run the homebirth support group for our area as well as support women who wish to have a more interventionist birth option.

 

Because ultimately irrespective of my own views of maternity services. Mum should be happy, comfortable and safe with her choice of birth place. Be that at home, in birth centre, hospital or back and beyond.

[LilMissAlien 10]

Oh no, believe me I wasn't accusing anyone of ignorance at all! Even as a special case hospital birth I had to know a LOT more than my team to be able to explain what I needed and wanted and how I could get it, so I know about doing your research! I would have loved a homebirth, and didn't want a hospital birth (or drugs) at all, but had to deal with what was best for us.

 

What I mean is in cases where things like the baby's heartrate/Mum's blood pressure dropping or cord prolapse etc. From the freebirth reading I have done a lot of women don't have dopplers etc. to monitor themselves etc.

 

I'm not anti-freebirth per se, but I just worry that when I hear so many birth horror stories from women (beyond the usual "I had a tear" or "I was in labour for 72 hours" etc.) that I wonder what the implications of this becoming a trend are.

 

The reason why I am pro homebirth and would love to do it if I wasn't at such a huge risk for me personally is because you're in an environment where you are happy and comfortable. But with a midwife present you have the added confidence that there is someone there who is trained to help and care for you. No, at my birth the midwifes didn't do much beyond telling me I could push now (although I already was), and holding my legs in the air(!), but it just helped me feel safer that there was someone there who would help if I needed it.

 

If women have the confidence in themselves to birth unassisted then that's great, but as I said, I just worry if it becomes a trend that there will be people who take it to extremes and get no pre-natal care whatsoever (I am following online the real-life drama of a woman who has done just that, birthed unassisted and has not got her daughter a birth certificate or any medical care in a whole 10 months because of her fear of the medical profession - the daughter is now in care).

 

I also find it sad to hear that it is difficult to get a homebirth in this area. As I said before, where I am from originally it is not such a task to get a homebirth and I know (of) lots of women who have had homebirths or even multiple homebirths. Perhaps this is why I am less attuned to freebirthing as an option because it was easy for people I know to get what they wanted. The programme on C5 last week suggested freebirthing is becoming popular for people who can't get homebirths, and that I think is where my concerns lie, because some of these women might not be able to get homebirths because of their local trusts, or due to known issues with the pregnancy or possible delivery complications (like me) and are going for unassisted anyway.