What? Hospital = Death?
Okay, so some of you know this already, but I am 1000% for what I call “natural” parenting. To me this means homebirths, breastfeeding, intact gentalia, limited immumizations, etc etc. I feel that we’ve made it this far, thousands of years, without all the interventions and place a lot of trust in our bodies and the complex internal systems that keep us alive.
Every now and again I’ll run across something that just totally solidifies me in my want to avoid all interventions when possible. Here are some exceprts from “10 Homebirth Facts No One’s Telling You” on Indiebirth.com by Maryn Leister. Please read the full article here.
2. The US has the highest obstetrical intervention rates of any country. (1) The US is currently ranked 28th for infant mortality (that means 27 other countries have a better rate of infant survival than we do).
- How is it that medicine is one of the most advanced countries, in the world, yet our babies die in such numbers?
4. You are very likely to have a c-section if you chose a hospital birth. The WHO concluded that there is no reason for any region of the world to have a cesarean rate of more than 10–15%. As of 2004, the US has a 29.1% c-section rate. This rate is up from 27.6% in 2003. (2, 20) (3) C-section infants also are four times more likely to die than those born vaginally.
- 4 times! 4 times more likely to die!! Granted a C-Section is a major abdominal surgery but still. Why would anyone be okay with a C-Section that wasn’t absolutely required?
Both of my boys, arrived early and were hospital births because of it. My oldest son spent two weeks in the NICU becaue the doctors felt that my womb was not the best place for him. They felt that they could help him better than I could. In the end, the doctors were wrong and should have left him alone.
My youngest son was just in a hurry to get here. I was 2 days, maybe it was 4?, from being able to birth at home. Had I stayed home any longer he would have been and if I remember correctly (oxytocin has a tendency to make you forget anything coming from someone over 6 months old) my midwife stated she would not have sent us to the hospital. Although he was early, he was strong and healthy. The hospital kept him in the NICU for a week “just to make sure”, fed him formula and pumped him full of medicine prophylactically. Had they known my water was broken for 10 days prior to delivery they would have flipped a lid.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that any and all of my next childbirths will be attempted homebirths. You’ll only find me in a hospital if something is actually wrong and medical intervention is necessary. Sometimes I struggle to keep my mouth shut but in the end I also respect a mother’s right to birth how she wants, granted that it was an educated decision.
What were your childbirth experiences like? Is there anything you would change?
You might also like these related posts:
We went to a new breed of hospital, where doulas are plenty and c-sections are less likely. A birthing center with the bonus of being part of a hospital just in case.
Our first experience was that our son had the umbilical chord twice wrapped around his head and after trying for nearly 24 hours to do avoid it, we ended up going in for an emergency c-section (baby’s heart rate spiked enormously).
Our second child (who’s picture you’re using above — with the monitors attached to him) ended up being a scheduled c-section because:
1) results of first birth
2) diminutive size of my wife
3) excess amounts of embryonic fluid
I have 5 children and the first 3 were born in the hospital with no needles and medication to speak of (my choice of course). But let me admit I was in a lot of pain and because of that I was very stressed out and anxious. My last 2 children were born also in the hospital but this time I had an epideral and I have to say it was wonderful. My children were fine at birth and not small at all (my last one was almot 10 pounds) The recovery seemed harder with the last two and I have to say that I think would be afraid to give birth at my home because the medical machines would not be readily availabel if something should go wrong with the baby.