Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Free Birthing?

When expecting I become addicted to TLC and DHC's birthing and baby shows. I can't help myself. I watch them for the full 9 months and as soon as the baby is born my interest is over and I don't watch it again until the next pregnancy.

There's a new show called Free Birthing. I watched it the other day and am struggling with the idea of it. Basically women decide either with or without the approval of their partner and families to deliver their child completely on their own in their own home.

This is different from having a mid wife and birthing at home. These individuals have decided that the best place to have their child is at home and the best person to deliver that child is themselves or their partner. No nurse, no mid wife, no doctor, no one with formal training.

My biggest concern is that having had several children of my own you just don't know what's going to happen during birth or right after. Elijah was fine at birth and then underwent surgery within 36 hours to save his life. Graham came early and aspirated and couldn't breathe on his own.

I can understand wanting to be in control of your own birth experience but at the same time recognizing your own limitations could save the lives of your child and yourself. Our good friend had a normal delivery but then started bleeding and it quickly became and emergency situation. We are living in an era where our infant mortality rate is at an all time low. In generations past it was expected to lose children and mothers in child birth. Why turn down the assistance that has proven to save so many lives.

Hmmm, interesting.

2 comments:

Jen said...

no way! Bring on the people who know what they are doing!!

Anonymous said...

NOT worth it. If something terrible happened, you'd be having a guilt trip that would never end. Not saying we should place our hope in doctors rather than in God, but if you don't have to do it alone, I wouldn't. The lives of these darling babies is sooo precious, we should not do anything to risk it. We obviously are not God and frequently do not know that what we are/are not doing is dangerous, but those things that we do know we should do/not do. People are aborting babies so that they can be in control of their own lives, why risk not having professionals around just to be "in control"? Maybe they can't save a baby, but odds are, they know a LOT more about it than I would.

I am so happy for you! I have a good friend who just lost her would-be 5th baby at 13 weeks. Another lady just found out her baby's heart is not developing correctly and may not live to full term. I'm glad that you got good news and are doing well. I haven't seen any updates about how your hip is doing, but assuming fine.

Isn't the weather awesome!!!! I was getting soooooooo sick of the clouds/rain.

Teresa