The end of summer is a slow time in the blogosphere, but in the world of homebirth, the crazy never stops.
Gems from this week include:
1.Women petitions for health service coverage of an HBAC (homebirth after cesarean) against medical advice
According to the Irish Times:
University lecturer Aja Teehan, whose second child is due on October 13th, applied to have the baby born at home in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, assisted by a midwife.
She alleged the HSE is operating a “blanket policy” of refusing to cover home births for women who previously had Caesarean section births which means she cannot have her baby at home as a midwife will not get indemnity cover to attend. Ms Teehan has a six-year-old daughter born after a Caesarean section.
Considering that the Irish court has already ruled that there is no right to a homebirth at all, there was zero chance of Teehan prevailing. This was just a publicity stunt and the judge slapped her down pretty hard:
Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley today rejected her application and said it would be “manifest irrationality” for the courts to change the criteria for home births as set out by the HSE.
The judge will now determine whether Teehan must pay court costs.
2. Unassisted birth; unlimited stupidity
Whenever I bring up the topic of having an unassisted birth (a home birth without the presence of a midwife, or medical professional, sometimes called ‘freebirth’), people look at me like I’m crazy.
Really? Do tell.
What if something goes wrong?
Personally, education is my relief when it comes to this. I’ve read countless birth stories, researched every possible complication, and how to handle it, and also educated Arick on all of the issues as well. I know what warrants an emergency enough to head to the hospital, or even more to call an ambulance. But the thing is, a lot of the complications that are common in hospital childbirth are due to the interventions that are used. Complications in a drug and intervention free birth are very rare.
Who is stupid enough to actually believe this crap?
3. Introducing the VBAC doll.
Only a picture could do it justice.
Apparently the “attagirls” from the other members of your ICAN group are not enough. Now impresses your toddler and her friends, too … as if your toddler cares how her younger sibling exited her body and why you needed a healing VBAC to get over her (or his) C-section birth.
And it only costs $200!
Why are birth junkies so pathetically desperate for adulation?
4. Yet another homebirth advocate claiming that a numbingly typical homebirth is “unusual.”
This homebirth story could have been written by The Onion, it is so filled with cliches. Of course you wouldn’t expect anything else from a filmaker who created …
the FOOD MATTERS film, which helped heal my father from chronic fatigue syndrome, depression and anxiety plus free him from the pharmaceutical drug bandwagon.
It’s worth reading in full. You’ll howl with laughter. It includes the usual cast of thousands such as the midwives, the doula, the chiropractor, the lactation consultant, and the cranio-sacral therapist.
Just like in nature!
