Jan Tritten is the Editor of Midwifery Today, the “journal” of homebirth midwives.
I’ve never had anything other than contempt for her, but now she’s taken it to a new level.
All the while she was busy crowd sourcing a life or death decision for a 42+ week baby with no amniotic fluid on ultrasound, the baby was dying.
What would you do? Primip with accurate dates to within a few days who has reassuring NST at 42.1weeks, as well as reassuring placenta and baby on BPP, but absolutely zero fluid seen. 42.2 re-do of BPP and again, mom has hydrated well, but no fluid seen. Baby’s kidneys visualized and normal, and baby’s bladder contained normal amount of urine. We’re in a state with full autonomy for midwives and no transfer of care regulations past 42 weeks. Absolutely no fluid seen…what do we truly feel are the risks compared to a woman whose water has been broken and so baby/cord has no cushion there either. Cord compression only? True possibility of placenta being done although it looks good? Can anyone share stories/opinions? …
Many of the suggestions are appalling:
Wanda Smith Midwife absolutely no experience with “0” fluid, but have had two go quite over with very low fluid (under 5), one was 18 days over, quite uneventful home birth, and one was 19 days over with heavy mec and true knot, that did give a us a little trouble, but she stilled birthed vaginally
Christy Birthkeeper Fiscer Fluid level readings can, and often are highly inaccurate at this point… yet often used now as indication for intervention. Can you FEEL fluid during palpation, or does baby have a “plastic wrapped” feel?
Erika Laquer Try a very good acupuncturist and midwife-friendly
Zuki Abbott-Zamora I would respect leaving things alone, and just because you cannot ‘see’ fluid does not mean there is none. I have seen babies come with as little as a tsp of fluids and be just fine.
Mary Bernabe Leave her be. I’ve had 3 bbs like that and all were just fine. Didn’t know till the birth though. All 3 were out of water births so I know for sure there was no fluid. Bbs did great and so did moms. Placentas were normal and healthy looking. She’ll go into labor when it’s time.
Has she tried stevia to possibly increase the fluid?
Lynn Reed what Zuki said:) Trust mom’s instincts too & who made up the 42 week law? Midwives or OBs scared of litigious times & distrust of mom’s owning their births
Jennifer Holshoe try a 1m dose of Natrum Muriaticum homeopathic to balance fluid levels. I have seen it work with one dose
There were other, reality based suggestions as well, including the recommendation to transfer care and induce.
And while Tritten and the rest of the midwifery stooges were contemplating reasons for ignoring the obvious signs of imminent death, the baby actually died.
Very sad? Very sad??!!
How about horrifically tragic and utterly preventable?
How about the completely avoidable result of mind boggling ignorance?
How about medical malpractice and criminally negligent?
Homebirth midwives are dangerous, witless fools and babies die as a result.
The CPM “credential” must be abolished and Jan Tritten is a perfect example of the desperate need to do so as soon as possible.
