Discovery Home & Health

quote:

---

Originally posted by miss_hooley
[br]its called negligence. i am disappointed with a system that tries to prevent women from making informed choices and acting on them. having made active decisions against medical advice because i know my rights, my body and am confident in my ability in making informed choices.

---

I've just got through reading the Portland Babies thread and have seen that you are not passionate about your feelings but instead plain hostile towards other peoples feelings. So on that note, I won't be continuing to discuss this subject with you as you seem to take the opinions of others and use them as fuel to be abusive and have on more than one occasion accused others of being uneducated when they do not agree with you, even after you have been warned by the moderator to be respectful. Very poor. Please do not bother to reply, as I shan't bother to read it.

hostile or just plain bored of the same excuses? and was it me who was warned? or did it just come after my post? and i do not accuse when it is plainly obvious. it is disappointing that people are prepared to defend such a weak argument with no facts to back it up, just pay lipservice to what they have been told.
after watching the homebirth diaries and portland babies, knowing about homebirth and those who are damaged by the system, i believe i am in a position to call myself educated and empowered.

I have been reading this discussion with great sadness. I took part in an episode of HBD because I wanted to promote 'choice' to other women...not stick my fingers up at ladies choosing hospital births. I have had 1 of each (home & hosp), my labour was almost identical in every way. My HomeBirth M/W was NHS & truly wonderful & supportive, in fact it was her suggestion I had home birth. It would be so nice to live in a society where people respect each other & their experiences. In my opinion childbirth is the most monumental thing a woman may do in her life...we are united in that. The 'best' birth is surely one that makes you feel 'empowered'...whatever that opton is.

at the end of the day, its up to each individual where they have there babies and where they feel most comfortable with. i had my son at hospital and becuase im scared of hospitals it was a frightening experience, and i didnt feel in control. this is no way a bad report on hospitals its just how i felt. that is why im choosing a homebirth this time as this is my safe place.and i believe the calmer a mother feels then the birth should follow suit.[] if at anytime there will be complicaions the midwives will not leave it to the last minute to transfer me to hospital.

Hi there, once again (and this time I am talking to Miss Hooley) can I ask you to respect other people's opinions and right to choose.

This is an open forum for discussion and I try and interfere as little as possible. However, when the discussion gets aggressive and abusive I have to ask you to moderate your tone. Your opinions are undoubtedly valid but that doesn't mean that others' aren't.

So can we have a little more tolerance and respect and less mud-slinging please!

[V] Sad to see all the arguing. Can we all agree to disagree? At the end of the day we are here talking about the fab programme homebirths diaries. I am an addict! Can we get back to talking about it? Wherever people choose to have their babies is ok with me. I am biased towards homebirths I must admit and seeing the diaries does make me even more biased! For those who havent had babies at home does the homebirths diaries make you more or less likely to choose to have a baby at home?
[][]

But Victoria, you were the one being rude about women who choose to have homebirths. How come it's alright for you to have an opinion but not me? I'm genuinely sorry that your birth was so traumatic. I feel really sad for you. My son was born at home and also had the cord around his neck several times. So what? If it were a problem, the baby wouldn't be born and you would go to hospital. There is so much fear and misinformation perpetuated about homebirth - cords around necks being one of them. That's why I like this series - it shows what happens and how midwives deal with this kind of thing. At home, calmly and safely. The fact is, whether you like it or not, Victoria, statistically homebirth is safer than hospital. As long as ypu are happy with the choices you have made for your family, then great, but don't knock others' choices and perpetuate myths.

i was just looking at the statistics and have seen that homebirth is in fact safer than hospital birth in cases when a woman is healthy and having a normal pregnancy. Now, this is very interesting and should be something that the general public are aware of. These statistics are not just a few hundred, more like studying 4000 plus births!! I will be sharing this info with my friends who always seem to think that hospital is safer.... Shame governments dont like to let women know this. Perhaps it costs more? [V]

not at all. Torbay has a very high rate of normal, home births and the cost is approx �500 for a home birth as opposed to �2000 for a ceasarian. Obviously some sections are warranted but with many hospitals running at a 25 - 30% section rate while the world health organisation states there is no justification for a section rate of any more than 15% it seems to me something is going wrong somewhere. I do worry about private institutions which charge more according to how many interventions you have ie each additional scan costs more, section is more expensive than normal birth - if I were a share holder I'd certainly be keen for everyone to have weekly scans and no normal births - wouldn't you?

quote:

---

Originally posted by pootle
[br]i was just looking at the statistics and have seen that homebirth is in fact safer than hospital birth in cases when a woman is healthy and having a normal pregnancy. Now, this is very interesting and should be something that the general public are aware of. These statistics are not just a few hundred, more like studying 4000 plus births!! I will be sharing this info with my friends who always seem to think that hospital is safer.... Shame governments dont like to let women know this. Perhaps it costs more? [V]

---

I remember reading that it was cheaper for a homebirth than a normal hospital birth.

Can't remember where I read that though!

Ah ha, so that is why epidurals and inductions and the like are so rife in the Portland! The docs must be rubbing their hands with glee. I wonder how medics would change if they were charged for each intervention. Ill bet the section rate would come right down!
All things are clicking into place![]
Mind you, I would have thought the NHS would want to save money rather than spend it like water on things that are not necessary.Ho hum ..

quote:

---

Originally posted by pootle
[br]i was just looking at the statistics and have seen that homebirth is in fact safer than hospital birth in cases when a woman is healthy and having a normal pregnancy. Now, this is very interesting and should be something that the general public are aware of. These statistics are not just a few hundred, more like studying 4000 plus births!! I will be sharing this info with my friends who always seem to think that hospital is safer.... Shame governments dont like to let women know this. Perhaps it costs more? [V]

---

The safest place to give birth is the place where there is least intervention. That's home! Midwives are trying to get this message across but unfortunately it's undermined by people who are desperate to tell their horror stories to newly pregnant friends. People think hospital=doctors=safety. Not true.

I had my first homebirth with my fourth child, last December. Despite the midwife team arriving 30 minutes after my daughter was born, unassisted, on the loo floor it was the best birth I've had. Giving birth alone wasn't planned (the homebirth was), but it also wasn't scary and felt very normal. By the time the midwife team arrived my other daughters were downstairs watching me breastfeed their new sister, and they'd hung a banner outside saying 'It's a girl!' (we already knew her sex so they'd made it earlier in the day). My husband and sister in law were there in the house with me, but I didn't even think about calling them in to the loo when she crowned, it all happened too fast so I just dealt with it. We do know what to do if we don't have anyone else there to do it for us, providing it's a normal delivery.
I'd choose a homebirth again, it was streets ahead of my hospital births. And, if another baby were to arrive as fast as this one, 100% better than giving birth in a car on the way to the hospital! I wish now that I'd had HBD here for my daughter's birth - have they ever had an unassisted birth? I know it's illegal to attend one, but I mean an accidental one like I had?

only illegal to attend one and practice as a m/w if not qualified.

quote:

---

Originally posted by bugchick
[br]I had my first homebirth with my fourth child, last December. Despite the midwife team arriving 30 minutes after my daughter was born, unassisted, on the loo floor it was the best birth I've had. Giving birth alone wasn't planned (the homebirth was), but it also wasn't scary and felt very normal. By the time the midwife team arrived my other daughters were downstairs watching me breastfeed their new sister, and they'd hung a banner outside saying 'It's a girl!' (we already knew her sex so they'd made it earlier in the day). My husband and sister in law were there in the house with me, but I didn't even think about calling them in to the loo when she crowned, it all happened too fast so I just dealt with it. We do know what to do if we don't have anyone else there to do it for us, providing it's a normal delivery.
I'd choose a homebirth again, it was streets ahead of my hospital births. And, if another baby were to arrive as fast as this one, 100% better than giving birth in a car on the way to the hospital! I wish now that I'd had HBD here for my daughter's birth - have they ever had an unassisted birth? I know it's illegal to attend one, but I mean an accidental one like I had?

---

What a fabulous story. Well done you. And how lovely that the whole family were involved. I am in awe of all women, we're fantastic creatures.