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homebirth is under attack.Submitted by peculiar old bird on Tue, 07/15/2008 - 1:17pm.
have ya'll noticed all the slamming of homebirth going on in the media right now? the ama and acog were threatened by the truths spoken about in the film, business of being born. they have launched a full fledged campaign against homebirth. I think I'm going to mass e-mail this but I'll start with ya'll: The "study" that is constantly being quoted is called, The Pang Study, in midwifery circles (maybe outside, too, but not sure). It was a study done in Washington state. The authors used birth certificates to determine the safety of homebirth. They misuse words, like for example, they say in the study: We examined birth registry information from Washington State during 1989–1996 on uncomplicated singleton pregnancies of at least 34 weeks' gestation that either were delivered at home by a health professional (N = 5854) or were transferred to medical facilities after attempted delivery at home (N = 279). These intended home births were compared with births of singletons planned to be born in hospitals (N = 10,593) during the same years. Birth registry information DOES NOT INCLUDE intended delivery plans. Have you seen a birth certificate before? It doesn't include information like, "the mother planned to birth her baby at home." The Florida Friends of Midwives wrote a response to this study here: http://www.cfmidwifery.org/pdf/pangstudy.pdf And here is the actual so-called "study": http://www.greenjournal.org/cgi/content/abstract/100/2/253 I feel like I need to do something about this. Not sure what, my mind is brewing, though. I also just hate the idea of being associated with a group. No matter how worthy. I know, I have issues. The legitimate study that has been done on homebirth is not even being mentioned: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7505/1416 Go figure. It is frightening to no end that this is happening. I mean, I have always *known* that the medical community lies to the American population but have never seen it happen to something so dear and near to my heart. peculiar old bird's blog | login or register to post comments | email this page | printer friendly version
that was my experience with hb at first, too. i liked the care a midwife gave but was nervous about being at home. its a long sorted story, first i went to a midwife for 3 visits, then an ob, then back to a different midwife at 33 weeks. the only reason i even knew about homebirth was from the couple of earthy punk rock women i knew who had a home birth. it was by chance that i met them and heard of home birth. i ended up having the best homebirth with max and had bella at home without any fear. i know it "isn't for everyone" but there is a side of me that believes it could be "for most," if only we lived in a culture that *supported* it. *supported* the natural process of labor. and *supported* the power that comes with laboring naturally. "We have a secret in our culture, and it's not that birth is painful. It's that women are strong." - Laura Stavoe Harm |
when i started planning births, i loved the idea of a midwife, but a homebirth scared me. there was no positive info about it, unless you were willing to search it out. and, for me, i was too scared of it. i made up my mind to have a hospital birth.
it wasnt until i saw the business of beibg born that i really felt comfortable making the choice to birth at home. not only did i think it was the righrt choice, but i began to look upon hospital births as the wrong choice. i think women, and men, are bullied into believing that the hospital is safer, and cleaner and blah, blah, blah.
its awful that its being trashed by the media. when information is finally availible to those who dont directly seek it out. that movie made me feel so empowered, which is how a woman should feel when bringing in life.
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