10:13 pm ~ 
Filed Under:
Movies, Pregnancy
Did that title scare you? Did you think I had the babies at home?! hehe 
I really don’t get the hype about having a home birth. Yes, I realize that women have been giving birth without medical assistance since the beginning of time… There’s a lot of things that have been happening since the beginning of time. I was reading on a forum about a woman who is planning on having an unassisted home birth. Meaning when she goes into labor, her and her husband will be delivering the baby at home by themselves. Neither of them are medical professionals. They’ve read up on home births and decided they want to do it that way.
A lot of women opt for a home birth with a midwife present to deliver the baby. That seems a little more acceptable to me. But to have an unassisted home birth?! That seems extremely dangerous and irresponsible. Yes, technically you can deliver your own baby but that doesn’t mean you should. Think of all the things that could go wrong! What if there was a problem? Then you have to call for help and hope to God that they get their before it’s too late. And, hope to God that you get a paramedic who knows anything about birth in the first place. Most paramedics are not familiar with delivering babies.
And besides…. EWW. I wouldn’t want to be the one to clean up that mess. What the hell do you do with all that mess, and the placenta??? Just toss it in the trash?!!!?
You can have a natural birth in a hospital. You don’t have to have medication. You don’t have to have intervention of any kind. There are safer ways to have a “natural birth”. If you’re going to do it at home, at least have a midwife present who knows what the heck they are doing.
I for one completely embrace the thought of a hospital birth. I absoultely love my doctor and trust what she says. She has never come off as the type who would do things just to make a little more money.
Anyway, I went against my bed rest rule and went to dinner with Ashton, Preston, and my brother last night. Then we went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean. I was miserable the whole time but I’m glad I went. It’s the last movie I’ll be seeing for quite a while! It was good though. 
May 25th, 2007 10:56 pm
i’m kind of the same. i’m just… i get worried about those types of things. it’s not that i don’t respect a woman’s decision, but there were a lot of babies/mamas that died back when there was no medical assistance… and plus, i’m sure if you asked your hospital to make the setting as natural as possible, they’d be willing to comply.
you don’t want the baby staring at bright lights? tell them to dim them ahead of time. you don’t want the baby being handled by a lot of strangers? ask the doctor to let your husband carry the baby to the care table & have the nurses show him how to clean the baby…
i mean there are alternatives.
i agree mostly with what you said.
May 26th, 2007 09:20 am
i’ve read about many home births and a lot of people put the placenta in their refrigerator. yes, i know, disgusting. i agree with everything you said. they should at least have a midwife there to help, in case anything DOES go wrong.
i would prefer having a baby in a hospital where an epidural is given
May 27th, 2007 12:48 am
oh my gosh, there is a livejournal community about having home births. complete with PICTURES.
i could never imagine having an unassisted birth. & then reading stories about how they freeze the placenta, or plant it with a tree. or.. EAT IT.
oh, and there is some birth i forget the name.. but they keep the placenta ATTACHED TO THE BABY till it falls off on its own. can you imagine toting around the baby & it’s placenta. ew?
to me that stuff is gross. but to each their own
May 27th, 2007 08:19 am
I think a big reason why some people have home births is because they don’t trust the medical society. While the numbers aren’t widely available, if you do some digging around the number of babies that die in hospitals is pretty shocking and neo-natal death rates are even higher. Then there’s the whole emergency c-sections, the amount of drugs out there (ones to induce labor, once to stop labor, etc).
While I would never want to have an unassisted home birth, I can totally get why someone wouldn’t want to go to a hospital.
May 27th, 2007 10:26 pm
Home birth? Not for me, but kudos to those who want to do it. Unassisted home birth? Stupid and irresponsible. You’re just asking for trouble.
Yes, women have been giving birth since the beginning of mankind, but look at the deaths… look at how populations have spiraled out of control with the evolution of medicine and technology. That should tell you (”you” being the general readers, not anyone in particular) something!
And you’re right - it is absolutely possible to have a natural birth in the hospital. I went into the hospital with my daughter with every intention of having a natural birth with as little intervention as possible. But after three days of non-stop labor that resulted in a lot of pain and stress but very little progression, *I* broke down and asked for an intervention - an epidural. But I requested a low dose, and had them turn it off as soon as I was completely dilated (within two hours and 45 minutes of having the epidural put in), and pushed and delivered my daughter on my own.
With my son, none of that was possible, since I had a c-section, but I had every intention on being as “natural” as possible.
May 27th, 2007 10:29 pm
About the mention of drugs and c-sections: while some doctors and nurses may suggest pain relievers and epidurals, nobody is FORCING women to accept them. In the end, I lay the responsibility at the woman’s feet. She is responsible to educate herself on pregnancy and childbirth and the options available to her prior to giving birth - she has nine months (give or take a few days/weeks, and this excludes complications) to do so!
After an attempt to physically turn my son failed (he was sideways and WOULD NOT BUDGE), my doctor suggested a c-section right then and there, since she was there, a room was reserved for me (in case something went wrong during the turning attempt), and I had my stuff. She was rather insistent. My response? I told her to shove it, that I was NOT having a damned c-section if I could help it, and since I had another week and a half before my due date, I was going to use that time to try and get the baby to turn on my own (didn’t work, sadly).
Ultimately, a doctor can suggest all of these things to the laboring woman, or the pregnant woman who comes in and moans about wanting to have her baby already, but it is the WOMAN who needs to tell them where to stick it and defend herself.
May 28th, 2007 11:44 am
Very nicely put Jenn! I agree completely.