I was reading Navelgazing Midwife's open letter to Janet Fraser with great interest.
I haven't understood the extremeness of the UC movement. Here's my response to the post...
My heart goes out for Janet's loss.
The thing that just gets me is that this was a totally preventable death. Just because you can labor for five days, doesn't mean your baby can. I have alway thought that being a mother is about protecting your children from harm. I would do anything (or have anything done to me) to protect my children. That's what being a mother is about. This extreme movement is selfish and obviously has the potential to be harmful to mother and/or child. I understand the desire to protect the birth experience - that is important - but not to the extent of the child's life!
As a thread on Janet's website talks about 'name and shame' a midwife...maybe she's not the only one to be 'shamed'.
6 comments:
This really irked me! I feel badly, very badly that the baby died. But on the other end I am a parent and I would never have allowed this to happen. I'd have been busting down a doctor's door for help. Okay I must stop now because I don't know if I can stop once I really get going!
Wow. Thanks so much for posting about this situation. It seems tragic for more than just one reason. It makes me sad that the baby died. It also makes me sad that she so distrusted her medical community but, really, she made a totally irresponsible and dangerous decision and so, ultimately, I am saddest that she seems to have a community of like minded women that have joined this "freebirth" crusade.
Wow, and you have verified the details of this birth where?
Better not just accept what is being said in the media, shall we?
Stillbirth happens every 20 minutes in America. It can happen to a UC-er. Let's not assume that mothers who UC are reckless before even knowing what their prenatal work and birth preparation looks like.
Ugh to people like you who are just spouting opinions about something they have no clue about. At least write your own blog post and present some well thought through hypotheses.
It is so easy to cast judgment in this world. To say, from an outside point of view, that we would do this or that, or 'we've never lost a child so we must be better'. If the baby had been born in the hospital and been a stillbirth, we who support those women who make an educated choice to UC would NOT be jumping up and down, gleefully saying "SEE! SEE!" as the blog post you referenced did.
How heartless and cruel can you be? Honestly.
Um, and you know it was a totally preventable death...how? Because she was at home and you assume it wouldn't have happened in hospital? Because she was birthing unassisted and you assume it wouldn't have happened if she had a midwife present? Because she declined elements of prenatal testing and you assume it wouldn't have happened if she had accepted testing? A lot of assumptions, and no facts at all. The mind boggles. You've simply no idea if this was a preventable death or not. A lot of preventable deaths happen in hospitals - thousands a year, in fact. Will your next post be about how selfish and irresponsible people who birth in hospital are? No? Didn't think so.
The only one who should be ashamed here is you. What an uninformed, cruel, and recklessly stupid post.
Maria and Nepenthe: Flinging insults at the author of this blog negates any possible value you might add to the discussion.
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