Homebirth advocates are constantly wondering why no one takes them seriously. Here’s a perfect example.
The website My OB said WHAT? is supposed to highlight “stupid” things said by obstetricians, but it’s a hoot for another reason. Many of the supposedly “stupid” things said by obstetricians are actually true and the only thing that is being highlighted is the ignorance and blockheadedness of homebirth advocates. No one bothers to learn if what they were told was factually accurate; they just sit around and make fun it, but the joke’s on them.
Sometimes, though, the ignorance and stupidity reach extraordinary heights. Consider this supposedly “stupid” explanation of the risks of childbirth
Childbirth is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do today.
I have a newsflash for homebirth advocates: As a matter of fact childbirth IS one of the most dangerous things a woman can do.
Childbirth is and has always been, in EVERY time, place and culture, a leading cause of death of young women. And of the eighteen years of childhood, the day of birth is the most dangerous by far.
In nature, the neonatal mortality rate is 7% and the maternal mortality rate is 1%. Childbirth is far safer now because modern obstetrics has decreased the neonatal mortality rate 90% and the maternal mortality rate by 99% in the past 100 years.
This is why obstetricians have a hard time taking NCB advocates seriously. They don’t know the most important fact about childbirth, which is that it is INHERENTLY dangerous. If you don’t know that, you don’t know much of anything.
The responses are appalling. My personal favorite is this comment from Sada:
ROTFLMBO…
You say the current maternal mortality rate is 1%, and “modern obstetrics” has reduced it by 99%? Soooooo…that means that “before modern obstetrics” ***100%*** of women died in childbirth? And the neonatal mortality rate now stands at 7%, and has been reduced by 90%…which means that “before modern obstetrics” 97% of babies died as the result of being born?
If that is the case…my great-grandmother never gave birth to 4 children, and I never met her. Unless she was a zombie the whole time! Dang zombie great-grandmothers and their zombie babies!
Way to go, Sada!
I realize that homebirth advocates don’t know any statistics, but I guess some of them had serious trouble with fourth grade arithmetic. Sada needs to get her hands on a basic math book and review fractions, decimals and percent.
Other comments include Jane’s bit of fantasy:
Can you please explain why women and babies in the USA have the HIGHEST rate of maternal and neonatal death n the modern world then?
They don’t, Jane. According to the World Health Organization 2006 report on perinatal mortality, the US has one of the lowest rates in the world, less than Denmark, the UK and the Netherlands.
Sheva says:
Actually, sweetie, the leading causes of death in women are heart disease, cancer, stroke, respiratory diseases, alzheimer’s, injuries, diabetes, pneumonia, kidney disease, and septicemia.
Actually, Sheva, “sweetie”, I said that childbirth is a leading cause of death of YOUNG women in every time, place and culture. Look it up; you’ll find out that it’s true.
Homebirth advocates wonder why no one takes them seriously. This is why. When you can’t even be bothered to investigate whether a statement might be true before you ridicule it; when it never even occurs to you that YOU might be wrong; and when you can’t even master 4th grade math, it’s not surprising that no one takes you seriously.
