Imagine reading about a baby desperately injured after being ejected through the windshield when her mother’s car was hit. Imagine that the mother had failed to buckle the child into a car seat because she didn’t “believe in them” for short trips like the one she was taking to the grocery store. Now imagine that the mother insisted that doctors told her her baby’s serious brain injury had nothing to do with choosing to forgo a car seat.
Yeah, I wouldn’t believe her either.
That’s the reaction I have to the latest story of a child grievously injured by homebirth. I don’t have to look for these stories; as homebirth has become more popular, they’re all over various health communication and crowd funding sites (when parents are trying to raise money to cover hospital expenses or funeral expenses or both).
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]If the mother had given birth in a hospital instead of at home, the baby almost certainly would not have sustained a devastating brain injury.[/pullquote]
This mother’s chief impulse seems to be to avoid accountability.* On the CaringBridge site she writes:
Due to several factors involved at the time of her birth (but not related to the birth itself), M was born not breathing and unresponsive.
She reiterates the same claim when telling the birth story on the “Awesome” HBAC [Homebirth after Cesarean] Facebook group:
Finally going to share my story, but before I do I must make it known that doctors have all agreed that baby’s birth in and of itself played no part in the trauma that followed.
That’s absurd.
Before we delve into what happened, let’s review how giving birth outside of a hospital could be dangerous for a baby:
- The baby might be deprived of oxygen during labor.
- The baby might need an expert resuscitation with intubation immediately after birth.
- The baby might have inhaled meconium.
- The baby might be in a dangerous position like breech.
- The baby might become infected with Group B Strep, a bacteria that is particularly deadly for newborns.
What happened in this case? Everything listed above!
The mother ruptured her membranes at 2:20 AM.
At about 2:20 PM, the mother was having contractions every 6-7 minutes and noted light meconium.
At 5:30 PM, the mother noted moderate meconium.
At 8:30 PM, the midwife arrived.
At 10:30 PM, the midwife performed an exam and discovered … the baby was breech!
As 1 AM approached:
…Baby’s heart rate remained stead and strong, but meconium was super thick (as is typical with breechlings, so we had no worries… Then the strong pressure of head coming and the sudden relief of it passing thru. I did it! Another breech baby …2hba2c!
The mother is so proud of her “accomplishment,” but what about the baby?
That’s when things took a serious turn for the worst.
The baby was born unresponsive and not breathing. In other words, as in most homebirth disasters, a nearly dead baby dropped into the hands of a totally clueless midwife.
Midwife suctioned, started CPR and oxygen and best friend called 911. Midwife continued to let the cord pulse while doing those things … when the ambulance arrived they told her to do what she needs to, clamp the cord, and pass baby off. She milked every last drop of blood from that cord that she possibly could into my baby (I firmly believe that is what saved baby’s life). Cut the cord, passed baby to EMT, he ran out the door with my baby and husband, and I and my teen daughter (who had been there the entire labor and delivery with me) collapsed on the floor sobbing…
The mother noted:
Doctors feel like it was a mixture of meconium aspiration and group b strep hitting super hard that made M not breathe/repond at birth. She was without appropriate oxygen for 10 minutes.
Of course the mother had declined testing for Group B strep before birth.
The baby was born a little over 3 weeks ago. What’s her prognosis now?
… they still can’t be certain that she won’t have issues such as low muscle tone, learning delays, and they don’t know if/when she will get suck/swallow/gag.
She’s having a gastrostomy tube placed because she will be unable to eat by mouth any time soon.
Obviously this entire disaster, and the horrible brain injury that the baby suffered, are entirely due to the decision to have a homebirth. The baby was oxygen deprived during labor, aspirated meconium, and was infected by Group B strep. All of these things could have been prevented if the mother had had an elective repeat C-section.
Did any doctors really say “that baby’s birth in and of itself played no part in the trauma that followed”? I doubt it. I suspect that what they said was that the actually delivery of the breech baby was not the cause of the problems since it wasn’t. It was the undiagnosed fetal distress, meconium aspiration, Group B strep infection, and inability to provide immediate expert resuscitation that led to the baby’s brain damage … all things that could have and almost certainly would have been avoided in a hospital. If the mother had been more concerned about the baby’s health than about her “achievement,” and consented to an elective C-section, the baby would almost certainly be perfectly healthy today.
Remember the thought experiment of the baby ejected through a windshield because her mother failed to put her in a car seat? That mother could claim that it wasn’t failure to use a car seat that caused her baby’s injury; it was the fact that her baby went head first onto the pavement after being ejected through the windshield. I wouldn’t be impressed with that claim either. In both cases a baby’s brain damage is the direct result of a mother’s negligent choice … no matter how desperate this mother is to pretend otherwise.
*Edited to correct a very serious error on my part: CaringBridge sites are not fundraising sites. The mother is NOT try to solicit money. I regret my mistake.
