The following was written by a hemophilia mom who worked as an OB nurse. With her permission, I have republished it here from where she originally posted it on
"cafe' mom" back in June 2007.
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So, someone asked me why I choose home birth, so I decided to write a journal entry to explain it, as I think it's too long for a reply to a previous entry.
First, my birth history. My first three pregnancies were induced because I had high blood pressure. The first was the worst, but the other two were not far behind. I was over 39 weeks each time, so no preemies or anything. I was never sick enough to need meds for my blood pressure. The first two times, I had Pitocin to start my labors. The third time, I did not want it, so I requested to be induced by rupture of membranes. By this point, I had been an OB nurse for a year, so I had a pretty decent working knowledge of the birth process from more than just a participant. During my pregnancy, I began to question circumcision. I talked to several doctors about it in the course of my work, and decided I'd not do it to my children. I had all girls up to this point. After that third baby was born, during my foray into the anti-circ world, I became acquainted with things like not vaccinating your children and home birth. When that child was 9 months old, we made the decision to stop vaccinations. I also decided that my future children would be born at home.
Two years later, I was pregnant again. I could not find a midwife in my new state, Illinois. So, I called a midwife I knew back home in Kansas, and asked her if she would attend my birth. I would travel there at 37 weeks or so, and hang out with my sister until I went into labor. It was all arranged and working well, until 7 weeks along. A sonogram showed twins. I immediately dismissed my home birth plans and while I hoped desperately for a vaginal birth, I knew my chances were slim. I was right. C-section for "unfavorable" position. After that, I'd had it. No matter what happened, I was having a home birth next time. Of course, I still have not found a midwife. Not to be one to wait until I needed, I got on the internet and began searching shortly after my boys were born. Didn't find a midwife, but became acquainted with something else new. Unassisted home birth. This was cool! By this point, I'd been working in OB for 4 years. I felt confident that we could do this. So, two years later, when I was pregnant again, this was the plan. I opted for an unassisted pregnancy as well. I did my own prenatal care. I did finally meet a midwife, just 2 weeks before she was born, but I had already made my plans, so stuck with them. I had a fantastic, 2 1/2 hour birth, in a pool in my family room. It was the most amazing thing ever! I knew then, that I'd never have another baby in the hospital again. So, two years later again (yeah, I know. I have a pattern), when I became pregnant, we didn't even discuss it. We knew we'd be having another unassisted home birth. The time came when labor started, and it was a long, grueling, 52 hour labor. I required a bit of assistance this time. I was ready to throw in the towel and head to the hospital at 50 hours. A midwife friend came over, broke my water and left. Two hours later, I was holding my screaming baby boy.
That's the birth history. Now for the whys of it all. During my career as an RN, I began to see how much stuff is done to women simply because it's what's easiest for the care providers (OB and RN). It's much easier to watch a continuous feed of fetal monitoring at the nurse's desk than it is to hunt down the walking mom every 15 min. to listen and count with a doppler. It's certainly more convenient to break mom's water or give her Pitocin when things are going a bit slower than the OB would like so he can "get that mom delivered" by a decent hour. Those late nights are hard, after all. I began to realize that birth is so much less traumatic both for mom and baby when it's left alone. However, it's nearly impossible for birth to be left alone in the hospital. Everyone's got to get their hands in it, literally. That's not something I want. My first baby was taken to the nursery for the first 6 hours of her life. I needed to rest, you see, because of my blood pressure. It was the longest 6 hours of my life (longer than that labor had been, actually). I hated it. My second was given for adoption. My third, the took her from me, put her in a baby warmer where I could see her. She was messed with, poke with a vit. k needle and a hep b needle. Junk was put into her eyes... she was exhausted by the time I finally got to hold her. She was way too tired to breastfeed. Fortunately, it didn't hamper future attempts and she nursed fine. My twins were taken from me since I had to go to recovery. But, by then, I knew to request no needles, no goop. I wanted them alert when I got them back, so they would nurse and so I could meet them. That was fine. I only had to wait an hour to finally hold my babies. It was better than before, but still not ideal. When my twins were 5 months old, one of them was diagnosed with hemophilia. His blood does not clot properly. So, things like a circumcision, or an intramuscular injection can cause bleeding that won't stop. Thankfully, we'd avoided that. However, the question then became, is it safe to have a home birth when this is a possibility for future children? Well, the next baby was a girl and I knew she was before she was born, so no worries. Then came Ian. There is a 5% risk of bleeding on the brain with vaginal birth. After some reading, I discovered that the risk of this bleeding without the use of instruments to deliver goes down to less than 1%. Well, that's a no brainer. I don't own forceps or a vacuum extractor so there was no concern about an instrument delivery (however much I thought I wanted one by the third day of labor). Well, I knew this baby was a boy, and I knew he had hemophilia. I did not know this through any tests of any kind. I just have a great gut instinct for this kind of thing. Well, he was born, I drew blood from the placenta as we'd arranged, and my husband took it to the clinic for testing. I was right, but my baby was fine. Some would suggest I got lucky. I would say I planned things in such as way as to be sure my baby would be born gently so that there was no risk of bleeding of any kind. Let's talk about risk of bleeding, since this was a question asked of me. Besides that less than 1% risk of brain bleed jumping to 5% in the hospital, there are many other opportunities for a hospital birth to actually
cause bleeding. Artificial rupture of membranes - bleeding from the big scrape that is now on the scalp. How about that deep suctioning they do after birth? GI bleed. Rough handling, flicking of the feet, vigorously rubbing the back all to stimulate crying - muscle bleeds. IM injections - muscle bleeds. Of course, there is ample opportunity in all of this for big ugly bruising to be left behind by uneducated staff. This all just addresses the hemophilia. But why home birth at all?
Ultimately, I have a very strong faith in my Maker and the way He created me. I am a strong, healthy woman. My body was designed to conceive, grow, carry and finally birth a baby all on it's own. I also believe that a vast majority of fetal distress and failure to progress cases are caused by hospital intervention. The use of continuous fetal monitoring has NOT improved outcomes when it comes to fetal mortality. It has, however, increased the incidence of c-sections 3 fold. Pitocin has become a drug of convenience rather than emergencies. Docs going out of town? No problem We'll induce before she goes. Mom is only here to help you for one more week? Ok. Let's induce. You're due tomorrow? Well, let's just get you scheduled. Something like 90% of all inductions are not medically necessary. Labor's going to slow? We'll augment with Pit. Why? Oh, just to get it over and done with for you. Sheesh! No one even talks about the RISKS!! Yes! That's right! There are RISKS to this drug! In fact, it's not even approved by the FDA to use for augmentation! But, who needs to follow labels? Let's use this great new blood pressure drug, Cytotec to stimulate labor! So what if it causes ruptured uteruses? That doesn't happen to every one. Think of all the time that can be saved by getting labor started on a time table. Obstetrics is the only medical specialty that is not evidenced based. It's tradition based. There have been multiple studies that have proven the old ways are wrong but it's still going on! Why? Why is there such a need to manage something that works just fine on it's own? Pregnancy is not a disease. It's not a sickness. It's not an emergency waiting to happen. It's a normal function of life. We go to the doctor when normal functions aren't happening normally. Your hearts not working right? See a cardiologist. Blood not working right, as in our family? See a hematologist. Birth IS working right? See an OB anyway. Do you get it? Do you understand why someone might choose to flee as far and as fast as possible? Because what I DON'T get, is the American practice of obstetrics. I don't get it, and I won't have it. Home, where there is peace and gentleness surrounding the entrance of my baby into this world. There's enough violence throughout life. It doesn't need to start with the first breath of life.
