Home birth, by yourself?

purpletulip · December 2011

A friend told me that someone she knows is planning a home birth, completely by herself- no midwife or anything, just her and DH. Apparently there's a kit you can order! This is the woman's third child, but this still sounded insane to me and I'm not against home births with midwives.

I was curious if any of you had heard of this.

BFab11 · December 2011

A home birth with a midwife is one thing (what I wanted, but couldn't get DH on board with), an unassisted birth is just dumb, IMO. It's not just about having the proper tools, it's about having the knowledge and experience to deal with complications that may arise. It might not be a big deal or all that dangerous when you have a doctor or midwife there, but with parents who don't know what to look for or all the little signs of distress, it can turn into something way more dangerous.

Annya26 · December 2011

Just asking for trouble IMO.

I would love to do a homebirth, specifically a water birth, but there's no way I would attempt it unattended. Yes I realize that women have babies all the time and most of the time everything is just fine but I can't imagine how I would feel if something went wrong that could have been fixed or prevented. Midwives are trained to recognize signs of distress and handle emergencies, why wouldn't you want someone there just incase?!

crystalw13 · December 2011

Oh hell no, I would not even consider that in a million years. That is just cray cray.

Sascha3 · December 2011

I find that completely irresponsible as a parent. If you have a healthy, low risk pregnancy and want to have a home birth with a midwife, great. That is just way too risky IMO. It makes me wonder if they are just trying to save money and if they even had any prenatal care at all.

laceyann2008 · December 2011

While I'm a firm believer in having the birth experience you want, whatever that may be, I cannot condone free-birthing by choice. Like others have said, there's too much at stake, too many things that could go wrong that they are not trained for nor probably prepared for.

Kristine Schilling · December 2011

just wow... even the cave men had midwives/witch doctors/herbalists or something... as well as being surrounded by other mothers. I hope the paramedics have a quick response time and a hospital nearby.

Brit's Luna154 · December 2011

Sascha3:
I find that completely irresponsible as a parent. If you have a healthy, low risk pregnancy and want to have a home birth with a midwife, great. That is just way too risky IMO. It makes me wonder if they are just trying to save money and if they even had any prenatal care at all.

Pretty much this.

sweetky_06 · December 2011

There was a show on Discover Health about this sometime last year, and they brought up this incident:

https://www.momlogic.com/2009/04/home_birth_advocates_baby_dies.php

I would never forgive myself.

Here's an excellent follow up article: https://crunchydomesticgoddess.com/2009/04/30/home-birth-advocate-janet-frasers-baby-dies-during-free-birth/

Huahine · December 2011

Is she trying to avoid a repeat c-section? I know there are some states where VBAC is nearly impossible to pull off due to malpractice issues and state regulations. And a few of those are also states where certified nurse midwives are not permitted to attend homebirths, otherwise they would lose their licenses. So if you live in one of those (draconian) states and want to avoid what you believe is an unnecessary surgery, you might think that unassisted homebirth is your only option.

However, if I lived in one of those states I would find a midwife across state lines and arrange to meet her at a hotel to deliver.

SmittyPants · December 2011

That is so horribly selfish and irresponsible. The health and safety of your baby comes first and to willingly give birth without assistance puts that in serious jeopardy. What an idiot.

SoonToBeMsP · December 2011

Too risky for me to even think about. I actually get freaked out for her, just thinking about her doing it! Yeah, it's her third kid, but things can still go wrong. ::fingers crossed they don't::

kerryholmes · December 2011

I am quite familiar with the idea and know a few families who have done this. It is called an unassisted birth or UC(unassisted childbirth). The women who choose to do this are more informed and prepared than anyone I know going into a home birth with a midwife, they aren't doing it just cause. I am having a midwife attended home birth and am in no way against UCs, they just aren't for me. I like to have someone to ultimately keep an eye on things and reassure me.

JustSomeChick · December 2011

I am totally for homebirth and birth centers (I'm having my son at a birth center with my midwife, maybe the next one will be a homebirth!) But I just can't imagine unassisted birth being safe. The only situation where I could see it being not totally unreasonable is if you were a midwife yourself. But I think even this is unsafe because diagnosing a problem with yourself could be a problem all on its own.

lp0 · December 2011

Personally I think this sounds insane but whatever works for them I guess. I just know that I would never forgive myself if something happened and I would always question if things would have turned out differently had there been a medical professional there.

Not to mention that I would have to pick my poor dh off the floor because there is no way he'd be able to handle that, lol.

Home birth, by yourself?

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