Why are reporters so credulous? Why don’t they ask hard question? Why do they fall for smoke and mirrors?
That’s what I’d like to ask the long list of journalists who take Ina May Gaskin at her word and never investigate. Samantha Shapiro is the latest reporter to allow herself to be hoodwinked by Ina May Gaskin in the article Mommy Wars: The Prequel: Ina May Gaskin and the Battle for at-Home Births.
Let’s get something straight: Ina May Gaskin has blood on her hands, and not merely the blood of her own child sacrificed on the altar of homebirth. Gaskin presides over a large multi-faceted business empire comprised of trade, propaganda and lobbying organizations, all with one purpose in mind: allowing uneducated women like herself to provide substandard medical care to pregnant women while ignoring the growing pile of tiny bodies.
In discussing homebirth, there is one question that MUST be asked and answered. How many babies die at the hands of homebirth midwives? As far as I can tell, Shapiro didn’t ask, wasn’t answered, and didn’t bother to investigate on her own.
It’s not like the data isn’t available:
The latest CDC figures (publicly available on the CDC Wonder website) show that planned homebirth with a non-nurse midwife has a mortality rate 600% HIGHER than low risk hospital birth.
Nearly all the existing scientific studies, as well as state, national and international statistics, show that planned homebirth increases the risk of perinatal mortality 3-7+ times higher than low risk hospital birth.
Colorado has had a rate of homebirth death that exceeds that of the state as a whole (including premature babies and women with pre-existing medical conditions) AND has risen in every year since they licensed homebirth midwives in 2006. California has a homebirth death rate that is double that of low risk hospital birth. In Missouri, the risk of intrapartum death at homebirth is nearly 20 times higher than hospital birth. Oregon has received complaints on 19 deaths, nearly 4 times the rate expected in the years the data was collected. And North Carolina is vying to be the homebirth death capital of the US: they had 5 publicly reported homebirth deaths last year for a rate 12X higher than low risk hospital birth.
Studies from the UK show that homebirth increases the risk of poor perinatal outcomes. The data from Australia shows that homebirth increases the risk of perinatal death. The data from the Netherlands shows that low risk birth with a Dutch midwife has a HIGHER death rate than high risk birth with a Dutch obstetrician. There are one or two studies from Canada that demonstrate that homebirth rates can be safe when transfers during labor exceed 40%, a truly massive transfer rate.
The Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), the organization of American homebirth midwives started by Gaskin, has collected death rates of 24,000 planned homebirths attended by their members. During the years they were collecting that data, MANA told their membership it would be used to promote the safety of homebirth. Once they analyzed the data, they reversed themselves. MANA refuses to release the number of those 24,000 babies who died at the hands of homebirth midwives. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that MANA’s own data reveals appallingly high rates of perinatal death.
Shapiro ignores this mass of data. Indeed she never even bothers to look for any data. Instead her piece contains passages that could have been lifted directly from Gaskin’s promotional literature.
To her credit, she acknowledges that Gaskin has no training of any kind, that one of her own children died at homebirth when she refused to seek medical attention for him and that The Farm is a new age cult, but Shapiro gives Gaskin a pass on far more than safety data.
Shapiro does not mention (and perhaps does not know) that Ina May Gaskin is a feminist anti-rationalist. Feminist anti-rationalists dismiss science as a male form of “authoritative knowledge” on the understanding that there are “other ways of knowing” like “intuition.” Many are post modernists who believe that reality is radically subjective, that rationality is unnecessary and that “including the non-rational is sensible midwifery”
According to Gaskin:
… Pregnant and birthing mothers are elemental forces, in the same sense that gravity, thunderstorms, earthquakes, and hurricanes are elemental forces. In order to understand the laws of their energy flow, you have to love and respect them for their magnificence at the same time that you study them with the accuracy of a true scientist.
The invocation of mysterious forces, “energy flow” and intentional biologic processes marks her as a garden variety charlatan. Yet reporters like Shapiro are loathe to question her grasp of medical reality.
How much blood does Ina May Gaskin have to have dripping from her hands before journalists will think to ask about it? How many babies have to die at homebirth before it will cross the minds of Shapiro and her colleagues to investigate Gaskin as the deadly charlatan that she is?
I’m afraid that the only thing that will shake journalists out of their complacency is the death of a celebrity’s baby at homebirth. Sooner or later that is going to happen, and journalists will “discover” that babies have been dying preventable deaths at homebirth all along. Until then, they won’t ask the difficult questions; they’ll simply accept what Ina May Gaskin says and reprint it wholesale.
Lmfao. 600% higher mortality rate for home birth than hospital birth?! Yea, i think you got that backwards
You think? Now, that’s too complex an activity for an Ina May Gaskin’s worshipper.
Don’t LYFAO. Take your head out of it and read the stats, don’t blindly believe in the words of a liar and sexual predator. That’s what your goddess Ina May is. But again, you’ve already proven you’re incapable of thinking, so…
Its hard to take someone seriously who doesnt site their resources for their information. You are an idiot.
So CDC figures aren’t enough evidence for you? How about MANA’s own data, which has since been released and has confirmed everyone’s worst fears about the death rate at home birth? Ina May’s own disasters at “The Farm” are right there on the public record for anyone to see.
Also: it’s “cite.” “Cite” your sources. Which you should also do, especially if you’re coming here to criticize and insult.
It’s always the five-year-old posts … and they never go to the posts full of studies and citations, they just assert that there are no citations on this one post without looking around it.
you are crazy lady. Ina May is an amazing women.
You have not a clue as to what you are talking about try looking up the movie (the business of being) people like you have blood on your hands for spreading this propaganda driving people to a hospital where people go to die look up the movie vaxxed western medicine has been lying to you! Had my baby girl at home will be doing the same for my next baby as well doctors only look at you as pay check
Yes, rather than relying on the scientific studies of the last 40 years or more, we should rely on movies.
I’m watching Back to the Future Part II right now. I must go out and buy a sports almanac and look for a flying DeLorean so I can become wealthy. It’s in a movie, so it must be true.
Actually, the turd that wrote this article is the one not relying on good info. Homebirth has a MUCH lower mortality rate than hospital births
Prove it!
It doesn’t. But again, realizing this requires some thinking which the adoring fans of the sick sexual predator simply aren’t capable of.
You make a nice parrot, though, so hush little baby, don’t you cry.
How much lower?
Right! And look, she is not alone! Now the British NICE has blood on their hands too !!! It MUST be some worldwide children murdering conspiracy! Perhaps secret Herodes order? Babies are so happy, to have people like you, to defend their right for safe and peaceful C-Section birth! Look what the baby-killers published in the official guidlines for English health professionals (and they did that despite your honest claim that: “Studies from the UK show that homebirth increases the risk of poor perinatal outcomes.”, shame on them ! ):
“1.1.1 Explain to both multiparous and nulliparous women who are at low risk of complications that giving birth is generally very safe for both the woman and her baby. [2014]
1.1.2 Explain to both multiparous and nulliparous women that they may choose any birth setting (home, freestanding midwifery unit, alongside midwifery unit or obstetric unit), and support them in their choice of setting wherever they choose to give birth:
Advise low‑risk multiparous women that planning to give birth at home or in a midwifery‑led unit (freestanding or alongside) is particularly suitable for them because the rate of interventions is lower and the outcome for the baby is no different compared with an obstetric unit.
Advise low‑risk nulliparous women that planning to give birth in a midwifery‑led unit (freestanding or alongside) is particularly suitable for them because the rate of interventions is lower and the outcome for the baby is no different compared with an obstetric unit. Explain that if they plan birth at home there is a small increase in the risk of an adverse outcome for the baby. [new 2014]
1.1.3 Using tables 1 and 2, explain to low‑risk multiparous women that:
planning birth at home or in a freestanding midwifery unit is associated with a higher rate of spontaneous vaginal birth than planning birth in an alongside midwifery unit, and these 3 settings are associated with higher rates of spontaneous vaginal birth than planning birth in an obstetric unit
planning birth in an obstetric unit is associated with a higher rate of interventions, such as instrumental vaginal birth, caesarean section and episiotomy, compared with planning birth in other settings
there are no differences in outcomes for the baby associated with planning birth in any setting. [new 2014]”
Just look for yourself: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg190/chapter/1-recommendations#place-of-birth
By the way, NICE stands for The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. It is an independent organisation, set up by the Government in 1999. NICE decides which drugs and treatments are available on the NHS in England and Wales.
I wonder. How do you feel about Nurse Midwives? Midwives with a BSN or MSN? Ina May Gaskin is has her MA, CPM and a PhD but it doesn’t look like she has any formal nursing training(?). I am a nursing student planning on getting my BSN then my MSN specializing in midwifery.
Mostly, it’s the having a baby outside a hospital that gets Dr. T so riled up. She says the rates of home and birth center are quite a bit higher than in the hospital. (I don’t really understand the research myself, so I have to go with trusting professionals) That, and when midwives *in* hospitals start getting too overconfident or too caught up in the whole “natural birth” thing and don’t call the ob soon enough when the crap hits the fan.
Ina May has a PhD? I’ve not heard that before. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to the dissertations abstracts right now to see if it is legit.
According to the biography on her webpage, she has an honorary PhD from the Thames Valley Univeristy in London so you won’t find a dissertation when you look.
I’m guessing it’s some anthropology or something? Clearly not a medical/science topic, right?
Doesn’t really say:
http://inamay.com/biography/
She had blood on her hands, quite literally, by commiting the abominable surgery aka “circumcision”. It is good to observe that her activities are being submitted to scrutiny.
You commented on a three and half year old article to say this?
Get a fucking life.
Somebody is suffering from compulsory Hexagonadal-Octacollism in conjunction with Diphyllotrosis var.deformans here, and it is not me! Now, get a lucking five, Dear friend
I want to frame this and put it on my wall…
It’s always funny when a raving intactivist flies into an OB’s blog. I wonder what the key word was here. Blood?
Maybe he couldn’t get onto Lawrie’s rant.
http://birthstorymovie.com/about-the-farm-midwifery-clinic/
http://kk.org/mt-files/writings/why_we_left_the_farm.pdf
How can I find this article credible when you have ads for quick fix fat burning pills and “60 year old grandma looks 30”? I agree that home birth should not be performed by unqualified, inexperienced people, but there’s no 1 best way to deliver, and blanket advice is always inappropriate. Also, when she was talking about birthing mothers being elemental forces, which is probably from Spiritual Midwifery, she was not speaking as a doctor or really even a midwife, she was speaking as a student of nature; she’s a hippie (duh!), and quoting her appreciation for nature is not a credible attack… If you have something constructive to say– with facts and statistics, then do that, don’t just call names. This article doesn’t provide expecting mothers with any information. “this person is wrong” is what you said. Provide resources, not trash talk.
“If you have something constructive to say– with facts and statistics, then do that.”
You’re in luck – this site is absolutely loaded with factual information and references. You just have to read more than one blog.
If your basis for credibility of the posts is the nature of the surrounding ads, though, you might not appreciate the scienitific evidence.
The ads are from Disqus. Dr Amy has nothing to do with their content.
” If you have something constructive to say– with facts and statistics”
The Farm “study” with 17 baby deaths between 1971 and 1989 among 1707 women who have given birth there. That’s a horrific 1/100 death rate by their own admission: http://www.thefarm.org/charities/mid.html
And here is the fudged data version:http://www.thefarmmidwives.org/preliminary_statistics.html
“Total accepted for care: 2,844 Births completed at home 2,694”
Notice how neonatal deaths are reported for ONLY 1,083 labors. These horrible outcomes, which are the consequence of the substandard care that Ina May Gaskin and her cult followers provided, warranted excluding close to 2/3 of births to come up with “Neonatal mortality 1970-1979 2 of 1,083 labors.”
They limited the number of births to only ten years out of forty years, and they limited it intentionally for the period during which there were no autopsies, no follow ups – so if Ina May wrote stillbirth due to congenital anomalies it was the cause, end of story.
Additionally, they were able to exclude any births they felt like out of the total because there never was any outside review of the *preliminary* report.
Laura, maybe you’d like to look at today’s post.
It’s about a UK hospital where 3 women and more that 20 babies died in a period of a few years..
A major review has concluded it was because midwives worked beyond their level of competence, didn’t refer sick or risky patients to medical staff and basically prevented women and babies receiving appropriate, timely, effective treatment. This was largely because they were so invested in the idea of normal physiological birth that it was seen as a goal in its own right, rather than a means to achieve a healthy baby.
Of course, your comments would then appear to be in rather poor taste, as they’d be appearing under a photograph of a woman weeping over the body of her baby son who died due to midwifery neglect and mismanagement and who would have lived if his infection had been diagnosed and treated appropriately.
He wasn’t meant to die, or supposed to die. He was allowed to die because midwoves didn’t intervene.
His name was Joshua Titcombe. He would have been six this year.
I completely understand where you’re coming from. Here’s the flaw with using that story as your case against midwives: That was a small number of women delivering with midwives (not to suggest that those lives don’t matter, because ALL lives matter). Most midwives do know when it’s time to transfer because something has gone wrong, which by the way would go wrong at a hospital. Properly trained midwives work to keep their moms healthy and maintain low-risk pregnancies by ensuring they’re getting enough nutrients and getting to the root of problems (more often than not, it’s caused by diet and lifestyle), rather than masking them with medication (but again, recognizing when medication is needed). Just like there are over confident, intervention happy doctors that shouldn’t represent all doctors, there are over confident midwives who shouldn’t represent all midwives.
You say how many died with midwives, not mentioning cause of death. First of all, those deaths could have been something like Trisomy 13 or 18, where the babies can’t survive outside of the womb, and no doctor can save them – meaning they would’ve died at the hospital, too. You want to scare people away from birth by saying how many died, yet can’t tell how they died. Second, you failed to mention how many mothers and babies died in hospitals under the exact same circumstances as those surrounding the midwife assisted births.
“Could have been”. Really? I thought midwives swore left and right that they only delivered the lowest risk of the lowest risk women. If they cannot diagnose congenital anomalies incompatible with life, that’s not a glowing recommendation.
And even if those deaths WERE something like Trisomy 13, it clearly wasn’t ALL of them, as the picture of the baby from the today’s post shows. Generally, hospitals don’t do investigations on the death of trisomy babies, yet more than 20 babies are considered to have died PREVENTABLE deaths in this single particular hospital under midwife-led care. Sorry, Laura, no trisomy here.
I find your line about “properly trained midwives” to be particularly disingenuous. Midwifery is as midwifery does – and before being pressed very hard by this recent report, Cathy Warwick who’s one of the FACES of midwifery showed that she only cared about midwives’ employment. If properly trained midwives exclude higher risk patients in advance, then why is their death rate acceptable only in a study that has much stricter criteria for inclusion than real life?
As to your line about things going wrong in a hospital, give me a break. Is this a strawman, or are you really this stupid? No one claims that shoulder dystocia would have been prevented in a hospital- but death or brain damage once it happened might have been. Same thing with emergency C-section. Problem recognized at hospital, c-section done, damage prevented or limited. Problem recognized at home, time lost for transfer, c-section done, damage having a higher chance of NOT being prevented or limited.
Do you really say that women should be totally cool with their babies dead or disabled, or their selves dead or disabled because hey, the event could not have been prevented at the hospital, although the outcome might have been? I’d think it’ll be a cold comfort for women to know that it wasn’t the lack of knowledge but the lack of resources that did it, so the midwife is not to blame.
ETA: I just read your last posts. Yes, you think so. You’re all about strawmen, angel midwives, and doctors who cannot hold a candle to them. To you, it’s all about midwives, so I guess it makes sense to believe that mothers won’t mind a preventable death all this much, as long as it isn’t the midwife’s direct fault.
Woman, have some intellectual curiosity! Go and read the piece in the Guardian or on the BBC news website. There is a wiki page if you search Furness Scandal!
None of the babies who died had lethal abnormalities!
British women are offered quad screening and not only are most fatal trisomies diagnosed antenatally, but very few British parents opt to continue affected pregnancies. Forget that line. These were all healthy, term babies.
The official report has listed how and why they died- hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy, AFE, eclampsia, haemorrhage and sepsis being the major causes.
The official report has stated that the deaths of 11 babies and 1 mother were completely avoidable.
Furness hospital delivers over 1000 babies a year.
At present the Farm delivers 10 babies a month, at its busiest it was 30 a month. If you want to get snippy about “a small number of women delivering with midwoves”.
Also, do you even know the mortality rates of Ina May’s birth attendance? Look it up. You really put your foot in your mouth there. Yes, some babies are incompatible with life, and mothers can die in childbirth. When thus happens naturally, even being in a hospital wouldn’t save them.
AFAIK Ina May’s individual mortality rate is not available. However the neonatal mortality rate from The Farm (Ina May’s cult compound) as a whole is substantially worse than comparable risk hospital stats.
Really? What are the numbers?
I’ll save you the hassle of doing actual research.
http://www.thefarmmidwives.org/preliminary_statistics.html
0 maternal deaths, and 2 neonate deaths in 30 years. WAY less than at a hospital!
And you believe it because they say so? Really? They lost a baby just a few months ago, woman who came all the way from the Netherlands to give birth there, because she believed the lie that they’d never lost a baby.
Just to clarify. That couple is originally from the Netherlands but has lived in the US for some time. They did travel to deliver at the Farm but from the Cincinnati area rather than as originally thought.
No, that’s false. The Farm Study actually shows a high death rate:
http://homebirthdebate.blogspot.com/2007/06/farm-study-classic-case-of-deception.html
1. How does one die unnaturally during childbirth? 2. Women and babies don’t just up and die during childbirth for no reason. Even amniotic fluid embolisms, which are freak occurances and always fatal outside of a hospital setting, have about a 50% survival rate in the hospital. 3. I don’t believe for a minute that Ina May’s own baby wouldn’t have survived had he received proper medical care. How could she possibly know whether he would have survived if no doctor was consulted?
Dying of natural causes versus due to unnecessary medical intervention.You’re correct, women don’t just die for no reason. Sometimes even with the best medical care, they wouldn’t make it, making it no one’s fault – doctor or midwife but there are babies born with conditions where they are incompatible with life and won’t survive anyway.
Were you there when Ina May’s son was born? I wasn’t, so I can’t say much about it. But I can point out that there was medical intervention, which frequently leads to complications with birth and postpartum health. So how do you know that he would’ve had complications if she had given birth at home? Chances are, she’s confident that there wouldn’t have been any because she knows that the problems were directly related to medical interventions. I wasn’t there and haven’t looked into it, so I don’t know for sure, as I’m sure you weren’t, either.
Here’s a good rule of thumb: real professionals do not dismiss deaths with cavalier statements that “some babies (or mothers) die.” Real professionals conduct investigations, root cause analysis and change procedures.
Only quacks excuse deaths.
No one is excusing deaths. But realistically, there are illnesses that cause death. Illnesses that you, as an OB, cannot prevent. Tell me, how would you prevent neonate death if the circumstances were Trisomy 13 or 18? You can’t cure that. The baby would unfortunately die and everyone would have to accept that and mourn the loss. It’s incredibly difficult, but it’s all one can do.
YOU are excusing deaths. We’re not talking about congenital anomalies when we talk about preventable deaths at the hands of midwives. We’re talking about fetal distress, abruption, uterine rupture, etc.
Joshua Titcombe didn’t have Patau’s Syndrome or Edward’s Syndrome though, did he?
He had septicaemia, and would have survived if he had received IV antibiotics when his parents first told the midwives that they felt he was unwell.
Guest formerly known as Laura
“The baby would unfortunately die and everyone would have to accept that and mourn the loss.”
Where is your empathy?
I hope that you do not have to face loss of any kind any time soon. And I hope that once you do have to deal with that part of reality personally, you understand why the words you have posted here in the comments section of this website are offensive.
Oh please, DO NOT use babies born with *genetic* conditions that are often incompatible with life to try to prove a point about preventable neonate deaths. DO NOT. That is opportunistic preying on the suffering of families to further your nonsensical agenda. Dial it back and have some respect.
A patient of mine is mourning the spontaneous loss at a pre-viable gestation of her baby, who was subsequently found to have a non viable abnormality.
“Accept that and mourn the loss” is easier said than done.
I hope you’re not actually involved in any kind of birth or healthcare work, because I’m not sure you actually get how devastating the loss of a wanted child can be, not just for parents, but for siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles.
Never mind how much worse it can be to know that your child could have lived, should have lived, but didn’t. To know that someone, who you trusted to know better, messed up.
And that is what the rest of us are talking about.
People dying because someone messed up their care.
Mistakes being made.
And you know who is more likely to make a mistake and kill or maim someone that had an excellent chance of living with timely intervention? A midwife.
And keep in mind that real healthcare providers aren’t even content in accepting congenital effects. There was a great commercial running on Dr Radio (XM 81) for a while, with the soundbite, “Nowadays, there are more adults with congenital heart defects than there are children.”
That’s because actual medical people are doing what the can to prevent deaths even from congenital problems! They don’t accept this “some babies just die” crap. They are still trying to prevent it.
And btw, I mentioned finding root causes for illness that leads to complications, then using that knowledge to cure the illness. You mask symptoms with medication and then intervene. Midwives find the root cause, help women find solutions, thus preventing a condition from worsening and complicating pregnancy. THAT is how maternity care needs to be.
Sure doctors never cure anything … tuberculosis, pneumonia, bacterial meningitis, gonorrhea, any bacterial illness you care to name. American medicine routinely cures previously deadly conditions like appendicitis, ectopic pregnancies and obstetric hemorrhage. Better yet, it can completely prevent many viral and bacterial scourges through vaccination. It’s not a coincidence that American lifespan has increased from 48 years to 77.7 years in slightly more than a century. Much of what routinely killed Americans is now routinely cured.
In fact, cure is so routine that these illnesses rarely enter American consciousness. No one worries about dying from tertiary syphilis, diphtheria or rheumatic heart disease. Those diseases are routinely prevented or cured in their early stages.
Midwives cure NOTHING. Then when babies and mothers die, they utter self-serving nonsense like “some babies are meant to die.”
Oh Really?
Let’s use the illustrative example of pre-eclampsia, eclampsia and HELLP, shall we?
From patient.co.uk
“The aetiology and pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia still remain poorly understood.
It is characterised by suboptimal uteroplacental perfusion associated with a maternal inflammatory response and maternal vascular endothelial dysfunction.
The placenta has a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia.”
You’re absolutely right-doctors give treatments like magnesium sulphate, anti-hypertensives and blood products to mask the symptoms of stroke, seizures and DIC. They intervene to deliver babies before maternal organ failure or placental dysfunction kills them.
What do CPMs do? Suggest, to women who are already leaking protein in their urine to eat high protein diets or maybe to use a magnesium lotion or take an Epsom salts bath. Those women get worse, because those “treatments” don’t work. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they stroke out. Sometimes their babies die.
You are stunningly ignorant.
Really, you know NOTHING,
Thank you for taking her to task about this. I think My husband could hear my eyes rolling after I read her nonsense.
Ok, so what is the root cause of a breach birth, and what is the proper, non-intervention solution? Gestational diabetes? Spina Bifida?
“mask symptoms with medication”
“midwives find the root cause”
Evidence of specific examples, please, with outcomes.
If she didn’t publish it, it almost certainly isn’t true.
Where are your references to your information? You can’t write a persuasive piece with ZERO citations to your research or studies… Midwives have been around since biblical times. OBs have been around since the early 1900s. I trust women who trust women’s bodies to birth the way they’re meant to. Not OBs who have to be in control of the most natural thing in the world – something that has serious implications when controlled and intervened.
“Midwives have been around since biblical times. OBs have been around since the early 1900s.”
Sexism has been been around since biblical times. Women’s right to vote has been around since the early 1900s. So I suppose that you won’t be voting as you prefer the good old days?
I see your point. And no, I don’t vote. But for a whole other reason!
In biblical times women were the property of men. Do you espouse returning to that as well?
felony?
Probably because the government is illegitimate, or if our Guest is female, she believes her husband, as head of the household, should take responsibility for this.
Just be glad at least half the people with these beliefs are not being counted at election time. It’s like the Tea Party on steroids.
“And no, I don’t vote”
Why not?
Who is providing the meaning in ‘to birth the way they are meant to’? Some God/Allah/sky friend of choice? Mother? Mother’s family? Father or his family? Community?
And if that’s code for no interventions beyond cinamon breath and whatever other useless nonsense birth hobbyists have to offer, then those who seek that kind of meaning can take their chances with having a dead or broken baby or mother. Which I have no problem with, provided they understand that a baby getting stuck is fixable in hospital; that a baby with breathing issues or other health problems can be treated and helped if not cured in hospital; and that serious conditions can be diagnosed and managed to optimise outcomes if there is proper medical attention given, as opposed to ignoring problems and then saying ‘too bad, quite sad’ after entirely predictable bad outcomes.
And please tell what are the ‘serious implications’ of OBs controlling (I’d say guiding and advising, since patients are free to ignore advice without penalty, but happy to adopt your words for this conversation) and intervening in pregnancy and childbirth? Well mothers and children? Oh the horror. What’s a few casualties when all your freedom is at stake, hey Laura?
My body birthed exactly the way it was meant to–by c-section.
After an experience with severe preeclampsia, I do not trust my body anymore… I thank my doctors for not trusting it either and intervening. You have no idea what you are talking about and I am glad you don’t, I do not wish what I suffered to my worst enemy, but please, stop saying nonsense. Pregnancy and childbirth can and do go wrong (as any other body function) and it is awful when things go south with a young healthy woman.
Hi Laura,
” Midwives have been around since biblical times. OBs have been around since the early 1900s”
Woulld you mind telling me when maternal and perinatal mortality started to drop to the low levels developed countries see now?
Thanks!
There is a lot of talk about doing the research and being scientific in the comments. Well here is one study that supports what Ina is doing.
A M Duran.
The safety of home birth: the farm study. American
Journal of Public Health March 1992: Vol. 82, No. 3, pp. 450-453.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.82.3.450
Oh wow a single study that is old enought to have graduated college by now that was given with no explaination of the objective, method or conclusion of the research. I am super impressed. It is not like medicine has changed much in the last 23 years. And a single study is enough to overturn years of research that confirm current medical consensus.
I have gravid multips who are the age of that study.
I think you are the problem, not Ina May. You are not in touch with intuition, you are operating from executive order thinking and are causing problems with your unfeeling words for countles women. Birth is and always has been a natural process, not a medical emergency. I am angry that you hide behind a medical degree and pass judgement so carelessly on midwives. Roll up your sleeves Doc and work side by side as a student with these midwives then you have the right to an opinion. Until then you are only using sensationalism to aggrandize yourself, you are not offering credible information, even with a Harvard degree.
First when making decisions on medical care and treatment of women (or anyone else for that matter) it is best to “executive order thinking” instead of “this feels right to me.” bith has is and always has been dangerous to both women and babies. I suggest you walk through an old cemetery to get a feel for how dangerous this “natural process” is. Nature is not a benevolant deity broken bones, and disease are “natural processes” too.
Why should Dr. Amy “roll up her sleeves” to practice with uneducated practitioners that offer substandard care. Dr. Amy has probably been responsible for thousands more births than Ina May and she invested in an actual medical education so she could handle just about any problems she sees. Why should she work with a woman who just decided “I got this bith thing down” dispite the fact that she doesn’t know what a cervix is?
Do you know the natural mortality rate associated with completely natural, 100% intervention free childbirth?
Do you know how many times that death toll is greater than the current maternal mortality rates in the developed world?
You don’t and yet you are here selling something a thousand times more deadly as an ideal to be adhered to.
When it comes to my baby and me, give me “executive order thinking” any day. I have no use for your intuition. Cold, hard evidence is what I want. And the whole “birth is a natural process” thing is BS. Bodies go wrong every day. Every. Day. And I hope that not only do doctors not work with (homebirth) midwives; I hope HB midwives are outlawed and prosecuted. (Don’t worry–prosecution is a natural process.)
If I would have listened to my intuition during my pregnancy I would not be able to type this comment because I would be six feet under… Some people with executive thinking and actually very nice words managed to save my life and my baby’s life and brain function… I think that you have no idea what you are talking about. Pregnancy and birth can and actually do kill young healthy active women like me.
Knowledge and intuition are not enemies. They work together and enhance each other. Without actual, thorough knowledge of the matter (theoretical and practical knowledge) even the most intuitive person can be easily misled, miss important ponts, make terrible decisions. This is true in any field, and all the more so when the matter is complex and the moment is hectic and critical like labour and delivery.
Ina May is a wonderful human being! Home birth is a beautiful, natural thing. This site is just fear mongering. For anyone who is pregnant and reading this site in search of factual information, please look elsewhere. This “Skeptical OB” isn’t even a practicing doctor anymore and she only sites heavily skewed information.
Rest assured that people have been giving birth for millions of years and we truly can trust our bodies to know how to do this! Don’t listen to the negative bile spewed here.
A wonderful human being?
http://www.skepticalob.com/2013/06/would-you-hire-this-midwife.html
Yes, a wonderful human being. http://youtu.be/oXfIVs3fsTY
A woman who allowed her controlling druggie cult-leader husband to order her to have her premature child at the side of the road, watch it die without seeking any medical assistance and then actually bury it right there by the side of the road too and continue on their “glorious” path.
Wonderful indeed. I’ll make sure I tell my daughters all about how empowering and feminist those actions of hers were.
That sound you just heard was my head banging on my desk.
And it’s “cite” not “site.”
So she is using the word appropriately. She is not citing a reference, she is referring to the web “site”.
Read the rest of the comment, in which Jade claims Dr Amy “sites” heavily skewed information.
No, you idiot. She uses “sites” as a verb, not a noun.
Lol!
I know a lot of wonderful human beings. That doesn’t mean they’re qualified to make decisions about the well-being of babies and mothers.
How many women and babies have died in those millions of years? Bodies are not trustworthy. Don’t listen to the catchy BS spewed wherever you’re reading.
Home birth, hospital birth… birthing is just plain risky. But it’s a personal choice and with that choice comes the acceptance of the “what ifs”. NO ONE is guaranteed a safe passage, it is the luck of the draw. Some folks prefer hospitals, and yet accidents do happen and mothers and babies do die. Just like giving birth at home. You may have facts to back up your stance, but they are one-sided…you lack is insight. What really stands out here (the deeper thrust of your words) is someone who is afraid to be wrong and therefore must attack all those who are against her point of view. I’m sure you are a lovely person, I can tell you are passionate about what you do and what you believe in, but there’s always room to share the floor with other options such as home births.
And you are drunk on NCB koolaid. The “luck of the draw” is what you get with home birth, nothing more. You have expertise, education and technology on your side in the hospital. I’d take that any day over a crap shoot (home birth).
Seems like you are well aligned with the author which means that there is no point in engaging in a reasonable discussion with you. Good luck going through life with your closed mind!
Yes, I am definitely aligned with Dr. Amy.. homebirth KILLS babies and mothers.. ie- Maria Zain and many more.. there is no “reasonable discussion” regarding home birth unless you ignore the facts and continue to pretend it’s safe.
That’s a broad statement don’t you think? Are you implying that every birth that occurs in a hospital is safe? Can you back that up? I’d like to see the numbers if you can…
I can back it up in a variety of ways. Let’s start with this:
Nice chart. What is the time span for this? It clearly looks like it may have been over the course of 100 years?
What I think you are missing is that I’m not saying home births are safe and guaranteed. There is an inherent risk. And I can appreciate you thinking one death is too many. But that does not mean that hospitals guarantee a safe birth. Remember, when you point one finger, three are pointing back at you.
What I am saying is that with a trained midwife you can have a safe birth – and yes, that means you may have to go to a hospital if complications arise. Expert midwives and OBGYNs can exist in unity! Work with each other. Is that too much to ask?
So if never smoking cigarettes can’t guarantee that you won’t get lung cancer, does that mean that cigarettes are safe? According to you, it does.
Bit of a base reply for a doctor. I expected more from someone of your standing. Good luck living your narrow little life!
I’m just pointing out that your argument is fundamentally illogical.
If you run away as soon as anyone challenges your beliefs, you’re the one living a narrow life, not me.
Yeah, it’s easier to insult than to actually address the point.
My grandmother died of lung cancer in June 2014. She was a heavy smoker most of her life. What’s unusual is that the type of cancer was the type that second-hand smokers get. I would have thought that she’d get the first-hand smokers’ type.
“What I think you are missing is that I’m not saying home births are safe and guaranteed. There is an inherent risk”.
Uh, we already know that home births are unsafe and highly risky.
“And I can appreciate you thinking one death is too many. But that does not mean that hospitals guarantee a safe birth.”
I think I can “safely” say that a hospital birth is a much safer birth.. and I’ll take safer any day..
“What I am saying is that with a trained midwife you can have a safe birth”
Not at home you can’t.. no matter how trained your midwife is.. if a life-threatening situation occurs that requires immediate treatment only available in a hospital setting, it doesn’t matter who is presiding, someone is going to die.
If that chart is not enough for you, dare go bigger then – WHO estimate is that truly natural birth without any interventions kills 1 000 – 1 500 women per 100 000 births. You know, the kind of birth we should “trust” and exactly the ideal that “our bodies were made” to achive.
My country has over the last five years seen c-section rate rise steadily to over 30%, and maternal mortality rate drop significantly from 21 to 14 deaths per 100 000 births.
You can do your own math.
YOU are the one that parachuted in here talking about the “risks” of homebirth and hospital birth…and you don’t actually know ANYTHING about the risks? You haven’t read any of the relevant literature published in just, say, the last YEAR?
I suggest you start with anything by Amos Grunebaum, EDUCATE yourself and THEN start talking. Talking before you’ve bothered to read anything is foolish.
I’m not spouting any facts. I’m simply stating my point of view. I never said I was an expert either. I’m not here to say that the author is totally wrong etc. What I think you might be interpreting from what I’ve written is that home birth is the only way to go. That it’s completely safe and without risk and that hospitals are horrible and doctors are bad people. Not true in the least. I see you are more angered by this than interested in having an engaging discussion. So I’ll disengage now. Have a great day!
So you hold an OPINION that you cannot support with FACTS? Nice.
You realize that’s exactly the reason why we CAN’T engage in discussion with you? We prefer FACTS to OPINION.
Flounce away.
Sigh. Another person who thinks we’re interested in her point of view. For the most part we are scientists and medical professionals on this site. We’re interested in science and facts.
Chantal- we couldn’t care less about your “point of view.” Quite frankly, unless it’s backed up with real data, it’s useless.
And she asked me to “back up” my statement that home birth kills moms and babies.. jeez!
a bit pretentious from someone who doesn’t know the difference between cite and site. Passing on a judgement from on high.
Oh the irony. PrimaryCareDoc used “site” correctly, in reference to this website.
And even more pretentious from someone who will cite a secondary source about a study that was as a primary source presented on this site when it came out back in 2009.
You need to update on your science. Manners too.
My god. You are so fucking stupid it’s amazing. I used “site” correctly.
MLA
(Modern Language Assoc.)Works Cited
Wallis, J. “Cutting Edge. Planned Home Birth Versus Planned Hospital Birth.” Midwives 12.5 (2009): 28. CINAHL. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
you want science here it is.
Srsly?
http://www.skepticalob.com/2009/09/new-canadian-study-is-bad-news-for.html
Hey, you said it, not me….
And so is everybody else. But apparently, you don’t like that.
So typical. You come in here with baseless nonsensical opinions, get your ignorance exposed, and then run way crying about the meanies who won’t accept your bullshit. Poor Chantal…
You think you’re special, but you know what? We’ve seen a hundred like you before. You’re all the same.
It’s called RELATIVE RISK. Yes people die in car accidents wearing their seatbelts, but the RELATIVE RISK of that happening compared to those that aren’t wearing seatbelts is much LOWER.
Yes, babies die in hospitals – though they are predominantly premature, no prenatal care, congenital defects, etc, not HEALTHY TERM babies – but the RELATIVE RISK is MUCH lower than comparable risk homebirth.
You know who isn’t afraid to be now wrong even if that means babies will die? Homebirth midwives.
http://www.fromcallingtocourtroom.net
Written by homebirth midwives for homebirth midwives. Eye opening
Birth means risk. What I do appreciate is that midwives are aware of this and can admit it. They aren’t pretending to be able to fool death. Healthy babies are born at home and in hospitals all the time. The main reason I commented was due to the fact that the author is pushing homebirths as dangerous and reckless when in fact they are no more dangerous and reckless (30% c-section rate isn’t reckless?!) than a hospital birth! I’ve had the pleasure of knowing both sides of the story and can attest that I appreciate elements of each (after 5 days of labour my midwife told me we needed to go to the hospital. I trusted her judgement and we went. There was no ego. Just common sense. She was aware that the baby may become distressed and wanted to ensure the proper instruments and help were in place.) I will definitely check out the site, sounds interesting.
Which part of homebirth dramatically increases the risk of perinatal death do you have trouble understanding? Or do you simply refuse to believe what the data show?
Perhaps you’re coming from a different perspective – is is that midwives where you practice are not fully trained? Are they not experienced enough to know when medical intervention is necessary? Just curious. My midwife knew and made the arrangements. The hospital I went to works with midwives as well. I know the U.S (optically speaking) isn’t very open to this though, that may be why there is so much aggression around this topic…
Dr Amy only talks about the midwives she worked with in glowing terms-they were all CNMs, educated and trained to a high standard. Lately midwives from the UK, Australia and New Zealand have been parachuting in and by their comments, show that education does not do any good if you believe birth without interventions should be the goal and pain relief is bad.
Many of the midwives doing home births in the USA are poorly educated, and don’t know how to recognize the signs of a problem. Others recognize problems and choose to ignore them until they turn into emergencies.
But even the best cannot provide the same safety as hospital birth, because birth can go wrong in a single minute.
Therein lies the problem. I’m not from the U.S so I can’t talk to that. It also depends on the mother. Some women are just as headstrong to stay home without intervention. Sometimes that choice leads to disaster. And yep, things can go wrong very quickly. I do know that my midwife came prepared with certain meds etc. to deal with certain medical situations. I did my homework and I knew I wanted to work with a midwife who was informed and well trained. I’m not adverse to hospital births, but I did not want one. I ended up getting one after all, but that’s just the way it was. The key point for me was that I was open to do whatever needed to be done to ensure a safe birth.
“I’m not from the U.S”
Then perhaps you should educate yourself about US homebirth before pretending to know anything about it….
The key point for us is that first, it’s the US homebirth we generally discuss here and second, it’s impossible for a midwife to ensure a safe birth when after the mother’s DEATH, a trained midwife feels that she, the midwife, is the victim, because the bereaved husband somehow forgot that his wife had a “really lovely spontaneous birth at home” and listened to her, the midwife, when she told him over the phone that transfer wasn’t necessary because her, the midwife’s husband, would not have listened to the midwife but to his wife when she told him, “I want to go to the hospital.” So she, the midwife, was wronged, the poor dear.
And no, that did not happen in the US but the UK where midwives are so well trained and so compassionate as to feel that a father who lost his son to a preventable death with midwives was a bother with his pecky insistence that risk mattered. Here…
http://www.skepticalob.com/2014/07/uk-midwives-treat-a-loss-father-with-contempt.html
We aren’t very “open” to it because the midwives here are ignorant, untrained and brash. Oh yea, and they kill babies at a much higher RATE compared to comparable risk hospital birth. THAT’s where the aggression comes from – DEAD babies and people like YOU that defend the women that KILL them.
only opinions have been shared I checked the literature and I haven’t found this data! It is made up in your minds. This is really misleading information. You need more facts.
Please share this amazing information.
Only proper scientific studies count – no bullshit please.
You need to lay off of Midwifery Today in order to find real , scientific data on homebirth.
Five days of labor. You are lucky to be alive and lucky your baby tolerated that. Meanwhile if it took the midwife that long to suggest you go to the hospital, there was most definitely ego involved. I do know both sides of this debate, I trained as a CPM and have attended many home births.
I gave you an abridged version. The full story is I wasn’t in hard labour until the last 24 hours. I don’t know many midwives who will show up at the first stages of labour and wait it out. I had a Doula with me as well during that time – who incidentally was a trained nurse. So no – no ego was involved. Thank you for pointing that out so I could clarify the statement! 🙂
Was this a CPM or nurse midwife? A CNM with hospital privileges usually just checks and when things aren’t progressing transfers the patient and attends her in hospital, where pitocin can be run and the baby properly monitored. Please don’t tell me your midwife just sat in your house “with woman”, taking naps and helping you take walks to get things going. Unless your doula was an L&D nurse who was currently practicing, not impressed. Doulas are not there to give medical advice or monitor anything. They give backrubs, help you remember how to breathe (funny how that totally leaves when a contraction hits and you need to be reminded to breathe!) and just support.
Doula was a L&D nurse. Not all home births are of the crunchy granola kind :). From memory, I remember the midwife monitoring my progression, doing a couple of sweeps and just letting me get on with labour. I appreciated their presence and felt I had made a good choice. I was well informed and knew what I wanted. I was also open to the idea that I may need to go the hospital – which happened! The point of this is just to say, we can’t demonize one profession. It’s ridiculous. Some folks prefer one way over the other. Some people are hardcore and don’t want to even see the other point of view. That’s life! The real point is that there should be choices available to a pregnant woman. Not everyone feels comfortable in a hospital and not everyone feels comfortable having a home birth. I think we can accommodate both, don’t you?
Choices ARE available to every woman. But every dangerous choice is not a valid choice. Just because a woman wants to risk her life and her baby’s life doesn’t mean that the medical establishment is obliged to help her do that.
“I think we can accommodate both, don’t you?”
Can you be more specific about what you mean by accommodating both?
Sure, we can accommodate both. Like, I can’t take away a woman’s choice to homebirth and in fact, I wouldn’t want to. But I won’t try to accommodate her choices by pretending that homebirth is equal to hospital birth in terms of safety. If that disturbs her feeling comfortable with it, sorry.
If she wants me to accommodate her choice of having a particulat experience and not taking the “risk” of that horrible C-section (which ISN’T 30 percent, no matter what you think), exposing herself and her baby to much greater risk, sorry again. I won’t support it. Not every choice is equally valid and deserving admiration just because someone made it.
As to MDs, hospital-based midwives, and L&D nurses accommodating it, they ARE doing that already. By trying to save every woman and baby rushed to them after a botched homebirth. What should they do to accommodate it more? Attend it when they don’t feel it’s safe? Be a backup to it when they don’t feel it’s safe? Send an ambulance on standby at the door of Her Highness, just in case she needs them? Fuck all those sweet old ladies and victims of driving accidents, the homebirther should be accommodated first.
Not fair. Not feasible.
Well said.
Since doulas are not supposed to be giving medical advice, I don’t know why it matters what her other credentials were. I think that feeling comfortable is sometimes the last thing anyone should be concerned with, I don’t like being a patient at all (I am a nurse) and would like candles and aromatherapy because they are cozy but that really shouldn’t be a deciding factor when it comes to where you give birth.
perfect
“Birth means risk. What I do appreciate is that midwives are aware of this and can admit it. They aren’t pretending to be able to fool death.”
Really? With a high school education and a few births under their belts, a home birth midwife isn’t pretending to be able to fool death? Well, they are, at least in the US. And they DON’T admit it. They either blame the mother, either “she didn’t believe enough” or chalk it up to “some babies aren’t meant to live.” I wonder if you would feel the same way if it was YOUR baby that died a preventable death in an attempted home birth. Would you say,”my midwife wasn’t pretending to fool death and I wasn’t either.”
Here’s a scenario:
A mother in the hospital, having a completely natural, non-medicated labor is pushing and her baby’s heart rate drops to 85. After 4 minutes, it isn’t recovering. She is rushed across the hall to the C/Section room and the baby is out in 3 minutes and is OK. Would this baby have survived home birth? Maybe, maybe not. IF he lives the chances of brain damage are very high.
Is that a risk you are willing to take? If you are, are you willing to accept full responsibility for the consequences? Because your midwife will probably wash her hands and blame you. If you try to force accountability, you will be shunned by your home birth friends and your midwife will then be posting Facebook requests for funds for her defense. However, no one will be rushing to campaign for you or your baby. Your midwife will then be one of the “Sisters in Chains.” This is the reality of home birth in the US. Unfortunately, most home birth mothers don’t understand it until it happens to them personally.
I see you didn’t read all of the other points I made. It’s impossible to have a decent conversation with someone who isn’t willing to meet me in a peaceful way. I’m not saying anything inflammatory. I chose a homebirth knowing fully that the outcome may not be safe. AND I chose a midwife because I trusted her instincts to know when medical intervention would be required. I was and am open to both professions. I know that hospitals are very important in saving lives – especially during difficult births. But I also know that many folks have safe home births. No one is right or wrong here. We just have different points of view. I’m glad the scenario you described above went well btw. I also think you are being rather narrow minded about what credential a midwife has. A high school education and a couple of births under their belt is a bit of an exaggeration, no?
“A high school education and a couple of births under their belt is a bit of an exaggeration, no?”
Actually, no it’s not. Are you even remotely familiar with the requirements to attend homebirths in the US? Prior to 2012 a high school diploma wasn’t even a requirement. The criteria were “strengthened” to mandate a high school diploma. In most states attending just 25-50 births is all that is required to practice independently.
So no, it’s not an exaggeration at all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwives_in_the_United_States
You trusted your midwife’s instincts? I’d prefer to trust in a healthcare provider’s professional judgement rather than sheer instinct but I guess I’m funny that way.
Oh I did read all of your other points and understood them completely. No one accused you of being inflammatory. I don’t agree with you about home births. I am blunt and you didn’t like what I had to say, so your response is to say it’s “impossible to have a decent conversation with someone who isn’t willing to meet me in a peaceful way.” I have a difficult time being “peaceful” when it comes to unnecessary death and injury. The truth is not always pretty and I don’t apologize for it. I have worked in the US and Canada so I am well aware of how both systems work. Midwifery “education” in the US is laughable at best, as you have since learned from my fellow posters. The system is better regulated in Canada and the midwives are better educated. Patients are usually brought in early, when mom and baby have the best chance of survival. However, I still contend that homebirth is unsafe, and for the very reason I cited in the example above. If, knowing these things, and being fully informed you still want home birth, that is your choice and you are fully entitled to that. Just don’t expect those of us who have had to try to “fix” the consequences of a home birth gone wrong to be “reasonable” about it.
Incredible, nurse midwives have a bachelor of science, and an advanced masters degree in midwifery. You don’t know what you are talking about. The Midwives in USA are well trained whether trained as a nurse midwife or as a lay midwife. Your words are inflammatory because you need to learn more. You are simply spouting off all the allopathic myths that breed fear so people will continue using Doctors. Do your research.
You do realise that the majority of “midwives” in the US, particularly those who do home births, are not nurse midwives, right? Lay midwives can practice without a single degree and rather limited training.
In MANA study ( which was voluntary so your illiterate next door birth junky self-proclaimed natural birth expert lay midwife probably did not bother with supplying data for it) there were 432 homebirh midwives taking part, and only 44 of them had CNM/CM credential.
The final sample included 16,924 women and 16,984 newborns, and only 1595 births were attended by a CNM/CM.
Smarty Tourtle that means that 90% of homebirths in US are attended by midwives that are so lacking in skills and training that they would not be allowed to come near pregnant women anywhere else in the developed world, and if you did not know that please learn more before you accuse people on here of being inflammatory. In your own words, do your research.
If you had actually read my post, you would have realized I did NOT mention CNM’s. I worked with CNM’s for years and I am quite familiar with their far superior qualifications and education compared to pathetic, lay or home birth midwives who masquerade as “birth workers.” . Please see yugaya’s response below. She is absolutely spot on. It’s YOU who needs to “do your research.”
” It’s impossible to have a decent conversation with someone who isn’t willing to meet me in a peaceful way.”
You are being obnoxiously aggressive in communication if you insist on people behaving within what you yourself define to be ” decent” or “peaceful”. Conversation takes two sides.
I can’t imagine knowingly choosing an option that gives my baby or me a comparatively good chance of injury or death. The problem is that you don’t know if you’re going to have a “difficult birth” until you’re in the middle of it, and in that moment, the last thing I want is someone’s intuition or “insight.” I want someone with extensive training and actual medical experience.
“Birth means risk. What I do appreciate is that midwives are aware of
this and can admit it. They aren’t pretending to be able to fool death.”
Actually, that’s EXACTLY what they do. That’s where ridiculous mantras like “trust birth”, “women are made to birth”, “your baby knows how to be born” and “babies die in hospitals too” come from. A complete and utter disregard for the risks of birth.
No a 30% C-section rate isn’t reckless since it comes with a very low mortality rate. But then you seem to value an unscarred abdomen over live babies.
Homebirths are no more dangerous and reckless than hospital birth? By what measure? Are you comparing rates of c-section and epidurals? Because yes, there are fewer of those for women planning to birth at home.
My question is what are the comparative neonatal death rates. When similar populations of women are studied, home birth has consistently produced a perinatal death rate 2-3x that of hospital birth. This is regardless of country. The only studies that show otherwise have either gamed their numbers or are under-powered to evaluate differences in perinatal mortality.
My personal preference is to reduce the big risks first – and there isn’t a bigger risk than death. Permanent disability is a very close second. Once those rates are comparable, then we can talk about how many c-sections are “too many.”
just a point- you mention dutch births. i’ve lived in holland – it is completely out of the ordinary to have your baby in hospital there. women for the most part (unless there is a complication) have their babies at home. people thought i was weird to even question it when was there. so yes if an ob was there rather than a midwife then then of course there would be a better outcome for a delivery that had gone wrong- just as there would be in a hospital. it has nothing to do with it being at home. i’m all for personal choice but if home births were intrinsically dangerous then why would a whole countries medical system support them?
Lobbying. It’s the real Business of Being Born. There is a lot of money to be made in the natural birth/home birth industry.
It’s not just the births “that had gone wrong” though. Studies have found that LOW RISK births with midwives in the Netherlands have higher death rates than HIGH RISK births with doctors. It absolutely is the education level, the location and the inherent danger of birth itself.
Surely it therefore has everything to do with being at home unless you can have an OB at the home of every mother giving birth? That is impossible so next best thing is go to a hospital where one is available if needed.
Well, I am certainly glad that I never had an OB who spewed such trash talk, whether it be about Ina May Gaskin or any other. I find the tone of your article frightening and inflammatory. I can’t speak to the accuracy of the statistics cited, but I walked away from a big city hospital orientation class required for giving birth there after the whole class was paraded past rooms with open doors where women were in labor without any regard for their privacy. It was a big red flag to me about the level of care and compassion I could expect. I had two home births with midwives. I was familiar with their training and experience and we all did just fine.
You realize this is a personal blog and not a private consultation with an OB patient, right? I assure you that Dr. Amy didn’t talk to her patients in the same manner as she writes on her blog.
And the plural of your anecdotes is not data. Just because YOU and YOUR babies were fine doesn’t negate the mountain of data (including MANA’s own study) that clearly indicates the dangers of homebirth and the hideously higher death rate at the hands of homebirth midwives.
Babies are dying. THAT is frightening and inflammatory. Why aren’t you bothered by it?
ETA, if you’re bothered by trash talk – have you read Ina May’s book? Reads like a trashy novel. Filthy descriptors for parts of the female anatomy I’m too ashamed to retype here. You really want to stand next to that woman?
The alarmist language you have chosen here is disturbing. You are incorrect in your assessments despite your prestigious education. It is sad that you are a woman and doctor perpetuating fear of birth. I would venture to say she has helped many more women have a positive and healthy birth than you ever will based on your scare tactics. Shameful.
“You are incorrect ”
Care to state in precisely which way, with documentation?
Or do you prefer ad hominems that prove that you don’t actually know what you’re talking about?
The odds, for the majority of women, are for them coming out of childbirth alive themselves, without surgery, and with a live baby. (Are the majority happy with their unmedicated births? We don’t really know.) But there is a significant minority that will come out with horrible outcomes- stillbirth, HIE leading to permanent disability. So maybe more women have had positive and healthy births than Dr. Amy has saved lives, but she has SAVED LIVES. I really do think this and I started reading this blog feeling nothing but hostility. So, stick around. Really read. Ignore the emotional language parts. The data makes sense in a way that the “natural childbirth” papers and blogs do not.
“Are the majority happy with their unmedicated births? ”
I wasn’t! I’d like an epi if there’s a next time please!
I was very happy with the unmedicated (by my choice, in a hospital, nothing crazy, etc etc) birth of my son, but I have met enough women and read enough data on PTSD and childbirth to know that not everyone is happy with birth au naturel, not by a longshot. I HATE reading about women who were begging to go to the hospital and get epidurals who were basically coerced into staying home. Liz Paparella’s story comes to mind, and of course she was one who also had a tragedy at her homebirth.
I will rub backs and breathe and support a woman til the cows come home, but when she tells me she wants pain meds, she is going to get pain meds, and everyone else in the room can screw off. 🙂
Exactly! I opted out of pain relief after discovering that pethidine didn’t work for me (mildly dizzy + unable to focus my eyes) even though I had pitocin for 2 deliveries, because my contractions felt like gastro stomach cramps and weren’t a big deal to me. I will always defend my best friend’s right to and need of an epidural. I’m still angry with the CNM that delayed it and tried to block it, and I’m furious that her mother tries to make her feel guilty for having it and not birthing at home. (If she had, there is a fair chance we’d have ended up burying both of them)
Your information about the netherlands is incorrect. Homebirth is as safe as birth in a hospital, recent studies pointed that out. But unfortunately in the netherlands birth gets more medicalised as in the U.S. and therefore more complications like extreme bloodloss happen but the perinatal deadth statisticus don’t go down. Women have to educatie themselves and each other more about birth and they should get coaching during the birth proces, also in the hospital. That is the only way to have more healthy birthings.
Share the recent study you are referencing please. The regulars here are pretty up on these things and the most recent studies of homebirth have as far as I know have universally shown the homebirth has at least 3x the perinatal death rate of similar risk hospital birth.
“unfortunately in the netherlands birth gets more medicalised”
Wrong. Low risk birth in the Netherlands at home with a midwife is more likely to result in a DEAD baby than high risk birth in a hospital with a doctor.
As a first father who was considering homebirth I read this article with some alarm. I typed it CDC homebirth figures and the first article I found on the CDC website – the official government website – said this:
“Home births have a lower risk profile than hospital births, with fewer births to teenagers or unmarried women, and with fewer preterm, low birthweight, and multiple births” (source: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db84.htm
Since the author didn’t provide links to her information, It appears that the she is making stuff up.
Welcome, Dave. Please stick around and learn.
You seem to be confused about how the CDC is using the term “risk profile.” Home births have a lower risk profile than hospital birth, meaning that mostly low-risk women CHOOSE home birth. NOT that home birth is lower risk. The OUTCOMES of home birth, despite being mostly a phenomenon of low-risk, middle, class, educated, married white women, STILL are way worse than hospital birth.
Multiple studies have shown that home birth increases the risk of death to the baby by at least 3-5 times compared to hospital birth among low-risk women. It also vastly increases the risk of brain damage due to oxygen deprivation.
This study used CDC data: http://www.livescience.com/43050-home-births-newborn-death.html
Also, here’s a good summary of the issues by a doula who used to attend home births until she realized it was too risky. http://whatifsandfears.blogspot.com/2014/05/home-birth-in-usa.html
This is a subtle point, let me try to explain it. The women who choose to home birth are low-risk. They tend to be healthy, in their twenties or thirties. And if they are diagnosed with multiples, or if they go into early labor, most deliver in the hospital instead, since premature babies need hospital care. So, home birth mothers are women who should have great outcomes no matter where they deliver.
However, despite the fact that almost all home births are low risk, the actual outcomes are bad, in that more babies die during or after birth, and more are injured during birth. That particular CDC article does not refer to outcomes at all, perhaps because 2012 death rates are not yet available.
There are several journal articles about home birth death rates by Dr. Amos Gruenbaum. I also invite you to click the link on the right side of this page near the top, “The doubtful father’s guide to home birth.”
Lower risk profile. That does not say home birth is lower risk for the same cohort.
It says “the women that choose home birth are lower risk than the general population”, and that’s ALL that sentence says.
As research scientis who focuses on human Pathophysiology, I must state emphatically that the figures are 100% false and you have failed to provide a single cited published fact. You have done what you are accusing this other woman of doing. Your words are based on personal and emotional conjecture and lack even a tenuous foothold in reality. I have to say that you are extraordinarily uneducated in regards to midwives and what it is they do and the actual stats involved. You need to get your Cochrane Reports in a row.
what is this? “created a model of care for women and babies that changed a generation’s approach to childbirth.”.. hmm.. so every female human or otherwise for the history of the species, gazillions of years, hasnt figured it out yet, but you have. uhu. eat healthy, let the baby come when it comes.. we get it. what about fathers then? oh sorry.. let the courts deal with them, righto. onwards and outwards. but may I ask before I go.. who is getting all these girls pregnant? YOD
stop worrying about others – let them do what they want without interference. if what they do does no impact on you or “society”, then get on with your life and leave em alone to do their thing yeah!? spend a year or two abroad in a remote country, see how poor people live, have babies, feed themselves and are HAPPY! imagine that. “americans” lost the plot literally weeks after arrival.
Would you hire this midwife?
“Don’t let the head suddenly explode from the mother’s puss. Coach the mother about how much and how hard to push. Support the mother’s taint with your hand during rushes. It helps the mother to relax around her puss if you massage her there using a liberal amount of baby oil to lubricate the skin. Sometimes touching her very gently on or around her button (clitoris) will enable her to relax even more. I keep both hands there and busy all the time while crowning … doing whatever seems most necessary.”
And:
“Sometimes I see that a husband is afraid to touch his wife’s tits because of the midwife’s presence, so I touch them, get in there and squeeze them, talk about how nice they are, and make him welcome.”
And:
“I might want to have a cunt one day and a twat the next. On the third day I might decide that pussy is my favorite word.”
Would you hire this midwife?
Her quotes make her sound immature, foul mouthed, and sexually inappropriate.
Plenty of women have hired her. Her name is …
Ina May Gaskin.
The quotes come from Spiritual Midwifery, 3rd and 4th Editions.
As I do my second Ph.D (this time in BioEthics) I am reading an Ina May Gaskin book. None of the colourful language you have described has presented itself and all her statements of fact are well cited pertaining to peer accepted scientific reviews, the opposite of your own writings.
Hold the phone. You are indeed saying then that these quotations DO NOT exist in Spiritual Midwifery, 3rd and 4th Editions?
What was your first PhD in? What kind of research do you do?
Why do you have such a hard time believing that an obstetrician might have better understanding of obstetrics than you, or than a self-trained, self-certified midwife?
you mean poor people in “downtown” usa dont you? plenty of people there, everywhere. do they have babies too?
“spend a year or two abroad in a remote country, see how poor people live, have babies, feed themselves and are HAPPY!”
See how poor people live, have babies, are terrified of birth and its complications, bury one child out of three in good times…
There can be complications in any birth no matter where you have that child. I had the chance of experiencing a hospital birth and an out of hospital birth. My child in the hospital ended up in the NICU because of hospital staff causing my child distress. My second child was not born in a hospital, I used a midwife. I had no complications and had no interventions other than a doppler to check the heartbeat. And my child had no complications at all. Having no drugs in my system the second time around was not only better for my baby but for me as well.
I think we need to see that midwives are for uncomplicated healthy pregnancies and ob/gyn are for high risk pregnancies. That can definitely determine the outcome.
“My child in the hospital ended up in the NICU because of hospital staff causing my child distress.”
Oh please do explain exactly how.
You did sue them for such gross malpractice, right?
Hi,
Just some concrete facts for you – you mention the Netherlands and homebirth. I’m not sure what the home birth rate is in the Netherlands but the Maternal Mortality rate for the Netherlands is 6 maternal deaths per 100,000 births. This data is from 2010.
However in the US the figure is 21 maternal deaths per 100,000 births – more than 3 times the rate in the Netherlands.
Instead of ranting about midwives maybe you and your colleagues need to catch up with the rest of the developed world?
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2223rank.html?countryName=Australia&count
The Maternal Mortality Rate for Estonia is 2 deaths per 100,000 births – that seems like the safest place to give birth followed by Greece and Estonia.
You appear to be unaware that African descent is a major risk factor for maternal mortality and the “whiter” the country, the lower the maternal mortality rate. You also appear to be unaware that most maternal deaths occur because of not enough technology, not too much. Maternal cardiovascular disease is the cause of death rising fastest.
This statement is completely false and has no basis in fact. The US medical system does indeed have the highest infant and maternal mortality rate in the developed world, and is not sequestered to those of African descent.
You do know that infant mortality is not the correct statistic to use when assessing birth outcomes, don’t you? Right?
Poverty is related to not having the option of hiring alternative caregivers. Thus, they are forced to give birth in a hospital setting. The hospitals are not often too kind to those with lousy insurance.The impoverished are often people of color because we live in a racist and oppressive society. And middle-class, educated white women hire midwives, not poor black women! And it is know that the impoverished often equate good maternal health care with high-technology because they don’t have the time or resources to do their homework . How much do you get paid to be a propaganda machine?
Precisely. The hospital takes all comers, rich, poor, women with no prenatal care at all, women who suffered terrible complications the whole pregnancy.
The hospital’s outcomes are still better than those of midwives working outside the hospital.
“The Maternal Mortality Rate for Estonia is 2 deaths per 100,000 births – that seems like the safest place to give birth”
In Estonia “100 percent of all births are attended by a skilled physician”.
http://www.prb.org/pdf11/world-women-girls-2011-data-sheet.pdf
THAT is why it is safe to give birth in Estonia you moron. BTW all midwives are formally educated at universities in accordance with EU regulation ( a law) and practice within strict scope of duties which is also regulated by laws.
No CPMs, direct entry, lay or godknowswhat midwives allowed. Perhaps you could catch up with the countries you yourself cite as good examples too?
Just looked up one other fact. Estonia also seems to have younger first-time mothers than most of the developed world. There just ain’t no way to make birth at 38 quite as safe as birth at 28.
most ignorant person ever.. question how much blood do you think doctors have on their hands? especially those who perform abortions??
Removing a group of unfeeling cells is not the same a viable baby dying for any reason.
I haven’t seen any credible references for this article given. Only skeptical ob articles. Thisvideo is probably worth watching, skeptical ob. Can’t really argue with these facts. Hospital birth isn’t as safe as it seems.
http://m.youtube.com/results?q=unbreaking%20birth&search_sort=relevance&search_type=search_all&uploaded=&sm=3
Here is a BBC article that finds home birth less risky than a planned hospital birth. For a nation that has so many hospital births tell me why we fall so high in infant mortality rate?
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22888411
http://m.nbcnews.com/health/us-infant-mortality-rate-drops-only-little-2D11763970
Wrong!
http://www.skepticalob.com/2011/11/real-message-of-birthplace-study-dont.html
http://www.skepticalob.com/2012/11/lets-review-twelve-things-you-shouldnt-say-to-dr-amy-unless-you-want-to-appear-very-foolish.html
All chorus now: Infant mortality rate is the WRONG metric to evaluate pregnancy care!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2544387/Doctors-urged-talk-mothers-home-births-like-letting-child-not-wear-car-seatbelt.html
Also, it includes data up to 42 days after terminations which occur more frequently in the U.S than other countries
Could you specify the data from the UK that you are talking about here?
I’m not clear which data you are talking about. The very large study of place of birth in the UK most recently showed no increase in risk for home birth for second or subsequent babies. And although there was a result which suggested an increased risk for first babies, the confidence interval for the homebirth group overlapped the hospital group. And the lowest risk birth place for first babies? A stand-alone midwife birth centre, ie one which was not attached to a consultant unit.
You are also not comparing like with like as the UK has professional midwives, trained and regulated in a completely different fashion. And they deliver the care whether in hospital or birth centre or home. I don’t think you can use the UK as an example to support your point.
Before anyone wants to bash me as not knowing anything, I am British, I am a doctor and I have read the full UK study in the BMJ. It appears that article was not read properly before the “UK data” statement was made here.
Amy Tuteur, MD has commented on the UK birthplace study here:
http://www.skepticalob.com/2011/11/its-official-homebirth-increases-risk.html
http://www.skepticalob.com/2011/11/real-message-of-birthplace-study-dont.html
http://www.skepticalob.com/2012/04/no-birthplace-study-did-not-show-that.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2544387/Doctors-urged-talk-mothers-home-births-like-letting-child-not-wear-car-seatbelt.html
I’m sure you can find the U.K studies from here, lol!
This is the thing, I can find zero basis for all this conjecture spewed forth in the above article (I am a research scientist). The USA also has highly trained registered midwives, who are regulated to deliver at home or hospital. There is no factual basis in the emotional rhetoric above.
” The USA also has highly trained registered midwives, who are regulated to deliver at home or hospital.”
All of them? Because that is how it is in UK/EU. No lay midwives and CPMs would never be allowed to practice.
CCg, it is apparently clear that you are a fool.
I adore Ina …and I don’t think women give themselves enough credit …..stop being pussys and begging for pain meds and scheduling c sections gah what happened to women being strong?oh yeah forgot to mention I am having my first in a few weeks and am refusing any unnecessary interventions…and am standing by that
Be sure to report back on how that went!
Feminist but using a derogatory term meaning “vagina” to describe women that make different choices to you…I don’t think you quite understand the meaning of ‘feminist’.
http://www.skepticalob.com/2013/06/would-you-hire-this-midwife.html
What ever happened to women being strong?
You’re carrying that baby around right now using muscles you don’t get to practice with, and only a fraction of your usual lung capacity. You’re strong. We’re all strong. We don’t need to go through one last hazing ritual to prove anything to anybody.
So what’s the deal with c-sections? Are they awful or easier? If they’re the “easy way,” then why are the doctors who do them evil? If c-sections are awful, then a mother who consents to a section in order to save her child is being heroic. You can’t have it both ways.
Respectfully, I think it may be better to enter labour with an open mind as to pain relief and “interventions”.
You may have a short, easy labour and cope very well without pain medication…you may have a long difficult labour with a baby in distress and find that you can’t cope with the pain and that the interventions are suddenly necessary.
Going in with your attitude sets you up for guilt, shame and a sense of failure if the experience isn’t as straightforward, easy and tolerable as you expect.
It is, BTW a lot easier to judge people’s choices if you have never actually been in the situation where the choice had to be made.
Come back and tell us how it worked out once you’ve had your baby, best wishes for their safe arrival.
Labor hurts. A lot. You can do it without pain meds. I’ve done it. Anyone can! People do it all around the world every minute of the day. If you’re really a feminist, why not spend less time thinking about yourself and more time thinking about the women around the world who lack lifesaving access to the modern medicine you have the first-world privilege of refusing?
Good luck and let us know how you got on.
As people have said below, you are not an “annoyed feminist”. More like a “ignorant judgemental Uncle Tom”.
WTH happened in your life that caused you to believe enduring excruciating pain (unnecessarily) is a platform for you to insult other women who choose not to? What a weak minded female you are. I hope your first labor was a truly humbling experience for you. Not that I would ever expect a condescending jackass like you to admit if it was.
have no fear.. women ARE strong, just not where you live. perhaps move yourself to another destination, with less governmental influence? or maybe just build a tree house in the ocean, somewhere away from Malaysia, apparently..
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/ucm330991.htm FDA view on cytotec… bets on how many doctors don’t inform patients? Also 5 deaths in hb being more than in a hospital for a whole state I call bs. Proof please?
Ah, another person who doesn’t know the difference between an absolute number and a rate. Let’s put it this way: Very few babies are born at home in North Carolina. The vast majority are born in hospitals. If five of those very few babies die, that’s an alarming RATE.
Let’s put it another way. Last year, more Americans died in car accidents than motorcycle accidents. Does that mean motorcycles are safer than cars? Of course not. But most of us drive a great deal and spend little or no time on a motorcycle. Hence, taking a trip by motorcycle is much riskier than taking the same trip in a car.
List of references? Manner in which data was collected? With the myriad of issues with accurate data collection, it would sure be nice to have the time to dig into the actual data. I am quite bothered by the large discrepancy between the midwife sources I have read (not all Ina May Gaskin by far), and the Skeptical OB. The following quote from the article above puzzles me to no end: “The latest CDC figures (publicly available on the CDC Wonder website)
show that planned homebirth with a non-nurse midwife has a mortality
rate 600% HIGHER than low risk hospital birth.” Why would you pay money to a non-nurse midwife? The whole point of a midwife is to have someone medically trained who trusts the female body to do the right thing most of the time and knows what to look for in order to spot when there are problems.
I will be giving birth with a midwife at a hospital that has a c-section rate half the state average (Arizona being the state). Are low income, central Phoenix babies so unusual that they only require half the rate of c-sections? My primary reason for going with midwives in general was the longer appointment times with prenatal care. How on earth can an OB who has seen me once a month for 15 minutes or less be expected to make accurate decisions in such a critical time as childbirth? Much of the induction and c-section rate seems to be good old American rushing of things mixed with a bunch of fear.
Before you jump all over me, know that I have a very real respect for the skills of OB’s when a real emergency is happening. Clearly my husband, born at 26.5 weeks gestation is here because of the skills of his OB and the nurses. I, on the other hand, simply needed someone to take the time to listen to and get to know my mother (who is not the most talkative and expressive woman in the world) before yanking me out with forceps.
I am sure that both sides of the issue genuinely believe they are doing the right thing. Any woman who is pregnant or thinking about it should realize that humankind has been around a lot longer than hospital-kind. Give birth where you want to and insist that the people around you be positive and trained.
“Any woman who is pregnant or thinking about it should realize that humankind has been around a lot longer than hospital-kind.”
Apparently you don’t understand evolution, either.
Evolution does not lead to perfection. Evolution is the result of the
survival of the fittest, not the survival of everyone. Human
reproduction, like all animal reproduction, has a massive amount of
wastage. Every woman was born with millions of ova that will never be
used. Every man produces billions of sperm that will never fertilize an
ovum. Even when a pregnancy is established, the miscarriage rate is 20%.
One in five pregnancies dies and is expelled and yet we
are still here. Human reproduction is perfectly compatible with a
natural neonatal death rate of approximately 7% and a natural maternal
death rate of approximately 1%.
http://www.skepticalob.com/2013/06/would-you-hire-this-midwife.html
The overall c-section rate of a hospital has nothing to do with the probability that a particular patient at that hospital will get a c-section. The biggest factor in a hospital’s c-section rate is how many high-risk women they manage. In fact, the best hospitals may have the highest c-section rates, because they take all the highest-risk women from the entire region.
And what is this “15 minutes once a month?” I’ve had plenty of time to talk to my obstetrician and get to know her.
My very first birth was one that, honestly, HONESTLY!! I could have done at home if I simply had someone to pull my baby out. My first and only birth involved no complications, no interventions (that’s right, no epidural, induced labor or any medication whatsoever) and was finalized on my hands and knees. It was, despite the leeches that call themselves nurses trying to chain me to a bed to ask countless questions about my medical history, was the best experience of my life. I read and respect Ina May Guide to Childbirth, and if I have another child and have the money, I will opt to have a home-birth, damned straight, because I do trust my body. Women are not faulty machines. If we really want to talk about blood on hands, you can get me started on all of the epidemics, mistakes, mortality rates and under reporting of the CDC, which isn’t just word of mouth, it has been proven, and the numbers are there. If I must, I’ll dig up the reliable sources on which I have found said stats. Fuck the hospital chasing you around pounding you with questions, one contraction after the other that should have been asked before labor! It isn’t just Ina May, I’m sure plenty of women feel that birth should not be treated like a dangerous illness that must be carefully monitored and tweaked in a controlled, hospital setting. Women are DESIGNED to give birth! And the body is not a faulty machine, take care of it and keep it clean and watch how no chemical injections and interventions are usually necessary.
Yawn. Women aren’t designed. Birth fails regularly, for both the baby and the mother. The body is not any kind of machine and can frequently go wrong. Being somewhere help is available when you don’t need it beats the pants off being somewhere help is not readily available when you do.
And yeah, my second birth went easily and well. We were both fine, but I was still glad we were there just in case we weren’t.
Wow thanks for that, so all we need to do to stay healthy is to eat right and take showers. Huh who would have thought it would be that easy? /sarcasam
There are plenty of people out there that do everything you say and end up with disease and illnesses. There are plenty of people that do what you say and end up with childbirth complications. Life is not as simple as eating right and keeping clean, if it was then there would be so much less hassle in life.
Wow, your ONE birth sure has made you an expert. And damn those medical professionals, bothering you with questions about your medical history. It’s not like it’s important for them to know if you’re on any medications or have any medical conditions, or anything. Please, please do dig up those bothersome facts for us, if it isn’t too much trouble. And while you’re at it, please explain how 100 years ago, before antibiotics and C sections and gasp! pitocin were readily and easily available in the first world, no women or babies EVER had any problems surrounding birth.
My first and only birth involved no complications, no interventions (that’s right, no epidural, induced labor or any medication whatsoever) and was finalized on my hands and knees.
So it is possible to give birth in the hospital without interventions. As you just admitted. Your worst complaint was that you were asked questions about your medical history? The horror! The horror!
If I must, I’ll dig up the reliable sources on which I have found said stats.
You must, if you want to be convincing.
I’m glad your first birth was free of complications. I’m amazed that you were able to see the future well enough to know that you wouldn’t need any of the medical expertise at hand. Tell me, how can I harness your power of foresight? I’d like to win the lottery this week.
I’d also love to see the reliable sources on the underreporting of mortality rates by the CDC. That should be interesting.
Well whoop-de-fucking-do, aren’t you just so much more WOMAN than the rest of us! Hooray! You’re so special! You’re the specialest snowflake EVER!
We need to make a medal to mail to all the special snowflakes out there. They seem to crave the attention.
it’s actually spelled Sneauxflayyke lmao!
I gave birth to my super healthy daughter at home and it was the most amazing experience of my life. I have to thank my NHS home birth midwife for doing nothing because she didn’t need to, and for allowing the process to take place naturally as it should, producing a healthy child and happy family. Unlike many friends who went for the safer option of hospital who ended up traumatised and unwell, even some with PND, I was lucky for sticking to my guns. Most births go ahead naturally and should be allowed to do so. Unfortunately people like our sceptical OB here like to plant fear in womens minds, and fear counteracts the natural process of birth causing a need for ceasarians, etc. Big business! Ina is about respect for women and nature and our lady here is missing out on that element which is shame and why so many women are traumatised by birth experiences and this should not be happening. It’s why people want home births.
“Most births go ahead naturally”
And the ones that don’t? Too bad, so sad?
“natural process of birth”
Post-partum hemorrhage, placenta previa, prolapsed cord, shoulder dystocia…those are all natural too. As is death.
“Unlike many friends who went for the safer option of hospital”
At least you acknowledge that the hospital is safer.
“It’s why people want home births.”
I’ve had one home birth and one hospital birth (transfer). I do not ever want to have a home birth again. How many hospital births have you had exactly?
” I was lucky for sticking to my guns”
You were lucky, full stop.
Then maybe you should have pre-registered if you didn’t want to be asked a ton of questions during labor, most OB offices and hospitals recommend it to their patients and it saves the “leeches” time that could be spent with other patients! And sometimes situations arise where a baby or mother needs medical intervention to ensure an optimum outcomes, bet those nurses wouldn’t be leeches if they saved you or your child. For your next delivery why don’t you try an unassisted water, lotus birth at home and tells us how it works out?!
Because I am carrying a baby, my issue lies within the context of natural birth and being against the use of Cytotec. I have done research pertaining to my personal concerns. I have come to conclusions from that research, as well as, from having known a person who died- along with her baby- from the drug being used to induce her labor. I, as a pregnant woman in America, have the right to state that I am against it and to make my own choices just as you do if you give birth to a child of your own. That is if you can… assuming you have the female parts to do so. Which, I highly suspect you do not.
I’m sorry you lost your friend. Was she given Cytotec in a hospital. What adverse reaction resulted in her death?
What on earth was the purpose of that last bit?
Nobody on this blog is advocating for women to close their eyes and give up their care decisions to their doctors. The whole point of this blog is to give women science based information and debunk fear mongering. If you are afraid of Cytotec, why not ask your OB if there is an alternative should you need one?
My heart was set on natural childbirth in a hospital. Good thing I started reading this blog, and by the time I was due I decided to just trust my doctor. Good thing, too. I was handling labor fine, but my son wasn’t. I had to have an emergency C- section. Here is the thing, nobody forced me to have it. My situation was pretty clear to me—I was just 3 cm dilated, and it would take too long to get to 10 cm. Induction would take too long too. I wanted him out as soon as possible because he was suffering, maybe suffocating. I realize that he might have been fine if I didn’t have a C-section, but there is a real chance he would not have been fine, suffering brain damage or worse. Neither my doctor nor I wanted to take that chance.
You know what? He was 15 months yesterday, and both of us are great.
I looked very carefully at Cytotec before my baby’s birth- some of the things I read scared me also, and I knew that I was likely to be induced. However, my independant evaluation of the primary scientific literature reassured me that it was safe and effective. As safe as any medication can be, anyway…I am close to someone who almost died due to an adverse drug reaction (not Cytotec), so I’m very hesitant to take medications of any sort. Here is one good article about cytotec (misoprostol): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2760893/
It’s conclusions about safety of cytotec use for induction of full-term labor: “There was no difference in serious neonatal or maternal mortality between women receiving misoprostol and women who received prostaglandin E2 or oxytocin; however, most studies were underpowered for this assessment.”
Hopefully more studies on larger groups of women will be done to settle the question.
Haha, Mominformed1st wasn’t anonymous for you?
And lots of medications kill people, too.
Going without needed medication is pretty damaging. Compare the average age at death now with 300 years ago, or even 100 years ago.
All medications have risks and benefits. That’s why you get counseling by everyone from the doctor to the pharmacist when you start taking one. However, a medication used properly should have greater benefit than risk. That’s the point. Insulin can kill someone if given in overdose, but it is also life saving for diabetics. In contrast, home birth really serves no one. It isn’t safer to use than not use in any context.
Water can kill. College hazing pranks with hyponatremia can kill. Are you going to stop drinking water?
So no one should ever seek medical treatment or take any medication ever. Right.
Obviously. Well, herbal medicines of unknown strength and homeopathy are both OK, but nothing Big pHARMa has touched.
Big pHARma (so clever aren’t you?). Well, here in the REAL world, if it weren’t for the evil pharmaceutical companies some of us would not be alive. The medicine I HAVE HAD to take 3x’s a day-every day-my whole life doesn’t come in herbal form. Of known or unknown strength. My genetic condition would have killed me before I was a year old if it weren’t for this medicine. Honestly, people blessed with good health sound like idiots when trying to preach on something they have no experience with.
Wren was being sarcastic. (Around here, it can be hard to tell sometimes). She is pro medicine.
You missed the sarcasm there. Sorry.
Sorry, I guess the sarcasm wasn’t heavy enough. It’s hard when there are people who truly take that stance, but I am definitely not one of them.
go get your papsmear fatty. and afterwards have fun in the american jungle, of course! :))
I am talking about the elevation of babies being born, more often, Monday-Friday due to the current methods used in hospitals for deliveries. That you can look up. I no longer have the energy, nor the time to do it for you. I have an appointment with my midwife.
Um, we all know more babies are born during weekdays. We’ve also discussed why, and the definition of medically necessary non-emergency procedure.
Your argument seems to amount to “Using Cytotec to induce labor is off-label, OBs sometimes do it, therefore they are evil tools of Big Pharma who hurt women for no reason.” You’ve stated this over and over without making any effort to actually respond to others’ arguments on the matter.
Why don’t you look up how many drugs are routinely used off-label, and how few ever get their off-label uses approved? Find out just how much it would cost to get the off-label approval, and what the profit margin on one dose of Cytotec is. You’ll soon see: Genuine re-approval is just too pricy, except on massively expensive new drugs. That’s why there are so many drugs being used off-label, some to save lives.
I’m not asking you to do this for me, since I already know the answers. I’m asking you to do this for you, so you understand the issues.
If you lost a friend- who died because of it maybe you would! I am against Cytotec. I will remain being against it. No more to be said.
Then in cases where labor has not begun and there is a danger to the baby remaining in utero, you are all for going straight to a c-section, right?
That is what these medical procedures are used for, helping the mother’s labor progress toward a vaginal birth.
I will remain being against it. No more to be said.
“My mind is made up. Don’t confuse me with the facts.”
My cousin died in a car accident, I no longer drive.
My grandmother died of old age. I’m not having any more birthdays.
Cytotec. Label uses for NSAID GI ulcer prevention. Off label uses for chronic constipation, cervical ripening, and early pregnancy termination.
I am not arguing. I am stating that Cytotec was NEVER approved, by the FDA, to be used in the induction of labor. I will, however, argue this: you cannot even spell!
Just because something was not approved by the FDA for a certain use does NOT mean that that use is not valid. Lots of medications have valid off-label uses.
My understanding (please correct me if I’m wrong!) is that off-label uses for medications are supported by medical trials/testing, but lack of FDA-approval means the drug manufacturers cannot *advertise* the off-label uses?
Yes, that’s correct.
Your point? Is the picture of the pregnant woman marked with the red line through it just because it should not be used for pregnant woman who have ulcers? Or might it be because the original manufacturer of the drug knew of the risks of uterine rupture? So, drugs can be used “off label” it does not mean they are safe. Plenty of woman had to learn the hard way when Cytotec was used for them and now they cannot have children. Emergency hysterectomies are not what they bargained for when they signed in the hospital to deliver their babies. The FDA does not have specific trials on Cytotec for labor induction because the company that makes the drug did not apply for the approval. They may not have to because it can be used “off label” but it seems a little too easy to bypass the system and be able to avoid people finding out how bad the drug can be. Especially those who just take other people’s word without checking for themselves. Woman and babies have died from it. Uteruses have ruptured. That is enough for me to AVOID having any doctor administer it to me for the delivery of my baby.
From the beginning of time, women and babies have died from birth itself. Uteruses have ruptured. Is that enough for you to avoid having a baby altogether?
It is marked “not for use by pregnant women” because misoprostol causes uterine contractions, so if taken by a woman in first or second trimester it will cause a miscarriage.
That DOESN’T mean it is unsafe or cannot be used by pregnant women and has nothing to do with the risk of uterine rupture.
That sign is mainly for pharmacy use, as many pregnant women work in pharmacy’s and many women who have ulcers take cytotec. It like telling the pharmacist, “Hey don’t forget to tell the patient or remind pregnant tech to not touch this med when she does her nursing home refills, just in case because it jump starts labor and causes miscarriages in early pregnancy.”
I never mentioned it being used to treat ulcers in pregnant women. Not sure why that was brought up? I mentioned that what the drug was approved for, by the FDA, was for the treatment of ulcers.
So , it softens their cervix- that just supports what has been said about it being used when it comes to medical abortion (another “off label” use of the drug).
Furthermore, I cannot continue to repeat that the FDA has yet to approve the drug Cytotec for the use of labor induction.
Approved for the use of ulcers, yes. That is true. However, not for the use of labor induction or medical abortion. Let us not confuse the two. Some parties are “gullible” enough to believe that because it is approved by the FDA for ulcer use it is also approved by the FDA for the use of labor induction; which, clearly it is not! And that is a point which I have been making. I suppose the FDA trials do not matter when others show their independent trials to be sound. Why even have the FDA if their trials do not matter?
http://www.fda.gov/regulatoryinformation/guidances/ucm126486.htm
The FDA trials.
Just as I would not injest any liquid or chemical with a caution warning on it by the company that manufactures it, I am not fool enough to injest ANYTHING that has a picture of a pregnant woman with a circle and a red line through it on the original label either!
But, yet, you call me names because I would rather be cautious then accept that it is okay because you tell me it is. Well, tell that to the families that lost loved ones or the ability to have children when their uteruses had to be removed because they ruptured.
I will have a natural birth. I will have my CNM there, along with my Doula, and that is my choice. I am not an “uneducated” woman as you claim woman whom want natural birth are. I am well informed on the risks involved and I will be in a birthing center, but I will not be getting any potential harmful drugs like Cytotec. That is stated in my birthing plan. I am not ignorant to the fact that complications do occur in birth which require medical intervention. But, I do think that, in many cases, those interventions can/could be avoided.
I appreciate you taking your time to answer my questions. I do not, however, appreciate you calling me a fool. But, I should have expected it seeing how you insulted Ina May Gaskin in your original article.
It is not approved for use in ulcer treatment of pregnant women specifically because it softens the cervix. It can be used and is completely appropriate to use it in pregnant women for the express purpose of softening the cervix.
Indeed, it does seem logical that a drug that augments labor would be contraindicated in a pregnant woman who doesn’t want to give birth yet.
Kind of like putting the towel IN the swimming pool. It’s just not the right place and the right time.
I was absolutely set on a natural birth with no drugs with my first. He then taught me my first lesson in parenting by being in the footling breech position, discovered after my water broke. Yes, I had regular checks and yes, he turned at term. Increasing my risk slightly and decreasing his risk by a whole lot meant a C-section was totally worth it.
I hope you get the birth you want, but more I hope that your baby and you are both healthy after the birth. That really is the most important thing, and what Dr Amy is trying to help.
“But, I do think that, in many cases, those interventions can/could be avoided.”
I really hope things go the way you want them to go. But…real birth has a way of taking all of our carefully-laid plans and turning them on their ear. It’s easy to say in retrospect “Oh, I could have avoided ABC by just doing XYZ,” but when you’re there in the moment, in pain and just wanting your baby to be OK…sometimes your plans have to go out the window. I think women who have been through labor and delivery at least once are far less likely to make blanket statements like that with any authority.
This “hate-on” Amy has for homebirths is simple. It comes down to “I’m right and you’re wrong.” She’s an ob and has her training and knowledge. If you believe in midwifery or homebirths you are saying she is wrong and she can’t handle it. It’s one of our flaws as humans. It’s the same as “my religion is right and yours is wrong.” There are risks no matter what you choose for your birth. It is up to you as an adult with a functioning brain to do your own research and do what is best for you.
Well, you got the first sentence right. It is simple. Babies die that could be saved, women are given high amounts of misinformation and flat out lied to and myths are spread that encourage these practices and deaths to continue.
Please don’t assume that my motivations are the same as your. Yes, for YOU the “safety” of homebirth is an article of faith, like religion. I, on the other hand, deal in facts, something conspicuously lacking from your comment.
Just curious? What is your take on drugs like cytotec? I would think that would be a better subject than knocking a “certified” Midwife who has more experience delivering babies then a good portion of practicing doctors.
Also, have you read her book? Or do you just follow the literature you learned in your medical training; which can be very skewed- just as all the statistics you shot off in your rant. A rule of thumb would be to be objective as MOST statistics are bias to the party or parties that founded/applied the research.
Gaskin is a person who recognizes the obvious flaws in drug interventions used to rob women of their natural right to give birth the way God intended! Faith or no faith- a proven fact is that hospitals and doctors across this country put women at risk- far more often- by using the drug Cytotec (which has yet to be approved, by the FDA, for the use of inducing labor- and continues to HARM)!
Where is the rant about that? Why is that not a topic of interest? Because it is widely accepted in mainstream hospitals and army bases because it is cost effective?
I think there needs to be more focus on such things as this and not on attacking ONE woman, who IS educated in natural child birthing methods and blaming her for infant deaths.
If she is to blame for mistakes others made- then any infant death could be blamed on the Obstetric institutions that are teaching doctors like yourself!
“A rule of thumb would be to be objective as MOST statistics are bias to the party or parties that founded/applied the research.”
Great rule of thumb. Read the details of the study and come to your own conclusions. I assume you have the background in both statistics and biology to do so? Awesome. I look forward to a meaningful textual analysis of one of the several recent studies showing that home birth increases the risk of perinatal death. That’s meaningful textual analysis, specific details of errors in methodology or conclusions.
My comment was in direct correlation to her original comment regarding MANA and pointing blame toward ONE individual:
“Let’s get something straight: Ina May Gaskin has blood on her hands, and not merely the blood of her own child sacrificed on the altar of homebirth. Gaskin presides over a large multi-faceted business empire comprised of trade, propaganda and lobbying organizations, all with one purpose in mind: allowing uneducated women like herself to provide substandard medical care to pregnant women while ignoring the growing pile of tiny bodies”
My mention of the drug cytotec should have been a clue to the things that SHOULD warrant such discussion.
And, furthermore, why not focus on the “statistics” of the babies born on The Farm? Ina May is actually involved in THOSE at home births! That was my point!
If you read the whole comment you may understand that when I say to blame ONE person for ALL the deaths is like blaming the good doctor, herself, for ALL the babies who have died during childbirth when accepted” practices; like drug or surgical intervention were orchestrated in hospitals by Obstetricians!
I need not include my educational qualifications to PROVE anything to the “Young Professor.” I, will only say this: Yes, I DO have a background in Biology, Microbiology, Statistics, Anatomy, etc. Along with 18 years of experience as a Surgical Nurse!!!
Why some were studying things on paper I was actually working in a hospital setting!!!
I know, firsthand, the dangers of drug intervention and unnecessary surgical interventions that are common practices in American hospitals!!!
Again, specifics. So Cytotec is bad. What else are obstetricians doing wrong? Current accepted practice only, please, and provide evidence.
I am sure you are intelligent enough to find the research and “statistics” on your own. After all, I found them. Just a few things you may want to look at: The fact that the drug Cytotec is used “routinely” in hospitals to induce labor, as well as to abort babies, even though it is not approved for these uses and NEVER was by the FDA!!! Nor does the original manufacturer of the drug recommend it for pregnant women! But, it is cheaper than pitocin… So why not?
The fact that cesarean surgeries are accepted as common practice and used far more often than necessary: and the correlation between “scheduled” c-sections and the days of the week. Ex: Less babies are born on the weekends since the inclusion of these “routine” surgeries. Just coincidence, I suppose? Hmmmm… some things to ponder. Or you could find out for yourself… like I did!
My argument is not against Obstetricians- it is against the institution that exists to control women’s choices and the allowance of pharmaceutical companies to sway the pendelum even when it puts women at risk for such things as ruptured uteruses, etc.
I need not include a medical journal in my comment. The evidence exists for itself. And, it is not hard to find!
In other words, you have no credible data, just junk from natural childbirth/homebirth websites. I’m not surprised.
There is plenty of “credible” data just as you posted all of your numbers/stats- they are out there. I have read them. I have researched them, just as you have researched yours. Sorry if I did not present it to you as a scholar would do. I did not realize that you, being a doctor, would not be aware of it have knowledge of the drug Cytotec. I challenge you to spend more time looking at my comments, seeing as you ignored my original question. The one that was directed specifically at you… Not the rest of the people willing to engage with me over your article. Am I wrong to say that Cytotec is used routinely to induce labor? Am I wrong to say that it is cheaper than pitocin? Am I wrong to say that the FDA has not approved it for use in pregnant women? Am I wrong to say that it is used routinely in medical abortions? I mean, you are a doctor- are you not able to answer my question or do you avoid it because you do not want to?
If you want to persuade anyone HERE of anything at all, you will need to present it as a scholar would do. Facts and specifics, not insinuations.
My goal is not to “persuade” anyone! My goal was to get some answers from the M.D. That wrote the article in the first place. Nice assumption on your part though:)
PS: It is not an insinuation to say the drug Cytotec has not been approved by the FDA to be used by/for pregnant women- it HAS not been approved! Look that one up yourself just like any good scholar would do. You do not have to take my word for it. You will find out exactly what I am talking about when you do the research on it.
Newsflash: reading books and websites written by other homebirth advocates is not “research.” Research is found in peer reviewed scientific journals and obviously you have no clue what the actual scientific evidence shows.
Still, you avoid my original comment and question regarding the drug Cytotec. I specifically asked you of your opinion of the use of a drug for labor induction that has not been approved by the FDA. Your answers back are concentrated on my lack of ability to present scientific data from a medical journal. If you rely so heavily on these journals, are you not then concerned about the medical communities use of Cytotec without the drug having been approved by the FDA? Where are the medical trials for the use of Cytotec in labor induction? Oh, they do not exist because the FDA did not approve Cytotec for labor induction, it approved the drug for ulcer treatment.
MomInformed1st “Where are the medical trials for the use of Cytotec in labor induction?”
They’re indexed on PubMed (this is database which covers medical literature in case you didn’t know). I just searched “cytotec induction” and found 845 hits, including clinical trials. Some of the papers are even free to read.
I already answered you. Cytotec IS approved by the FDA. There is nothing wrong with using an approved drug for an off label usage. Marsden Wagner relied on the gullibility of homebirth advocates to trick them by insinuation that off label use is wrong.
Do you seriously think that Cytotec is used because it is “cheaper than pitocin”? Do you know how Cytotec functions? Do you understand Bishop’s score? Do you really think that using an approved drug for an off-label use is wrong? Do you have a problem with Prednisone being used for brain tumors? What about for lumbar radiculopathy? That’s off-label too. Can you understand why Cytotec would be helpful for both abortions and cervical ripening? Is it a problem for you that it is used in both procedures?
I guess I just don’t get your point.
You claim they are out there, and you have read them. So why not share them with us all? Instead of just telling us they exist, tell us the data so that we can see for ourselves?
If not the data itself, at least tell us the sources.
Be prepared, however, to discover that whatever you bring is not new, and has been discussed already. But hey, we’re willing to listen, assuming the data are actually credible.
those are all the reasons why it should be used instead of pitocin for managing inductions in otherwise healthy women needing to be induced. If you don’t want to use cytotec than don’t use it, but that doesn’t mean other women shouldn’t choose to use it. What shouldn’t be an option is home birth and using a CPM, with no medical training, like Ina May Gaskin
The question of scheduling c-sections was dealt with in another thread recently. A key point was differentiating between emergency c-sections, and the scheduling of medical necessary but non-emergency c-sections. Thus leading to the non-random distribution throughout the week.
Okay, you’ve got nothing. The idea that a surgical procedure can be scheduled in advance and still be medically necessary is alien to you. I didn’t think you could offer anything interesting, but I wanted to check.
And given the minimal cost of Cytotec, I’m really not impressed with the Big Pharma conspiracy angle. Save that argument for drugs with a profit margin high enough to make it plausible.
Being the scientist that you are, I am surprised that the drug having not been approved by the FDA for the specific use of labor induction would not have you raising at least one eyebrow. Surely you know what it takes for a drug to be approved for a specific use? Trials! Somehow, they are able to use it for labor induction and medical abortion… Oh, I know how- because hospitals save money by using it and doctors do not care. How ironic that doctors and scientists and statistics majors require me to attach links and info in my research, but have no thought about where the research trials exist for approving the use if cytotec in labor induction!
Being the fool that you are, I’m not surprised that the fact that Cytotec is used off label seems suspicious to you. There’s nothing wrong with off label use of medications. It’s just another insinuation that impresses the gullible.
You also do not seem to understand that there is plenty of research on both the safety of and the side effects of Cytotec. Lack of FDA approval tells us nothing about what research exists.
You can’t have it both ways, either big pharma is a problem or it isn’t. Cytotec is cheap and not recommended for pregnant women by big pharma or is big pharma charging high costs and pushing their meds onto pregnant women? Which one is it? You can’t even be consistant with your own arguement.
I don’t understand. Why would a non-emergency surgery be scheduled on a weekend? Of course scheduled sections will be during the week.
Remember- medically necessary does not mean the same as emergency.
Let’s look at when hip replacements are performed. I’ll bet none are done on the weekends. Doesn’t mean they’re not medically necessary.
I don’t think it’s possible to be a surgical nurse for 18 years and not know that most scheduled procedures take place during the week.
I don’t think it is possible to be surgical nurse and not understand the concept of “off label use”.
Misoprostol is a safe, cheap synthetic prostglandin. It works and is used all over the world to ripen cervixes, induce labour, and control PPH. There is a wealth of data about it, because it has been used for these indications for many, many years on millions of women worldwide.
It was first used because the pharmacological MOA suggests it was a plausible drug choice, which was likely to work.
Just because the manufacturer doesn’t want to spend the money on the research needed to apply for licences for those indications doesn’t mean that doctors are doing anything wrong by using it for those indications, when the experiential data is that it is both safe and effective for IOL and PPH.
Of COURSE the manufacturer tells pregnant women not to take it- it causes cervical dilation and can cause premature labour or miscarriage if you don’t want the cervix to dilate at that point in time!
Do you have the same issue with Gemeprost, Carboprost and Dinoprostone? Or just Misoprostol, which is a drug from the same class.
Of course there have been adverse incidents with Misoprostol- all drugs have side effects and risks. that doesn’t mean that for the vast majority of women the drugs isn’t safe or appropriate when prescribed by a physician.
Exactly, they already know it works, why spend the money on research? Plus, you don’t see too many pregnant women beating down the door to volunteer for medical research studies and if I”m not mistaken pregnant women cannot be included in pharm research studies.
If you use three exclamation marks it makes what you’re saying more true.
OT since you are a surgical nurse. How would you count the vaginal yarn?
“And, furthermore, why not focus on the “statistics” of the babies born on The Farm? Ina May is actually involved in THOSE at home births! That was my point!”
I don’t understand this part of your comment.
The quote that you put in your comment from Dr Amy seems, to me at least, to me making two points:
– Ima May Gaskin is responsible for more than one death during a home birth.
– Ima May Gaskin has a vested financial interest in promoting home birth and under-qualified midwives.
I don’t see any attempt to blame all home birth deaths on this one woman. But maybe you meant something else?
Careful, you’ll run out of exclamation marks. ..
What about my right to give birth the way I think is best for me and my child? I want a medically managed birth with pain relief and if indicated, induction or c-section, not a natural birth.
You, just like I, should be able to do with your body what you “choose” to do. Women deserve the right to have home births or midwives- just as they deserve to have Obstetricians or have drugs if they want to.
Again, my comments were and are DIRECTLY related to the article written about Ina May Gaskin.
If, for some reason you felt it was a direct comment toward you, you are sadly mistaken. Nothing personal!
Just as you should be allowed to choose your birthing plan, I should be allowed to speak my mind and share with the good doctor what I think.
A rule of thumb would be to be objective as MOST statistics are bias
to the party or parties that founded/applied the research.
98.354% of people reading this statement agree that it is idiotic. And, yes, that is one of the 58.4% of statistics that were made up on the spot.
There is a grain of truth in what you say: Statistics can be used to lie or mislead–sometimes even unintentionally. But simply saying, “la, la, la, I can’t hear you!” when confronted with statistics like the 300% (or more) higher perinatal mortality rate for home birth makes no sense either. Take some statistics courses, learn to interpret papers, and then you’ll be in a better position to say that this statistic does or does not make sense.
“interventions used to rob women of their natural right to give birth the way God intended!”
God if his intention was to promote natural childbirth then also intended maternal mortality rate to remain unchanged during last century:
“At the beginning of the 20th century, for every 1000 live births, six to nine women in the United States died of pregnancy-related complications… the maternal mortality rate declined almost 99% to less than 0.1 reported death per 1000 live births.”
I would pay money to see your God of natural childbirth refute that statistic, or you explain to me how it is “skewed” and why exactly we should have left everything to divine intentions that robbed so many women in the past of their life?
No shit non nurse midwives lose more babies. What about the CNMs who have sucessful home births all the time?!
And when someone talks with their OB is one of their first questions “how many babies have you lost in your whole practice?” I’m sure you would be reluctant to answer. My many women even question that when it comes to hospitals because there is a false sense of hope that hospitals are the best place I birth.
And don’t lie to ladies saying that hospitals births for healthy low risk women are great. You make low risk high risk by simply not letting mothers move with contractions and eat and drink during labor. Hugh risk women are another story and should be highly educated about the hospital system and birth within those walls while having a birth plan and a doula.
And let’s not start with all the shit you do to newborns that is unnessisary and disrupts the bond of mother and child as well as Breast feeding… But ignorant people who don’t know their options will inevitably give birth in a bright, dirty, loud, fear mongering hospital.
So, I would love to know how many mothers and babies this women has lost during her entire practice.
The death rate at CNM attended homebirth is double the death rate of CNM attended hospital birth.
Already discussed on this blog is the fear that NCBers have about bonding. Come on… if you can’t bond with your baby immediately there are NO lasting problems. Get real!! Bonding can and does happen during a long window of time.
Omg like vitamin K shots and antibiotics?! That life saving shit total interferes with bonding for like 10 minutes and traumatizes the baby horribly! Plus, they get anti-bodies from colostrum, like DUH, breast milk can cure GBS infections and herpes transmission!
Regarding Colorado mortality rates: Statistics are often misleading, as we all know, in this case they MISREPRESENT your point regarding danger of midwives/homebirth. Please read before accepting this trickery: http://www.coloradomidwives.org/component/content/article/45
Where are your sources on this? MANA looked at 24,000 planned home births, not 24,000 deaths that occurred at home. You completely misunderstood what she said in her quote. Have you thoroughly done your research? 600% just sounds like a made up statistic, especially when it isn’t backed by any links or sources. The farm teaches self sustained farming and how to build Eco friendly buildings. That hardly qualifies as a cult. Ina May got her training from a male medical doctor in her early days, so I don’t believe she sees “science as a male form of authoritative knowledge.” And last but not least, Ina May is the ONLY prenatal health care provider who has shared a complete scientific study (not just the abstract like on pub med) with the public and put her own words and thoughts on the information throughout it in italics. I could go on and on about how everything in this article is misinformation but that would take too long and I don’t have time to dig up every link I have. I hope your readers are smart enough to take no one’s word for it and do their own research to form their opinions.
Dr Amy, I think you’re trying to dissuade women from home birth and midwives because you don’t think it’s safe. However, you’re coming across as “anyone who disagrees with me is stupid and part of a home birth cult”. You are very actively working against yourself, because not only are your articles not helpful to women trying to make this decision, they dissuade those women from reading anything else that’s pro-hospital birth.
You’re peeing on your own feet, is what I’m trying to say.
I think I need to clarify my earlier comment – sometimes we need to look at numbers, rather than just statistics. For example, if we look at deaths per 1000 live births, Netherlands has a much lower rate than the U.S.
So the number of births where the baby dies are small and then we are distributing the percentage of this small number.
Similarly, in the Netherlands, Midwives attend the vast majority of pregnant women. There are many more low-risk than high-risk pregnancies. This makes it less surprising that they also encounter more baby deaths.
It is not right to compare the Dutch system, where highly-trained midwives lead the majority of birth care, with the US, where most births are attended by obstetricians, and untrained midwives able to practice. Also, in the US, an ob/gyn is basically a ‘woman Dr’ whom women visit for all sorts of problems. In other countries, an Obstetrician is a specialist in abnormal birth, who is also a surgeon. (A gynaecologist specialises in other problems with the female reproductive system)
To say that midwives in the Netherlands have more deaths than Obs without understanding all this gives a very false impression to someone thinking in terms of the US medical system.
Most of the world recognises that the midwife-led model of care offered in the Netherlands is one of the very best in the world, and other countries seek to emulate it.
The perinatal mortality rate is a better measure of maternity care than the infant death rate, since babies who die during birth are not counted in “deaths per 1000 live births.”
You also say: “Midwives attend the vast majority of pregnant women. There are many more low-risk than high-risk pregnancies. This makes it less surprising that they also encounter more baby deaths.”
You aren’t reading correctly. The statistic is that a higher PERCENTAGE of babies delivered by midwives die. Not just a higher number, a higher percentage, hence proving that the midwives are not delivering optimal care.
It’s easy to misinterpret numbers, many people do. I’ll gladly explain anything else you are unsure of.
In the Netherlands, Obstetricians do NOT routinely attend low risk birth. They are called in to assist when medical intervention is required. The Netherlands has either THE best or close to the best stats on all mortality and morbidity rates associated with birth. They also have a Homebirth rate of 30% of ALL births.
Compare this to the stats coming out of US hospitals and you might want to move to the Netherlands and have a homebirth!
Being sceptical is one thing, being just plain wrong is another altogether.
You are woefully ill informed about midwifery in the Netherlands. The Netherlands has one of the worst perinatal mortality rates in Western Europe. Moreover, midwives attending low risk births have a higher perinatal mortality rate than obstetricians attending high risk births. That’s a terrible indictment of the midwifery model.
curious if Kaatya is from the netherlands, and how many of you commenting on her comments are from the netherlands? just a thought that someone who lives there might have a better idea about the quality of care than people reading stats on websites.
“Being sceptical is one thing, being just plain wrong is another altogether”
This is funny not just because of the spelling error but because you are the one who is wrong. Look up the stats Dr. Amy quotes on the WHO website, the Netherlands IS NOT the birthing land of perfection you think it is and in fact has WORSE perinatal mortality than the US. I looked it up for myself, and you should too!
I think the spelling difference is a regional thing — “skeptical” is the preferred spelling in the U.S. but not everywhere.
That could be, there are so many words like that. I actually make so many typos and spelling errors myself that I shouldn’t comment on them! The outrage tone to the post with the factual errors is the more important issue.
Yes, “sceptical” is the British spelling; also used in many Commonwealth countries.
Actually, per the WHO’s statistics, the Netherlands’ numbers are pretty bad compared to most of northern/western Europe. They do considerably worse than, for example, nearby Germany.
Nope, sorry. Want to be the best? Try being more like Sweden. The combination of a highly effective public health system and a low poverty rate give them a perinatal mortality rate of 5 babies per thousand. The Netherlands’ rate is 8, the same as Chile. The USA, despite our large numbers of poor people with limited access to preventative care, is 7.
What is perinatal mortality? The best international measure of obstetric care. It’s all babies who are stillborn after 28 weeks PLUS all babies who die during birth PLUS all babies who die within one month of birth.
More babies die in hospitals if you look at some real stats. Educated she is. Do your homework
Sigh. Higher numbers of babies die in hospitals because the vast majority of babies are born in hospitals.
The rate of death in hospitals, though, is much lower in hospitals. If there are 10 homebirths and 2 babies die, and there are 1000 hospital births and 20 babies die, more babies died in a hospital. However, being born in a hospital is still safer, because the chance of dying is so much lower. Now, these numbers are made up, but they do illustrate the point.
Math. It is your friend.
http://www.homebirth.net.au/2008/06/homebirth-vs-hospital-statistics-to-die.html
Just reading around on the subject. This is interesting.
Wow. Strong statement to make that an individual has blood on their hands. I’m grateful that Ina May has re-inforced my beliefs that there is nothing wrong with the woman’s body and that we are in fact more than capable of delivering a baby. As with anything, if you did not find yourself a qualified individual to assist you and provide you with care, you are running a risk. Just like in hospitals. Except hospitals have a way of circulating fear, creating a more stressful environment to deliver in, forcing drugs that are truly not necessary… etc. etc.. I have far too many friends that have horror stories of their hospital deliveries. I’m not against doctors and nurses. We need you! You are vital in times of need. But childbirth is not an illness or an injury. It’s not a disease. Our bodies are incredibly well tuned. We just need time. Stop forcing women to deliver their babies in 12-24 hours. Or assume that every woman is overdue just because she exceeded the 40 week timeframe.
But you know, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, right? Freedom of speech and whatnot?
I just fear this Author will seriously misguide someone.
“I’m grateful that Ina May has re-inforced my beliefs”. But you do realize that fact is not a matter of belief, right?
She may push your buttons, but at least she won’t molest them.
Definitely freedom of speech. Gaskin has the right to say what she wants, and other folks have the right to disagree with her, or to point out that what she’s saying is just plain wrong.
But many women AREN’T “more than capable of delivering a baby.” If not, why would anyone bother having a birth attendant (Gaskin or anyone else) at all?
we are “more than capable”. having an attendant is a backup for the possibility that something could go wrong. it doesn’t mean a woman can’t give birth on her own, just that she’s smart enough to accept that no matter how much you plan, shit happens and it’s better to be safe than sorry. an ounce of prevention and all that. and, sometimes a woman in labour on her own might just want a hand to hold and an encouraging word.
You have managed to summarise NCB dogma into one comment.
BS propaganda but well done.
“Interestingly, if you look at page 243.e3, the authors did a sensitivity analysis. In this analysis, they excluded the studies that had home births that were not attended by certified midwives or certified nurse midwives. In this analysis, they found that there were no differences in neonatal deaths between the home birth and hospital birth groups. This means that in the studies in which midwives with certification of some kind attended home births, the outcomes were the same except there was no increase in the neonatal death rate. In my opinion, we have to pay attention to results of sensitivity analyses because this allows us to see the results based on studies which were definitely known to be eligible or clearly described their methods and outcomes.”
From an unbiased review on the Wax Home Birth Meta- Analysis. Home birth is just as safe as hospital birth low risk women as long as they have a trained, certified and qualified health care provider.
We’re not talking about the Wax study.
“Studies from the UK show that homebirth increases the risk of poor perinatal outcomes. ” This statement is incorrect and shows Amy Tuteur has not even researched the latest piece of evidence properly seeing that she wrote this in 2012, and the UK study was published in 2011.
A major study published in the UK (Birthplace in England Collaborative Group, 2011) has examined the risks of planned home births, comparing them against planned deliveries in hospitals and midwife units for low risk women.
The overall rate of negative outcomes (a composite of outcomes of death or serious complications) was 4.3 per 1000 births (95% confidence interval [CI] 3.3 to 5.5) and there was no difference between non-obstetric unit settings compared with obstetric units. This indicates that as a whole, PLANNED home births are as safe as ones in medical settings.
The previous studies (that perhaps were used by Amy Tuteur) included NON-PLANNED homebirths which were either not attended by any healthcare professional or were planned hospital births where the delivery happened so quickly that they did not have time to transfer the women to hospital. In these cases, there would be no preparation or proper attendance by healthcare professionals, and therefore, would lead to a higher risk of poor outcomes. These studies were dismissed by the medical community as the data was deemed inaccurate and not valid.
It is not only important to study the latest piece of research but to also analyse it for validity, objectiveness, and thoroughness.
For more information see:
Birthplace in England Collaborative Group (2011) Perinatal and maternal outcomes by planned place of birth for healthy women with low risk pregnancies: the Birthplace in England national prospective cohort study. BMJ, 343:d7400
Sandall et al (2013) is the most recent Cochrane Review and conclude that most women should be offered midwife-led continuity models of care, although caution should be exercised in applying this advice to women with substantial medical or obstetric complications.
Amy has discussed the Birthplace study in detail. I suggest you look at her articles. Planned births at home are only as safe as hospital births when women with risk factors are excluded from giving birth at home–including ALL mothers giving birth for the first time. Those conditions are almost never met in the real world, especially here in the U.S.
“Amy Tuteur has not even researched the latest piece of evidence properly
seeing that she wrote this in 2012, and the UK study was published in
2011.”
Let me guess: you didn’t bother to check what I wrote back in 2011 when the study was published. And you call yourself a researcher? What a joke.
I would like to point out for anyone reading this that Amy Tuteur no longer has a medical license, it lapsed in 2003. She has also been banned from many scientific sites for her rude and obnoxious behaviour in addition to her lack of evidence. The scientific evidence she uses are papers that have been dismissed by the scientific community as being biased or inaccurate. The figures she quotes are often portrayed in misleading ways, for example 600% increase is actually an increase from 0.001 to 0.006. Im not advocating for or against homebirth, instead I’m advising people to look elsewhere for more accurate knowledge.
And I would like to point out that you are simply indulging in malicious slander. Amy Tuteur is an MD but is not currently practicing and therefore is not keeping her license to practice current. The only sites which ban her are those which are inaccurate or downright misinformation; she has never been banned from ANY authentic scientific site — in fact, she is due to address ACOG this month. Her explication of the statistical method, and the way she shows what a scientific paper really shows is the correct scientific method. She exposes the assertions of the “homebirth is safe” lobby for the lies they are–something you’d understand if you weren’t motivated by personal animus.
You are an ignorant troll. Go crawl back into your hole.
Also Jezzebel, notice the change in Homebirth comments regarding Homebirth lately. They used to say that Homebirth is as safe or safer than Hospital birth. But lately they have been saying the absolute risk in Homebirth is small compared to the slight increase in relative risk, and is worth considering. I have to believe this change in narrative has something to do with Dr Amy.
By the logic these people use, should we stop using life saving surgeries once the inventor of said surgery stops practicing? Is the knowledge they have discovered somehow now null and void because their license is no longer good to practice?
The MOST amazing and hypocritical part of all this, is that the very same people who act like birthing a baby is “no big deal” and “totally predictable and natural process that needs no help” , simultaneously act like if someone hasnt been doing it for a while, all their training and knowledge is somehow null and void.
So which is it folks? Is birth so crazy complicated, difficult and unpredictable that no longer attending them makes you a lay person, or is it just a totally predictable , easy process that anyone with a HS diploma can be an expert in it?
Moreover, it’s not like Dr Amy is some rogue OB out there, positing extreme positions. Everything she is saying is perfectly in line with the views of the ACOG – it’s the MAINSTREAM position of OB!
Dr Amy’s license may have lapsed, but that doesn’t apply to the millions or whatever of practicing OBs in the US that are practicing exactly as Dr Amy describes.
mainstream doesn’t mean better, or right.
Well, it was certainly helpful of you to post the status of Tuteur’s medical license here, on a blog entry over a year old, for the benefit of the people who couldn’t interpret the word “retired” in the bio at the top of the page, but would, presumably, discover your helpful paragraph down among the comments on very old entries.
I have seen a lot of papers discussed here, and more then a few practicing physicians, and I haven’t seen a lot of time or thought given to papers that dismissed as biased or inaccurate (although there has been a lot of discussion of bias and inaccuracy). Which papers were you objecting to?
As to objecting to describing a 6x greater chance as a 600% increase – well, we can play spot the math error all day, but what would it be more appropriate to call it? “A larger, but still statistically tiny, chance that something unfortunate might happen to you or your baby”? Or do you prefer “Nothing to worry about, dear, certainly not a reason to be in the hospital where they can help you”?
Wow, insecure paranoia at its best. Well Jezzabel, did you know ACOG District VII is having Dr Amy speak at their annual meeting in Maui? You that many Doctors who are not practicing anymore ( and other professionals) continue to read contemporary medical literature and serve on Boards and Committees providing their expertise? And yes the absolute risk is small despite the slight significant relative risk. But more significant is the consequence of that slight significant risk, permanent brain injury or death! If the consequence was the difference between a CS or vaginal birth, both giving you a healthy baby, I would take that risk. I am not ready to take an increased risk for my baby.
Come back and comment how ACOG wants to hear from her despite you stated all scientific sites ban her. Maybe biased crunchy sites, but not truly scientific sites.
Name 2. Remember, they have to be SCIENTIFIC sites.
Where did you cut and paste this comment from? I’m curious, because I’ve read the same thing (including mostly the same wording) sprinkled throughout old comment threads several times over the past few months.
jezzebel, what was the highest level math class you passed? I’m only asking because you don’t seem to understand what percents mean. Rising from 0.001 to 0.006 is just as much 6 times higher as rising from 100 to 600.
It’s only misleading if you don’t understand basic maths!
If only Homebirth deaths were .0006
I’m just smiling at the irony that this comment was placed after a post on Ina May Gaskin, the utterly unqualified icon of the anti-Dr Amy brigade.
BTW, an increase from 0.001 to 0.006 is actually 500% increase, not 600%.
Whoops.
BTW, to me, a 1/150 chance of my baby dying sounds very, very scary. 1/1000 is also scary, but much better.
What a stupid arrogent article! Where are your resources? How on earth did humanity ever survive before you magical meddling OBGYNs started cutting everyone’s offspring from their bodies!!! I just delivered my 3rd baby at home and thank goodness that we had a planned home birth! First off, my labor was just 2hrs so I’d have had him in the car alone had we been headed to the hospital. Secondly he got a little stuck from being quite big so I was able to move into a position that allowed him to become unstuck (unlike a woman who has an epidural and can’t move).
Ah the arrogance of vagina. All hail Rose and her wombyn powers!
and why is it wrong to be proud of birthing children? it’s an amazing process and women’s bodies are very good at it. you’re right, millions and millions of women have done it and i bet the vast majority are proud of it. what’s a wombyn, by the way?
Why is a biological process something to be proud of? I am proud of my children, but not terribly proud of their births. Actually, I’d be more likely to be proud of the C-section I had to save my son’s life than the VBAC I had with my daughter.
Amy-
I respectfully disagree with some of your statements regarding Ina May Gaskin. To your point that she is a “feminist, antirationalist”, what makes you say this? I’m not sure Ina May has ever claimed to be a feminist. You also claim she/ other feminists “dismiss science as a male form of “authoritative knowledge” yet she has been very vocal and appreciative in her books and lectures about learning from a male OB (Dr William, if I remember right).
Maybe you should read her books before making comments.
What did home birth or having faith in a womon’s body ever
do to you?
Judith Rooks, CNM, testified her research about Homebirth safety.
https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2013R1/Downloads/CommitteeMeetingDocument/8585
Why don’t you link to or cite the studies you mention? Ina May Gaskin does, you know. I’m a scientist, and I did a lot of research before switching from an OB to a highly experienced home birth midwife. I gave birth to my first child in Sweden, midwife assisted, in the hospital. The OB here in the US was a nice man, but his lack of knowledge about, safe, natural, evidence based birth practice horrifued me. I devoured the literature on home birth, read dozens or hundreds of papers, in detail. I came to the conclusion that it is perfectly safe for a healthy woman with a normal pregnancy to deliver at home with an experienced midwife. Being a scientist however, I’m happy to reevaluate, so please point me to the literature.
I have to say though, that the anger and emotionality in your posts does not instill much confidence!
Caroline, in the USA we have a very differant situation from Sweden. While we do have highly trained and experienced midwives (CNMs, or Certified Nurse Midwives), most of them focus on attending hospital births. The home birth “midwives” in the USA have can have as little formal education as a high-school diploma and a self-study course. Their rates of neonatal mortality are shockingly high. The CDC wonder site that she references (http://wonder.cdc.gov/) tracks all causes of death in the USA, and it has a section on infant deaths. You can crunch the numbers yourself (I did) and it confirms what she says. And those numbers underestimate the true numbers of homebirth deaths, because deaths from a botched home birth that was transferred to a hospital end up in the “hospital birth” category. A recent data collection effort by the State of Oregon includes the planned site of birth, and the death rates are even higher. I think Dr Amy’s anger comes from reading story after story about preventable deaths, and preventable permanent injury to infants, month after month, and having the home-birth advocates here in the USA simply ignore the very real risks of homebirth with an uneducated “midwife”.
You chose a homebirth because you wanted that experience. You did not choose a homebirth because your Ob/gyn lacked knowledge of natural childbirth. Do you realise how ridiculous your claim is?
MANA won’t release their mortality rates of over 27,000 homebirths, why you suppose? Judith Rooks a CNM took on the job in Oregon to investigate this and testified that Homebirth has a 6-8 times higher mortality risk.
https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2013R1/Downloads/CommitteeMeetingDocument/8585
The Netherlands has one of the highest maternal mortality rate in Europe. And this paper in the BMJ suggest low risk moms with midwives at home have a higher mortality rate than all the high risk moms in hospitals.
http://www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c5639
Colorado statistics and now Arizona statistics show an increased risk with homebirths. Links found here on threads. Common sense really, Homebirth in America with undereducated unlicensed CPM with no malpractice and no doctor collaboration or transfer plans who take on high risk “variations of normal” cannot be compared to nurse midwifery that practices in other countries.
The Netherlands had 6 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2010. The United States had 21 per 100,000. The majority of women deliver with OB in the US. The worst country in Europe is better than the US. I’d rather deliver with a midwife in the Netherlands than an OB here.
And yes, Gaskin may have blood on her hands. So do plenty of OBs.
apps.who.int/gho/data/node.country.regionAMR?lang=en
Um, do you actually know anything about maternal mortality in the US? Like have you ever actually bothered to look up what women die of?
Here’s a newsflash for you: high maternal mortality in the US is driven by racial inequality. If you haven’t considered that, then nothing you have to say about maternal mortality in the US means a thing.
Really?! Not everyone is treated equally!? Some people don’t have access to healthcare!? Some mothers don’t have access to prenatal care!? In the United States!? Preposterous! Thanks for the newsflash!
And I didn’t know they cured heart disease in the Netherlands! Amazing!
You’re the one implying that maternal mortality in the US is driven by poor obstetric practice. It’s not (although if you want to make a case for systemic discrimination against African American women as a factor I might listen–clearly, though, this is not what you’re getting at). If you bothered to look at the evidence (for example, the actual causes of maternal mortality) even just a tiny bit you would be aware of this.
And do you really not grasp the fact that for a variety of reasons–many of which are linked to high levels of social and economic inequality, and none of which have anything to do with the skill of obstetricians–heart disease is more prevalent in the US than the Netherlands?
One thing that indicates the skill of American obstetricians is the fact that–despite maternal and infant mortality rates that are high among developed countries–the American neonatal mortality rate is so good. In other words, obstetricians are faced with a population that suffers poorer health than other developed countries, yet manage to save the lives of the babies under their care at a comparatively higher rate.
Critical thinking does not appear to be a feature of NCB advocates.
The United States also has a higher neonatal mortality rate than the Netherlands. I didn’t read the the rest of your posts, I didn’t expect to find much critical thinking there either.
According to the World Heath Organization, the best measure of obstetric care is perinatal mortality and the US has one of the lowest rates in the world, the same or lower than that of the Netherlands.
Well, you obviously COMPLETELY missed the point of what I said.
It’s infant mortality that the US suffers in, not perinatal/neonatal (eg; very shortly after birth) – and surprise surprise, it’s pretty much for the same reason we have a high maternal mortality – in the US, poor people can’t/don’t have access to skilled health care until it’s an emergency , because then they can’t refuse you. Is it a wonder so many people die of preventable/treatable things in the US?
There are two very important differences between other first world nations and the US
#1 – The others offer health care to all their citizens
#2 – The others are geographically much denser than the US, so more people live reasonably close to skilled health care.
But also #3–high levels of inequality and poverty, with particularly high levels of deprivation among African Americans. Poverty leads to a range of issues that impact upon health outcomes, including access to healthcare, poor diet, poor housing, vulnerability to violence and so on.
Nothing gets my goat more than privileged white NCB advocates who think a problem of racial and economic inequality is all about THEM.
Since when have Australia and New Zealand been ‘geographically dense?
There are plenty of other ‘developed’ countries with racial and social inequality and poverty-related health issues. Third world diseases are alive and kicking in the first world – the US of A does not win prizes for being more excessively disadvantaged than the rest of the developed world
And I never said poor obstetric practice. I said despite the majority of birth being in hospitals, we are losing more mothers than other countries.
Come on, we aren’t stupid. You said, after comparing maternal mortality rates in the US and Netherlands, that:
“The majority of women deliver with OB in the US. The worst country in
Europe is better than the US. I’d rather deliver with a midwife in the
Netherlands than an OB here.”
You clearly meant to imply that obstetricians in the US do a poorer job than midwives in the Netherlands. You seem to now be trying to backtrack. I note that if you think there is some other factor about the Netherlands that would automatically make giving birth there safer for you, you haven’t divulged.
Do me a favor. Find out how many of those 21 actually went into labor reasonably healthy and died during delivery in a hospital. Hint: It’s almost entirely unheard-of.
Have you heard of an amniotic fluid embolism? Or postpartum hemorrhage. These conditions don’t just affect unhealthy women.
Yes, of course they can happen to anyone, that’s why we have hospitals. However, most deaths that the US authorities classify as “maternal deaths” are NOT due to labor complications in healthy women. They are due to the physical stresses of pregnancy exacerbating other serious illnesses, from heart disease to food poisoning. Other countries may define “maternal death” more strictly.
So then why, in a country where most births take place in hospitals, are mothers dying more frequently than other countries? If hospitals are the safest place to be, why are we still losing mothers? Is food poisoning that hard to manage? Obviously we need hospitals, but even with them, some women do not get the care they need. We continue to lose mothers.
I’m answering your question over and over again, and you’re ignoring me.
a) Many women lack access to healthcare, at least until things are already in crisis. It’s a social and economic issue rather than a failure on the hospital’s part.
b) We are measuring maternal mortality differently, and possibly more broadly, than other countries.
That’s the problem with starting off with such a pompous and antagonistic tone. You might find it difficult to backtrack if you’re found to be mistaken.
You truly believe that other countries are not as thorough at reporting maternal mortality as the United States? So you don’t find the WHO a credible source for the statistical data it publishes?
Obviously it is system failure, you can’t blame hospitals and you can’t blame home birth. We lose women in both.
I do not need you to answer my question. First of all, it is rhetorical. Second of all, if you are so wise, get out there and attempt to change the system instead of defending it by saying we over report maternal death and that other countries under report it.
Certified midwives are affordable, and therefore more accessible to underserved populations. The Director of Medicine at the hospital I work for refers to certified midwives as being an important factor to reforming health care and increasing accessibility to care. It would be nice if other doctors would take on this same belief.
I’m not saying other countries under-report, I’m saying we DEFINE IT DIFFERENTLY. In the USA, any time a pregnant or recently postpartum woman dies of any medical causes, the coroner is supposed to consider whether pregnancy was a factor in the death, and, if so, classify it as maternal. Other countries don’t necessarily do that, and may only count deaths that were clearly caused by pregnancy, such as pre-eclampsia or postpartum hemorrhage. This is one of many reasons it’s tough to make international comparisons of vital statistics.
And if you don’t want your question answered, go someplace else. Here, we have this nasty habit of assuming people are interested in the complicated and messy real facts.
I believe c-sections (those nasty old interventions) REDUCE the risk of haemorrhage.
Most women cases of maternal mortality are due to too LITTLE intervention, not to much. At this point, the leading cause of maternal mortality in the US is cardiac disease. Is it your contention that OBs cause women to develop heart problems? I didn’t think so.
Too little intervention….the majority of women in the US deliver in hospitals. So what you are saying is too little intervention…in hospitals.
“Most women cases of maternal mortality”…. Are there men cases of maternal mortality too? Thanks, doc!
Maternal mortality is based on how it is coded. Dr Amy has a good post about how the USA has updated or adjusted what maternal mortality entails. In two separate years, I believe 2003 and 2007 updates to the requirements of what entails maternal mortality, and it “appears” the maternal mortality rates have increased after these years. The actual rates haven’t changed but the associated deaths linked to maternity have expanded. I don’t think foreign countries made the same adjustments to their statistics.
I am not a scientist, I haven’t read hundreds of papers, and I think homebirth is a very bad idea regardless of the skill of your attendant. But I agree with you: homebirth is safe for a healthy woman with a normal pregnancy. When it is over and the woman is still healthy and everything has stayed normal. I started off very healthy, and eventually went back to being very healthy, and without the machines that go beep and the resources of a hospital the fact that my pregnancy hadn’t stayed normal would not have been that clear, and I would have been one of the healthy low risk mothers that ended up dead. Did you read about those? The insoluble problem about birth is that it is largely safe, but the disasters come out of the blue to the unsuspecting and unprepared, and you have to decide whether THAT risk is one you are happy with, without the pretence that appearing to be low risk is a guarantee or a certainty.
Well I worked at the hospital where we get the “farms” bad out comes. They should not be delivering babies!!
I met one woman here in Illinois who had gone to the Farm for delivery years ago… … … She had a cesarean! What are the chances? With their “low” CS rates, the odds of me meeting one person who had a transfer CS from the Farm should be rare. Makes me wonder about Ina’s statistics.
Why do we entrust our reproductive health to surgeons? I do believe that is a lot of womens blood on your hands. How many times did you cut a women open when you did not really have to? And really, how many women are having low risk births in hospitals? The norm is inductions and c-sections…high risk indeed. Woman are capable of no intervention home births, and you hate that fact.
OB/GYNs are primary care docs taking care of women from adolescence to death. Annual wellness visits and prescribing medicines and therapy. We do perform surgery when necessary, but we are not surgeons. Surgeons do not have a regular patient base that visits annually. Low risks births happen all the time in the hospital, are you really believing all that crunchy BS about cold strap down deliveries in hospitals. Your ignorance is showing.