Anyone want to share a Midwife/Homebirth bad outcome story?

[Storm Bay]

I've searched a lot of studies, and never found cord strangulation to be a real thing. 1/3 of babies are born with the cord around their neck. They are not breathing, so it is not possible to strangle them. The cord CAN be compressed or pinched, which it sounds like was the case, but this has little to nothing to do with it being around the neck.

That's what it was called, but regardless of name, the fact is that the baby showed signs of distress, the doctor played the odds and the baby died in a hospital, so I know that this can happen in hospitals, too.

 

I was a nine pound breech baby with a ginormous melon. (to the point where my family still laughs at my baby pics) I was born vaginally. My mom's Dr did an internal version, that is rarely done now.

 

She had a highly experienced old school Dr.

 

He might still be practicing, my mom was still seeing him recently. :lol:

 

:)My mother was too small regardless; the large head comes from the other side. They did try to do that with me; my mother was in labour for 30 hours trying to do it naturally and had no pain meds until the surgery, so she really did what she could & so did the doctors. They had to fly the specialist in a plane, so surgery was definitely the last resort. I'm over 50 & so they were old school doctors who often did home births on the reservation and for others. My sister is too small as well and was induced for her second 2, both V-bacs. She knew the risks.

 

Nope, doesn't work for me at all. When you switch the words, it does nothing for me at all. There are no cases of hospital deaths that a midwife could have prevented. The opposite is true though. And there are cases where newborn deaths would happen either way. But I don't know of and I don't believe that a newborn death in hospital would have been prevented by a home birth.

 

Ah, but that does happen, and the literature shows that. Giving birth at home has risks. Giving birth in a hospital has a different set of risks. There are homebirth scenarios where the baby may have survived if born in a hospital. However, if you look at the statistics, the tradeoff is that giving birth in a hospital comes with its own set of risks. Intervention (often unnecessary intervention, and frequently not evidence-based) comes with its own set of risks. Major health organizations like the WHO have stated that the c-section rate in this country is higher than necessary, and there is no evidence to support a need for such high rates. Unnecessary c-sections come with risks like respiratory distress for the newborn, which can result in illness or death.

 

 

 

Pregnancy and childbirth are risky and there are risks no matter what you do. It IS true that there are far too many C-sections done in the US & Canada and that now there are super bugs; super bugs are a much newer risk, but one that if you are watchful and so is your dh/doula or whomever is there, can be avoided. One always has to be on guard regarding heath care anywhere. But Cleo is correct, it depends on your comfort level.

 

I make a big point of interviewing my doctors so that we're clear on what we agree on. I would do the same with a midwife, but I would want a male midwife for no logical reason whatsoever other than my comfort level for those types of exams is such that I prefer a man (ironic since I majored in women's studies and was an ardent feminist when I came to that realization).

 

Actually, that is not true. There are deaths, and other types of damage caused by hospital intervention on birth all the time. That's why the switch *does* work.

It depends on what you fear the most and/or where your confidence lies. What I abhor is when someone coerces someone into doing it their favourite way; where you decide to give birth should be each woman's decision (although I have a friend who delivered in a care in the ER parking lot of the wrong hospital because her second labour was so fast, so sometimes you don't get a choice :)).

But that's not what I was getting at. hollyandab wrote a few sentences about why *she* couldn't live with the decision to home birth. And Joanne switched the words around. But the switching doesn't work. This is a question of personal comfort, not scientific facts.

 

This is a very personal thing, and I'm fine with the generic idea of home birthing. Just not for me. When I said Joanne's word inversion doesn't work, I didn't mean to say they were wrong from a scientific point of view, only that they just don't work for me:

 

I wouldn't wonder if it was a hospital birth, I would always wonder if it was a home birth. This is a guts feeling, not scientific fact. For my guts, the inversion doesn't work and is complete nonsense.

:iagree: It's very personal, and you can quote all the scientific facts you like; I'd also want to see the studies & who did them for both sides of the argument and would probably still make the same decision given family history and the fact that I had high blood pressure with my first no matter what a midwife may or may not be able to do to help that.

 

:iagree: I have had three hospital births-one of which I could sue for because of my son's neurological problems from *their* mistakes. I have had two homebirths. You bet bad things happen from hospital births! It's a choice every woman needs to make, and either way it should be an informed decision with responsible and qualified providers that they choose. And even then, there are always risks. But research shows homebirth is as safe.

Good to know, but I think that while the risks may now be even as far as people as a whole are, I think that they vary greatly with individual women, family histories, specific pregnancies, etc, just like many other things.

 

But, again, the OP was asking for negative stories from home births and had already read/heard positive ones.

Edited July 15, 2011 by Karin

[gardenmom5]

There was a midwife (with a birthing center) at our old church. She had a woman attempting a VBAC. The woman's uterus ruptured and the baby died. Very, very sad. This midwife will not longer do VBACs. I also know she won't do deliveries with moms that have placenta previa or breech births.

 

the hospital where I delivered my youngest will no longer allow VBAC's, I really wasn't aware of that (and I *really* didn't want another section - though as things turned out, it might have been better.:tongue_smilie:). even in hospital, rupture is a major crisis and a L/D friend said can be hard to detect until it's really bad. Because I'd already had three successful VBAC's, my OB was willing (he'd also delivered two of them). He literally had to cancel his afternoon clinic and stay in the hospital until I delivered. down the street to his office was too far away.