Home birth update

[rokica]

So it's been almost a year since I started attending home births with a CPM. This time has been one of incredible growth and education for me. I've been reading a lot about birth in general, and home birth (and its safety) in particular.

Comments

[likeaa]

What changed your mind?

[rokica]

I just described in a lengthy post what changed my mind

[likeaa]

Yes, you just described what changed your mind, but what changed your mind is (among other things) what I've been telling you for the past few years:

"I may be blamed if something goes wrong at a home birth, but I will not be blamed if something goes wrong at a hospital birth."

Remember? :P That's why I was asking. You've been supporting home-birth like crazy forever, and I don't understand how this sudden change of mind came along.

[rokica]

I still support home birth, but I'm unwilling to take responsibility for what happens at one under these circumstances. That may make me a coward, and let me tell you, my heart bleeds because home birth is just a nicer experience for all involved. I'd MUCH rather attend home births than hospital births IF I saw that the 3 conditions listed above are met OR if I was awarded the same legal protection that I have at a hospital birth. As it is, home births are more dangerous AND I may be legally liable for what happens AND I'm not the decisionmaker.

[likeaa]

Also, although I'm sure it's not like this in many, many cases (cases concerning the lazy, burned-out doctors, nurses, etc), about the crappy hospital practices and protocol; almost everyone's hands are tied, they don't really have the freedom to deviate from the crappy protocol, unless they want to get fired, basically.

[likeaa]

Or stuck in jail, or sued, like that doula that you know, or have heard about.

[rokica]

I am aware of their constraints, but it's NOT usually lazy/burnt-out/ asshole doctors and nurses that are the problem, but the fact that I do not agree with their protocols (such as the one prohibiting women from eating OR drinking during labor, or the one calling for a C-section 6 hours after ruptured membranes, or the one following the Friedman curve for progress, such as the one calling for women to give birth on their backs, or the one calling for episiotomies for most moms). MOST doctors and nurses are actually quite concerned and kind, even if their bedside manner can be frayed by fatigue or conceit, but whether they are empathetic or obnoxious, they are still following a lot hospital routines that are just not evidence-based, as far as I can tell from reading the scientific literature and looking at what's done in other countries.

Crappy protocol, indeed. Why does Hungary need to be 100 years behind in everything???

[likeaa]

What I'm saying is that they're not the ones making the calls. These are the RULES and you obey the RULES or get fired or sued or put in jail. Which is probably what also happens to midwives. Just look at all the medical malpractice lawsuits, etc.
But this is also a two-way street: for instance, say a woman gives birth on her back, or does or doesn't get a C-section, or whatever, and her baby becomes ill, or even dies, or some complication occurs. There's a huge probability in Hungary that she'll sue the doctor and/or the hospital, because that's just how things work here, it's what people do. Which is too bad.
Everyone has to tiptoe around: patients because they're afraid of deviating from the norm, or the protocol, or because they're afraid of narcissistic doctors, and doctors because they get sued constantly (lépten-nyomon?).