Another week where homebirth has hit the headlines. Although I know lots of things have happened in hospitals all over Australia, 1 homebirth transfer has Obs out of the woodwork making up bizarre figures and generally pushing the line that homebirth is dangerous.
Here’s the deal; If you repeat over and over to the population, homebirth is dangerous and your baby is 4 ( read 2,5,7,27, all figures bandied around this week) times more likely to die, then after a while the message sinks in, no facts necessary, nobody asked for a balancing view, no midwives (who actually attend the births) questioned, just Obstetricians who openly hate homebirth. Why not ask a homebirth friendly Dr like Sarah Buckley? Or one of the many others who quietly support the homebirth community. I can tell you why, it doesn’t create headlines and it doesn’t scare the population into compliance. Why didn’t anyone say, this was a great success, the woman transferred her care as was best to do at the time. No drama no fuss, good care by midwife with joint decision making and collaboration between care provider and woman. Isn’t that what they want?
We did hear the line up to 50% of first time mothers transfer, they mean from birth centre to labour ward. this is because of the draconian rule structure. Homebirth midwives have a transfer rate of 10% and under in this country. Which ties in with the WHO estimate of those who would need help.
I could linkyou to some of the many articles that have been printed this week but the whole reason I have left it until now to blog is to respect a woman who has just given birth and not give them the satisfaction. I can link you back to the SA homebirth study and also to a great post in Midwifery today, it’s a reponse to the recent american study on homebirth.
To finish, Congratulations to Dannii Minogue on the safe arrival of her baby. How sad I feel that her birth has been used as a means to slam homebirth. I’m sure once she has recovered she will stand up and support us.
In the mean time, Nice one posting her stuff onto twitter and giving the bird to the journos waiting outside.
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That article says that they birthed at the hospital. ?
You’re spot on Lisa, my first thoughts on hearing about the whole event a couple of days ago were that firstly it showed things worked really well, but secondly that the media would totally overlook that issue and use it as a beat up. Not so nice to know my cynical thoughts have been proven correct
They had a homebirth transfer. As any woman would if she or her midwife deemed it necessary. A success in every way.
Thank you! A great succinct summary, the logic failure is depressing at the least.
Hi and thanks for posting, Lisa. I make it a point to not really follow the news but this was hard to miss….and yes, disappointing. But, as with most media, it is all about fear and portraying the awful and scary, especially that which is outside of the norm. As a midwife, it is mostly disappointing because for me, it is not about homebirths being carried out at all costs. As you would agree, births take the path they need to take (as does mom and baby) and that is nothing short of perfect.
All power to DM’s hyper-vigilent and talented Midwife – yes a success in every way.
The AMA and RANZCOG wield astonishing power over women, families and midwives here in Australia – who are they trying to ‘protect’ – 1) Themselves? – well even if Aus MW’s get to one day work with as many women who choose home-birth as, say, Holland or Aotearoa New Zealand, we’re still talking a small percentage (sadly), 2) Babies? Well as they ignore their own tool-of-power, Cochrane, and only concentrate on crappy literature from their shrivelled-balled mates, they miss the point that healthy term babies die in modern hospitals after a shit-load of intervention and monitoring.. 3) Women? protect women from making decisions about their bodies and their rights? Protect them from themselves? Protect them from midwives?
Too much political power is in the hands of some of the men and women of the AMA who choose to tell women, our wives, girlfriends, sisters and friends how, when, and where to birth. C’mon Australia, it does not have to be like this.
It is interesting isn’t it, a homebirth transfer causing front page headlines, but we don’t hear of the transfers from birth centers to surgery or labour wards to surgery that happen every day. Are they births gone wrong too? Well I suppose they are when the woman has most often been subject to many unnecessary interventions. What about the cord prolapses caused by doctors rupturing membranes when the foetal head is too high. I’ve seen 2 cases of this in recent years, a reminder why I don’t practice this type of midwifery. Why are the doctors seen as miracle workers when they were at fault for the infants dying in the first place???? Because the parents were naive and believed hospitals were safe all the time. Well done to the midwife who transported with the lovely Dannii, this is certainly not a homebirth gone wrong, but a homebirth gone right. Plan B is always there for a reason, and obviously mother and baby are well and happy with their care. A job well done I say.
Thank you,
I am planning a homebirth for my first and have been quietly worried since Dannii’s story hit the news. If she cant do it what hope do I have? to be reminded that the transfer to hospital was simply a part of the birth and not a failure i have a ‘50%’ chance of experiencing has really helped.
To Kat – do not worry. you have every hope for a beautiful safe birth. the fact that you have planned a homebirth and have the care of a wonderful independent midwife gives you much more chance than if you were planning a hospital birth. the care that you will receive from your midwife during pregnancy, labour, birth and beyond is far superior to what you would get in a hospital. you are giving yourself and your baby the best chance possible. and even when a homebirthing mum is transferred, she can still be certain that she had the best possible care.
best wishes to you
(i had a wonderful homebirth! )
Hey Lisa at least the midwife knew when to transfer the patient to hospital hey.
Hi Lisa,
I am a midwife who has worked in large tertiary level hospitals, and the thing I hate most is the tag “failed homebirth”. Birth does indeed take its own course, and Danni and Kris had a beautiful baby. Well done to them.