How Safe Is Your Home Birth?
In the wake of Janet Fraser’s tragic homebirth a broohaha is erupting. How safe is your homebirth? What is a home birth and who should have one? Yes, the woman who coined the term “Birthrape” to describe an emergency episiotomy has lost her child during a home birth.
Let me be very clear here, that a baby died is a horrendous tragedy. Not learning from this would be even worse.
My friend, and fellow Mom Blogger, Amber Watson Tardiff wrote a compelling piece that asks the question everyone sidesteps, is homebirthing a crime? Amber notes:
You may have even seen quotes from Janet calling c-sections and episiotomies “birthrape” and insisting that “survivors are angry and we are starting to talk about it.”
What you may not know is Janet’s baby suffered cardiac arrest during her cherished unassisted water birth and died on March 27th at her home in Australia.
Apparently the possibility of “birthrape” was much more important to Janet than the safety of her child.
Well, she (Amber) has a point, but what Janet did wasn’t just a home birth, it was an unassisted home birth. Some call it free birthing (here’s what the Daily Mail says), and there isn’t even assistance from a midwife. Janet had also had a prior c-section, so a qualified medical professional sounds like a no brainer. Ms. Fraser also labored at home for some time, perhaps days, while refusing to call for help. The Australia Herald Sun says:
Janet Fraser is in labour. Her plan is to drop the baby on the lounge room floor, or wherever feels good at the time.
Has she called the hospital to let them know what’s happening? “When you go on a skiing trip, do you call the hospital to say, ‘I’m coming down the mountain, can you set aside a spot for me in the emergency room?’ I don’t think so,” says Fraser, whose breathing sounds strained.
Although a home birth may have had the same results, one can only imagine that a midwife just might have saved the baby.
I know 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 reasons they chose home birth (he’s so actualized), and Carlota has talked extensively about her daughter’s birth.
Personally, I took the drugs. These aren’t the drugs of my mother’s generation. I’ve worked in the Emergency Room and seen natural child birth. It’s not for me. Again, I’m a self-identified candy ass greenie.
I support women who chose a home birth.
But a free birth?
I cannot see the wisdom in it.
Neither can Ms. Fraser’s baby.
What do you think? Is Ms. Frazier a criminal or a hero?
Jen - just because Ms. Fraser received no *professional* prenatal care does not mean she received no prenatal care. Most people who UP choose to do their own prenatal care. Even if she had received professional prenatal care, prenatal care has never been shown to improve pregnancy outcomes. In the US, even as prenatal care continues to increase in frequency and technology, our prematurity, mortality, and morbidity rates continue to rise. Prenatal care would not have prevented her baby’s problem, and it’s unclear whether it would have even predicted it.
Second, one cannot take the statistics about unattended birth as gospel. Unattended births in studies always includes ALL unattended births, including roadside deliveries, precipitous births, dumpster babies, etc etc. There are no solid numbers on planned, properly prepared for unassisted births.
It is not reckless and negligent to take responsibility for one’s one health and nutrition. Now, I don’t know the particulars of her labor, and whether or not she should have sought help during her labor. But every UCer I have ever known will not hesitate to get help if it appears help is necessary. As far as I know, they don’t know yet whether what killed her baby would have killed her baby no matter where she birthed.
And to everyone else who thinks UC is reckless and negligent: you need to spend some time doing some research. Go look up all the “what ifs” of pregnancy and labor. Find out exactly what it is that OBs and midwives do. Find out how much they can prevent, and how much they can cause. Learn what *actually* constitutes an emergency.
What you will find is that there are actually a very small number of truly horrible complications that are likely to happen in any given birth, and those are often fatal regardless of who is in attendance. You will find that most common complications of labor today are caused by the interventions designed to prevent other complications. The only people who are afraid of birth are those who don’t know enough about it.
The only difference between UCers and people who use paid attendants, is the UCers are willing to take responsibility on themselves for their pregnancy outcomes, rather than deferring that responsibility to someone else. In that respect then, UCers are better educated and prepared than most women in the modern world, because they make the effort to take responsibility for their own bodies and babies. That’s not reckless; that’s what every woman SHOULD be doing, whether or not she has a paid attendant.
I might also add that if the obstetric and legal climate weren’t so hostile against women who choose to birth at home, they might be more inclined to ask for help in the first place. It is this attitude of calling women who choose to manage their own body and baby health care “reckless and negligent” that drives them away from the system in the first place. A woman who uses a paid attendant is too often discouraged from doing research and making informed decisions, particularly where they run contrary to the provider’s protocol, and ESPECIALLY when it threatens the provider’s liability. This is especially true in the case of VBAC, breech, and twin birth. More and more women are choosing UC because they are given no other choice.
All this being said, I agree that the experience and skill of a paid attendant are valuable, and should be available to all women. Unfortunately, it’s not. And if a woman decides that she wishes to shoulder that responsibility herself, that is her business. Just because a paid professional is in attendance, there is still no guarantee of a perfect outcome. Many women prefer to have one there anyway just so they can place the blame on someone or something else should anything bad happen. Sometimes bad things just happen. Who’s to say her baby would have lived even if she had an attendant?
Instead of railing against women who choose to UC, maybe your efforts should be better spent in making attended home birth more available to women, and changing the system to allow women to have a say in their own care.
Okay I want to apologize if this is a long comment.
In 2007 I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy completely natural in a normal birth friendly hospital. While many moms in my birth class were debating home births I simply said i wasn’t brave enough becuase my mom was a neonatal nurse practitioner and I spent a lot of time around premie babies so the what ifs scared me.
The night i was holding my baby after 12 hours of labor I remember thinking wow it is going to be so easy next time around and even thought I might try a home birth. Fast forward to today. I am currently pregnant with my second child a baby girl and am scheduled for a high risk c section in July due to a massive fibroid that set up camp over my cervix thus blocking the way out and inhibiting a normal bikini cut c section.
I comment on this becuase my midwife didn’t detect the fibroid in my yearly exam and if it weren’t for the ultrasound i had we would have had no idea it was there. This fibroid is in a position that would have possibly killed me and my baby had it not been found, Say if i didn’t have the ultrasound. I am currently reading everything i can and setting up a personal blood bank as well as emotionally coping with the fact this will be my last child. I want to be as prepared and educated as possible and what my future birth holds.
I bring all of this up becuase I am a big advocate of natural birth and even contemplated becoming a bradley instructor or doula but while there are lots of uncessary interventions going on with this natural process there are also cases where they are necessary and can save mom and baby’s life. I think everyone should find a happy medium in their own birthing choices in doing what is best for baby and mommy.
My heart goes out to Janet and think her loss was tragic but I don’t think we should knock home births all together nor do I think we should all run out for scheduled elective c sections. i think there should be a happy medium and truce made between natural birth and medical assistance. You are ultimately in control of your birth but you also can’t get so caught up that you lose sight of what is important, your life and the life of that tiny unborn baby.
I imagine that she is suffering enough by the loss of her child. If she truly had criminal intentions, that would be different.
I had a wonderful lay-midwife assisted homebirth. Personally speaking, I am not sure if I’d ever be comfortable birthing unassisted.
Steph
This is always a heated issue with lots of “blame game” players on both sides of the fence. I’ve listened to the same arguments for over 20 years. It seems like reaching consensus about how and where women should give birth will occur just about the same time that we achieve world peace or the end of domestic violence, etc…
After working as a childbirth educator and attending a couple hundred births(as a doula - labor assistant)in birth centers, homes and hospitals, I’ve come to believe that the overwhelming majority of women intuitively gravitate to which location, type of support and “methodology”is best for themselves and their unborn babies to achieve a safe passage through the giving birth/delivering experience. I’m witnessed optimal outcomes in all settings and with all kinds of support teams.
Bad outcomes, sadly, also occur in all birth settings and situations. There isn’t a species in the world that has achieved zero per cent birth mortality rate.
Consider it may be important for women and their partners to make the best choices for themselves and their unborn children, hopefully after receiving good information, and to take responsibility for their choices - even when the birth does not go as planned. It seems like punishment by law wouldn’t touch the pain most men and women would feel from losing a child and thinking it might not have happened if they’d made a different choice.
What a terribly uninformed piece.
Birthrape is VERY real. Most women don’t even know it’s happening to them. A woman in my ICAN group just had her waters broken totally against her wishes (while she was asleep) which caused her baby’s heart rates to decel and be followed by a repeat cesarean - which she did NOT want.
I had a VBAC and it was the most important thing I’ve ever done in my life - and it was NO THANKS to any medical staff. They all insisted on trying to cut me open again for no good reason. Instead, I birthed a nearly 10 lb perfecly healthy baby boy the RIGHT way, and avoided the physical and emotional trauma of a repeat cesarean.
I will never give birth in a hospital today. As far as I’m concerned, that is the most dangerous place for a healthy woman to give birth. So I understand this woman’s deep need to give birth outside away from the MedPros. Since homebirth is technically illegal in IL (USA) - I may HAVE to go unassisted if I can’t find someone to attend the birth. I’ll do what I have to do to keep me and my baby safe.
BTW, this is a horribly sad thing for this woman. I personally would have liked to have a midwife to assist my delivery, but she did what she felt was right for her.
If she’d had her baby in a hospital and it died (which HAPPENS ALL THE TIME) then this wouldn’t even be news.) How said is that?
Emily Jones, where are you getting your information showing no correlation between lack of prenatal care and high fetal and maternity mortality and morbidity?
I agree that if you do not want a home birth then do not have one. We have been birthing for THOUSANDS of years and only now is it criminal to do something that was done only 40 years ago almost every day.
This woman will be in pain and in doubt for the rest of her life. If her baby died of cardiac arrest it could have done so in the hospital too. If she was determined to go natural do you think she did not read up on the subject? That is stupid. People die. Children die. It is a fact. A lot of people die in the hospital for complications that arose from being in the hospital… aka secondary infection and procedures that did not need to be performed.
Having a baby is NOT an emergency. Most hospitals and doctors treat is so. The United States is criticized the world over for their birthing. We also have some of the highest rates of PPD in the world. Lets not point fingers because we do not have the whole story.
[...] How Safe Is Your Home Birth? [...]
I will simply answer your question with my opinion and not debate other commenters.
I believe she was negligent and more concerned with an agenda than the outcome. I don’t believe it was criminal. And regardless of blame, fault, or judgment, my heart is broken for her and that little baby.
Women can feel deep and powerful emotions about their birth stories. I know I do. I wouldn’t call it birth rape, but I definitely won’t be doing things the same way with #2. The man who delivered my son was an arrogant asshole, rolling his eyes at me when he didn’t like the way I was pushing and shaking his head and sighing heavily when I refused the episiotomy. Disrespectful, yes. Rape? Certainly not.
I think the frustration on the part of readers here is not that she wanted an unassisted homebirth, but that she INSISTED on it, and INSISTED it was a better route. I think any time someone refuses to acknowledge a gray area, they open themselves up to this frustration and criticism. I think everyone on here knows that babies have been born unassisted and have been totally fine. But to preach about how awful it is to give birth in a hospital, to be SO ADAMANT, use the term “birthrape” (implying, unintentionally or not, that women who give birth in hospitals are willingly subjecting themselves to something with “rape” in the title) and then to refuse help in a homebirth resulting in devastating consequences? THAT is where my problem lies.