The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, of which I remain a member, has once again issued an opinion regarding the safety of home births. Needless to say, they remain fervently against the practice in general. Furthermore, they go on to state that a prior c/section is an "absolute contraindication" to birthing at home. This does not come as a surprise and once again sacrifices their principle of patient autonomy and choice. My only comment here is my ongoing wish that they would come out as strongly in condemning hospitals and their members who won't allow women the choice of a VBAC, therefore, in a major way, forcing them, in many communities, to choose an out of hospital birth rather than an unnecessary repeat c/section. I will read over committee opinion number 476 and see if I can decipher what their "opinion" is based on. The previous statement was based solely on opinion (level C evidence) and not on evidenced based data. In many past condemnations of home birth the trend has been to lump planned and unplanned and attended and unattended into one group which completely skews the data to support their theory. I will let you know. Dr. F
http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr01-20-11.cfm
Welcome to DR. STU'S BLOG. Along with my podcast at www.drstuspodcast.com it is here that I post my thoughts on a variety of topics on the birthing world. Advocacy for true informed consent and respect for individual autonomy are the basis for the musings you will read here. I hope you enjoy while you learn and I encourage you to comment. Please check out www.birthinginstincts.com for information on home birthing with an obstetrician and my latest news and updates.
Just to be controversial, I believe hospital births should be banned. Due to anecdotal evidence from all the mums i speak to, few seem to have had a very good time at all in hospital, and are generally treated much worse than patients who are admitted to hospital for treatments or operations not of the maternal variety. My obgyn decided I was of course going to have a ceaser, because I am small and blonde! The final stage of my delivery was 27 minutes for my first child with no painkillers, I tore, but wouldn't have if they had simply applied a compression heat pack, fortunately i did have a midwife, but even so, she thought my baby was going to drown because she was born with the Caul intact!(superstition??). How dare the obgyn or anyone suggest my body was somehow not capable when I was in good health and strong. Women are designed for this. Let us do our job in peace without cruel and sometime malicious treatments, without the ownership of our magnificent power and strength being constantly denied us. We don't need pain killers and invasive instruments inserted or strapped to our bods, we need sensibility and a whole approach. Not the rubbish that is forced down our throats by people who hardly ever even witness a vaginal delivery! Thank you for your time in these efforts. I respect a balanced approach so much and wish that the powers that be did too. It all reeks of men owning womens bodies...liberation...not yet.
ReplyDeleteCheers from Australia (our c section rate is about the same and midwives are not far off being banned here too).