Freebirthing – again « A Midwife’s Muse

Freebirthing – again

July 30, 2008 at 10:23 pm | In Birth, Homebirth, Musings, Winds me up | 8 Comments
Tags: freebirth, Homebirth, Unassisted birth

One of the women featured in the channel 5 documentary about unassisted birth, Clio, is discussing her choice in The Mail’s “Freebirthing: Is it madness or the ideal way to give birth?”, the article has so far elicited 60 comments, the majority of which are against the idea of a woman giving birth without trained support. Obviously, as a midwife I am going to counsel against an unassisted birth, I would also advise against an unsupported pregnancy, meaning no antenatal care. I know, and have seen too much to take the attitude that Sue (one of the commentators) does ‘ If you listen to your body and you are healthy there should be no reason why you can’t have an unassisted birth, We need to go back to the old days, pregnancy and birth are not illnesses.’ She is right, pregnancy and birth are not illnesses’, but that does not exclude circumstances which are capable of changing an everyday ‘natural’ event into a life threatening emergency. I remember that fact EVERY time I am called to a homebirth and EVERY time I conduct a routine antenatal examination. Sue wants us to go back to the old days. What ‘old days’ would those be? The days when women died from eclampsia; haemorrhage; puerperal fever, ruptured uterus when babies died or were damaged by obstructed labour, cord prolapse, undiagnosed twins, locked twins?

So, I’ve let my feelings known, now I’m going to present an example of unassisted childbirth that happened recently. The woman is at term, uncomplicated second pregnancy, apart from her requiring much debriefing about her last labour and birth and a meeting with the anaesthetist to attempt to discover why her last epidural hadn’t worked and an assurance that she would be offered an epidural as soon as she goes into hospital this time. On the day of the birth she as a ’show’ in the morning and is experiencing slight lower, back pain. Early afternoon saw her having painful tightenings, she sent her husband off to buy a few groceries, he was gone half an hour. He returned to find her on all-fours, telling him that the baby was coming. He insisted they get into the car to go to the hospital, she describes being on the pavement, on her hands and knees, unable to move. He somehow got her into the car, and off they went on a 10 mile drive. A mile from the hospital, stopped at traffic lights in the town centre, she told him the baby was coming, her waters broke and baby’s head started to come. He pulled over, leapt out of the car, asked a group of teenagers to call an ambulance, pulled off his wife’s trousers and baby was born into her underwear. After a struggle with baby and it’s cord, which was tangled in her undies, he gave the baby to his wife. She describes how terrified she was, as initially the baby was ‘floppy’ and didn’t cry, but then she hugged it hard and he cried. They cancelled the ambulance and drove the mile to the maternity unit where Mum had a couple of stitches to a small tear, cord blood was taken, as she was rhesus negative, and they then got back into the car and drove home. When I saw them the next day they were both ‘on a high’. Basically they, especially her, view the experience as being, eventually, better than the birth of their first baby but terrifying at the time. I asked if they would deliberately have an unassisted birth. NO! Would they have a midwife attended homebirth? Not too sure as those seconds, where they thought that the baby was not breathing, made them realise how unpredictable events could be.

Not freebirthing, in fact very much the opposite as Mylene Klass is someone who had private antenatal and birth care. Now though she is outraged at the lack of care she received after the birth of her baby . I have a few thoughts about this, many contradictory. My overall thoughts are that I can’t defend the lack of care she received from the NHS but…..why did she choose to rely on the NHS for her postnatal care having gone privately during her pregnancy and birth? Was it because her private hospital does not provide a domiciliary service, however much you pay and she would have had to go to a clinic for her and baby to be seen?

8 Comments »

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You’ve changed – looks good.
I have to go with you on this one – freebirthing sounds like an absolutely crazy and dangerous idea.

Comment by Vic @ Glowstars — July 31, 2008 #

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Vic – I’m quite pleased with it. The pic is one I took of the night sky over our garden. I think the sidebar looks tidier.
The women must have so much confidence in their bodies, not a bad thing but must also have the ability to ignore the very slight, but real chance, that something catastrophic could happen.

Comment by midwifemuse — July 31, 2008 #

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Oh but how sad that you go to hosp and anything could happen- out of your control.
I take responsibilty for myself.
Crazy and dangerous idea caring for yourself!!

Comment by Free — September 12, 2008 #

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Free – I do appreciate where you are coming from but equally you could view it like the dentist. You go for check-ups, and if everything is OK you just arrange when you will next see him/her. However, if there is a concern then the person who knows how to help you with it is there, with the training and the equipment. In this case though it’s not a tooth that may be damaged by you caring for yourself, but something far more precious.
Homebirth is a great compromise.

Comment by midwifemuse — September 12, 2008 #

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I have to say I fall somewhere in the middle. I am an RN and I know how the inside of a hospital works. I had my first there, and will try hard never to go back unless I’m sick. My second was born in a freestanding birth center run a midwife. It was MUCH better. I can see why these freebirthing women have chosen the road they have. We have let a hospital mentality take over our rights to decide how we handle things in our own bodies. That said, I do know how unpredictable birth can be, and would, for my own family, want a trained professional there in the event we would need help, but I will try to have a home birth, if there is a next time. In my state, lay midwives cannot legally practice, and CNM’s cannot afford the malpractice required for a home birth. It does sort of back women into a corner, doesn’t it. Along with the fact that insurance companies rarely pay for home birth services here, even though they are far less expensive than the hospital. My insurance wouldn’t cover the birthcenter. As a for instance…My first birth cost somewhere in the range of $5,0000.00. Theinsurance paid most of that. My birth center birth was around $2500.00, and we paid half of that, because they were considered “out of network” even though the midwife is covered as an “in network” provider if we deliver in the hospital…Makes my choices here very difficult…

Comment by Patty Clarke — November 16, 2008 #

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The example you gave is NOT an example of unassisted birthing! Accidentally not making it to the hospital in time with a birth when you had every intention to bears no resemblance to what unassisted birthing about.

Those who deliberately choose unassisted birthing spend months preparing, educating themselves and for most, monitoring themselves prior to the birth so that they are fully ready and prepared when the time comes. It is not done by the seat of the pants in most cases!

Additionally, your assertion that unassisted birthers have no prenatal care is patently false. The care is not necessarily provided by a physician or a midwife, but that does not mean that they have none. It means that they provided their own.

For my own 2 unassisted births (after 3 hospital births) I provided my own care, and my prenatal records and charts are far more extensive than anything any OB or midwife ever kept on my pregnancy.

It does not take a degree or any specialized training to measure blood pressure, fundal height, to check urine, weight, etc. and keep note of any patterns emerging that might call for consultation with a higher level of care!

Please do not continue to spread falsehoods and myths. Either this is a deliberate slam against those not following your personal belief system, or you simply have not taken the time to educate yourself on what unassisted birthing is really all about.

Comment by Kim — November 19, 2008 #

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Patty – By the sounds of it you have much the same mindset as I do, pregnncy and birth are not an illness which require treating but it is always good to know that if ‘treatment’ were needed the right people are there!
When the monies are in black and white it does sound expensive but when compared to the fees charged by Independent Midwives here, whole package about £3 – 4,000 then quite reasonable.

Comment by midwifemuse — November 19, 2008 #

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Kim – (Being pedantic – it was an unassisted birth, there were no professionals in attendance).
As a midwife I am obviously going to be cautious about the whole concept of ‘freebirthing’ or planned unassisted birth. It is a fact of my role that I have witnessed what emergencies can occur before, during and following a birth and because of this I am not ever going to advise anything other than that a trained professional should ideally be present at all births.
I don’t know if you clicked on my categories tag for UC but there you will read that I can appreciate why women choose UC and how I believe that it is a failing of maternity services which causes women to turn their backs on professionals.
I’m not sure what falsehoods and myths I’m spreading and, talking about ‘personal belief systems’, it is you who has chosen to ignore what is commonly accepted in all countries with relatively low maternal and neonatal mortality statistics. Care by a trained professional reduces mortality.
If you choose to UC then I have no problem, it is your decision. If you choose to UC because you found the care in your previous pregnancies and births to be taken out of your hands, your choices were not recognised, then I consider it is an indictment against the professionals, and that I regret.
I have tried to educate myself about UC/freebirthing, difficult really though to have practical experience as I’m a midwife, so if I’m there then its not a UC.

Comment by midwifemuse — November 19, 2008 #

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