Holy cow...alternative births on Baby Story.

andigurl · February 2011

A woman just gave birth in a blow up pool, in her bedroom at her house. Her midwife, midwifes asst., husband, and three children ages 10 and 8 (girls) and 6 (boy) were in attendance (along with the camera crew from TLC I guess).

Wow. Everyone has their choice to give birth as they wish, but that is definitely not an option I want to investigate any further.

LovelyLou23 · February 2011

i would looove to have a homebirth. except A- we live in an apartment, and B- I probably wouldn't be able to get DH on board. everyone has their own preferances.

NJMom050911 · February 2011

A water birth is completly normal, people use blow up pools and they call them Birthing Pools...I would like to labor in a birth pool but not actually give birth in it, and not at home, and not with my kids watching! That's crazy

iris427 · February 2011

andigurl:
A woman just gave birth in a blow up pool, in her bedroom at her house. Her midwife, midwifes asst., husband, and three children ages 10 and 8 (girls) and 6 (boy) were in attendance (along with the camera crew from TLC I guess).
Wow. Everyone has their choice to give birth as they wish, but that is definitely not an option I want to investigate any further.

And what exactly about this do you find shocking?

Aniegbuna · February 2011

iris427:
andigurl:
A woman just gave birth in a blow up pool, in her bedroom at her house. Her midwife, midwifes asst., husband, and three children ages 10 and 8 (girls) and 6 (boy) were in attendance (along with the camera crew from TLC I guess).
Wow. Everyone has their choice to give birth as they wish, but that is definitely not an option I want to investigate any further.
And what exactly about this do you find shocking?

I don't know about her but I found the fact that the woman's children were present to be most shocking. I mean I get talking to kids about where babies come from at a young age but to have them be there when you give birth?? That's too much for me.

andigurl · February 2011

For me, I think it is just a combination of all of it. Home birth? Awesome. Water birth? I've seen videos and heard of it but wouldn't chose it for myself. Small children being present? Not something I would choose for my family. Put all of these things together, it just threw me for a loop. As I said in my original post, good for her for doing what she wanted, it's just not something I would choose for myself.

VaulterMom · February 2011

Aniegbuna:
iris427:
andigurl:
A woman just gave birth in a blow up pool, in her bedroom at her house. Her midwife, midwifes asst., husband, and three children ages 10 and 8 (girls) and 6 (boy) were in attendance (along with the camera crew from TLC I guess).
Wow. Everyone has their choice to give birth as they wish, but that is definitely not an option I want to investigate any further.
And what exactly about this do you find shocking?
I don't know about her but I found the fact that the woman's children were present to be most shocking. I mean I get talking to kids about where babies come from at a young age but to have them be there when you give birth?? That's too much for me.

Agreed! I'm going to be in horrible pain, I don't want my kids seeing that!

Like a pp, I'd love to have a home birth, but live in an apt Sad Maybe next time Smile

KMac2784 · February 2011

kathygrzywnowicz:
A water birth is completly normal, people use blow up pools and they call them Birthing Pools...I would like to labor in a birth pool but not actually give birth in it, and not at home, and not with my kids watching! That's crazy

This exactly!

theaustins05 · February 2011

kathygrzywnowicz:
A water birth is completly normal, people use blow up pools and they call them Birthing Pools...I would like to labor in a birth pool but not actually give birth in it, and not at home, and not with my kids watching! That's crazy

I agree with this, any time my back hurts really bad I lay in my tub and I feel amazing, I think it will help with labor pains. But I wouldn't want to push in the tub...I wouldn't want to be in the tub with it all bloody and yucky.

EJensify · February 2011

I was with her up until the kids were in the room.

MandyPandyBear · February 2011

I saw this episode, I was excited to see something other than the typical hospital birth being shown. I myself am planning on having a water birth although it'll be at a birthing center and not at home.

robbi123 · February 2011

iris427:
andigurl:

A woman just gave birth in a blow up pool, in her bedroom at her house. Her midwife, midwifes asst., husband, and three children ages 10 and 8 (girls) and 6 (boy) were in attendance (along with the camera crew from TLC I guess).

Wow. Everyone has their choice to give birth as they wish, but that is definitely not an option I want to investigate any further.

And what exactly about this do you find shocking?

I was completely weirded out the first time I heard of water/at home birthing but after I watched "The Business of Being Born" it made more sense. I think most of us just never knew anyone who had a homebirth so it sounds very old fashioned/hippy and strange/dangerous until you learn more about it!

Still, not for me but I think it's nice that people have the option!

Gigi2195 · February 2011

I was watching too and I have the same opinion..lol

mrsV719 · February 2011

I wanted a home birth... DH was really uncomfortable with it. So we found a hospital that had more freedom during labor/delivery. Plus MWs who used to work at a birthing center.

I want to labor in a tub- but not deliver in it. My sister had a water birth- she loved it.

The kids thing... IDK. I don't have other kids yet... but I don't think I would want them there during the actual delivery.

theaustins05 · February 2011

robbi123:
I was completely weirded out the first time I heard of water/at home birthing but after I watched "The Business of Being Born" it made more sense. I think most of us just never knew anyone who had a homebirth so it sounds very old fashioned/hippy and strange/dangerous until you learn more about it!

Still, not for me but I think it's nice that people have the option!

I check this out from my library and watched it too! I had no idea it was going to be the way it was but I'm glad I watched it.

kacelle · February 2011

That's pretty common! I've heard of people having water births at home in inflatable kiddie pools with dozens in attendance to celebrate the birth. It's not for me, but I find it intriguing.

iris427 · February 2011

It sounds like a pretty typical home birth to me. I've been at hospital births where the mom had her other kids there. I don't think it's a huge deal. I guess if the only idea of birth that you've ever been exposed to is a husband and wife in a hospital room with no other support system and the mom giving birth in bed on her back, I can see why this would be shocking. But I think it's sad if we only think one way of birthing is normal.

jazzyag · February 2011

One of my brothers was born at home. I was there but not in the same room. I have a lot of friends who were in the room at their younger siblings' homebirths. I live in a fairly crunchy area so it just seems really normal to me. I'm planning a hospital birth with a midwife and having DD watching the birth would not be my choice. I think it would be too distracting for me.

katieguth · February 2011

I saw this episode too. I say to each their own. However, I'm not going to lie that I thought the inflatable pool in the bedroom was strange. (to me...maybe not others.) And there is no way in hell I would want my kids watching me go through something so painful. I would be afraid that it would scare or traumatize them. Just my opinion though. Like I said to each their own!

waterfly · February 2011

Aniegbuna:
I don't know about her but I found the fact that the woman's children were present to be most shocking. I mean I get talking to kids about where babies come from at a young age but to have them be there when you give birth?? That's too much for me.

I don't see what's so terribly shocking about that...but then, I was present for the births of all three of my younger siblings(3, 5.5, and 7.5 years younger than me, respectively). My mom actually got into it with the hospital staff when the older of my two brothers was born because they tried to kick me out, and she changed hospitals(even though it meant changing from a doctor she really liked) for the second brother. My sister was born at home, all three of us older kids were there, and I got to cut the cord. Overall, the homebirth was the least frightening experience because of the lack of needles and the familiar(non-hospital) environment.

Given my druthers, every one of my kids would be born the way described in the OP--minus the cameras, but since I'm high-risk I don't get that option. As it is, for any future kids you'd better believe I will do what I can to ensure their older siblings get to be a part of it. I firmly believe that having been present for three intervention-free births at such a young age is a big part of why I've never been freaked out by the idea of giving birth...I watched my mother do it three times, with little to no trouble, so I know it can be done, and I feel that this is one of the best things she could have done for me, by giving me that knowledge and that experience, and by being my example of "yes, this CAN be done, and it doesn't have to be the scary thing people make it."

LeahRW · February 2011

I wish I could do a home birth, but my insurance won't cover it. At least the place where I'll be giving birth does have nice tubs I can sit in while laboring. As far as kids in attendance goes, I can see how it might seem odd, but I think it's not at all a bad thing. Better that they get a view of how it naturally works than learn some distorted image of the whole process from movies and the media.

amatistajoy · February 2011

There's so much stigmatization/hype/traumatization surrounding birth in our culture. It is a perfectly normal event that doesn't carry so much trauma with it in other cultures. I have a friend who was present at her younger sister's hospital birth when she was young. She wasn't traumatized. If you're not comfortable having your children there, thats perfectly fine. If I had been old enough for my mom to share a natural birth with me, I think it would have been a great experience. I think some of the seperation from birthing experiences, over-active management of births from the medical field has led us to to be afraid of something that is natural beautiful.

pinkflipflops44 · February 2011

That's what mh's cousin's wife did. Much less stressful than her rather rude and invasive hospital experience with her first.

00tedsgirl · February 2011

iris427:
It sounds like a pretty typical home birth to me. I've been at hospital births where the mom had her other kids there. I don't think it's a huge deal. I guess if the only idea of birth that you've ever been exposed to is a husband and wife in a hospital room with no other support system and the mom giving birth in bed on her back, I can see why this would be shocking. But I think it's sad if we only think one way of birthing is normal.

This. I also think it's sad that women think they are going to be in a lot of pain during labor and delivery. DS will be with us as much as possible, but he'll have just turned 3 and has a short attention span.

I have a friend whose 3 year old cut the cord for his brother. It was so cute. The midwife asked him if he wanted to and he said, "I'll go get my spaceship scissors!"

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