Current Events > How do you feel about midwives, doula, home births

(+) Yeah! (+)

Birthing centers, etc.

Or I should say, how do you feel about you/your spouse choosing to have birth in a non hospital setting?

Whatever is safest and most comfortable I guess?

I think it is generally unwise. Childbirth has historically been a major cause of death for women and it has really only gone down in recent years because of modern medicine. Forgoing that feels like you are just playing Russian Roulette.

That's up for each person to decide for themselves, as well as the individual's health circumstances. I sure as hell wouldn't have done it anywhere but in a hospital.

I was looking into it and it seems like for most people that are low risk and would have a "normal" birth, something like a home birth or a birthing center would probably be fine.

Just have a backup plan within reasonable distance for emergencies

I didn't care much for the appeals to it being natural or whatever, but that's a personal choice incentive if that's what they want

Use hospitals.

Its risky even if the pregnancy is considered low risk. So many things can go wrong. Baby could get stuck, have the cord wrapped around their neck, mom needs blood transfusion, etc. Id rather be in a hospital with the best care. Doulas/midwives are not doctors. My pregnancy was low risk but baby wouldnt come. I was 10 days past due when they induced me. She still wouldnt come. 26 hours later I had a fever and her heart rate shot to over 200 bpm. I was shaking uncontrollably. Had to have an emergency c section right away. Baby was out within 30 minutes and safe.

I think women that want to do that underestimate the pain. I attempted to go no epidural my 1st kid. It was painful to the point I was actually preventing myself from progressing. I gave in and got the epidural and my kid came out soon after.

Probably safest in the hospital...

We used midwives but were in the hospital birthing room for the actual delivery

it was nice, she got the pain meds she needed, but it was just the nurse and the midwife in the room the whole time, sometimes just one of them at a time. I was very involved the whole process as well, supporting her legs and back as needed. Dont know if thats normal or not with standard birthing

Three of my kids were born in our home, with mid-wives and a birth pool, most recent one was during COVID. Our first was born at a hospital because we were told that induction was necessary.

For us, home birth with mid-wives is the way to go when possible. Obviously not for everyone but we found it to be a much more pleasant and sentimental experience.

Cleo_II posted...

Its risky even if the pregnancy is considered low risk. So many things can go wrong. Baby could get stuck, have the cord wrapped around their neck, mom needs blood transfusion, etc. Id rather be in a hospital with the best care. Doulas/midwives are not doctors. My pregnancy was low risk but baby wouldnt come. I was 10 days past due when they induced me. She still wouldnt come. 26 hours later I had a fever and her heart rate shot to over 200 bpm. I was shaking uncontrollably. Had to have an emergency c section right away. Baby was out within 30 minutes and safe.

Yeah, true. Shit can go wrong fast...

Cuticrusader09 posted...

I think women that want to do that underestimate the pain. I attempted to go no epidural my 1st kid. It was painful to the point I was actually preventing myself from progressing. I gave in and got the epidural and my kid came out soon after.

I was watching a video about it and I disliked the way they tried to push no epidurals as some type of rite of passage of womanhood, in which you lose out on "real birth" experience. Was distasteful

TheGoldenEel posted...

We used midwives but were in the hospital birthing room for the actual delivery

it was nice, she got the pain meds she needed, but it was just the nurse and the midwife in the room the whole time, sometimes just one of them at a time. I was very involved the whole process as well, supporting her legs and back as needed. Dont know if thats normal or not with standard birthing

So she was able to move around and stuff like that?

JScriv posted...

Three of my kids were born in our home, with mid-wives and a birth pool, most recent one was during COVID. Our first was born at a hospital because we were told that induction was necessary.

For us, home birth with mid-wives is the way to go when possible. Obviously not for everyone but we found it to be a much more pleasant and sentimental experience.

How far away was the hospital for you guys, in case a transfer was needed?

Don't have a spouse so couldn't give less of a shit

Saving thousands of dollars on a hospital bill would be nice but I think if it was my kid I wouldnt feel safe enough outside a hospital

emblem boy posted...

Yeah, true. Shit can go wrong fast...

I was watching a video about it and I disliked the way they tried to push no epidurals as some type of rite of passage of womanhood, in which you lose out on "real birth" experience. Was distasteful

So she was able to move around and stuff like that?

How far away was the hospital for you guys, in case a transfer was needed?

My wife didnt get an epidural for our second, because the nurses wouldnt believe she was as far along in labour as she was, because she wasnt obviously in pain.

My wife was like please, just check.

The nurse finally did and was like oh.

My wifes goddamn tougher than I am to be honest.

emblem boy posted...

So she was able to move around and stuff like that?

it was a big room with space to walk around and stretch and use stuff like exercise balls, and a separate bathroom that had a bathtub which she used to relax prior to actual delivery starting

once delivery started her pain was really intense even with an epidural so they gave her fentanyl toocant imagine if we hadnt had pain meds as an option. She was pushing for six hours