I stayed up late last night to follow a VBAC mumma as she had a healing and empowering homebirth right here in Australia!
We (the whole VBAC support group) were kept up to date as she waited for the midwife to arrive while going through transition, when she started pushing, as she managed through a rough patch where while fully dilated a cervical lip remained, and ending with the announcement that her precioius baby girl had been been born at home into her excited (and tired) parents arms shortly before 12:30 am this morning.
This amazing and beautiful event brings home just how safe and beautiful a homebirth can be, and goes against the scaremongering that the world's media, many obstetricians and even many other bloggers put into place when talking about homebirth.
The truth is that if this amazing mumma had been in a hospital to give birth the chances of her being successful in her VBAC attempt would have been very low. Not only would she have been subjected to constant monitoring with straps tightly done up around her belly, but she would have been confined either solely to the bed or within a very small area around the bed. She would have been given a time limit, usually no more than 6-12 hours, in which she could labour before a cesarean was arranged without her consent, and the chances are highly likely that she would not have been able to labour in a birthing pool (which she was able to do at home).
The media portrays homebirths as dangerous, as selfish on behalf of the mother and deadly on behalf of the child. The truth however is that hospital birth for many of these mumma's is far more dangerous to them and their babies, and the risks of maternal and fetal death in a hospital are much higher than they are in a planned homebirth with the support of a fully qualified midwife.
These women who homebirth are a true inspiration and should be given the respect that they deserve for all the research that they do in preparation and for recognising the safest way FOR THEM to birth their precious babies.
Jenna
Student Birth Doula
FOOTPRINTS & RAINBOWS Birth Doula Services