Why Not Home?

It is a beautiful thing when you come into contact with someone who emanates your own thoughts back to you, in such an elegant, inspired way that you want to cheer. Or cry.

It is these moments that bring me peace and help me realize that I am on the right path. I am making the right choices. I am gently and purposefully moving through this life that I love, in a way that makes me proud.

Her name is Jessicca Moore.
(Yes, two C's. I saw it in two different places...I'm 90% sure that's correct). :)

She is producing and directing a new documentary about homebirth. It is rare that someone with such an intense medical background, (a nurse practitioner, in the field of neonatal and pediatric intensive care) shows this much impartial interest in educating the public about homebirth. Her documentary highlights those in the medical field who chose to have their babies at home, facilitating honest discussion about the safety and risks of this option in comparison to the traditional hospital birth.

By focusing on hospital birth providers who chose home birth, I hope to bring a voice of moderation to the discussion. Together, we can move toward real improvements to maternity care in hospitals AND at home for women, families, and society.

It speaks VOLUMES that doctors and nurses who see first hand the way the hospital machine treats laboring woman would choose homebirth. They place themselves in a challenging position of receiving negative feedback from their peers in the industry, and being forced to personally evaluate the standard intervention procedures so routine in most hospitals. Jessicca states that many kept their choice private so as to avoid such criticism.

Jessicca speaks my own mind when she says,

I looked at my risks in and out of the hospital and decided I felt that I had the best chance of as safe and uncomplicated natural birth in my own home surrounded by people I knew and trusted. My family and some of my colleges disagreed.

When 1 in 3 laboring women who enter a hospital, emerge as a surgical patients, something needs to change, and it's not the normal birth process, it is the system that surrounds it.

This is everything I'd want to share, if I were as smart and talented as this team! :) Enjoy!




Follow this link to donate to the cause!

http://www.documentary.org/film/why-not-home

Homebirth Outcome Study

Since I'm trying to gather as many scientific studies from credible journals as possible (as a result of being kicked off a mom/pregnancy board for posting a blog page of information/thoughts/options that only referred to the position of ACOG-American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and did not include long-term, double blind, scientific studies on the subjects)....I present a Canadian study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

In summary...

"The study analyzed all planned home births attended by registered midwives from Jan. 1, 2000, to Dec. 31, 2004, in British Columbia, Canada (n = 2889), and all planned hospital births meeting the eligibility requirements for home birth that were attended by the same cohort of midwives (n = 4752).  We also included a matched sample of physician-attended planned hospital births (n = 5331)."  Meaning...these were not necessarily "high risk" patients in the hospital. Everyone started out on the same playing field.


"The rate of perinatal death per 1000 births was 0.35 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.00–1.03) in the group
of planned home births; the rate in the group of planned hospital births was 0.57 (95% CI 0.00–1.43) among women attended by a midwife and 0.64 (95% CI 0.00–1.56) among those attended by a physician."

WOOT!

http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/reprint/181/6-7/377

Vita Mutari

Um, yeah. What this lady said... (from www.nurturingheartbirthservices.com)
lovelovelove

"When I was in physical therapy after I injured my knee, my therapist learned that I’d had homebirths. He asked about the “pain” of labor and how I dealt with it at home. My answer, as it usually is, was, “It’s not PAIN as you think of it…my knee was pain. Birth is powerful, but it’s not the same as the pain you experience in life where something is wrong with you.”

His response was, “Then why do women scream?” Heh…you have to love television, right? So I told him that I rarely see women “scream” in labor….but that yes, some women are very vocal and make lots of noise. So he asked why they would make so much noise if they weren’t in pain.

So I told him, “Some women are very loud and make lots of noise during love making…you wouldn’t say they were in pain, right?” Interestingly, he stammered and walked away and the conversation was over.

VITA MUTARI

 I don’t believe that there is a word in the English language to express what it feels like, as it’s totally unique to anything else you will ever feel in your life. It demands full attention of your body, your mind, your soul….it is one of the few experiences we have that transcends the physical and is all encompassing, taking everything you have and everything that you are….only to have you emerge on the other side transformed, changed permanently – you will never be the same.  Sometimes you have a really difficult experience and you come out the other side feeling beaten down, feeling weak and dealing with the consequences of the negativity for the rest of your life. Other times you will emerge with an entirely new respect for yourself, your body, your strength…you will suddenly see yourself as the amazing person that you are!

VITA MUTARI

Which (finally) brings me to these two words…my new favorite words.  I think I will start using these words from now on when someone asks about what labor feels like or the pain of giving birth…. VITA MUTARI!!  Labor feels like “mutari”….the contractions will grow and you will feel Vita Mutari …the vita mutari will grow in intensity….as the mutari increases, you may vocalize or call out…

The literal translation from Latin to English is “Life Transformation”.  That is the closest thing I could think of the feeling of labor/birth…what you are feeling isn’t pain, it’s life transformation.  Is it dramatic? You bet!  I think it should be!" - Stephanie Soderblom

 http://www.nurturingheartsbirthservices.com/blog/?p=16

GO GISELE!

"Despite what you may have read, Gisele Bundchen did not give birth at Brigham and Women's Hospital -- or Mass. General, Beth Israel, or Boston Medical Center, for that matter. The supermodel spouse of Pats QB Tom Brady had her baby at the couple's Beacon Street townhouse. But that's not all. In an interview with a popular Brazilian TV show, Bundchen has confirmed something we'd heard: She delivered little Benjamin in the bathtub. (The interview with "Fantastico," the Brazilian equivalent of "60 Minutes," airs this weekend.) Home births are hardly the norm in Brazil, which has one of the highest rates of caesarean sections in the world. So what's with Bundchen? We're told Gi was profoundly influenced by director Abby Epstein's 2008 documentary, "The Business of Being Born," which makes a compelling argument for natural childbirth. The movie, executive produced by Ricki Lake, looks at the history of obstetrics, midwives, and how modern medical practices may do pregnant moms more harm than good. One of the people quoted in the film is Ana Paula Markel, a friend of Bundchen's who works as a doula, or childbirth assistant, in LA. "It's so great to hear that (Gisele) had a positive homebirth experience," Lake told us yesterday. "Not only because it was at home and in water, but because it says a lot to girls who follow her." They might also be interested in what else we heard -- that Gisele may have used self-hypnosis relaxation and breathing techniques to aid her delivery. Whatever she did, it worked. Word is, the supermodel was in labor for only about eight hours before the bundle of joy arrived. Other celebs who've had their babies at home include actress Alyson Hannigan, model Cindy Crawford, singer Erykah Badu, actress Maria Bello, and Bundchen's BFF Michelle Alves, a Brazilian model and the wife of Madonna's manager Guy Oseary."

http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/more_names/blog/2010/01/the_story_of_gisele_bundchens.html

Gisele!

A one liner news story... Gisele says, "I gave birth in a bathtub" in their Boston penthouse.

 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/28/gisele-i-gave-birth-in-th_n_440595.html

Ani D revisited

Ani DiFranco Interview with Mindful Mama Magazine from Mindful Mama Magazine on Vimeo.

Yay Duggars!

After the births of 17 of his siblings by his parents, Michelle and JimBob Duggar, first born Josh Duggar and his new bride Anna decided on a homebirth for their first baby.  YAY!!! 

Mackynzie Renee Duggar was born October 8, 2009 at home.

Anna walked around during early labor to help the baby descend, and used the shower for massage.  From what the viewers saw, it was a peaceful delivery.  I was SO happy to see a gentle birth story instead of the typical screaming, knife wielding, drug pushing, masked situation you usually see on TV births.

HOWEVER, I must point out an inaccuracy that upset me.  The Duggars said that they invited their childbirth instructor to attend as their doula at their birth.  A doula is not qualified to deliver a baby and provides no medical care.  A doula is trained to offer emotional, physical, and psychological support throughout labor and birth.

A Licensed Midwife (LM), or a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) provides prenatal care, delivery of the baby and postpartum care.  The midwife is responsible for the safety of the mother and baby.  They determine if the labor and birth is progressing well, or if there is a need for hospital transfer (in the case of a birth center or homebirth).

I'm hoping that this woman was trained as a midwife, but the narration just didn't mention it.  Homebirth is safe only when a skilled and experienced primary care provider is in attendence.

Dear Doctor

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my letter and inform me of the fact that your entire practice cannot support homebirth (vicarious liability is a powerful thing).

However, I have to let you know that I question the *information* you used in an attempt to scare me out of my homebirth decision.

Although I did not attend medical school, I doubt that there is a way to predict if and how many times an fetus will wrap itself in the umbilical cord. Beyond that, I'm relatively sure you cannot attribute it to the mother.

Finally, the weight of a baby cannot be accurately predicted prebirth, even with maternal measurements and sonograms. So I'm also pretty sure that the weight cannot be predicted sight unseen, based on previous pregnancies and withOUT said measurements and sonograms.

Good try though. Good luck with your fearmongering.....I mean, business.

Sincerely,
an educated pregnant mother