Well the Senate enquiry went ahead and you can read the Hansard to find out what happened. I decided not to blog it although I’ve read it cover to cover. It feels to me that the government can no longer ignore what is happening. There were lots of relevant questions from the Senators. With the public swell and some backing from other parties there will have to be some movement.
However will that almost be worse? It is important not to lose sight of the real issue, that is the woman’s right to birth at home with a midwife if they so wish. Midwife being described as practitioner on the register.
There is heavy talk of a framework. In real terms this means restrictions. This is where it gets muddled. Are the restrictions to keep midwives safe or to limit the right of women to chose?
The excuse rolled out by most is that midwife need rules to stop the maverick, dangerous ones from killing mothers and babies. But ultimately it’s just to prevent women from home birthing at every opportunity. Will midwives go for this? Will a carrot on a stick be too hard to ignore? (if we get one).
This article by Jan Tritten is one of the best run downs of the constant situation we find ourselves in.
IF midwives accept anything to get on the register where do the women actually stand?
Is it possible to be destroyed for supporting women? Trust me it is. Just as a stillborn baby at home is dangerous and one at the hospital is unavoidable. A baby not compatible with life at the hospital is upsetting but if it happens at home it’s a police investigation. Anyone in a position of authority at the dept of health or high in the health profession has a say and an input and you can be chased out of existence. The women have no say. What is going to change and when?
So what happens to women who have this experience at the hospital and understand that there is a different way?
Will a framework make them pay$30,000 for inciting a midwife to be with them against the rules. I’m sure VBAC is a problem. What doctor who doesn’t allow it at hospital is going to support a woman to birth this way at home?
Oops I forgot to brush my hair. I must be dangerous. Above is an antenatal. Listening to the baby either with a Doppler or pinard isn’t what all clients want and it takes up only a tiny part of the meeting.
Here is this fantastic woman, birthing her baby after months of gaining the confidence to believe in herself after her section because her baby was too big.
A fantastic birth of a 10lb baby.
With research showing that continued section poses more risk than normal birth what evidence based care will actually be used.
Are government policy meeting private? Does the public have the right to discuss and have input into what is happening. i am an invited party to the homebirth policy review. Can opinion be shared on this I wonder? If it can’t why does the privacy act stop it from happening? I must look into this before sharing. Apparently people in high places are reading the blogs of minions and cowboys to see what is happening on the street. There was more than A fair share of passive aggressive intimidation meant for me at the meeting, only picked up by a few but all the same vere scary when you know exactly what they are doing.
- Do you
Homebirth? Share this post with your friends - Recommend on Facebook
- Buzz it up
- Share with Stumblers
- Tweet about it
Related posts:
Policy meetings are sealed by a privacy act? That sounds pretty rediculous to me. I hope you continue to speak out, to let people know what's happening behind closed doors. Voices like yours are the ones which have to continue to be heard as this all unfolds.
Keep going Lisa! Beautiful VBAC by the way. Just lovely!
XxL
Oh Lisa, please continue to battle this.
I had a homebirth through the MGP at the WCH (almost as the first mother to do so but ended up categorised as an "unplanned HB" due to admin issues) and read soooo many of your posts to prepare, to understand the risks as they compare to the risks of a hospital birth and a birth centre birth (because there are always risks). I birthed a 10 pound baby myself (my previous was 10.5 pounds in hospital unassisted but with epidural).
I am still more risk adverse than yourself and other proponents of a homebirth but, my golly, given that a homebirth is, under normal circumstances, with no indications to it being otherwise, safer than a hosp birth (and this has been proven in european countries who practise homebirth as the standard model of care over and over), why on earth do we have to jump through hoops in order for it to be accepted as a normal way of birthing?
I loved loved loved having a homebirth. And I am sure my baby appreciated not being poked in the head. I wrote as much to the senators. Please keep fighting for this to be a normal maternity option (I like that term better than 'choice') for our daughters!
Australian women need and deserve independent options. You can't control and regulate birth services so that there are no longer any options that are outside of the control of the obstetric hierarchy. No matter which way they attempt to do this, and even if they do try some interesting back flips to get homebirth as part of the system … there will still be parents who will realise that their alternatives for safe birthing are being curtailed and they will be force to look outside the system for reasonable alternatives.
Just think, Lisa – in the UK you would be receiving financial incentives for increasing the number of homebirths you do! Here, in this insane system, you just get hassled.
I attended a birth last night (as a midwifery student) which almost bought tears to my eyes. The harshness this woman was exposed to during a forceps turn and birth in theatre because 'babies can't be born in the posterior position and just in case it goes wrong we'll have to do a section'… Of course she couldn't push it out, lying back on the bed with a room full of stangers!!! But I'm just a student, what would I know…
Makes it hard wondering if this really is the right career move for me??? I'm not sure it is after all, especially if the option to work as an independant is taken away from me!
I'm behind you 100% Lisa. Homebirth has GOT to be an option for those who choose it.
Thanks for the link to the Jan Tritten article – you are right, very well said!