Gisele and "Birth Without Violence"

AmyRI · November 2012

It appears that Gisele's original blog post has been deleted, so I only have an article talking about the blog post.

Post on Gisele's website calling hospital births 'violence' against women and babies sparks criticism

Read more: https://www.myfoxboston.com/story/20195004/2012/11/27/post-on-giseles-website-calling-hospital-births-violence-against-women-and-babies-sparks-criticism#ixzz2DRjRSW7q

(FOX News) - Gisele Bundchen has again stepped into the controversial territory of home births with the latest blog post on her personal web site ? which she also tweeted out on Monday ? titled "Birth Without Violence."

Her web site's post, written by Equipe ?bersite referencing physician Frederick Leboyer's 1975 book "Birth Without Violence," noted that "childbirth surrounded by interventions and ?violence' is so ingrained in our society, that a humanized birth without unnecessary interventions, at home, in water or squatting is seen as an alternative birth, for hippies or something for Indians."

"Most people are unaware what a birth without violence is like and its benefits to mother, baby, family and society," the post continued. "Many hospitals are like a mass production of babies, where routines are followed and the baby must be born as soon as possible."

Bundchen's espousal of linking a hospital birth with violence has alarmed some who view the practice as dangerous and irresponsible.

"There is nothing intriguing to me at all about home birth. My girlfriends and I delivered in hospitals and we all talked about our great experience. The care for my child was so wonderful in every way that I could not have asked for more and am grateful to the outstanding medical know-how," leading model manager Nadja Atwal, who gave birth to her first child last December, told FOX411's Pop Tarts column. "But this is not about how romantic and cozy we would like our birth to be, but how safe it should be! And when complications arise and you don't have top medical care within reach, it becomes a gamble with the life of an unborn child."

Dr. Shilpi Agatesl says that to call in -hospital birth "violent" is extreme, considering "that there are many provisions that can be made to have an in-hospital birth be both a calm and safe environment without interventions that are not medically necessary." And Marcelle Pick, NP, OBGYN added that "home births have risks associated with them and if there are complications it can be very difficult to get the intervention that you need."

Bundchen, who is married to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, is currently pregnant with her second child and gave birth to her first son -- naturally -- in 2009 at their home in Boston after meditating throughout her eight-hour labor. And her birth beliefs have sparked criticism before, particularly after she declared in an interview with Harper's Bazaar in early 2010 that breast feeding should be a "worldwide law" and that moms breast feed their newborns for "at least six months."

But the world's highest paid supermodel is not the only celeb to be touting home births. Ricki Lake, Demi Moore, Pamela Anderson, Jennifer Connelly, Mayim Bialik, Thandi Newton, Alyson Hannigan, Evangeline Lilly, Maria Bello and Nelly Furtado apparently also went through the birthing process in the comforts of her their own homes.

"Gisele is entitled to her own opinion, and her opinion about ?violent' birth applies to the over-medicalized hospital births over 20 years ago," explained Dr. Sara Gottfried, OBGYN and author of the forthcoming book "The Hormone Cure." "Here's a more responsible approach: create a birth plan, demand patient-centered care, and recreate a sacred, non-violent birth in a hospital. The leading cause of death among reproductive-aged women used to be childbirth, and people like me and other next-generation obstetricians are fully committed to supporting women's choices about childbirth."

According to the latest statistics issued by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), approximately one out of every 140 births in the United States in 2009 happened at home, the highest level since data on the practice began to be collected in 1989. The CDC also found that the percentage of U.S. home births increased by 29 percent from 2004 to 2009, and that home births are more common among women who are over the age of 35 and those who have several children.

While no hard data has been found on home birth mortality rates, the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology has stated that investigations likely underestimate the risks associated with planned home birth, as up to nine percent of women who have given birth before and 37 percent of women have never given birth require intrapartum (during delivery) transfer to hospital ? thus "adverse outcomes among the latter deliveries are attributed to hospital births."

On the flipside, others in health industry agree wholeheartedly with Bundchen's birthing preferences and the growing trend of bringing a child into the world for the comforts of one's own home.

"There is less likelihood of infection. Hospitals are filled with viruses and bacteria, and very toxic cleaning agents. Also the environment (of home) is calming for baby and mother. No cold rooms, no bright lights, no loud noise ? beside mom yelling ? and the bonding is allowed to happen at home," explained Heather Lounsbury, founder of the Los Angeles-based practice Live Natural Live Well. "The post on Gisele's site is definitely raising good points. Using the term ?violent' is going to make a lot of people mad, instead of listening to the valid argument. I'm not sure a model should be giving medical advice, but she does have a platform for raising awareness about the benefits of home birth."

A rep for Bundchen said this is not an argument, and that "everyone is entitled to their own beliefs."

Mrs E in Oregon · November 2012

Interesting, but if she hadn't used the word "Violence" would anyone have read it?

"Gisele is entitled to her own opinion, and her opinion about ?violent' birth applies to the over-medicalized hospital births over 20 years ago," explained Dr. Sara Gottfried, OBGYN and author of the forthcoming book "The Hormone Cure."

This shows me how non-observant this doctor is. Because over the past 20 years the c-section rate has increased, episiotomies have gone up, the amount of cytotec, pitocin, stadol, etc. have gone up. The restriction of food has become obsolete because we no longer knock women out, aspiration of vomit is almost nonexistent in a concious person, as you are during a typical c-section. We could feed pregnant women protein, they need that not glucose from an IV to keep up strength for labor. Forcep use may have gone down but that would be because they move to the vacuum extractor or c-section instead. Women are being forced to have c-sections because of the cascade of interventions that cause fetal distress when really that baby just needed more time and that mom needs a quieter, darker, safer environment. (By safer I don't mean an OB holding her hand, she needs her primitive brain to not feel like it needs to protect that baby by keeping it inside. Dilation checks can stall dilation or worse, cause the cervix to close up a bit.)

As for home birth safety, just look at other countries that have more home births. There is a correlation between increased planned HBs and decreased infant and maternal mortality rates. Home births account for less than 1% of births and are ranked 42nd for maternal death. The CDC even recognized that we have haven't improved our maternal mortality since 1982! Depending on the list you look at for infant mortality we are anywhere from #30 to #50, of first world countries, we aren't in the top 10. So what are we paying for? Not better care for mothers and infants. I hope people stop targeting home birth. it isn't causing our bad numbers if only 1% of births are planned HBs. These women and babies are dying in the hospital or after hospital births.

aylafsu88 · November 2012

I have not heard about the blog but thank you for posting this. I can see where she is coming from because I do think that our society views birth as a scary/violent event. Our society has forgotten that childbirth is a natural biological process and women have been doing it for thousands of years. Instead we view child birth as a medical procedure so the c-section rate continues to climb and more women are being induced when it is not medically necessary. I wish that more low risk women were open to the idea of home births and using midwives in general. However, I do think that intervention and medical procedure are needed for women who are high risk as it is important that both mom and baby are safe. The previous poster (Mrs E in Oregon) has some very valid points and I hope that one day people will be more open and accepting of home births.

jinnymb · November 2012

Regardless of her approach I'm glad women are starting to speak out against how medicinal birth has become. C-sections and other inventions save lives of moms and babies and should only be used in those instances.

I would love to see more hospitals build birth centers attached to them so you can have the best of both worlds.

Veritas66 · November 2012

G is an idiot and i hate celebrities who think they know everything. shes not a doctor. She can go jump off a cliff with jenny mcarthy.

Jenilyn and Matthew · November 2012

Veritas66:
G is an idiot and i hate celebrities who think they know everything. shes not a doctor. She can go jump off a cliff with jenny mcarthy.

Aren't you a gem. Geeze.

AmyRI · November 2012

Thanks for the (mostly) positive discussion...

Veritas, I don't like Gisele's approach to much of anything. But I agree with her basic arguments (pro natural birth and breastfeeding). She doesn't pretend to be a doctor. She just states her very blunt opinions and doesn't usually care what reaction she gets. If you hate her enough to wish she jumped off a cliff, you should have just passed this thread right by.

I hate using the term "Violence" when speaking of all hospital births, or all non-home births. I was really hoping to read the original blog post to see how much the term was used outside of the book reference. I have had a non-violent hospital birth, and hope to have another soon. I agree with the sentiment that medicalization is a negative thing in most instances and is hurting, not helping, mothers and babies... but as one of the previous posters suggested, birth centers can be a great "middle ground." I am too scared to not be in a hospital, but still want a peaceful birth experience and that is very hard to find.

blush64 · November 2012

I had two hospital births and there was no "violence" involved. I enjoyed them very much. Hospitals can be amazing places to give birth and are certainly where you want to be when there are difficulties. To make them out as hell on earth is just wrong.

If home births that go wrong or home births that suddenly need more care are all transferred to the hospital and are then counted as hospital births no matter what happens then the idea that home births are all much safer seems incorrect. It seems rather obvious that hospitals would have a higher mortality rate since all the complicated cases go there.

A breastfeeding law that requires women to breastfeed? I find that ignorant.

If someone wants to promote med-free birth or birthing at home there are positive ways to do it and I don't think this was it.

iris427 · November 2012

I think Giselle gives a bad name to those of us promoting less interventions and increased access to midwifery/safe OOH birth. Can there be violence in birth? Yes. But painting ALL hospital births that way is unproductive and even insulting to mothers and health care providers. We need to be careful about going so far to the extreme of promoting NB that we forget that medical care in childbirth has a place and can be done in a positive and supportive way.

AshasaurusRex · November 2012

iris427:
I think Giselle gives a bad name to those of us promoting less interventions and increased access to midwifery/safe OOH birth. Can there be violence in birth? Yes. But painting ALL hospital births that way is unproductive and even insulting to mothers and health care providers. We need to be careful about going so far to the extreme of promoting NB that we forget that medical care in childbirth has a place and can be done in a positive and supportive way.

Ugh, all of this. I think Giselle's comment about hospital births being violent was very insensitive and ignorant. Just like when people against home births say they are irresponsible and selfish.