Comments on: Labor of Love: My Daughter's Home Birth, Hemorrhage Story

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:26:04 +0000

It’s been years since this was written, so I am not sure that you’ll get this. The exact same thing happened to me during my May 2008 home birth. My placenta was in pieces and the midwife had to scrape my uterus to be sure that everything was completely out. I thought 24 hours of labor was bad until this happened. But the plus side is that in the hospital they would have taken my son away (and probably stuck a bottle in his mouth) and wheeled me off. At least a hemorrhage in the home birth scenario, as awful as it was, allowed my son to be nursing peacefully within 30 minutes.

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Scientology’s L. Ron Hubbard Advocates “Silent Birth” — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 18:18:56 +0000

[...] I delivered my first child (19 hours of natural childbirth), my mother said that I was awful quiet during labor. I wasn’t a screamer; I didn’t [...]

By: Birth Rape on the Rise: Salon.com Blames Home Births

Birth Rape on the Rise: Salon.com Blames Home Births — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 04:40:31 +0000

[...] would have to say that both of my own childbirth experiences were traumatic, especially after hemorrhaging during my daughter’s birth requiring manual compressions on my uterus. Furthermore, [...]

By: Study Finding Triple Risk of Home Birth Baby’s Death “Political” and “Crap”

Study Finding Triple Risk of Home Birth Baby’s Death “Political” and “Crap” — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:57:21 +0000

[...] for a typical pregnancy including good prenatal care. Even in atypical births, like both of mine (hemorrhage and congenital heart defect), midwives are [...]

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“Countdown to 2015″: 700,000 New Midwives Needed — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:16:57 +0000

[...] of death to children beyond the newborn stage. The maternal death is largely caused by “postpartum haemorrhage, largely preventable through skilled care during childbirth.” Even though WHO is calling for [...]

By: Natural Pregnancy Care: Prevent Stretchmarks with Elasticity Belly Oil : Eco Child’s Play

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:55:59 +0000

[...] gained a lot of weight with both of my pregnancies, and one thing I did religiously was drink lots of water and apply essential oils to my belly. The [...]

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Fri, 08 May 2009 03:48:46 +0000

[...] all new moms, I was worried my body would never recover from gaining 55 pounds with my first child! I wondered what my belly would look like after the baby popped out and how long it would take to [...]

By: How Safe Is Your Home Birth? : Eco Child’s Play

How Safe Is Your Home Birth? : Eco Child’s Play — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:40:28 +0000

[...] a number of women who have given birth at home and, for them it was a great experience. Our own Jennifer Lance has a story (that I’m too squeamish to read) about her birth experiences. Derek Markham has a list of 35 [...]

By: Preparing Your Nest: Home Birth Necessities : Eco Child’s Play

Preparing Your Nest: Home Birth Necessities : Eco Child’s Play — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 03:03:23 +0000

[...] a birth kit, you’ll also need a few other supplies. If you’re planning to have a water birth as I am, you’ll need a birthing tub (if your midwife does not provide) and a new hose to fill [...]

By: Kristin

Kristin — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:23:12 +0000

Jennifer,

Thank you *so* much for sharing your birth story with your first child. I, too, am happy to hear that everything turned out alright.

We are planning a home birth for our second child, due Nov 6th. Our first child (a son, now almost 4 1/2-years old) was born without drugs in the hospital, but now our expectations about birth are higher. We feel very strongly about birth being a natural, physiological event, not an illness that needs to be treated in the hospital. We do have a backup physician and hospitals just minutes away if we need them.

However, in trying to find some information on public cord blood banking, I came across the following post: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=64, a critique on the movie “The Business of Being Born”.

The physician’s comment “Home births scare me witless, because I’ve seen a normal delivery turn to disaster in a heartbeat.” combined with (and I can’t believe this is in the movie, though I haven’t seen the movie) “As one doctor says in the movie, a woman can hemorrhage and bleed out in a matter of minutes.”, I got “cold feet” AGAIN about having a home birth.

Your post as well as some other research I’ve done has put my mind more at ease about the possible occurence of hemorrhage.

Here are some other links I found useful for others who may be questioning their safety of home birth:
http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/uvahealth/peds_hrpregnant/postpart.cfm

http://pregnancy.about.com/cs/postpartumrecover/a/pph.htm

Warmly,
Kristin