I was not sure what I would be reading when I read the title Slate: How dangerous is giving birth at home? While there have been many enlightening pieces as of late on the topic because of some great research on the topic the over all feeling still seems to be one of disbelief and fear.
The journalist of this piece Jennifer Block, Slate quickly picked up the fact that this is now a Mommy war issue, where and how to birth. I think it is because some have labeled it as the “in” thing to do because of some hollywood women who have made this choice. Certainly some I am sure have done this but I don’t think that motivation is a reason to disregard the good studies that support home births as just as safe as hospital births in low risk pregnancy.
Thanks to Jennifer I learned more about some of the big voices against home birth and where they are coming from. “akin to not putting your child in a car seat because some layperson told you that car seats were unnecessary,” as blogger Amy Tuteur, M.D., put it. was one of the things reported. Amy Tuteur, once a licensed Dr has not been one in over a decade but still pushes the title on her blog, maybe in hopes that she will look more credible.
It got me to thinking about Tuteur and my own blog. We are both bloggers…. both sharing our opinions on some of the same topics. Neither one of us though is a journalist like Jennifer who I think is very good as what she does. Tuteur and I have the liberty to call people names it seems. Here are a few words from your truly about those like Tuteur…. fear mongering opportunists getting attention by parading tragedy in front of others and trying to make everyone else think they are common place.
The biggest and best studies have shown that the chances are about the same at home as in a hospital for a normal birth, about 2 and every 1,000 the risk one takes by not having a surgical room a few feet away is about the same as the risk one takes of just going into a hospital and the complications that can result from intervention on normal pregnancy.
Tuteur though that want to make mothers who make informed choices on this feel badly and they want to scare mothers from even trying. It feels like an attack on mothering to me, an attack on women, an attack on choice. Her motivations baffle me. http://skepticalob.blogspot.com/ seems hardly skeptical and more hateful. Today the post attacks midwives, nothing new there for her. Maybe her motivation is events she is asked to attend or radio spots of the AD space on her blog. Who can blame her for wanting to profit from her blog and time on it? I just with is was not at the expense of women, mothers, the facts, and of course midwives.
Back to Jennifer, I call her by her first name as I really like her post and wish she was a personal friend. Unlike we bloggers she has a talent for writing and research. You might want to take the time to read it and share your thought too!
