[Prada's Meadow]

NEW YORK — Ricki Lake is firing back at physicians groups that have singled her out for bringing attention to at-home childbirth.
The 39-year-old former talk-show host is named in a recent statement by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists that says the home is not the safest setting for having a baby.
In her film "The Business of Being Born," a documentary about the maternity care system that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, Lake is shown giving birth in the bathtub of her Manhattan apartment to her second son Owen, who turns 7 on Wednesday.
The ACOG statement, supported in a resolution Tuesday by the American Medical Association, said, "There has been much attention in the media by celebrities having home deliveries," citing a "Today Show" headline that read "Ricki Lake takes on the baby birthing industry: Actress and former talk show host shares her at-home delivery in her new film."
"It's scary that both (the ACOG and the AMA) have sort of targeted me," Lake told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "And, you know, I'm all about choice. This is not unlike the abortion issue. I am pro-choice when it comes to childbirth and choices in birth. Home birth was around long before hospitals were taking over — and I just think women need to know (the information) so that they can make the best choice for them."

The AMA resolves in the statement to support state legislation "that helps ensure safe deliveries and healthy babies by acknowledging that the safest setting" is a hospital, connected birthing center or other approved facility.
"There's a lot of provocative things that are said in the film," she said, "but I think it's very clear that we need doctors, we need the care and the technology that we have. But we also need to value the process of giving birth normally."
Lake said she had no problems delivering her oldest son Milo, 11, at the hospital, but "looking back on it, I felt that I did not necessarily need the intervention. I didn't need the (drug Pitocin, which induces labor). I just should have labored on my own."
The second time around, as long as her pregnancy continued to be low-risk, she decided to give birth at home.
"I was empowered, I was transformed and I would love for women to have had that opportunity — to be an active participant in their own birth choices and birth experience," she said.




http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,368263,00.html

[Sternchen]

You know, I think it's great that there are moms out there who are brave enough to do this. Most of the time they are not doing this alone, but with a trained doula / midwife at their side just in case there are some minor complications.

I was very lucky to give birth in a hospital that is very progressive in their birthing / labor views. I was able to walk around how I wanted, use different methods of pain relief (ball, hanging rope, etc), and then eventually give birth in a birthing tub. All in all it was a great experience and it upsets me to hear from women who say that their doctors basically make them lay on their back (in probably the most unnatural birthing position) and give birth.

I figure as long as you go about it responsibly (no high risk pregnancies) then I see no problem with having a home birth. Heck, I even considered it once but I don't have room for a birthing pool!

[Nola]

Good for her!

[metroelle]

in ontario, midwife care covered under OHIP, and my friends from the states are amazed when I mention that 30% of their patients choose a homebirth. right now, i think i will be doing a hospital birth (just labouring in the hospital room in case something happens, no doctors or nurses) with the midwife present, but if DH were to warm up to the idea of homebirth and i stay low-risk, i think it would be wonderful to labour in my own home and right afterwards, be with baby in my own bed.
the business of being born was a great documentary, and for those who think it's anti-hospital, it even showed a instance where a woman wanted a homebirth and started labouring at home, but the midwife knew a c-section would save the baby and mother, and took her to the hospital. it's not like a homebirth implies, having a baby at home no matter what.

[Zophie]

My cousin's wife gave birth to all 11 of their children at home, if I'm not mistaken. Obviously it works just fine for her!

[elizat]

^ Holy moly, 11 kids! Wow!

I think Ricki's got a good point. As long as it works for you and there are not risk factors (and if it does become risky, you can get to a hospital quickly) why not do what you want for you and your family? It is actually kind of similar to the pro-choice argument, if you think about it a round about sort of way.

[guccimamma]

i like the idea of being in a hospital.

i imagine birthing to be quite messy, i wouldn't want to clean up afterward.

more importantly, i like the idea of having full hospital support on hand if anything were to go wrong with baby or myself.

not my thing at all, but i support the right to have the choice. i am certainly not that adventurous.

[ChristyR143]

^ Yes, the process of birthing is pretty messy. However the midwives and assistants do all the cleaning up afterwards. (Who would expect a woman that just gave birth to clean up??)

I had my second baby at home and it was wonderful. It is an experience I would highly recommend for everyone that is a good candidate for it (low risk pregnancy).

[Mrs. MC]

I agree with the other poster that said this issue is like the pro-choice argument in that you are not making a decision for just yourself. I do beleive in pro-choice. Not surprisingly I don't believe in home birthing in general for myself and wouldn't choose it but I think people have the right to chose this I guess if they want and take the risks involved. Sometimes things turn badly very quickly and it is not a matter of 5- or 10 minutes to get to a hospital but a matter of literally seconds. I think of people being born hundreds of years ago and how so many women and children died in labor so I wonder why people wouldn't take advantage of the modern advances and having access to healthcare that we have in the US. I realize that hospitals carry infections and some women can contract airborn illness and that there is human error, babies getting mishandled and dropped, or like the case of Dennis Quaid his twins receiving lethal doses of Heparin or other birth defects that are results of a birth. Considering all of this I still would opt for a hospital birth or a situation where there is an attached birthing center with medical staff on hand for emergencies. From my own personal experience from people that I know who have had home births, it is very old fashioned, women and babies are pushed to their limits physically and the option of c-section is not available which a lot of women choose after trying for such a long time if they are in the hospital.

[ChristyR143]

The reason some women choose not to take advantage of all of the technology a hospital provides is that there are certain interventions that most hospitals employ during labor that are #1, not completely necessary in a totally healthy and low-risk pregnancy and labor, and #2, absolutely not conducive to a natural and drug free labor and delivery. So, for those women who have had a completely healthy pregnancy, and desire a natural, intervention-free labor, home birth is a perfectly safe option. Even though technically you have a choice in the hospital and do not have to submit to their routine interventions, it can cause a lot of tension with the nurses and that is NEVER a good environment to labor in. I think it's wonderful that Ricki Lake has brought attention to the whole issue, because on the whole, home birth is really misunderstood by a lot of people. There are actually quite a few stars who have birthed at home, but just not been so vocal about it.

Personally, during my home birth, I was not pushed to my limits physically. It's truly amazing what our bodies can do...what they were designed to do! Most women who birth at home have spent a great deal of time in preparation of how to deal with the pain, and so when it comes, they are confident in their bodies and never really even feel the need for pain management. This was definitely the case with me. But again, it's not for everyone, and it's a wonderful thing that these days we have a choice!

[Sternchen]

Originally Posted by ChristyR143

The reason some women choose not to take advantage of all of the technology a hospital provides is that there are certain interventions that most hospitals employ during labor that are #1, not completely necessary in a totally healthy and low-risk pregnancy and labor, and #2, absolutely not conducive to a natural and drug free labor and delivery. So, for those women who have had a completely healthy pregnancy, and desire a natural, intervention-free labor, home birth is a perfectly safe option. Even though technically you have a choice in the hospital and do not have to submit to their routine interventions, it can cause a lot of tension with the nurses and that is NEVER a good environment to labor in. I think it's wonderful that Ricki Lake has brought attention to the whole issue, because on the whole, home birth is really misunderstood by a lot of people. There are actually quite a few stars who have birthed at home, but just not been so vocal about it.

Personally, during my home birth, I was not pushed to my limits physically. It's truly amazing what our bodies can do...what they were designed to do! Most women who birth at home have spent a great deal of time in preparation of how to deal with the pain, and so when it comes, they are confident in their bodies and never really even feel the need for pain management. This was definitely the case with me. But again, it's not for everyone, and it's a wonderful thing that these days we have a choice!

Thanks for posting that, your post was great!

[IntlSet]

I saw the Business of Being Born and it was very informative. At first I thought, Oh my God, these natural home births look amazing... and then I thought, well, of course they're probably edited that way. A lot of the women made it look practically easy, which surely it's not... but what birth is...

[StageMum]

Originally Posted by ChristyR143

The reason some women choose not to take advantage of all of the technology a hospital provides is that there are certain interventions that most hospitals employ during labor that are #1, not completely necessary in a totally healthy and low-risk pregnancy and labor, and #2, absolutely not conducive to a natural and drug free labor and delivery. So, for those women who have had a completely healthy pregnancy, and desire a natural, intervention-free labor, home birth is a perfectly safe option. Even though technically you have a choice in the hospital and do not have to submit to their routine interventions, it can cause a lot of tension with the nurses and that is NEVER a good environment to labor in. I think it's wonderful that Ricki Lake has brought attention to the whole issue, because on the whole, home birth is really misunderstood by a lot of people. There are actually quite a few stars who have birthed at home, but just not been so vocal about it.

Personally, during my home birth, I was not pushed to my limits physically. It's truly amazing what our bodies can do...what they were designed to do! Most women who birth at home have spent a great deal of time in preparation of how to deal with the pain, and so when it comes, they are confident in their bodies and never really even feel the need for pain management. This was definitely the case with me. But again, it's not for everyone, and it's a wonderful thing that these days we have a choice!

I absolutely agree! My two induced hospital births were incredibly painful. My two home births were a walk in the park even though I had no pain relief. And one of those was with back labor and it was still 100 times more manageable than the pitocin contractions I endured at the hospital before getting the epidural! I'm glad that we have trained doctors and hospitals for emergencies but I hope I never have to give birth at one ever again. Just my 2 cents.