Homebirth Gone Awry

I work in a hospital setting and I LOVE our midwives!!!!! They are awesome and allow low risk women to move around and some even allow fluids. Makes things easier on the mother. They are very supportive, do not rush a c-section unless necessary, will stay with the pt allowing them to push in whatever position feels best as tolerated by baby of course. That being said they also know when to call the MD in to take over. I also love our doctors. They are also great. But the midwife experience is more personal. They should continue to deliver. I am personally not a huge fan of homebirths as I have seen many times how a stable low risk mother can change in minutes to a high risk one. But to each his own. If you are well educated in the home birth experience and choose one for yourself, I am ok with that. I just don't like it when someone has not educated their selves and blame us when something goes wrong and they are rushed to us to fix it. The midwife here did not do what was right for this pt. You cannot blame all midwives for this.

Just wanted to share that ACOG just came out in support of allowing clear liquids PO during labor. So although I will not expect to see things quickly, even ACOG supports it.

Gosh, it's a tough topic to tackle, but personal choice is still boss, in my opinion.

I've had 3 children, all hospital births, however, I wish I could have delivered at home b/c there are so many things that make hospital births really unpleasant. One of them being that what you want must be discarded for protocol or hospital policy. And the other being that what you want is often replaced with what is considered better/preferred/or most convienient by your care provider.

On the other hand, my last birth, had I chosen to try to deliver at home, would have ended up in the hospital, most likely with a dead baby. Fortunately, I have a healthy 4 year old little boy sitting at the kitchen table right now with his brother and sisters (Not to mention I probably would be dead right now to.)

I'm thankful that I was able to experience both sides of the story, I think its gonna make me a better nurse. I know what it's like to be the patient in the hospital who loathes much of the standard birth procedure, and I also know what its like to be the person who 'really needed' the hospital birth.

That was actually an excellent article that outlined something so important, facilitating transfers. The story itself was outlandish...I can't imagine a midwife so incompetent that she would allow her client to have a fever with ROM for that long, or heart tones on a baby that low...certainly not the standard of care among ANY midwives I know.

I had two babies out of hospital (birth center, then home) and planned a homebirth for my third. I ended up needing to transfer and felt so fortunate to live in a progressive area for birth. The transfer was completely smooth, my midwife, husband, doula and I were all treated with dignity and respect, and everything went very well. This is how it's supposed to be: homebirths can and usually are very safe and successful for low risk women, but when things veer from "normal" the hospital is there. The author is absolutely correct that facilitating transfers will make things safer for everyone. My midwife didn't hesitate to transfer me because she wasn't afraid of how we'd be treated, and she's practicing legally in my state, which isn't the case everywhere. Heck, she even caught my baby (though not on purpose...my little one surprised us all!)

StudentAmie, this is why I strongly believe CPMs should be allowed to practice legally in every state - it pulls them out from 'underground.' My state is one of the few where it's illegal for them to practice, though I know they still do.

Totally agree! No one should fear prosecution while doing what's right for a laboring mom and her baby.

To be fair, maybe we should have a thread on "hospital birth gone awry."

Sometimes our interventions cause problems that would not have occured had the birth been at home.

Just because a problem happens in a home birth, doesn't mean the home birth shouldn't have happened.

Beachmom, I could not agree more. I recall a situation where a physician sent a patient in for induction at 39 weeks, with an unfavorable cervix and when she was not progressing fast enough and had not delivered by lunchtime, the MD came in and put in an IUPC so we could increase the pitocin (she ordered to go to a max of "whatever it takes to get her cervix changing") she ended up putting the IUPC through the placenta causing an abruption with massive bleeding and fetal bradycardia....during the emergency c-section she commented to the patient that she was "lucky" this happened in the hosptial and not at home-her baby would have died.....the patient then called all of her family after the c-section to sing praises to her hero the doctor that "saved" her baby.......FRUSTRATING!!!!!!!

I think midwifery should be limited to advance practice RNs. CPM education varies widely. People often cite the Netherlands for good midwifery outcomes. Dutch midwives are required to have 3 years of university education.

The difference between a CPM and a Nurse Midwife is like the difference between a Registered Dietician and Nutritionist; Dieticians have degrees and pass a licensing exam, while anyone can call themselves a Nutritionist.

If CPMs were legal in all 50 states you might see the educational requirements elevated and uniform. Did you know the largest study to date on positive home birth outcomes was a result of data collected by CPMs? CNMs like it so much they cite it as if it were theirs.

Um, no. Not just anyone can call themself a CPM. They have to meet a minimum educational standard, meet minimum clinical requirements, and pass a credentialing exam (which equates to the licensing exam in legal states). If they have graduated from an accredited midwifery program, they also have a degree. Like me.