I think Unassisted Homebirth is irresponsible.

As a mother of a child with a birth injury that will impair her abilities for the rest of her life I cannot imagine putting my baby’s life or well being in more danger than necessary for whatever reason. I see no justification, no validation, no reason and no excuse.

Get off your high horse and get a fucking midwife.

(I blame you Mommy, for the fact that your son will be physically and mentally retarded. You knew better. You too dad. I hope you both are happy. Fucking crunchy granola wanna be pseudo hippy dumbfucks. THERE WAS A REASON YOU HAD A C-SECTION WITH #1!!)

*Edit -08.07.08 @ 9am: I have a friend. One that I fell out of touch with until recently. I met her in a malpractice lawyer’s office a few years ago. She was considering suing her first child’s obstetrician because of the child’s issues. Something about the doctor waited too long to perform an emergency c-section, I’ve forgotten the details. But she should not have been delivering a child vaginally.

In the time that we lost touch, she’d somehow gotten in her head that it was alllll the doctor’s fault, and that she, just like any other woman, was capable of birthing a child without intervention. But she went as far as to decide she was going to do it alone. Her pussy of a husband went along with it. And the same thing happened, only by the time they realized it and got her to the hospital, the baby had already suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen or some shit. I feel no empathy for her, or her husband. She knew the risks, but decided for whatever reason to go a different route and her child suffered. Idiot.

She above even the ridiculously naive women that do this and take for granted their healthy children. She should have known better. She’s suffered through complications of a birth gone wrong with her baby before.

*Edit – 08.20.08@ 11:40pm: The baby died from the complications stemming from it’s homebirth and not receiving medical intervention soon enough at less than one month old.  I feel the need to add this on, being as this blog post must come up in google searches for homebirth or something because it’s still getting comments.

And also, there’s a follow up post here.

July, 2010:

Over the years now, I’ve given the unassisted home birthers and their supporters opportunity to say what they want to say, openly, in the comments of this post. None were deleted or edited. I’ve been happy to give them a place to yell and vent and be all grrrr! and throw their granola at me. But, it’s getting a little stale, I must say, so it’s time to close up shop on this post. They keep repeating themselves, saying nothing new, the same ol’ telling me to get educated or that I don’t know what I’m talking about. Yes – anyone who doesn’t share your views of childbirth MUST be uneducated, MUST be unaware of the facts, CAN’T possibly know the same numbers you’re tossing out. There’s NO way they share your vast knowledge of both real statistics and fear mongering that passes off as fact these days. OK. Whatever you say, lady.

The simple fact of the matter is that my opinion on this will not change (no amount of bitching me out will affect that): if your child dies or is seriously injured because you prevented it from having access to medical professionals that could have saved it from happening , you are at fault. Just you. Just as you like to place blame on doctors and moms for elective cesareans and hospital births gone wrong – I like to place the blame on you. If you feel justified in it, fine – I’m not trying to change your mind. Stop trying to change mine: you can’t. My personal experiences with labor and delivery dictate how I feel about this, not random people on the internet yelling at me, just like me yelling at you doesn’t change how you feel.

I’m glad that even though my obstetrician was an asshole that caused my first daughter a permanent injury because of his delivery methods, I had her in the presence of people and equipment that could save her life. She would have died had I not, that’s pretty much certain. I’m glad I chose to have an elective c-section with my second daughter, that I didn’t take willfully give history a chance to repeat itself. There’s no notch on the natural mommy birth belt; no mommy group bragging rights enticing enough to me to risk a dead or injured child.

That’s just my (uneducated/stupid/ridiculous) opinion, of course. Leave me to it, and I’ll leave you to yours. Here’s hoping every birth you or I may experience in the future (no matter the method or ideology driving the decisions) is uneventful and perfect – for the baby’s sake.

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