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 Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:08 pm
Quote: According to ABC news, The Pennsylvania Board of Medicine raised a cease-and-desist order along with an $11,000 fine against Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) Diane Goslin last fall following the unfortunate death of an infant in her care. Though the death was not her fault, nor was it ever attributed to her handling of the infant, the Board went ahead and filed this order against Gosling anyway, citing that she was "practicing medicine and nurse midwifery without proper licensure." Fortunately, through the perseverance and petitions of satisfied patients, the order was thrown out in a five-to-two vote in the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court. Ms. Goslin was subsequently allowed to provide her much needed services to the Amish in Lancaster County, Pa., as well as others in the area who desire a home birth. The full article is here: http://www.naturalnews.com/024458.htmlI've starting seeing similar articles on the home birthing issue popping up in my newsfeeds lately. Mostly they are about the AMA's (and similar organizations) opposition to the practice. The number one reason seems to be a belief that the increase in home birthing (and other "alternative" methods) will lead to an increase in infant death rates. I'm initially inclined to believe this is just the medical field trying to maintain its grip on the whole birth process, which I already believe is over medicalization. I've long since felt that childbirth is treated as a medical crisis instead of something that naturally happens. I've also always been pro-natural birth with as little medical interference as possible. (granted I don't have any children so this is all idealism) I'm interested in how people feel about alternative birth methods and home births. You can even discuss "radical" self-birthing methods, which I've only heard rumors off. My gist of them is that it is childbirth without the presence of a midwife. I'm particularly keen to hear what all the mom's here think of this.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:55 pm
Awww, that lady was a CPM and they still said she wasn't properly licensed?
Im pro natural birth, like no medicine - no c-section... but i'd like to be in a comfortable hospital.
I think, what if something went wrong?
Because things can go wrong, i would feel immensely guilty for putting my child at risk.
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Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 12:52 pm
I'm in agreement: I tend to think that this is just a way for the medical field (ie, hospitals) to keep a grip on the birthing process, along with all the money entailed by the care of the mother during and after labor, and the post-natal care of the baby.
I also don't have children, and sometimes wonder about having a natural birth at home, but with my tiny frame, I'm too terrified to actually think about doing it.
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Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:35 pm
I loved it when Dharma's mother was giving birth, Gregs parents kept telling them to go the hospital, and Dharma said "but she's not sick."
I'm for natural birth as well, but it's a tricky thing. I think the best scenario would be that hospitals had a special wing that was more "home" then "sterilized hospital" staffed with midwives.
Now a days due to a wide number of things, (lack of proper nutrition during pregnancy, mercury from fish, etc.) I feel that more complications can arise during labour and childbirth then 200 years ago which would need medical intervention to prevent harm or death to both mother and child.
As for freaky stories, midwives are a "big" thing here. Good friends of mine are expecting their second child and have heard many stories of this one woman. She's not certified and has had a child die on her. My friends' friends (gotta love these stories) hired this woman to help with a home birth. The midwife talked the couple into a water birth.
Complications arose, she ran because she wasn't certified and the husband had to call an ambulance. Ambulance guys show up, to a living room with with a woman with blood, placenta, other gross things about squatting in a kiddie pool.
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Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 7:30 pm
pirhan I loved it when Dharma's mother was giving birth, Gregs parents kept telling them to go the hospital, and Dharma said "but she's not sick." I'm for natural birth as well, but it's a tricky thing. I think the best scenario would be that hospitals had a special wing that was more "home" then "sterilized hospital" staffed with midwives. Now a days due to a wide number of things, (lack of proper nutrition during pregnancy, mercury from fish, etc.) I feel that more complications can arise during labour and childbirth then 200 years ago which would need medical intervention to prevent harm or death to both mother and child. As for freaky stories, midwives are a "big" thing here. Good friends of mine are expecting their second child and have heard many stories of this one woman. She's not certified and has had a child die on her. My friends' friends (gotta love these stories) hired this woman to help with a home birth. The midwife talked the couple into a water birth. Complications arose, she ran because she wasn't certified and the husband had to call an ambulance. Ambulance guys show up, to a living room with with a woman with blood, placenta, other gross things about squatting in a kiddie pool. From my understanding, the facilities, the really good ones, that provide alternative birth methods tend to be in close proximity to a hospital just in case complications occur, they also tend to have doctors on notice at the hospital when a mother is giving birth. That's a real shame to hear about that lady.
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 7:19 pm
That's one thing you should definitely check before the expected date: that your midwife is certified.
Any old coot can say that they're experts, and do exactly what that one did.
Does anyone know of a way to find out if someone is certified?
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 7:46 pm
While I love the idea of midwives and homebirths, I would never do it. There's just too much that can pop up unexpectedly that requires medical care from a hospital.
I've had 4 children, all natural (no, this does not get easier!). With the first, the birth was no problem, the problem was with uncontrolled bleeding----took 12 hours of sandbags on my stomach and 3 units of blood before I could go home. That was a long 3 days! The second one was 4 weeks premature, cord around his neck, but fine. No problems with the last two, although they were born when I was in my mid-thirties, 13 months apart.
So, you just never can tell what will happen. I am not a big believer in our medical system, but I was happy to have babies in the hospital.
The big push for midwives was just getting started in the late 60's and early 70's, and I could not have found one where I lived with my first child, if I had tried. By the time the last one was born, the whole hospital experience had changed to the point that you can totally design the whole experience your way now, up to and including opting for a suite and ordering whatever you want for a celebration dinner with the father, complete with candlelight and music, if you want. Not that I did----there were kids at home, too!
I think the health of both mother and child are of the utmost importance. While I probably would not go to the hospital for lots of other things, I would want to have babies there. Just in case.
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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 12:02 am
Ok, this Mom can tell you 2 sides of the story.
My first, was born in the hospital. I had an epidural AND demorall (sp). She was blue and so lethargic it was very scary. She did not want to nurse for the longest time.
My second (and last) was born at home on my sisters waterbed. I had a midwife who was SUPPOSED to deliver her, but I went quicker than she expected (labor was only 5 hours). The only pain relief was 2 tylenol about 30 minutes before I went into labor (for a head ache). I was lucky my husband and sister was there to catch her, because she came out with a bang, lol. My midwife was only about 5 minutes late. Amanda was lively and very much wanted to nurse. I can tell you right now, if I had to do them both all over again, BOTH would have been home babies.
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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 7:16 pm
Granny E Ok, this Mom can tell you 2 sides of the story. My first, was born in the hospital. I had an epidural AND demorall (sp). She was blue and so lethargic it was very scary. She did not want to nurse for the longest time. My second (and last) was born at home on my sisters waterbed. I had a midwife who was SUPPOSED to deliver her, but I went quicker than she expected (labor was only 5 hours). The only pain relief was 2 tylenol about 30 minutes before I went into labor (for a head ache). I was lucky my husband and sister was there to catch her, because she came out with a bang, lol. My midwife was only about 5 minutes late. Amanda was lively and very much wanted to nurse. I can tell you right now, if I had to do them both all over again, BOTH would have been home babies. Do you feel your first child's condition was due to the anesthesia and other drugs you were given? Or was there another medical explanation? I know some people are against that because they believe it affects the infant and they don't want a child born all drugged up.
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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 10:33 pm
onicoe Granny E Ok, this Mom can tell you 2 sides of the story. My first, was born in the hospital. I had an epidural AND demorall (sp). She was blue and so lethargic it was very scary. She did not want to nurse for the longest time. My second (and last) was born at home on my sisters waterbed. I had a midwife who was SUPPOSED to deliver her, but I went quicker than she expected (labor was only 5 hours). The only pain relief was 2 tylenol about 30 minutes before I went into labor (for a head ache). I was lucky my husband and sister was there to catch her, because she came out with a bang, lol. My midwife was only about 5 minutes late. Amanda was lively and very much wanted to nurse. I can tell you right now, if I had to do them both all over again, BOTH would have been home babies. Do you feel your first child's condition was due to the anesthesia and other drugs you were given? Or was there another medical explanation? I know some people are against that because they believe it affects the infant and they don't want a child born all drugged up. That's exactly why I decided no drugs, to protect the babies. I certainly don't think that you get points for being in pain! When they brought the second one, the preemie, in to nurse, five nurses came, too---they just didn't think he'd eat! The kid was starving! They just looked at each other and left the room. I was in the hospital less than 24 hours, and he has never had any health problems---healthiest one out of the four. Figure that one out! I can't.
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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 11:43 pm
onicoe Do you feel your first child's condition was due to the anesthesia and other drugs you were given? Or was there another medical explanation? I know some people are against that because they believe it affects the infant and they don't want a child born all drugged up. It was most definitely because of the drugs, I forgot to mention that she had a cone head too. That was because of the epidural, she was in the canal a little longer than she should have been because I wasn't pushing quite hard enough. She was blue and lethargic because she was feeling the effects of the demoral. sunsetsmile That's exactly why I decided no drugs, to protect the babies. I certainly don't think that you get points for being in pain! When they brought the second one, the preemie, in to nurse, five nurses came, too---they just didn't think he'd eat! The kid was starving! They just looked at each other and left the room. I was in the hospital less than 24 hours, and he has never had any health problems---healthiest one out of the four. Figure that one out! I can't. Nope, no points, lol. But it makes a world of difference in the baby. I am so glad it worked that way for you.
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 4:43 pm
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Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 5:17 pm
My biological clock has been demanding BABIES NOW, a desire I am cruely not giving in to at the moment wink so lately I've been researching this topic a lot. (It's creepy. I space out and start mindlessly websurfing and then two hours later I have fifteeen million tabs open about pregnancy, anonymous sperm donors vs. known donors, home birth vs. hospital birth, etc. etc. etc.)
Being probably several years away from pregnancy it's not like I have to make a decision now. But I'm pretty strongly leaning towards a homebirth unless some specific problem crops up that makes it a not good idea... I mean, that's pretty standard in many countries that have waaay better infant mortality rates than us 'merkins, right? Home is way less scary for me, and "scared" doesn't exactly make birth go easier.
Of course, if they make it illegal here in MA then there goes the chance of finding a qualified midwife to attend a homebirth, so if that happens I'll probably wind up at a birthing center with a good reputation for no-intervention births. And rant a lot about it. evil
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Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 7:00 pm
Jestina My biological clock has been demanding BABIES NOW, a desire I am cruely not giving in to at the moment wink so lately I've been researching this topic a lot. (It's creepy. I space out and start mindlessly websurfing and then two hours later I have fifteeen million tabs open about pregnancy, anonymous sperm donors vs. known donors, home birth vs. hospital birth, etc. etc. etc.) Being probably several years away from pregnancy it's not like I have to make a decision now. But I'm pretty strongly leaning towards a homebirth unless some specific problem crops up that makes it a not good idea... I mean, that's pretty standard in many countries that have waaay better infant mortality rates than us 'merkins, right? Home is way less scary for me, and "scared" doesn't exactly make birth go easier. Of course, if they make it illegal here in MA then there goes the chance of finding a qualified midwife to attend a homebirth, so if that happens I'll probably wind up at a birthing center with a good reputation for no-intervention births. And rant a lot about it. evil I have had a serious case of baby fever for over a year now. BABIES! must have babies. gah! xp I'm more set on the idea of a natural birthing center. They tend to be located close to hospitals and have well trained staff. I'm dead set against medical intervention unless there's a serious complication/risk.
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Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 11:17 am
Oh gawd! I'm staying away from you two now! I don't want to catch any of that. gonk
My biological clocked started at 24 and lasted about thirty seconds. I'm free, clear and smooth sailing for the rest of my life!
Lol @ the possibility of illegalizing home births. It's not a new thing. o_O;
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