"Twins By Surprise"

Shenanigans, RN · Jul 2, 2009

I'm one of these nurses who thinks "infection control" a lot. Sure, there's antibotics, but I saw a doco about home births in my home country and there was a woman who gave birth in a really dirty looking house!!

Not to mention all the other above mentioned antics of risk. Yeah women have been having babies for many thousands of years, but also have been dying from that too.

In my home town's obits about a year ago I saw a woman had died post partum, and she'd had a home birth without any assist (small town, I knew her cousin), and the child came out breech with the foot twisted in an odd postion.

Long story short, child is now brain damaged and the mum died from infection.

oguesswhat · Jul 2, 2009

Yeah this lady didn't seem very smart. She said she was prepared because she read books about what to do in bad situations...but did her husband know?! What if she would have started hemorrhaging and then go unconscious or something? What would her husband have done? Call 911 and then her and/or the twins could of died waiting for the ambulance. If you want a home birth at least have a midwife or someone who knows what to do in a complication there!

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Jul 2, 2009

Now, I wouldn't give birth unassisted at home by choice....but, I am another one of those people that sees crap happen ALL THE TIME in the hospital that would not have happened had Mom given birth at home.

Unnecessary tears, unnecessary VEs, unnecessary c/sections, and yes....I have seen a baby die that might not have died had she been born at home.

Cases like this are a really good reason why CPMs should be legalized in all 50 states. A lot of people in my area want to give birth at home, but there is no CNM that will do homebirth within a reasonable distance, and CPMs that practice here do so illegally. If you don't want a hospital birth in this area (a sentiment I can certainly understand), unassisted birth is your only other choice.

200 years ago when mortality/morbidity was so high, people were not yet on board w/ the germ theory of disease (thank you, Dr. Semmelweiss!!), and diseases like rickets left women's pelvises (pelvi?) so badly deformed no AGA term baby could fit through. Gonna go out on a limb here and say maternal/infant m&m from home birth is probably LOWER now than it was then.

Having said that, I also have seen enough near-term (34-37 weekers) babies crump that if I knew I was preterm, my gravid self would hightail it to a hospital w/ at least a level II nursery.

mouseynurse · Jul 2, 2009

I'm one of these nurses who thinks "infection control" a lot. Sure, there's antibotics, but I saw a doco about home births in my home country and there was a woman who gave birth in a really dirty looking house!!
Not to mention all the other above mentioned antics of risk. Yeah women have been having babies for many thousands of years, but also have been dying from that too.
In my home town's obits about a year ago I saw a woman had died post partum, and she'd had a home birth without any assist (small town, I knew her cousin), and the child came out breech with the foot twisted in an odd postion.
Long story short, child is now brain damaged and the mum died from infection.

For the most part, infection control in the home is VERY different than infection control in a facility. In the home, patients are accustomed to the germs. They live with them every day and have built up an immunity. This immunity is then passed on to the infant.

Now I'm not saying that major infections will never happen, as you illustrated above. But with a little bit of common sense and some soap and water, the risks are very very low.

DeLana_RN, BSN, RN · Jul 2, 2009

Hmm... home birth is so safe, women died from it all the time (and many infants died or were left brain-damaged) when it was the "normal" thing to do, by choice or necessity.

Even the most normal, routine pg can go wrong at the last minute (e.g, cord around neck) - why risk your baby's health (and yours)?

I'll never understand those who insist on doing things the old-fashioned way. Yes, I would have preferred not to have a c/s when I had my twins, but it would have been foolish not to agree to it - one was breech, one transverse. Having breech twins at home without any help is just plain irresponsible (I understand the woman in this case didn't even know it was twins - there's just no excuse for no prenatal care at all!)

DeLana

RNperdiem, RN · Jul 2, 2009

Birth has become such a political issue. Why?

Is it like this elsewhere in the world, or just here?

I wouldn't work in the field of birth and babies for anything.

Trauma seems so simple by comparision.

krltdy · Jul 2, 2009

To me, it has absolutely nothing to do with politics. Keep yourself and your baby safe by getting prenatal care and having a knowlegeable person there who can take charge of a sticky situation. Plain and simple.

RNperdiem, RN · Jul 2, 2009

To deliver what is considered a high risk delivery at home without a trained attendant at home is odd. Why?

If insurance refused to pay for hospital births or pain meds, would the next trend be for people to fight for the right to give birth in hospital with all interventions?

BabyLady, BSN, RN · Jul 2, 2009

When patients are admitted to the hospital, they give them all of these consents to sign...'you agree to this, you agree to that'.

What we never tell patients, is that they have the right to refuse...not just medication, but a procedure, an examination, pitocin, etc.

They have the right to a second opinion and don't have to leave the hospital to do it.

We don't do it because physicians would throw a fit and the hospital wouldn't allow it.

This is where public service announcements need to come in. Laypeople don't know what they have to agree to.

It used to drive me NUTS to see a woman, 37 weeks pregnant, obviously in the very early stages of labor...rushed to the hospital on a Thursday by her OB GYN....with the pit started...and then a few hours later, he claims she isn't progressing and will order the pit either cranked up or a c-section so he won't have to deal with her over the weekend.

Did they ever consider the baby just wasn't ready????

KateRN1 · Jul 2, 2009

For some good reasons why a family would choose to birth at home, check out these great summer reads:

Birth

Pushed

The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth

Perfect Motherhood

nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN · Jul 2, 2009

If the mom's healthy, the baby's healthy, AND there's a responsible trained adult around that can call for help if the mom passes out, seizes, etc., then I've got no problem with a home birth. But no prenatal care, no health assessments of the mom or the baby? OMG. I had a cousin who had all of those, and the baby still died when the water broke (cord tightened around her neck, and my cousin's little girl strangled before they ever got to the hospital), so I guess I go straight up in the air when people aren't doing what they could to prevent that kind of tragedy. When that woman who had the twins finally dies from being so completely irresponsible, her husband's going to be left to raise all those kids alone.

The only good thing about it is these idiots won't have some overworked OB nurse to sue when there's a bad outcome.

malenurse82 · Jul 2, 2009

I also saw the show, the woman in this episode was thrombocytopenic and her midwife told her she had to go to the hospital to deliver (she knew she might have to deliver at hospital due to this way in advance). Nevertheless, her world collapsed upon hearing this...while in hospital going into labour, something called my attention: she didnt want a fetal monitor attached.... also, it was december 2nd and they wanted a december 3rd birthday...

It makes me think that sometimes people set themselves up for dissapointment. Im all for home births and midwifery assisted deliveries, but one thing that people should also factor in is the uncertainty that pregnancy / labour bring.

When families plan in advance everything about their delivery and are set in that, they will be sorely disappointed, like the woman in the how who had to deliver at the hospital... she had to deliver in hospital under great stress and disapointment to the point that she refused even the relatively non-invasive monitor...

I am a peds nurse and i often see the disappointment when the child is jaundiced and they cant go home, or when breastfeeding isnt going as smoothly and the kid is not gaining weight, and i see the parents beside theirselves ... only because their experience isnt how they had planned it, and then you talk about supplementing with formula, and they look at you like you just told them to poison their child

if a family plans for something, being homebirth, breastfeding, an exact birthday.... soewhere along the way they should tell their plan to a trusted health provider, having a plan is great, but it cannot be set in stone, birthing is a complex event with many variables and if you dont anticipate for changes and take things as they come, you wont be prepared to adapt your plan according to your own circumstances.... and this is where i see families have a more traumatic birthing experience than if you have studied many angles and are open to exploring changes... can we say that this woman who was set to deliver in the hospital and didnt explore that option, because she had it set in stone that she would hopmebirth, was prepared to make informed decisons? i dont think so... for all she knows she was dragged to deliver in hospital against her will, because that was against her plan....

and if youre gonna cry because your child is going to be delivered on the 2nd and not the third??? mmm im sorry, me and my empathetic self will be at the desk drawing meds... ill let dad deal with that... LOL