Freebirthing

Brittany Goodwin · October 2008

I just saw a preview for a show on this topic on Discovery Health.

Apparently, these women decide to give birth with no Dr.'s or midwives, no doulas, no painkillers, no nothing. Just them and their partners.

Has anyone heard of this or considered it? I was thinking of going natural, but I hadn't heard of freebirthing until tonight.

sunnyday016 · October 2008

I've only heard it on Discovery Health (I love that channel!). It seems waayy scary and pretty dangerous, because if something went wrong with the labor or with the baby once it was born what would these people do? I know that women have been giving birth for thousands and thousands of years, but in the past a lot of women and babies died in childbirth! Not so sure why you'd risk it when you don't have to...? Seems stupid to me.

Brittany Goodwin · October 2008

That was kinda my thinking too...not that you have to be drugged up or in a hospital..but why would you want to risk the complications?

houndbaby · October 2008

They can always call 911 if something goes wrong I guess. Dh has a friend who is a firefighter and they get called out to home births pretty frequently when people start bleeding like crazy and freak out.

JillBean78 · October 2008

I would never do that. I'd consider a home birth with a midwife, but I'd never actually plan a birth where it was just myself and husband who know nothing about anything medical. Anything could go wrong at anytime and I think doing a freebirth = stupidity.

TimingisEverything · October 2008

I've heard of it but have never considered it. There is no way I would be able to handle something like this. I think everyone has a right to do whatever they want and if you can do this and want to, great. But it isn't for me.

Mrs.Pro · October 2008

i agree, i think that someone there should be trained to at least know what to do if something does wrong. There are a lot of midwives that let the fathers complete the last few minutes of delivery, so that it is them that delivered their child. That can be a good alternative. I think that if anything were to go wrong, how would one forgive themselves? It would just weigh on my mind. My mom gave birth at hom w/ one of my brothers and they guessed him to be 2 lbs smaller, well he was 9lbs 9oz and they had a really hard time getting him out bc my mom is so small. i just think that i would have a better peace of mind knowing that someone is there incase something goes wrong or one of you start to panic.

Erin Mary Ackerman · October 2008

I just wanted to add to a pp that MW's do a HELL of a lot better at getting a large baby out of a small pelvis than obstetricians, who instead of having experience in that area, usually do a c-section.

When my son was being born, and his head was out and shoulders stuck, the OB resident who came running in suggested pushing his head back in and doing an emergency csection.

The MW performed the Gaskin Maneuver, the only obstetrical maneuver named for a midwife, and was able to corkscrew him out using counter pressure.

He was 10.8 lb, btw. Thank god for MW's.

Jessimurph · October 2008

Is the opposite of this expensivebirthing?

Pumpkin111 · October 2008

Jessi, LOL.

Mrs.Pro · October 2008

BrahimBride:

I just wanted to add to a pp that MW's do a HELL of a lot better at getting a large baby out of a small pelvis than obstetricians, who instead of having experience in that area, usually do a c-section.

When my son was being born, and his head was out and shoulders stuck, the OB resident who came running in suggested pushing his head back in and doing an emergency csection.

The MW performed the Gaskin Maneuver, the only obstetrical maneuver named for a midwife, and was able to corkscrew him out using counter pressure.

He was 10.8 lb, btw. Thank god for MW's.

that's what she had to do w/ my mom too, it can be scary.

TheJohns · October 2008

sounds like what wild animals do. i would not go for this

mesr · October 2008

Go to unassistedchildbirth.com for more information on the subject, plus videos and pictures. I think it sounds like a really special way to give birth to a baby. But I personally chose not to go with this approach because I have never given birth before and don't know what I'm in for. I also would not be able to handle any complications that might occur. Having a skilled midwife present will make both DH and me a lot more comfortable.

The subject is also discussed in the book Pushed, where the author describes how some women feel like unassisted childbirth is their last option.

___Sunshine___ · October 2008

Jess that is great! Big Smile

Erin Mary Ackerman · October 2008

Michelle Duggar could probably freebirth during an off turn in a game of Scrabble...

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