Homebirth advocacy is based on many myths and lies and one of the biggest lies is that homebirth advocates take responsibility for their decisions. They take responsibility for nothing. If anything goes wrong they blame everyone but themselves even when it is obvious they are the ones to blame.
Consider the following story, Elodie: Caesareans are NOT benign interventions from the blog Humanize Birth, replete with the typical ignorance, hubris, denial, and lack of gratitude that is the hallmark of homebirth advocacy.
The basic story is very simple and the fault is very clear. She had a history of previous C-section, went against medical advice in choosing homebirth, ruptured her uterus, had her baby’s life save and her life saved by a repeat C-section and lost her uterus and wound up in the ICU on a ventilator having received multiple transfusions.
Does she take responsibility for her decision to choose high risk homebirth? Are you kidding? It’s everyone’s fault but hers.
I did not lose my uterus because I chose to birth at home. I lost my uterus because I underwent a caesarean that could most probably have been avoided with my first birth. I lost my uterus because our medical system does not trust women to know best when it comes to having their babies. I lost my uterus because our medical system thinks women’s bodies can’t birth without interventions…
Actually, Elodie, you did lose your uterus because you chose homebirth. YOU chose it. YOU ignored medical advice. YOU pretended that the most feared complication of vaginal birth after Cesarean wouldn’t happen to you. YOU were spectacularly wrong and you paid a high price, although it could have been much higher still.
Why did you choose it? Because YOU chose to privilege the blather of other laypeople like those of ICAN and Hypnobabies instead of the advice of medical professionals. YOU were more interested in bragging rights to a vaginal birth than whether your baby would live through the experience. YOU, YOU, YOU!
YOU chose to believe that your virtue as a woman resides in whether or not a baby passes through your vagina. And YOU still think that your virtue as a woman is bound up with your experience of birth. YOU write:
I am a survivor. I am a fighter. I am strong. I birthed two babies through my belly.
You didn’t survive; you’re life was saved by others with far greater knowledge and skill than you possess.
You weren’t a fighter. You were unconscious and lacked any control over what happened.
You weren’t strong. You survived only because of surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, blood bank technicians, blood donors, a ventilator, respiratory therapists, ICU nurses, EMTs, and tens of thousands of dollars of other people’s money.
You did give birth to two children through your abdomen, but you could have done that far more easily, with far less trauma, far less risk to your baby’s life and far less risk to yours if you had chosen an elective repeat C-section.
But that would have required something that apparently you and other homebirth advocates don’t possess: accurate knowledge of childbirth and a willingness to place safety above bragging rights.
After YOU ignored medical advice, and YOU were saved by the evil medical system that you deplore, the least you could do now is take responsibility for YOUR decision.
