All Posts Tagged ‘homebirth’
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A Miracle Birth
Thursday, January 14th, 2010Childbirth is an amazing time in a woman’s life – in a family’s life. And, there is no question that childbirth in America is far from perfect. We have a disturbing acceptance of the “medicalization” of birth, far too many interventions and an exorbitantly high cesarean section rate. There is no argument that much can be improved in our system. However, we cannot ever lose sight of what really is truly important. It is certainly not just the process or the experience itself. It is indeed ultimately the outcome. A healthy baby and a healthy mom. In most of the world that really is what it is about.
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When Things Don’t Go As Planned: Preeclampsia
Monday, October 5th, 2009As I continue the discussion on home-birth I’d like to share with you my experience with Alexander’s birth. It is an excellent example of how unexpectedly things can change.
I was really healthy during my pregnancy. A week before my December 24th due date, my water bag broke in the Christmas card aisle of our local drugstore (that’s another story) and within a few hours I was in booming labor. However, when I arrived at the hospital, my blood pressure was extremely high, 180/120. My normal blood pressure is about 90/60. I had noticed my feet were pretty puffy but did not realize that I had gained 9 pounds (in fluid) since the previous day. Shockingly and randomly, I had preeclampsia and was developing something called HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzyme levels, and a low platelet count) syndrome, the most severe complication of preeclampsia.
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Homebirth vs. Hospital Birth – The Gloves Are Off
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009Birthing babies is what I love most in the world. The fact that I now have women ask me “is it really bad for me to have my baby in a hospital?” breaks my heart and has forced me to come out swinging. Enough is enough. I can no longer sit back and listen to this dialogue about homebirth come up again and again without inserting some badly needed facts and a serious reality check. The argument is always the same by homebirth advocates. Hospitals are loud, hectic, bright, insensitive, uncaring machines full of greedy doctors and overworked “medical personnel” – (I am pretty sure as a nurse, that means me) who are just waiting to hook women up to unnecessary medications and prevent them from “trusting their bodies”.
