private midwives will not be around soon, in US free-birthers do it alone!

[DimpledThighs]

I have this on in the background and is weekend round up of woemns hour on radio four. Interesting bit about private midwives dying out soon due to insurance etc. didn't really listen to that much but at the end the interviewer said:

'what will the future hold'

and the woman said

'well in the states there is a movement of women called "free-birthers" who choose to give birth alone to avoid medical intervention.'

If private midwives cease to exist this will increase in the UK - WTF!!!

Isn't that illegal? Certainly not safe, who can give resuscitation to babe in worse ccase scenario?

petitions.pm.gov.uk/midwives/

You can sign to save Independent Midwives above. It will be a nightmare if they cease to exist. Women are already doing the birthing unassisted thing here. It will go mad if IMs are outlawed.

here is a link to a thread with a petition to save independent midwifery

it is not illegal to give birth alone, i don;t think ,but it is for someone who is not a midwife to attend a birth in the role of a midwife....

It's only illegal if they plan to attend the birth in advance. If they just happen to be there when the the birth happens, it's not illegal. The loophole would be that the person could just say it wasn't planned ( even if it was ) - how could it be proved otherwise? Unless it was written down in a birth plan or something.

Sign the petition

i have !

In some states in the US, it is not legal for midwives to work outside a hospital, leaving women who want to have a homebirth no choice but to do it alone, or to give up their wish and go to hospital. It's sad and scary.

I'm sorry but i think that anyone who gives birth totally alone and plans too, is plain irresponsible, there could be any kind of complication, i'm supportive of homebirths etc. but alone is plain dangerous.

To give birth without a midwife but someone else in her is illegal and rightly so to protect the baby.

Independent midwives should be able to get insurance definately. But i'm sure indi midwives dont support this free-birthing philosphy.

if you were in one of those states with a phobia of hospitals birth on your own may be a better option.

I think some women choose to give birth alone because they feel they have no other option IMHO if we took IMs out of the equation, there would be so many more opting to do it alone due to many being so traumatised by a previous experience. I have heard that there is a big rise in babies being born before arrival of a midwife at home, this is no coincidence.

Really? i dont get it, i hate hospitals but do not have a phobia, i had hypersemis when i was pregnant but i went into hospital repeatedly to go on drips, for the sake of my baby (i had arranged community midwife care and booked in to have baby in midwife led birth centre which felt nothing like a hospital)

Maybe im a bit PFB but when i was pregnant, the baby was my priority every step of the way and i had a shitty pregnancy, had to give up work and uni from 3 months in to stare at blank walls in bed day after day to stop myself vomiting continusely, and that was for months, i cant see how a mother cant put a fears to the back of her miind for the day or two of the birth?

Although there should def be another sensible and safe option available, and if i lived in such a state i would be campaigning (or moving!)

There's certainly a big US community for these things.

In Quebec, at least recently, home births were illegal.

Unassisted births do happen - off the top of my head, I can think of four or five real life friends this has happened to. In my borough, the numbers of accidental home births and the number of intentional home births is the same.

Nockney - have been avidly reading that link for the past 15minutes - di you see this bit? sex during labour!!

Sex during labour?

"Birth is a sexual act... In fact, some women are actually able to experience labor contractions as pleasurable"

I haven't read that link for a while (I'm not 100% sure it's the same unassisted labour page I'd read before, tbh), but yes, I remember that it included sex during labour.

The same lot are quite fond of male lactation as well. Apparently you can do it by willpower.

They could just take down the whole webpage and replace it with a bunch of I think.

There was an article in New Scientist recently about "Free Birthers" who go it entirely alone. It's not a good idea. Free Birthing isn't the same as having a home birth, or giving birth with the help of whoever is around. They go it alone alone!!

UK perspective

some women, those who have an unmedicated birth and get in 'the zone' can experience intense pleasure from birth to the point of orgasm

sex during early labour and nipple stim and kissing can help bring things on...

Ina May Gaskin recommends using that 'sexy energy that got the baby in there, to get it out!'

i did not have that experience,but doens;t mean it doesn;t happen !

.

bump

bumping on up

www.saveindependentmidwifery.org/

See the IMs new campaign website, v good!