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Q: Unassisted Birth
asked by: sophiesmiles on January 13th, 2006
New User
Anyone here ever had an unassisted birth? I'm from the uk and seriously considering having one. Would like to chat to other mums especiall yin the uk who've had an unassisted birth or are planning on having one.
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3kizz
replied on April 3rd, 2006
Experienced User
Re: Unassisted Birth
sophiesmiles wrote:
anyone here ever had an unassisted birth? I'm from the uk and seriously considering having one. Would like to chat to other mums especiall yin the uk who've had an unassisted birth or are planning on having one.


what exactly are you talking about unassisted birth?
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Eyes Wide Shut
replied on April 3rd, 2006
Especially eHealthy
I'm guessing she means with no .Dr s and at home. But I couldn't imagine a birth with out at least a mid wife, no matter where you're from. Ya know? Unless you're trained in .Midwifery, than I have no idea how you could pull off a totally unassisted birth...

I know how much I hate hospitals and wouldn't mind having an at home birth...But it's too late for that! I'm 36.3 weeks and already signed my papers for the hospital... :'o(

they're just sooo cold and reek of alcohol (the antistetic)!!
I'd rather be in my own element at home... Oh well...Maybe next time!!

Sarah
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3kizz
replied on April 3rd, 2006
Experienced User
Oh god no, someone has to be there, what if there's complications. I won't wish that on anyone, but you need someone there to help you
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Tess B
replied on April 4th, 2006
Experienced User
Hi sophie,

i wouldn't want an unassisted birth but I do want to have as active a labour as possible!

Pm me if you want to talk, i'm from the uk as well!
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erinjacob
replied on April 26th, 2006
Experienced User
Jess
Im not quite shore what an un assisted birth is but im giving birth at home with a midwife would that be the same or are there no docs or midwifes
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OaTmEaLfAiRy
replied on April 30th, 2006
Experienced User
I think you have to have at least a midwife. I'm betting there are loopholes that could make unassisted birth (at home) count as child neglect. It wouldn't be the first time they've gone out on a limb like that. I've heard stories of women being court ordered to have c-sections because if they don't they'd get charged with child neglect.
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tspowell3
replied on May 19th, 2006
New User
Different Perspective
I have to disagree with all the other posters here, I am all for unassisted homebirth. I have spoke with many who have done it and read many books on the subject. I plan to have one myself this oct. I feel it is the safest way to go. Having a midwife is like bringing the hospital to your house. God didn't fail to make us capable of giving birth without assistance, if he did we would not be alive as a species today. Millions and millions around the globe have birth this way, it's the most common way to birth. You didn't need help getting pregnant, and I promise ya don't need any help getting the baby out. Our bodies are made for this. Just as a cat can birth a litter of kittens all by itself, so can you birth a child. I think it's best to have the husband help, he put that baby in you, let him recieve the child, complete the circle of intercourse. A flood of emotions are directed to the person who catches the baby, who better than your husband to receive that bonding love, there's no way I will let an ob/widwife steal what is rightfully his. Birth is a sexual experience, would you have the ob watch and help you concieve the child? I didn't think so.
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OaTmEaLfAiRy
replied on May 25th, 2006
Experienced User
Actually, do you know how many dogs and cats die from giving birth unassisted?

You *did* need help getting pregnant, unless you're asexual, in that case you're probably being poked and prodded by crowds of doctors by now.

If you get an actual midwife it's not like bringing the hospital to your home. She will come with a few pieces of equipment, but not a sterile room, with nurses parading in and out and machines beeping all around.

The big question here is, what's best for baby? Is it better to have some sort of supervision (by a knowledgable person, not by your best friend, or a random neighbor, unless they have proper training)? Or would you rather risk the baby and your own health so you can feel all powerful and self-sufficient?

I hope you answer correctly, but if you don't (if you answer thinking about you, instead of your child) then I hope you feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing that you've gone and injured or even killed your child because you thought you knew better.
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erinjacob
replied on May 26th, 2006
Experienced User
Jrss
I agree you are not trained to no evrythin my friend just had a home bitrth she had a mid wife there but evrythin was goin well so she steed back an let the partner deliver the bub but there was a trained person there an there not strangers like hospital you see these people evry week till the baby is born I think I would rather hav some one there just incas you never no there were more deaths when people delived there own kids there arnt as maney now think about it properly befor decidin
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Eyes Wide Shut
replied on May 29th, 2006
Especially eHealthy
I had my baby at the hospital but had .N.O. Medical intervention. No .I.V or .Epidural. I did allow oxygen to be givin to me due to the baby's heart rate started to drop. But it was actually from the monitor sliding around.

I could have definately done it at home!!!!

Sarah
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freebirth2
replied on July 25th, 2006
New User
After reading this I have to say something. I wrote this and i'am not trying to scare or offend anyone. I'am encouraging you to do the research on your options, the birth process, and the dangers of medical intervention. Please women think for yourself.


Unassisted childbirth
it may be the safest choice

unassisted childbirth means birth without a doctor or midwife. This may
sound risky, but women were designed to give birth without assistance. Women
died in childbirth not because birth is risky but because of poor living
conditions. Women know how to give birth, but women have lost trust in
their bodies. When a woman enters the hospital, a stressful environment, her body
begins preparing for the fight-flight response, in which her body begins
draining blood and oxygen from the uterus and other organs and sends it to
the legs. This leads to a long and painful labor. No wonder why we have so
many problems we are in the wrong environment. Your body is saying there is
an animal out there this labor needs to stop so she can run. Then doctors
interfere with even more dangerous interventions. The c-section rate in this
country is so high not because birth is risky, but because it was never
meant to medically managed and controlled. All those important hormones
that allow birth to proceed naturally and cause the fetus ejection reflex,
which births the baby quickly and easily without any effort from the mother,
are stopped not only by the flight or flight response, but also because of
the drugs, and the presence of an observer. Doctors interfere with dangerous
drugs like pitocin (synthetic oxytocin) which obviously can’t work, it can’t
cross the blood brain barrier, also cytotec, prostaglandin gel, all these
drugs cause uterine rupture, infection, uterine hyper stimulation which causes
fetal heart rates to drop, hemorrhage, high blood pressure, titanic
contractions which lead women to want an epidural, and many other problems
. The fda has not even approved the use of cytotec for labor. Epidurals cause
many problems as well such as dulling of the mother’s ability to get the
baby out, which leads to forceps and c-sections and causes babies to be born
blue. Also kids whose mothers had an epidural during birth are at an
increased risk of drug addiction and suicide later in life. Please women do
the research and you will find that everything they do to women is dangerous
including routine procedures. For example, episiotomies first of all there
is no proof that they are safe or beneficial, yet half the women in this
country will get one, they permanently weaken the pelvic floor, cause major
bleeding, destroy sexual sensations, and mother nature has her own way of
suctioning, the pressure of the walls of an uncut vagina squeezes the baby’s
shoulders and chest causing fluids to burp out of the baby easily and
naturally. In the squatting position you are less likely to tear there is
more than enough room to birth any baby whether it is breech, large baby,
etc. Women were designed to labor and birth in an upright position. The lithomy position is the worst position, you are working against gavity, and the baby is putting pressure on major blood vessels thus causing fetal heart rates to drop. Most hospitals will not let you birth in the squatting position. Patience, privacy and no
interference either physically or mentally are key to a safe birth; you will
not get that in a hospital or with a midwife. Even animals know this; they
know any interference will kill them that’s why they seek privacy. Birth is a matter of letting it happen rather than making it happen. Most complications happen because of hospitals. Homebirth would only be dangerous if all those dangerous medical interferences came from the hospital to the
home.

Doctors won’t tell you the truth if they did they would lose their money.
Women should be outraged by what doctors do to them in hospitals. It’s
time women stopped putting trust in doctors and started putting trust in
their body’s ability to give birth. Women birthing in hospitals are birthing
in ignorance of self and of the birth process. Please women claim birth for
you. If a woman educates herself well there is little need for transfer.
Most variations of the normal if they do arise can be handled at home because a woman’s
greatest tool in birth is her instinct when she uses it. There sometimes is a need for hospitals but not for the majority of women. Good food, fresh
air, exercise, laughter, love, and support are the best prenatal care, not
needless tests that are harmful stress you out and make you fearful. Trust
in your bodies and let your instinct guide you, birth your children safely
and peacefully at home. Wouldn’t it be more joyful and intimate for couples
to birth their children the way they conceived them in the privacy of your
own home. There are 28 countries that have better infant morality rates than
the us what do they have more of homebirths!! Poison is wrapped up and
hidden in “homey delivery suites”, pastel color hospital gowns, and at the
core of it are ignorance, violence, abuse, and rape. Imagine how much better
our world would be if we women begin to birth our children the way mother
nature intended it, at home away from all those dangerous medical
interferences surrounded only by love and support, and the women free to
follow her instinct, and free to allow her body to work the it was designed
to since the beginning of time. Birth is normal, and safe. Interference is risky. Mother nature has perfected childbirth, and we screw it up the minute we walk into the hospital.

Please women I encourage you to have an unassisted pregnancy and birth it can be the best choice.

Thank you
unassisted childbirth supporter

suggested reading:
unassisted childbirth by laura shanley
unassisted homebirth: an act of love by lynn griesmer
obstetric myths versus research realities by henci goer
gentle birth, gentle mothering by sarah j buckley
immaculate deception ii by suzanne arms
silent knife, open season by nancy cohen
hard labor by susan l. Diamond
the rape of the 20th century by jasmine smythe (essay on birthlove.Com)
the power of pleasurable childbirth by laurie morgan



"there is something wrong with a society that insists on making a complicated, expensive medical emergency out of a normal physiological function primitive women have been doing by themselves for centuries"... Cathi cogle
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Eyes Wide Shut
replied on July 25th, 2006
Especially eHealthy
We were created to birth babies. Our bodies were especially designed to push out a baby. The pain is a mental test to see if your are courageous enough to bare the intensity of giving birth.

Some women are and some just aren't.

I'm one of those women who understand that women have had their babies on the kitchen table for centuries, what makes my birth so much different? Maybe i'm old fashioned, but it's just how I feel.

I would encourage a drug free, less invasive birth anytime. Having the control of my child's birth the entire time, was amazing and I pat myself on the back everyday for it.

Sarah
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