I have received word of an incredible tragedy. A Florida mother of 6 died in the wake of an attempted homebirth.
I have tried to assemble as many details as possible, but several reports on birth related websites were removed over the past day.
The mother posted on homebirth websites and reported that she had already had one successful homebirth after 2 previous C-sections.
In the wake of her death, a friend began soliciting breast milk for her baby:
A beautiful, wonderful, amazing friend of mine passed away on Monday (08/22/11) after giving birth to her sixth child just a day before. She never got to meet her son, as she had lost so much blood by the time he was taken via emergency cesarean section. She tried so hard for this last pregnancy, and continued to nurse her second youngest (nearly 2 now) through it. She was a beautiful, WONDERFUL soul…
Her doula Michelle Fonte had posted a prayer request on August 21:
PLEASE. energy. thoughts. prayers for a very special mama of mine. in the hospital. who needs all of our help. she needs you. really. really.
and an update on August 22:
mama is strong and stable…but has a long way to go. please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers. thank you so so so much.
Unfortunately, she died later that day.
In the wake of her death, her former physician who runs a “holistic” practice posted:
I would also like to extend prayers to my former patient who did not make it. We were due at the same time … a beautiful woman/spirit. So sad how we have to expose ourselves to such risk since we can not rely on the “establishment”.
Sad? Sad is not the word I would have used to describe the decision to take such a terrible risk.
