Some of you may be familiar with
leading homebirth advocate Janet Fraser
and her quest to ensure women can have babies at home with no medical personnel present (including a midwife).
You may have even seen quotes from Janet calling c-sections and episiotomies "birthrape" and insisting that "survivors are angry and we are starting to talk about it."
What you may not know is Janet's baby suffered cardiac arrest during her cherished unassisted water birth and died on March 27th at her home in Australia.
Apparently the possibility of "birthrape" was much more important to Janet than the safety of her child.
Yet without going into details, I am an episiotomy survivor from my own son's birth and I wouldn't classify what my OB/GYN did to me as "birthrape".
Yes, it hurt the next day. Yes, I was uncomfortable--but my son was bigger than expected. The momentary pain I suffered was nothing compared to the thought of my son getting stuck in the birth canal and being deprived of oxygen during the delivery process.
To me, undergoing an episiotomy (or even an emergency c-section if necessary) was a brainless sacrifice that I was willing to make, and I am grateful for the wonderful doctors that acted swiftly and urgently to deliver my baby boy.
Alternatively, I have a bunch of friends that delivered their babies at home and loved every minute of it.
They felt that the threat of hospital "superbugs" were greater than the "friendly" germs in their house and also wanted to have the baby in a private and peaceful setting (and I can't say I wasn't jealous that they slept in their own bed).
But unlike Ms. Fraser, my girlfriends all used a midwife to help out during the birthing process.
Granted, a midwife is not a doctor, nor could she provide an emergency c-section should complications occur--but the midwife was there to stay on guard for signs of fetal distress.
The midwife had enough training to know when things were smooth sailing or when something was horribly wrong and the family needed to call 911 for medical assistance.
And while this is obviously not my cup of tea, they at least took steps to ensure their baby would be cared fore should a problem arise--which is clearly different than the "unassisted homebirth" in Ms. Fraser's case.
Quite frankly, I think what Janet Fraser did was reckless, neglectful and borderline criminal. I hope she is at least subject to an investigation for child endangerment.
But I'd love to hear from homebirthers and hospital moms alike. What do you think about unassisted home births? Is it a personal choice or a borderline criminal act?