HBAC stands for homebirth after cesarean. You often see it written with a number included, such as HBA2C, which means homebirth after 2 C-sections. In most cases, the attending midwife is violating her professional standards to supervise an attempted homebirth after multiple C-sections, but homebirth midwives think professional standards are for other people, not for them. Maybe that's why they preside over the deaths of so many babies.
The latest completely preventable homebirth death is reported at The Guggie Daly:
Leilani had experienced two previous c-sections, with the last one being over 11 years ago...Let's see: a homebirth, 2 previous C-sections, a macrosomic baby, and undiagnosed pre-eclampsia. The perfect homebirth candidate!
But on June 15th, 2011, her precious son, Liam ... was born still at 12:05AM. He weighed 10lbs, 5oz and was 22 inches long. He was chubby and perfect, with reddish brown hair and blue eyes like his daddy.
Leilani's tragedy was rare and an extreme emergency whether at home or in the hospital. She had several hours of very hard labor with little progress when a severe pain across the middle of her abdomen appeared. It was extremely painful and did not go away.
The doctors verified she had experienced uterine rupture. This caused another rare emergency, a placental abruption, and this is what took Liam's life. Her waters had broken and leaked into her abdominal cavity. It is a miracle that she is alive today. The doctors proceeded with a c-section after verifying that little Liam had passed on from this world. They had to clean out her abdominal cavity. Her uterus was shredded and the doctor spent a long time repairing it, but she will no longer be able to have biological children.
The doctors also diagnosed her with severe pre-eclampsia although she did not have that diagnosis during pregnancy, nor did she have symptoms.
And look how well it went. The uterus ruptured, the placenta tore away from the uterine wall and he baby died long before she ever got to a hospital. Way to trust birth!
As a bonus, the mother had a massive hemorrhage, extensive abdominal surgery and will be unable to bear any children in the future. Hey, ICAN, are you going to feature this story?
According to Guggie, uterine rupture is a:
... rare and an extreme emergency whether at home or in the hospital.Not exactly. It's far from rare, and is a known complication of attempting a vaginal birth after C-section. It is an emergency whether it occurs at home or in the hospital, but the difference is that in the hospital, they can save the baby's life.
Even better, they can often prevent uterine rupture altogether by counseling women like Leilani that they are very poor candidates for VBAC and have a higher than average risk of this catastrophe. Had Leilani sought and followed the advice of an obstetrician, she would almost certainly be nursing and cuddling a live baby now, and probably bemoaning her "unnecessarean" as well.
This is what happens when you "trust birth." You end up with a dead baby who didn't have to die.
How many dead babies is it going to take before homebirth advocates realize that they have absolutely no idea what they are doing, and that precious babies are dying preventable deaths as a result of their arrogance and ignorance?
Well, no...when you home birth your baby doesn't die. That's a blanket statement of I ever heard one. Get over yourself...
ReplyDeleteLess uterine ruptures, when less c sections are performed. Perhaps this woman's sections were actually needed for medical reasons, maybe not. At any rate, she chose homebirth. And, as sad as losing a baby is, it's just another reminder that our maternity system in America is broken. Shattered. And needs repair ASAP.
ReplyDeleteI had a vaginal birth in hospital, a section due to breech (not my choice), a HBAC, and a VBAC in hospital (baby came early @34 weeks). I am glad I chose VBAC & homebirth and while I know it is not for everyone, it is still a safe option with QUALIFIED care providers. Babies have only been born in hospital for the past 100 years. Women do know how to have babies. Our bodies were designed for this job. The medical models try to make women feel as if their bodies are broken. No wonder more and more women are seeking alternative birthing!
If women know how to give birth why are between 300 000 and 400 000 still
DeleteDying a year?
I am a Labor and delivery nurse.... And honestly as an American, I think that women should be allowed to choose to have their babies however they want. However, what I would really like to see is true honest information that is not biased in either direction. We, as humans have a tendency to cherry pick the information that supports our decisions.... Which is only natural to do. But the reality of it is, bad things can happen in a home birth and bad things can happen in a hospital birth. The woman needs to be honest with herself and understand the responsibilities that come along with choosing a home birth or choosing a hospital birth, And understand that neither is a guarantee that you will get the birth that you want or the outcome that you want. I just have a problem with so many of these blogs and websites glossing over the fact that there can be life threatening emergencies that can end up in poor outcomes. Give it to them straight. They are adults let them decide what they want to do with all of the information. And whatever you choose to be right for you..... Right on!!!
ReplyDeleteBirth is natural....but so is death.... You cannot deny the fact that infant mortality has been drastically reduced in recent centuries..... However, if you're willing to accept The fact that something may go wrong and you are OK with that I fully support your decision
ReplyDelete