Tree of Life Midwifery

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.

Q: Is home birth safe?
A: When people ask this question, they are usually asking, “Can having a baby at home be as safe as having a baby in a hospital?” The answer is yes, even more so. Study after study has shown that midwife-assisted births have a lower mortality rate than physician-assisted births in comparable cases.

“Scientists calculate childbirth success rates by examining infant mortality per 1,000 births. Since the 1970s, the United States has had approximately 10 infant deaths per 1,000 hospital births. The mortality rate for planned and supervised homebirth is approximately 5 per 1,000 births. There is no conclusive evidence that hospital births are safer for either the mother or the newborn, and many insurance companies cover a percentage of midwifery service charges.

“Emergency situations can and do arise in home births, just as they do in hospital settings. Sonograms and blood tests can diagnose potential problems in the mother or the unborn child that might require hospitalization or the intervention of a knowledgeable physician.

“However, if a woman delivers her baby in a U.S. hospital, she has a one-in-four chance of receiving a Caesarean section. This statistic has prompted the World Health Organization to advocate that the United States return to a midwifery-based system of prenatal care, labor and delivery. If 95 percent of births are normal, then why do 25 percent result in surgery?

— Reno News and Review Cover Story May 9, 2002

The World Health Organization has affirmed its support for the midwifery model of care.

“A study conducted in the province of Gelderland, compared the “obstetric result” of home births and hospital births. The results suggested that for primiparous women with a low-risk pregnancy a home birth was as safe as a hospital birth. For low-risk multiparous women the result of a home birth was significantly better than the result of a hospital birth (Wiegers et al 1996). There was no evidence that this system of care for pregnant women can be improved by increasing medicalization of birth (Buitendijk 1993).”

“In conclusion, normal birth, provided it is low-risk, only needs close observation by a trained and skilled birth attendant in order to detect early signs of complications. It needs no intervention but encouragement, support and a little tender loving care.”

— Care in Normal Birth

More Information

* How Safe Is That Hospital, Anyway?

Perhaps the better question is “Why give birth in a hospital?” Pregnancy is not a sickness; childbirth is not a disease. In the United States, unnecessary medical intervention in the natural process of childbirth has resulted in correspondingly high incidence of infant injury and mortality compared with European nations, such as Denmark and France, where most births are attended by midwives.

Q: What are the advantages of a home birth compared with a hospital birth?
A: Most women will tell you that the primary advantage of a home birth is autonomy: the power to give birth in any position, to decide who attends, and the comfort of familiar surroundings. These are all major reasons I chose home birth too.

However, in my mind, the greatest reason of all is the baby’s experience and treatment in the first crucial days of life. I believe that our society has created unimaginable problems by not recognizing the newborn as a conscious being. We are only beginning to understand the profound impact of birth trauma through the science of perinatal psychology. How can we ever hope to end violence and drug abuse in the US, when for most of us, our very first lessons in life were being drugged, separated from loved ones and then violated; for boys, sexually violated by circumcision in the first days of life!?

Babies born at home are born in the gentlest way possible, experiencing love rather separation.

Q: What’s the most important factor in a successful home birth?
A: Assuming that you are committed to the idea of home birth, for your baby’s sake and your own, the most important factor is to let go of fear. The second, almost equally as important, is excellent health. These two factors are the primary focus of my prenatal visits.

By learning how your body normally functions, discussing strategies to cope with labor and creating an environment that feels safe to you, we’ll alleviate fear.

Hearing the stories of other women who gave birth naturally is also helpful. On the other hand, watching shows like Maternity Ward pretty much guarantees a transport to the hospital during labor, because you program your body to believe that’s how birth works. That’s why 98% of births are planned hospital births–because American women have been conditioned to believe we can’t give birth without medical intervention.