As a birth doula and a mother of 3, I find my heart breaking over a story I recently discovered on a blog that I read, Crunchy Domestic Goddess. Janet Fraser, founder of the website Joyous Birth ,recently experienced one of the worst types of loss. During an unassisted (meaning no midwife or doctor present) home birth she delivered her child to discover the baby did not survive birth. My heart goes out to Mrs. Fraser, I cannot imagine the loss and grief she is experiencing.
Janet Fraser's birth has many questioning the safety of home birth, not just unassisted births, more than ever. As a doula, I know that home births can be an incredible and SAFE experience when you have the proper care (midwife or doctor). But... as a mother, I personally have a hard time swallowing the "what ifs" of delivering my own child at home. Where you have your baby is a very personal choice and I believe that every woman should have the right (and knowledge) to make that choice. That being said, I also believe that an unassisted birth, regardless of how many perfect pregnancies and deliveries a mother has had is terribly risky. Every child, every birth, every pregnancy is different. Both mother and baby deserve the care and knowledge of a professional.
The Australian police are investigating Mrs. Fraser's birth to discover if the baby was stillborn or if it was alive upon delivery. If the police discover that the baby was not a stillborn then Mrs. Fraser could face charges of negligence and 3rd degree murder.
I encourage you to read the rest of the story here at this LINK. The Crunchy Domestic Goddess has some excellent points and has written a fantastic article.
What do you think? Would you attempt an unassisted birth?
8 comments:
That is so sad!
Anon- Yes, it really is a terrible tragedy not just for the Fraser family but for the whole home birthing community. :(
It is a tragedy, but in my opinion has nothing to do with wether or not she had a home birth, assisted or not. I read the link as well, and it sounds like the baby was still born. If she had the baby in the hospital it still would have been still born, and no one would be questioning her right now... because the so-called "professionals" presumably did all they could do! The same goes for having a mid wife there. If there had been a mid wife there, she could not have done anything to bring a stillborn baby back to life! This is all assuming the baby was still born. Even if the baby wasn't still born... do we really want this woman to go to jail for the murder of her child when she did what she felt was the best for herself and her baby? I am sure she didn't just wake up one day and say, "Hmmmm, I think I will have my baby at home with out any help from anyone!" To the contrary, I am sure she put a lot of research and inner thought into how she wanted to best have her baby(ies). Furthermore, I think it is horrible some of the things being said about this person while she is trying to grieve the loss of her child and probably dealing with her own guilt. We don't need to add to that guilt by talking about her and sending her to the jailhouse when we truly don't know (and probably will never know what really happened when that baby was born. Sorry for the book, but this situation makes me very sad, and a little angry too, that she could possibly go to jail for this tragic situation, leaving her other children motherless... and now having to grieve for the loss of their sibling AND their mother.
And regarding the question if I would attempt an unassisted birth? Not sure. I have 3 children, all born at home with a mid wife. However, I don't feel there is anything wrong with an unassisted childbirth as long as the mother is confident and their are no health problems. There's my 2 cents (or maybe more!).
I agree it is terribly sad & I pray for her & her family. There are birthing centers who "will" work with moms to try to make the birthing experience easier & more natural . One grandchild was born with midwife (baby needed neo natal unit) & one child is a doula but one twin was sent to the professionals (neo-natal unit). Out of 8 grandchildren - 2 needed "professionals". During deliver needed pretty major surgery due to side ways tear of uterurus - could have been life threatening at home. I favor the choices & the naturalness of births today but not recklessness in any behavior.
But for nichnac to imply it is just as safe to deliver at home alone is irresponsible to all. Yes, if the baby was still born .. they probably would not have been able to help it. But we will never know if a non tired Mom, but a trained professional could have used CPR or other means at home. We will all use platitudes to make us all feel better but what if it was born & could have been helped but due to our own way of thinking it was not helped. Yes women used to do this at home a lot & many more died as did many more children. Everyone has rights but do not endanger others by making it sound like there is a danger to go through one of the hardest physical things in a woman's life. It is a blessing, it can be more natural but "professionals" as used by nicnac are not dirty words. I am not a professional just a grandmother who wants every mother to enjoy her children as I have.
Sorry for my 2 plus 2 cents ...but I love the new childbirth procedures however we are responsible for our choices & must remember the baby may need more care than our homes can give them when they start out their sweet lives. We are responsible to be sure they have every neo natal docor, nurse, nursery to be sure they can survive. My heart goes out to the loss of the family but let's not forget the big picture....look at your sweet children & what would you do to protect them. Bring on the doula, midwives & yes even the dread Professionals. As a mother of 3, I will endure whatever I must to have 3 healthy children. :)
In response to myglorydays post:
I am sorry to hear about your family's unfortunate experiences. In no way was I trying to say that having a baby at home was the right choice for everyone. In fact, I stated that it would be ok only if the mother was confident and had no health problems. Obviously, your family members had things going on that would prevent them from having a home birth, and in that case, it was a good thing that they had access to a hospital and its staff. As far as my implying that having a home birth is just as safe as delivering in the hospital being irresponsible, I am going to have to respectfully disagree. Here is a link to a medical research study done on home births vs. hospital births for you to read. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=99310 And here is an article you may be interested in reading as well: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/55930/home_birth_vs_hospital_birth.html?cat=9. I will let the articles do the talking for me and leave it at that. You said something about a tired mom and not having a professional around to do CPR. How do we know she didn't have someone present that knew CPR? For all we know, her husband was certified in CPR in preparation for the birth. Maybe there is a misunderstanding regarding what an unassisted childbirth really entails. It is usually not the mother in a room by herself. All it means is that there were no doctors, nurses or midwifes present. For all we know, the room was filled with intelligent people. My point is, we weren't there, so we don't know exactly what happened. That was my whole reason for my first post. I just don't think it is fair for us to be making assumptions about this poor woman. Of course there are risks involved in having a baby... I never said there wasn't... but to say that this baby would have been saved if she had it in a hospital is just plain silly, because there is no way for us to know that. That's all. I just wanted to reply since you addressed me a couple of times in your post. I really just wanted to defend this woman who lost her baby and was being attacked. I had no idea I would offend anyone the way I apparently did.
My last comment was not meant to offend anyone. However, our midwife birth was meant to be at home with no complications but only because of bad insurance was it moved to the hospital where the baby needed ICU care. The other births were all completely healthy pregnancies & but I do not doubt that those with home delivery & midwives as a whole are better at taking care of themselves i.e. no soda, lots of veggies & etc. However, you name any subject & I can find the scientific article to oppose it. The all mighty dollar has bought many journalist add that to the number of personal opinions that are written. Just my personal opinion.
There have been many successful home births & I hope many more to come. My husband was one of them but my response was to the pain of the lose of the baby mentioned in the article.
I am not trying to talk anyone out of a home births. I was the 1st woman who's husband was in the delivery room not once but 2 hospitals. I nursed all 3 of my children when nursing was beyond uncool.
I found the overall tone of your post refreshingly gentle and compassionate (even while disagreeing with some of Ms Fraser's choices) compared to others floating around the internet at the moment - but I do have to point out that I don't think your comment that Ms Fraser may face charges of "negligence and 3rd degree murder" is at all correct. There are no laws stating that a woman must give birth in hospital, nor are there any laws stating a woman must have assistance of any type at her birth. Simply having an unassisted birth and the baby dying (whether before birth or during birth) is not a criminal offence. And thank heavens for that, because the day we start legislating the natural bodily functions of a woman is the day we descend into very murky territory indeed.
Anonymous: Thank you for your comment. You are correct that there are no laws (in the USA) that restrict a mother's birth choices, however if the baby was alive at birth, and died after the birth from complications, etc. then she could indeed face both charges. That's what is being investigated currently...when the baby died.
Mrs. Fraser is also not in the US, she is an Australian citizen and that can make things a little different for her situation as well.
We do have several Australian readers, can anyone help shine light on what's happening over there?
Post a Comment