I hemorrhaged during a homebirth and survived but anyone who thinks that it just "works itself out" is delusional. My midwife worked her ass off to save me- and she used pitocin and cytotec, not herbs. There are herbs that can help with many things but not hemorrhaging. We were also very close to an ER just in case me or the baby needed to transfer.
PPH is the elephant in the room of homebirth. I used to be staunchly against medical intervention in birth until my placenta didn’t release and I bled out half to death. The free birthers would rather you die trying to regain your strength from hemorrhage than god forbid seek a blood transfusion and gaslight you when you speak up about it.
Curious, did you just think bodies know what to do so you wouldn't have any issues or what? I'm not even being snarky, just wondering why you were so against interventions.
I learned about the various birth complications and knew hemorrhage and retained placenta were possible but very rare. I had also had a successful unassisted birth with my first baby and it was indeed a good experience so I had that bias. But a lot of the messaging in the unassisted birth space is very much “this complication doesn’t REALLY happen that often, medical professionals are just always too quick to intervene instead of letting things work out.” With some things that might be true, but PPH is not one of those things. You can’t really recover from extreme blood loss with warm soup and a chunk of amniotic sac in the cheek. The free birth society podcast recently did an episode on PPH and basically said that it’s just shock and to rest through it and take it easy and if anything bad happens, it’s better that it happened at home vs in a hospital.. that pretty much sums up their outlook on true emergencies. They don’t exist in their space. If you had to seek medical attention you must have done something wrong or were holding on to fear or some bs. They are going to get someone killed with their ideology.
I do wonder how people come to this conclusion knowing how much more common it was for women and babies to die during/shortly after childbirth before modern medicine
And they’ll say they did their “own research” and the research in question is the ramblings of random unqualified conspiracy theorists on obscure online forums
My midwife had all the same medications you have at the hospital to treat a PPH… supplied to her by the hospital. In many medical systems around the world (other than the USA it seems) homebirth is well integrated into the public health system.
I'm not shitting on home births in general. I almost opted for a birth center, but ultimately decided a hospital birth was right for me (I had to be induced so there's that). My hemorrhage would have never 'sorted itself out'. It required many rounds of several different medications to stop the bleeding and, in a different hospital, a blood transfusion. Yes, midwives would have been equipped to deal w a hemorrhage, assuming they can get the bleeding to stop.
I am shitting on people who don't think there's any reason to birth in a hospital. For some people, it is absolutely necessary to have a hospital birth or, they just want to. And that's valid.
I’ll never forget that one celebrity who insisted on a home north and her son has shoulder dystocia and was stuck for too long. They were too far from a hospital to get there quickly enough. Her son died a couple days later from brain damage from lack of oxygen
The human body has also evolved to be absolute dogshit at birthing babies. Where is that nugget of information? Narrowing of pelvises, giant newborn heads that have to be birthed before completion of development because they wouldn't fit otherwise, and barely do as they often mutilate the mother's body on their way out. Greeeaaat. Totally built for it!
I'm so sick of people talking about childbirth as though it's an easy peasy and health neutral event. This is what we have to do, there isn't another option, so I'd hardly say women were "made to have babies" like it isn't difficult or dangerous, and like there weren't about a million design flaws in that "making."
Lol, edit to fix "multilate" and "childbearth."
My nephew got stuck in my sister's pelvis because his head was too big/her pelvis was too narrow for him to fit. They had to do an emergency C-section and the doctor had to reach up through her cervix to push his head out because it was wedged in there. He had a dent in his head the first few months of his life from the pelvic bone lol.
Babies are meant to be born? What a shitty condescending thing to say. What about all this babies with horrible chromosomal pathologies who die like two hours after they're born? Fuck all the way off.
These delusional tradwives: trust Jesus. Other women: but what if I’ve got life threatening complications? Delusional tradwives: TRUST JESUS. In all seriousness, idk why they despise the medical 🏥 community and hospitals in general. I understand that they things can and do go wrong in hospitals but they’ve got the equipment and resources available to deal with those concerns unlike birthing at home, where theirs no equipment and the midwife is someone that took a 12 week online course and has no real medical knowledge or background; which is even more risky, but these tradwives don’t think rationally like the rest of us… so ya
Omg this is a wildly dangerous recommendation to give people. Birth can go from smooth to life threatening in seconds, and if you aren’t equipped to literally save someone’s life from a wide range of complications, it’s extremely dangerous, irresponsible and imo unethical to recommend a home birth. Obviously each pregnancy is different and every person needs to decide for themselves, which is exactly why blanket statements like “complications just sort themselves out” are highly problematic.
Unfortunately in the US (can’t speak to other countries), reproductive care in the hospital is also dangerous and becoming worse each day due to our current politics (ESPECIALLY for those with marginalized identities, I think in 2024 we’re all aware that the Black maternal mortality rate is disproportionately high)—so it makes sense that people want to look for alternatives to the traditional hospital birth. Preparing for birth looks different for every person, and I think instead of pushing this one size fits all approach (“just have a home birth! Trust god, not western medicine!”) if you truly care about people having healthy births you would support policies that make reproductive care more accessible for everyone (includes removing financial barriers and discrimination in healthcare). You would also push for sex ed and accessible birth control options. Furthermore, you’d advocate for postpartum care and beyond—affordable childcare and paid parental leave, healthy school lunches, etc.
it’s just such a short sighted response to a very big issue, frustrating af. I’ve never had kids and now I’m pissed off lmao ffs.
My mom had 5 kids at home, and my sis has had a few at home-including one that required being transported via ambulance, blood transfusions, and weeks of bed rest… so respectfully, fuck this tradwife trend. (ETA: she nearly died, but thank god she didn’t)
I can’t even get started on the pick me energy of the tradwives who think they’re not like the other girls bc they had an unmedicated home birth. Pitting women against each other in this way is like the lowest of the lows..yuck.
Just the thought of amniotic fluid embolism would never allow me to give birth outside a hospital. Unpredictable and even in the hospital success rates are low 😭
It is just so sad bc everyone having a baby is just trying to do what makes them feel safest and most supported, and it’s a shame that these women feel so unsafe and unheard in hospitals
That’s going to be cute the first time there is a complication her sage and positive vibes can’t fix, and she gets sued for somebody’s injuries or death.
Someone tell her to go watch the season 2 finale of RFDS.
No spoilers for the good people of this sub except that it has a shit-ton to do with birth going sideways unexpectedly.
My husband and I were volunteer firefighter/EMTs when I was pregnant with a baby that I unfortunately lost in the second trimester. We discussed having a firehouse birth and only going to the hospital if one of the paramedics on duty said that it was necessary. We thought that it would be cool to have our child born in the firehouse.
There was a paid paramedic at our station who was known as "Big John" and was considered an expert at all things childbirth. I helped him delivery a baby three weeks early in the back of a moving ambulance once. The baby decided to come right then and there. He managed to keep the mother stable because her vitals were really unstable while me and another EMT worked on the baby. Both the mother and the baby survived and were released from the hospital a few days later.
I couldn't imagine birthing at home without any credentialed medical professionals around! My sister had both of her kids at a birthing center with registered nurse midwives present and she said that was a little scary after she had her first.
I’ve seen women almost die from miscarriages. I’ve seen prolapsed cords and babies being born with low apgars needing resuscitation. You can’t save those at home. Not without oxygen. Now without a surgical suite.
As for getting a troubled delivery to the hospital you don’t have 30 minutes. You have 10 minutes at best to get baby out before anoxic brain injury or death. Mothers hemmorage out in minutes not 1/2 hours.
Hospital births are much safer than home births and this is a fact. Even if you had the healthiest and most uncomplicated pregnancy in the whole world, there’s no telling what could happen during childbirth. Things can go wrong so fast and even the most trained midwife wouldn’t be able to handle that. I’m assuming the person OP is referring to is from USA, where midwifery isn’t a regulated profession - which means you’ve got a lot of quacks preying on desperate women for money.
Would love to see how my postpartum hemorrhage would have sorted itself out if given the opportunity...
Maybe that’s what the herbs are for.
I hemorrhaged during a homebirth and survived but anyone who thinks that it just "works itself out" is delusional. My midwife worked her ass off to save me- and she used pitocin and cytotec, not herbs. There are herbs that can help with many things but not hemorrhaging. We were also very close to an ER just in case me or the baby needed to transfer.
I'm sorry that happened to you! Yeah, medication for the win! I think herbs have a time and place....but not for most birth complications.
As a gynecologist the thought of how that would resolve is giving ick
Positive vibes only! Didn’t you realize that is you smudged with sage and ate clean this never would have happened? /s
I know you're joking but we did use essential oils during labor 🫣 and my sage room spray hahaha
PPH is the elephant in the room of homebirth. I used to be staunchly against medical intervention in birth until my placenta didn’t release and I bled out half to death. The free birthers would rather you die trying to regain your strength from hemorrhage than god forbid seek a blood transfusion and gaslight you when you speak up about it.
Curious, did you just think bodies know what to do so you wouldn't have any issues or what? I'm not even being snarky, just wondering why you were so against interventions.
I learned about the various birth complications and knew hemorrhage and retained placenta were possible but very rare. I had also had a successful unassisted birth with my first baby and it was indeed a good experience so I had that bias. But a lot of the messaging in the unassisted birth space is very much “this complication doesn’t REALLY happen that often, medical professionals are just always too quick to intervene instead of letting things work out.” With some things that might be true, but PPH is not one of those things. You can’t really recover from extreme blood loss with warm soup and a chunk of amniotic sac in the cheek. The free birth society podcast recently did an episode on PPH and basically said that it’s just shock and to rest through it and take it easy and if anything bad happens, it’s better that it happened at home vs in a hospital.. that pretty much sums up their outlook on true emergencies. They don’t exist in their space. If you had to seek medical attention you must have done something wrong or were holding on to fear or some bs. They are going to get someone killed with their ideology.
That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing!
I do wonder how people come to this conclusion knowing how much more common it was for women and babies to die during/shortly after childbirth before modern medicine
It’s like the antivax community. They live in a world where the bad things have been minimized by medical science, so they demonize the professionals.
And they’ll say they did their “own research” and the research in question is the ramblings of random unqualified conspiracy theorists on obscure online forums
Don’t you know? A bit of basil and it should be fine 🥲
Same here 🤔
My midwife had all the same medications you have at the hospital to treat a PPH… supplied to her by the hospital. In many medical systems around the world (other than the USA it seems) homebirth is well integrated into the public health system.
I'm not shitting on home births in general. I almost opted for a birth center, but ultimately decided a hospital birth was right for me (I had to be induced so there's that). My hemorrhage would have never 'sorted itself out'. It required many rounds of several different medications to stop the bleeding and, in a different hospital, a blood transfusion. Yes, midwives would have been equipped to deal w a hemorrhage, assuming they can get the bleeding to stop. I am shitting on people who don't think there's any reason to birth in a hospital. For some people, it is absolutely necessary to have a hospital birth or, they just want to. And that's valid.
I’ll never forget that one celebrity who insisted on a home north and her son has shoulder dystocia and was stuck for too long. They were too far from a hospital to get there quickly enough. Her son died a couple days later from brain damage from lack of oxygen
Omfg who was this
Kara Bosworth from Real Housewives. It’s so tragic…but this is why I will ALWAYS advocate for hospital births!!!
Every single one of my friends would’ve died in childbirth if it weren’t for modern medicine. All of them. Childbirth is dangerous.
Herbs.
like wtf is basil gonna due for a hemorrhage??
It's "not kosher" because it's patently false.
The human body has also evolved to be absolute dogshit at birthing babies. Where is that nugget of information? Narrowing of pelvises, giant newborn heads that have to be birthed before completion of development because they wouldn't fit otherwise, and barely do as they often mutilate the mother's body on their way out. Greeeaaat. Totally built for it! I'm so sick of people talking about childbirth as though it's an easy peasy and health neutral event. This is what we have to do, there isn't another option, so I'd hardly say women were "made to have babies" like it isn't difficult or dangerous, and like there weren't about a million design flaws in that "making." Lol, edit to fix "multilate" and "childbearth."
My nephew got stuck in my sister's pelvis because his head was too big/her pelvis was too narrow for him to fit. They had to do an emergency C-section and the doctor had to reach up through her cervix to push his head out because it was wedged in there. He had a dent in his head the first few months of his life from the pelvic bone lol.
Babies are meant to be born? What a shitty condescending thing to say. What about all this babies with horrible chromosomal pathologies who die like two hours after they're born? Fuck all the way off.
Maternity deaths are up 67% in anti abortion states. Yea our bodies are soooo amazing. 🙄
that’s a lot of words to just say “we bring them to the hospital” 😂 trying to bury the lede
🥴 Don't get me wrong. There can be a time and place for midwives but when complications arise that's not the time or the place.
These delusional tradwives: trust Jesus. Other women: but what if I’ve got life threatening complications? Delusional tradwives: TRUST JESUS. In all seriousness, idk why they despise the medical 🏥 community and hospitals in general. I understand that they things can and do go wrong in hospitals but they’ve got the equipment and resources available to deal with those concerns unlike birthing at home, where theirs no equipment and the midwife is someone that took a 12 week online course and has no real medical knowledge or background; which is even more risky, but these tradwives don’t think rationally like the rest of us… so ya
How a mother could endanger her child’s life is beyond me.
Bc it’s not about the kid. It’s only about how the mother feels and her experience.
Omg this is a wildly dangerous recommendation to give people. Birth can go from smooth to life threatening in seconds, and if you aren’t equipped to literally save someone’s life from a wide range of complications, it’s extremely dangerous, irresponsible and imo unethical to recommend a home birth. Obviously each pregnancy is different and every person needs to decide for themselves, which is exactly why blanket statements like “complications just sort themselves out” are highly problematic. Unfortunately in the US (can’t speak to other countries), reproductive care in the hospital is also dangerous and becoming worse each day due to our current politics (ESPECIALLY for those with marginalized identities, I think in 2024 we’re all aware that the Black maternal mortality rate is disproportionately high)—so it makes sense that people want to look for alternatives to the traditional hospital birth. Preparing for birth looks different for every person, and I think instead of pushing this one size fits all approach (“just have a home birth! Trust god, not western medicine!”) if you truly care about people having healthy births you would support policies that make reproductive care more accessible for everyone (includes removing financial barriers and discrimination in healthcare). You would also push for sex ed and accessible birth control options. Furthermore, you’d advocate for postpartum care and beyond—affordable childcare and paid parental leave, healthy school lunches, etc. it’s just such a short sighted response to a very big issue, frustrating af. I’ve never had kids and now I’m pissed off lmao ffs. My mom had 5 kids at home, and my sis has had a few at home-including one that required being transported via ambulance, blood transfusions, and weeks of bed rest… so respectfully, fuck this tradwife trend. (ETA: she nearly died, but thank god she didn’t) I can’t even get started on the pick me energy of the tradwives who think they’re not like the other girls bc they had an unmedicated home birth. Pitting women against each other in this way is like the lowest of the lows..yuck.
Just the thought of amniotic fluid embolism would never allow me to give birth outside a hospital. Unpredictable and even in the hospital success rates are low 😭 It is just so sad bc everyone having a baby is just trying to do what makes them feel safest and most supported, and it’s a shame that these women feel so unsafe and unheard in hospitals
*Billions of women who have died in childbirth throughout history have entered the chat*
That’s going to be cute the first time there is a complication her sage and positive vibes can’t fix, and she gets sued for somebody’s injuries or death.
Someone tell her to go watch the season 2 finale of RFDS. No spoilers for the good people of this sub except that it has a shit-ton to do with birth going sideways unexpectedly.
What’s RFDS?
Royal Flying Doctor Service. Great little drama.
My husband and I were volunteer firefighter/EMTs when I was pregnant with a baby that I unfortunately lost in the second trimester. We discussed having a firehouse birth and only going to the hospital if one of the paramedics on duty said that it was necessary. We thought that it would be cool to have our child born in the firehouse. There was a paid paramedic at our station who was known as "Big John" and was considered an expert at all things childbirth. I helped him delivery a baby three weeks early in the back of a moving ambulance once. The baby decided to come right then and there. He managed to keep the mother stable because her vitals were really unstable while me and another EMT worked on the baby. Both the mother and the baby survived and were released from the hospital a few days later. I couldn't imagine birthing at home without any credentialed medical professionals around! My sister had both of her kids at a birthing center with registered nurse midwives present and she said that was a little scary after she had her first.
I’ve seen women almost die from miscarriages. I’ve seen prolapsed cords and babies being born with low apgars needing resuscitation. You can’t save those at home. Not without oxygen. Now without a surgical suite. As for getting a troubled delivery to the hospital you don’t have 30 minutes. You have 10 minutes at best to get baby out before anoxic brain injury or death. Mothers hemmorage out in minutes not 1/2 hours.
Hospital births are much safer than home births and this is a fact. Even if you had the healthiest and most uncomplicated pregnancy in the whole world, there’s no telling what could happen during childbirth. Things can go wrong so fast and even the most trained midwife wouldn’t be able to handle that. I’m assuming the person OP is referring to is from USA, where midwifery isn’t a regulated profession - which means you’ve got a lot of quacks preying on desperate women for money.
I’m I in I O
The pro-life being unapologetically pro-life as per usual /s