<p>"Jennifer Margulis thinks birth should be a private party no doctors or midwives invited. So when her daughter Leone Francesca was born at home last month, only Margulis and her husband, James, were in attendance.</p>
<p>My husband and I were the only ones there when she was conceived, says the 40-year-old writer from Ashland, Ore. I thought we should be the only ones there when she was born.</p>
<p>Margulis is part of a very small but growing number of women who are choosing to deliver their babies at home without the presence of health professionals. Some choose to have a husband or another family member help, while others opt to deliver their babies completely on their own…</p>
<p>The number of home births unattended by either a doctor or a midwife jumped by nearly 10 percent between 2004 and 2006, climbing from 7,607 unassisted births to 8,347 births, according to most recent figures from the National Center for Health Statistics. About 60 percent of the nearly 25,000 home births logged in 2006 were attended by midwives, a figure that experts expect will also rise.</p>
<p>While do-it-yourself deliveries are still uncommon, many doctors and midwives consider them dangerous. Risks can range from hemorrhage in the mother to problems with the babys oxygen supply during delivery.</p>
<p>I wonder if that would strengthen the gene pool…only the strongest moms with the strongest babies would survive…</p>
<p>Of course, my 11lb first child and I would have died, so then my other two would have never been born…but maybe my H would have hooked up with some wider hipped pioneer woman and maybe all would be well (for them…)</p>
<p>The first mom mentioned, the one Northstarmom quotes, says at the end how it was an “empowering” experience, that she learned how strong her body was. Not about how this was the best thing for the baby. That pretty much tells me everything I need to know about people like this.</p>
<p>When my husband and I have kids, I’m all for giving the Bradley method a go and trying to avoid having an epidural… From what I’ve read on the Bradley method, the doctors are often just there in case things start going wrong, and the couple has been trained to go through the birthing process more or less on their own. That seems just amazing to me.</p>
<p>But there is NO WAY ON EARTH that I would skip being in a hospital with a NICU and trained doctors and surgeons around in case anything went wrong. </p>
<p>(Incidentally, I had a nightmare about that a month or so ago, where I was pregnant and I went into pre-term labor and I couldn’t find my husband and the hospital I was at wasn’t prepared for neonatal emergencies… I remember being a little bothered by not having my husband there, but I was positively freaking out about being in pre-term labor without having neonatologists around… <em>Sigh</em>. Late-twenties female hormones, messing with my subconsciousness…)</p>
<p>missypie, I had the same thought about strengthening the gene pool, but I had mental abilities in mind, rather than physical endurance or strength.</p>
<p>Why would anybody with the slightest sense risk a newborn’s health in order to recreate the experiences of pre-civilization?</p>
<p>Hey Missypie–I had an 11 pounder as well! I was about 3 days short of being pregnant for 10 months. Have it alone…fugidaboutit. I found presence of the hospital staff and my doctor “empowering”.</p>
<p>I did the pre-baby class, and read the Bradley book. It sounded really nifty. Happykid was in a colossal hurry to get out so things were not quite as pain-free as I’d been led to expect.</p>
<p>In an ideal world, we’d all pop out our babies without any help. This isn’t an ideal world. Without help, some of us end up dead.</p>
<p>My middle childbirth was that beautiful, not-too-painful, and exhilirating experience that we’ve all been told we deserve. It really was amazing and I’m glad I had the experience. I could have had her at home because it was perfect, but my first and third were slightly problematic and might have been catastrophic without professional help. This is one of those things that I just don’t understand.</p>
<p>+1. I told the anesthesiologist how happy I was to see her when they finally sent her in–on a hot summer afternoon–after 10 hours of labor and very little real progress. After the epidural, I told everyone I felt like a new woman! My D had a huge head, 9 lbs. 8 oz. and head turned in the birth canal so she wasn’t going any further. It was a real shock to me to realize that 100 years ago both D and I would have died. </p>
<p>I asked my dr. (infectious disease specialist) about maternal death rates back then and he estimated 25% during childbirth or from complications shortly after. </p>
<p>My D also aspirated meconium during delivery and had to be immediately suctioned by our pediatrician. </p>
<p>So I found my hospital birth with four drs. in attendance very empowering. I think home births of any sort are completely irresponsible.</p>
<p>Yes. Foiund it very empowering to have the doc and epidural nearby during emergency c-section nobody could have predicted. Found it especially empowering when they kicked my hyperventilating H out of the room, as well.</p>
<p>Same here, zoosermom. #1 was pre-term and complicated; #2 was a piece of cake without any meds. But we didn’t know ahead of time that either would that way. </p>
<p>One of my very best friends delivered her #2 at home, but not by choice. Her labor was just so fast that she couldn’t make it to car, much less the hospital. In telling the story afterward, she said the hardest part was trying not to upset the toddler who was home at the time. She and her husband asked her to stay in the crib but she was old enough to climb out and listen from the top of the stairs while mom and dad brought baby sis into the world on the kitchen floor. :eek:</p>
<p>I can’t help but think that, having a baby at age 40, one would take advantage of every aspect of modern medical care. How many more chances does this mom think she’ll get? To worry about the invasion of privacy is a distraction, focusing on minutia and missing the big picture. I do think pregnancy hormones give us women a healthy dose of optimism and visions of rosy futures, but that’s why we have a dad involved, to look at the practical issues. I had three uncomplicated pregnancies and wanted to have the last at hiome, but my husband absolutely would not agree. That was the end of the argument - it was his baby, too, after all. Both parents are way out in left field for allowing this.</p>
<p>I used Bradley for both babies - certainly not pain free, but drug free which is what I wanted. First took a full 24 hours, second zipped out in two. Second was more painful than the first. I had what I considered an ideal situation for the second, a nurse-midwife who worked out of a group OB practice. They were available for back-up and as it happened one of the doctor’s in the practice was around for the birth. (He asked our permission to observe - he was interested in learning more from the midwife.) Both my sister-laws had midwives with planned homebirths - both ended up with c-sections in hospitals for the first one when labor didn’t progress, and then did fine with subsequent homebirths.</p>
<p>I think not having at least a midwife present is crazy. Not going to pre-natal visits is criminal.</p>
<p>As a 30±year OB nurse, let me say this: childbirth seems all “natural” and “romantic” to do at home, with only your husband in attendance, as long as everything goes smoothly. But, there’s nothing natural and romantic about giving birth at home, with only your husband in attendance, when your baby comes out blue, needs resuscitation, and no one there has any oxygen or suction! No thanks. I’ll opt for hospital or birth center births with the certified midwife or nurse-midwife (and a neonatologist down the hall—just in case).</p>
<p>I’ve given birth to eight children. One (3rd child) was a home birth, with midwife. 1st, 2nd, and 4th were natural childbirth in hospital. ( I chose natural childbirth and home birth more for financial reasons than any other. . .and I think financial/lack of insurance is a factor in a lot of these cases. I also know many women in rural areas choose home birth due to distance from hospital, as well as financial reasons.) </p>
<p>Though home birth was a good (peak, intense) experience for me, I would not necessarily recommend it to others. (I had severe bleeding after two deliveries, and can see the benefit of being in the hospital.)</p>
<p>By the time I had my 5th child, I had insurance and wanted to try an epidural. Listen to me young ladies out there–the epidural is God’s gift to women! If you have a chance to get one, by all means–get the epidural! Truly, it is foolish not to. Do you like pain? I didn’t think so. (If you want to try natural childbirth, don’t try it with first delivery–first labor is usually longer and more painful.)</p>
<p>BTW, H and I actually delivered our 4th, 6th and 8th children (these were planned induced labors, doc was in hospital, but down the hall, nurses had left the room) by ourselves. If you want a do-it-yourself delivery, chances are good that you can get one in the hospital because OBs miss A LOT of deliveries.</p>