re: Freebirthing

Quoting Death by Gradschool:“ Most women wouldn't know the difference. That's why I find freebirthing so damned frightening.”

i find it frightening too..... i'd have at least a midwife there.

Quoting Death by Gradschool:“ Historically, many women and babies died in childbirth. Both instances are far more rare now. I'm not sure how else you can explain this than medical intervention.”

the numbers were around 10% back in the day and several factors have come together to decrease this.

basic hygiene, (doctors actually washing their hands cut infection rates down drastically), improved knowledge base (and the sharing of it).. and yes, medicine is somewhat good at handling higher risk pregnancies, but most pregnancies are not intrinsically in need of medical intervention in the first place. really, where medicine excels in pregnancy-- by comparison anyway, is w/ saving the lives of premature babies.

there's a lot of research out there (read "pushed" by jennifer block for a lengthy discussion of all the research) that indicates that many of the current medical paradigms being practiced in america are unnecessarily dangerous and increase risk of death or injury to both the woman and child.

but again, it's to be expected b/c doctors are trained to pathologize their patients, to solve problems and to fight against whatever is making their patients feel pain,not to wait and work w/ a totally healthy laboring woman's body. that's why the c-section rate is so ridiculously high in this country.

we desperately need to change this fact.

Quoting Mara:“ the numbers were around 10% back in the day and several factors have come together to decrease this. ... [snip!] ... woman's body. that's why the c-section rate is so ridiculously high in this country. we desperately need to change this fact.”

I can see that. And really, I'm at the point where for a normal, low risk pregnancy, I see a home birth with a midwife as a non-issue. A midwife will know when intervention really IS neccessary.

That was a hard point for me to get to with my experience with Caden, but it does make sense.

However, freebirth is something else entirely.

Quoting Death by Gradschool:“ I can see that. And really, I'm at the point where for a normal, low risk pregnancy, I see a home ... [snip!] ... for me to get to with my experience with Caden, but it does make sense. However, freebirth is something else entirely.”

it's not something i would opt for myself b/c i want an outside professional perspective as my labor progresses to ensure we're on the same track-- and i can't imagine having the wherewithal to assess myself in the throes of labor, but if a woman is well-informed and has given birth before at home w/ only a midwife, i'm not going to say it's "wrong" to opt for a free-birth at that point.

my mom did it four times! she wasn't entirely alone though, she just had some church friend there helping clean up and watch the rest of us.