My son's birth earns us a news article

[RendeR]

Seeking an option to hospital births : Life : The Buffalo News (http://www.buffalonews.com/185/story/476382.html)

Telle works with a group called "Buffalo Birth" that is trying to raise money to help educate and support women choosing a more natural birth experience. Our story of Aemon's birth prompted the paper to interview her for an article on the topic.

Just thought I'd share =) Proud hubby/Father moment =)

[sterlingice]

I admit it- I'm glad you weren't the one they were talking about on Colbert last night where he named his kid "Sarah McCain Palin" behind his wife's back ;)

SI

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Seeking an option to hospital births : Life : The Buffalo News (http://www.buffalonews.com/185/story/476382.html)

Telle works with a group called "Buffalo Birth" that is trying to raise money to help educate and support women choosing a more natural birth experience. Our story of Aemon's birth prompted the paper to interview her for an article on the topic.

Just thought I'd share =) Proud hubby/Father moment =)

I'm a big advocate of epidurals. My wife was much more tolerable after that. :)

[Subby]

Congrats to your wife for getting what she wanted!

[Honolulu_Blue]

I watched a documentary about this called "The Business of Being Born". It was made by Ricki Lake. In fact, she's in it. In fact, you get to see a very pregnant, naked Ricki Lake. That really wasn't a high point of my life.

That said, the documentary is pretty well done. It's definitely pro-natural birth, but does discuss the potential risks involved. For example, one of the main focuses of the documentary was about Ricki Lake's friend, the director I think, who was going to have a natural, in-home birth. When she started going into labor she was at home as planned, but there were complications so she ended up having to go to a nearby hospital.

[Mustang]

Buffalo Birth... sounds really really painful.

[RendeR]

I'm a big advocate of epidurals. My wife was much more tolerable after that. :)


Telle studied and used a method called "Hypno-birthing" basically a self hypnosis/deep relaxation technic to allow the body to relax and not fight itself during birth.

She has had two good sized babies (Aemon was 10 lbs 1oz) and she has never had any medication during delivery. In fact as the article says, she had Aemon in teh front seat of our car. I caught him! and she was calm cool and collected the entire time.


To be perfectly Honest, when telle suggested all these "alternative" birthing ideas I was skeptical. I had no clue honestly. I thought she was nuts. But she really did her homework and studied everything she could find and in the end convinced me that her way was the right way.

I have two of the most healthy, strong, intelligent kids I've ever known, so i guess she got something right =)

[RendeR]

Buffalo Birth... sounds really really painful.


BuffaloBirth Network - Home (http://www.buffalobirth.com)


Its not as painful as it sounds, honest ;)

[flere-imsaho]

Congrats!

[Galaxy]

I watched a documentary about this called "The Business of Being Born". It was made by Ricki Lake. In fact, she's in it. In fact, you get to see a very pregnant, naked Ricki Lake. That really wasn't a high point of my life.



Thanks for that image.

[NoSkillz]

Wow, great story! Awesome stuff...continued good luck!

[Telle]

But she really did her homework and studied everything she could find and in the end convinced me that her way was the right way.

Just a note.. my way was the right way for ME. Both myself and BuffaloBirth Network do not judge if a woman wants something other than a natural birth. We just want to make sure that all women are educated on the risks and benefits of everything related to birth so that they can make an informed choice about what is right for them.

[RendeR]

Oh come on, everyone knows that MY way is the only way and if my way and your way are the same, well then your way is the right way too ;)

[Huckleberry]

Cool. Our second and third kids were born at home. Our first was born naturally at a hospital but was attended by a midwife. Most people don't know that planned homebirths have a lower complication and intervention rate than hospital births.

Doctors gotta make their tee times, you know. ;)

[RendeR]

Cool. Our second and third kids were born at home. Our first was born naturally at a hospital but was attended by a midwife. Most people don't know that planned homebirths have a lower complication and intervention rate than hospital births.

Doctors gotta make their tee times, you know. ;)


those two statements are the things that bother me most, and I'm not all that involved with BB.

People trust their doctors, they have to or the system fails. But WTF does a surgeon (Obstetricians are trained as surgeons first, anything else if at all later) really understand about childbirth. They ought to be the last line of support, not the primary.

[Subby]

People trust their doctors, they have to or the system fails. But WTF does a surgeon (Obstetricians are trained as surgeons first, anything else if at all later) really understand about childbirth. They ought to be the last line of support, not the primary.
This is such a ridiculous statement. I'm glad your approach worked for your family but you should, for once in your life, shut the fuck up about stuff you don't really know about.

[Karlifornia]

This just got fun.

[Chubby]

This is such a ridiculous statement. I'm glad your approach worked for your family but you should, for once in your life, shut the fuck up about stuff you don't really know about.
pot... kettle... black...

Whatever you say Dr Subby :popcorn:

[miked]

those two statements are the things that bother me most, and I'm not all that involved with BB.

People trust their doctors, they have to or the system fails. But WTF does a surgeon (Obstetricians are trained as surgeons first, anything else if at all later) really understand about childbirth. They ought to be the last line of support, not the primary.

Actually, OBs usually do an OB/GYN residency, where surgery is a part of their training since they do have to deal with cancer, as well as other conditions involving surgery. Further, once the OB/GYN residency is completed, many can subspecialize which involves even more training. They are not surgeons first, and trained in "anything else" later. They are trained in OB/GYN and do understand about childbirth. They also understand much of the testing and complications that arise BEFORE the birthing process, so really they should not necessarily be the "last line of support" for people.

If you brought up the fact that you might be seeing an OB/GYN for 7-9 months of pregnancy and find out when you are set to deliver that he/she is not on service that day, I'd agree with you. It's why midwives are popular, because they will be there with you on that day.

[PackerFanatic]

My wife's OB was absolutely awesome. He was very knowledgeable and we both trusted him (more so my wife did, which is obviously most important) As with anything, there are many different viewpoints and stances on this type of thing and its whatever works for you and what you are most comfortable with.

[Fidatelo]

I like that the pendulum is swinging back to a more natural form of birthing than what has gone on in the west over the last 50+ years, but statements like RendeR's crack me up. "WTF does some DOCTOR know about CHILDBIRTH?!?!". Indeed.

[GrantDawg]

All I know is, I'm glad my daughter was born in the hospital. She crowned then got stuck in the birth canal. She would most likely have died if they weren't able to do an emergency C-section as quickly as they did. Have home births if that's what you like, but I can't think of anything more natural (or wise) than having a baby surrounded by highly train professionals and emergency equipment a hall way away.

[Subby]

pot... kettle... black...Whatever you say Dr Subby
Don't need to be a doctor to see that this statement is ludicrous:

"But WTF does a surgeon (Obstetricians are trained as surgeons first, anything else if at all later) really understand about childbirth. They ought to be the last line of support, not the primary."

[Telle]

One problem is that doctors are mostly trained in the pathology of birth, whereas midwives are experts at normal birth. Thus where a doctor may see a problem and jump to intervene ("This birth is taking too long, let's speed it up with pitocin"), a midwife may see a variation of normal ("This birth is taking awhile but is within the range or normal, time to put on another pot of coffee"). Note that midwives are also very well trained in knowing when birth no longer falls in the range of normal and thus requires transfer of care to an OB.

Another issue facing doctors is the fear of lawsuits. A malpractice suit can kill a practice, even if it doesn't end in a multi-million dollar settlement. Thus doctor's are less likely to take a "wait and see" approach and are quicker to intervene; it's been well said that "the only c-section you get sued for is the one you didn't do". Midwives, for the most part, don't practice active management. However, they get sued less often than doctors. Some believe this is because those that choose to go with midwives have done more research into birth and understand that there are no guarantees when it comes to birth and sometimes tragedies happen whether or not every medical intervention in the book was thrown at the situation.

The bottom line? For low-risk pregnancies, midwives (in or out of the hospital) have mortality and morbidity rates equal to that of doctors, but have much lower rates of interventions such as c-sections and episiotomies. They also tend to have a higher satisfaction rating from patients due to the additional time spent with them as compared to most doctors.

However, each person is different and all will have different priorities when it comes to birth. I personally was scared to death of having my abdomen sliced open or a pair of scissors taken to my girly parts, so I chose to go with midwives in order to lessen my risk of either.

[Telle]

All I know is, I'm glad my daughter was born in the hospital. She crowned then got stuck in the birth canal. She would most likely have died if they weren't able to do an emergency C-section as quickly as they did. Have home births if that's what you like, but I can't think of anything more natural (or wise) than having a baby surrounded by highly train professionals and emergency equipment a hall way away.

The problem is, the hospital environment can cause these very situations that they then so heroically save women and babies from. Inducing or augmenting labor, very common things in hospital birth, can increase the risk of shoulder distocia. Having an epidural can make it more difficult to move the mother to a hands-and-knees position, which is one of the most effective means of getting a baby un-stuck. And a c-section should be the LAST thing they should try to do to resolve shoulder distocia.. it is VERY risky to push the baby back up and take it out by c-section. This is well documented in medical literature.

But in the end, I am very glad that your daughter is ok.

[Telle]

As far as the "last line of resort" thing goes.. there are countries in Europe where the typical model of care is that all women are seen by midwives unless deemed high risk and then they see OBs. Doctors, of course, also step in if there is a problem during labor itself even if the mom was originally low risk. This model generally has greater maternal satisfaction as midwives usually spend more time with a patient both during office visits and during labor than an OB does. It also reduces costs because the more expensive doctors are reserved as specialists whereas the cost-effective midwives handle the majority of the pregnancies and births.

An interesting thing to note is that in countries where midwives and homebirths are prominent, the infancy mortality rate is lower than in the US.

[GrantDawg]

The problem is, the hospital environment can cause these very situations that they then so heroically save women and babies from. Inducing or augmenting labor, very common things in hospital birth, can increase the risk of shoulder distocia. Having an epidural can make it more difficult to move the mother to a hands-and-knees position, which is one of the most effective means of getting a baby un-stuck. And a c-section should be the LAST thing they should try to do to resolve shoulder distocia.. it is VERY risky to push the baby back up and take it out by c-section. This is well documented in medical literature.

But in the end, I am very glad that your daughter is ok.


Everything was tried at the time. There was absolutely no way she was coming out. At the time of the C, her heart rate was slowing during contractions to very dangerous levels. If my wife were at home, the baby would not have survived the time it would have took to get her to the hospital. C-section was the only answer (I promise you, there was hours of trying until it got critical). I'm glad you have had good birth experiences, and I hope all those who you encourage to do this do as well. I'm just glad we didn't, because I love my girl.

[GrantDawg]

BTW, there was a mid-wife present at the birth. Both Ob-GYN's that we used for a kids had mid-wifes on staff.

[Telle]

Everything was tried at the time. There was absolutely no way she was coming out. At the time of the C, her heart rate was slowing during contractions to very dangerous levels. If my wife were at home, the baby would not have survived the time it would have took to get her to the hospital. C-section was the only answer (I promise you, there was hours of trying until it got critical). I'm glad you have had good birth experiences, and I hope all those who you encourage to do this do as well. I'm just glad we didn't, because I love my girl.

I'm confused. Was there "hours of trying" or was it so fast that a transfer from home to hospital would have been impossible? Believe me, homebirth midwives don't mess around; at the first sign of trouble there would have been a transfer.

Another thing to consider.. most hospitals aren't equipped to handle an immediate c-section. Many don't even have an anesthesiologist on site 24/7. The goal is to be able to have a c-section done within 20 minutes of declaring that one is needed.. but many hospitals don't make this goal. So realize that if you're 20-30 minutes away from the hospital at home or in a birth center, in many cases your stat c-section wouldn't happen any faster if you had been in the hospital. The birth center I had Cassie at once timed the "decision to incision" time at both the hospital and from the birth center. At the hospital it took 18 minutes and from the birth center it took 19.

[molson]

This message board sure has changed over the years.....