Tree of Life Midwifery

Boy
Born: July 13, 2006@ 12:48AM
Weight: 5lbs 6oz
Notes: Yes, that’s three births I attended in ten hours!

Boy
Born: July 12, 2006 @ 10:40pm
Weight: 8lbs

A 2000 study of home births in the US and Canada concluded that planned home births attended by certified professional midwives resulted in lower rates of medical intervention than their low risk counterparts at hospitals. For example, in the hospital 33% of the women received episiotomies compared to 2.1% of the women who began their labor at home. The caesarean rate was 19% of the low risk births in the hospital. For intended home births in the study, the caesarean rate was 3.7%.

No maternal deaths occured. Neonatal and intrapartum mortality rates were about the same at home or the hospital.

The study followed 5418 women who planned to deliver at home, of which 12% were transferred to the hospital during labor (more than half for failure to progress, pain relief, or exhaustion). Transfer rates were highest for women giving birth for the first time.

In the United States, where birth has become “an economic, medical, and industrial enterprise” costs for an uncomplicated vaginal birth in a hospital are about three times those of home births.

“Our study of certified professional midwives suggests that they achieve good outcomes among low risk women without routine use of expensive hospital interventions. Our results are consistent with the weight of previous research on safety of home birth with midwives internationally. This evidence supports the American Public Health Association’s recommendation to increase access to out of hospital maternity care services with direct entry midwives in the United States. We recommend that these findings be taken into account when insurers and governing bodies make decisions about home birth and hospital privileges with respect to certified professional midwives.”

Girl
Born: July 12, 2006 @ 3:01pm
Weight: 8lbs 8oz

Introductory Maternity and Pediatric Nursing
N. Jayne Klossner, RN and Nancy T Hatfield
Published 2006 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

This is a great reference book for aspiring midwives to give them a better understanding of maternity nursing. It has a user-friendly, colorful format and a family-centered approach to care. It includes an interactive CD-ROM.

Check out the section on Pain Management and you’ll see an unmedicated water birth at home. That’s me, in all my glory! The photo is credited to Kaye Bullock, CPM. Every day in every way, we’re doing our part to make midwifery mainstream.

Story by Bobbie Rae Jones
“I was in the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy and the baby had not turned. She was in a frank breech position. This was my first baby, and I had talked with many people and read a lot of information. Normal procedure for a baby in breech presentation delivered in the hospital is cesarean. I had no plans to go through major surgery, nor did I want to be laying on my back, drugged on a hospital bed.

“I thought seriously on what could be the most compassionate and responsible decision concerning the entry the baby would have into this world. I was determined to have her at home. I read more articles, as I became more informed by talking with midwives and various mothers and close friends about their experiences. I told everyone, including my mother who is a registered nurse that this baby is “in the perfect position to be born…yes…she is head down,” although she continued to stay breech. I was not interested in learning about complications or fear-based problems that could occur during birth. I was interested in positive affirmations and loving focus. I wanted to know how to deliver this baby!

“During pregnancy, everything I knew and felt told me to have her at home.

“The day came, my water broke, and three midwives arrived at my home. I labored seven hours, three pushes in three minutes and she was born, rump first. The two midwives assisting had never performed a breech and the primary midwife had only assisted at one (breech) delivery. It was an empowering experience for all of us. I did not tear, and the babe was perfectly fine and had no unusual complications or pain.

“I am very happy about all the decisions we made and the events that occurred concerning Lily’s birth. When she was born, the midwives noticed she had a short cord, and may not have been able to turn had she tried.

“People need to know that a breech baby can be born vaginally in fine health and it needs to become a norm. It is an honor to share my birth experience as well as this information concerning birthing procedure with other women. May your birth experience be enlightened.”

Betsy’s Notes

When Bobbie’s baby wouldn’t turn with our standard protocol, we talked about all her options and I accompanied her to an OB’s office for a diagnostic ultrasound. Knowing the baby was frank breech and locating the cord (ruling out the risk of a prolapse) helped with her decision to stay home. It certainly made me feel better about attending her. The most important factor, for me, was Bobbie’s confidence and determination to stay home.

She lived an hour and fifteen minutes away from me. When I arrived at her house she was on her hands and knees on the floor propped up with pillows. With each contraction she would hum a long, low tone. She literally sang the baby into being. It was really beautiful. She gave birth to that baby, in a supported squat, with incredible ease, less than three and half hours after I arrived. I supported the perineum, but really didn’t touch the baby until I was lifting her up to her mother. It was one the nicest, easiest births I’ve ever attended.

Thanks, Bobbie Rae.

Boy
Born: July 5, 2006 @ 9:07am
Weight: 6lbs. 14oz