March 30, 2020
It’s so interesting to me how there is a huge surge now in interest for home births within the US in the last few weeks as we’ve been dealing with COVID-19. I hope that after all this is over, our medical system and consumers may consider that the hospital (where we send sick people) may not be the best location for the majority of pregnant women, who are not sick and birth is not a medical event. Perhaps a new sort of “birth center” that can deal with both low and some higher risk women can arise out of this.
I came upon this article last night that I wanted to share…I agree that the choice of having a home birth isn’ t one to be taken lightly, nor should it be made in fear of having to go to the hospital. For the safety of home birth for both mother, baby, midwife, etc. everyone needs to really trust the process and one another. Fear, and “fight or flight,” derails birth.
“Midwives Are Swamped With Home- Birth Requests” By Irin Carmon of The Cut
Thank God Cuomo overruled his New York hospitals from forcing women to give birth on their own without any support persons, but this COVID-19 crisis has and will continue to create more birth trauma for mothers birthing right now (and birth trauma leads to higher postpartum stress and anxiety disorders).
I’m 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant right now. I’m patiently awaiting for labor to begin. I am so grateful I began interviewing midwives when I was 7 weeks pregnant and made the final choice to prepare for a home birth by around 18 weeks. I have needed all this time to mentally, physically, and emotionally prepare, and I still don’t know the outcome and I am still also thrown for a loop with all this craziness at the end. Even home birth plans have been affected. I can go into fear of “if I get sick, then I can’t home birth” to, “in the less than 7% chance we transfer (.5-1% chance of an actual emergency), it’ll be a nightmare at the hospital, how traumatic!” to “I hope I don’t freak out when my midwife arrives to my home in complete hospital gear/mask/gloves/overalls, creating a reminder of the virus fears” to “will I feel safe to have my doula touch me? to have anyone in my home?” I can’t imagine having to fully switch gears at the end from a hospital birth to a home birth if I really wasn’t wanting the home birth. I hope that women right now can find alternatives if they do not feel safe going into their hospital and find something that they do feel comfortable with. A woman should and needs to feel SAFE to give birth. It’s basic human (and animal) nature and so sad how it is so often overlooked as an important factor in giving birth.
Birth and Botox 