Meet Hellena and Currawong

[miffy]

I bet they don't wash that birthing pool after use.

I don't understand why women in Australia have these high risk home births? Is it just too mainstream to give birth at a birthing centre attached to a (often public) hospital?

[Blahblah]

:shock: Well thanks for the head-up about the placenta photo you lot!

And as for her nonsense about meeting the placenta and being taken on a guided tour of it by the midwife. :?

And miffy, I'm Australian and I don't get this high risk home birth nonsense either.

[Lulu]

Ahh the old high risk comments. Not every woman who's told they are high risk are high risk. Yes things go wrong, sometimes quickly but not all women who have homebirths do so cause the hospitals wont let them play their dolphin music....

[gibbsgirls]

Right below the placenta pic there's another pic of the baby with the placenta "dressed" in the leather pouch that Hellena made. Does this mean that that they left the placenta attached to the baby for a whole week?

We washed it and dressed it like a loved dead body, and were amazed to watch that as it slowly died, Miss Moon slowly came awake. The slowest out of all of my babies. And she fully came awake and ready to engage with the world, on the 7th day when her cord came away, and she was lotus born.

And then they had a party with

a big pink placenta cake that the kids still talk about.

Crap - I can't find the puking smilie! (Really doing my best not to hurl right now.)

[lilith]

I bet they don't wash that birthing pool after use.

I don't understand why women in Australia have these high risk home births? Is it just too mainstream to give birth at a birthing centre attached to a (often public) hospital?

Home birthing properly in NSW is expensive - a hospital or birthing centre birth and prenatal care through hospital midwives is free, but a home birth and prenatal care with a private midwife is upwards of $5000. I think that partly explains the free birthing or using unqualified midwives.

It's only the real lunatic fringe that does that though. My mother home birthed me in the early eighties under the care of a private midwife working for a home birth co-op, and this sort of thing makes her furious. The stories of free births and infant and occasional maternal deaths under the care of unqualified midwives are the reason there is a call to make home birthing illegal, and the women who do or did it responsibly are obviously upset by that.

Anecdotally I have heard that its becoming more common since the baby bonus has been paid in instalments instead of a lump sum - I know my sister had previously used the baby bonus to pay her midwife, and she probably would have ended up free birthing her last baby if Mum hadn't been so adamant that she get proper care (and been willing to pay for it).

It's also part of a trend for the fringe of the alternative community to "out hippie" each other. You homeschool? Well I unschool. You attachment parent babies and intuitively parent older children? Well I unparent. You named your child Rainbow? Well I named mine Lilith D'Eath and Carbon Black. You make your families clothes? Well I weave and dye every thread my family wears from organic kangaroo fleece. You home birth? Well we free birth and just let Mother Nature and the sacred feminine do their thing, we don't need anyone to guide us in something so natural and spiritual. Etc etc etc.

[Sister_Wife]

Right below the placenta pic there's another pic of the baby with the placenta "dressed" in the leather pouch that Hellena made. Does this mean that that they left the placenta attached to the baby for a whole week?

And then they had a party with

Crap - I can't find the puking smilie! (Really doing my best not to hurl right now.)

Yes, It's called a Lotus Birth.

[lilith]

Right below the placenta pic there's another pic of the baby with the placenta "dressed" in the leather pouch that Hellena made. Does this mean that that they left the placenta attached to the baby for a whole week?

And then they had a party with

Crap - I can't find the puking smilie! (Really doing my best not to hurl right now.)

Lotus births (where the baby is kept attached to the placenta til they naturally detach) is an actual thing that is practiced by people other than Hellenna. I know it seems gross, but some women say they are amazing. My sister had at least one (not sure if she did for her last bub, but its likely), and loved it.

The idea is that the baby gets the last of the cord blood and that the transition from the womb to the world is gentler and more gradual. Proponents often describe the baby not fully "waking" til the cord detached, which is usually about when the Mum's proper milk comes in too.

[Sister_Wife]

I bet they don't wash that birthing pool after use.

I don't understand why women in Australia have these high risk home births? Is it just too mainstream to give birth at a birthing centre attached to a (often public) hospital?

I just read the post and didn't see where she mentioned high risk?? Could you elaborate?

[wild little fox]

I have long hair and I can crochet so I'm thinking about creating my own sparkley quantum physics super rainbow life! First I need to make a nest of yack yarn so I can start birthing my babies!

ETA: I will crochet all my babies placentas and umbilical cords out of sparkley rainbow yarn!

[Minerva]

How does one take a tour of a placenta? Without a Magic School Bus, that is...

[salex]

I swear the room starts to smell like patchouli whenever I read Hellena's blog.

That is better than what her birthing room smelled like----

The whole room smelt of a powerful bush essence,

Which you can take as you will.

[Minerva]

I have long hair and I can crochet so I'm thinking about creating my own sparkley quantum physics super rainbow life! First I need to make a nest of yack yarn so I can start birthing my babies!

I wish I could drag Hellena into one of my classes so she could see that quantum mechanics is 0% magic and 100% boring-ass wave functions and calculus.

[Sister_Wife]

Home birthing properly in NSW is expensive - a hospital or birthing centre birth and prenatal care through hospital midwives is free, but a home birth and prenatal care with a private midwife is upwards of $5000. I think that partly explains the free birthing or using unqualified midwives.

It's only the real lunatic fringe that does that though. My mother home birthed me in the early eighties under the care of a private midwife working for a home birth co-op, and this sort of thing makes her furious. The stories of free births and infant and occasional maternal deaths under the care of unqualified midwives are the reason there is a call to make home birthing illegal, and the women who do or did it responsibly are obviously upset by that.

Anecdotally I have heard that its becoming more common since the baby bonus has been paid in instalments instead of a lump sum - I know my sister had previously used the baby bonus to pay her midwife, and she probably would have ended up free birthing her last baby if Mum hadn't been so adamant that she get proper care (and been willing to pay for it).

It's also part of a trend for the fringe of the alternative community to "out hippie" each other. You homeschool? Well I unschool. You attachment parent babies and intuitively parent older children? Well I unparent. You named your child Rainbow? Well I named mine Lilith D'Eath and Carbon Black. You make your families clothes? Well I weave and dye every thread my family wears from organic kangaroo fleece. You home birth? Well we free birth and just let Mother Nature and the sacred feminine do their thing, we don't need anyone to guide us in something so natural and spiritual. Etc etc etc.

I wouldn't agree with that. This is a political issue. There are many countries around the world that have fantastic home birth programs, almost always supported by the government.

Unfortunately, Australia is following in the footsteps of America, where birth is concerned. Allowing women little choice in the birth that she wants. This is why many women choose to birth at home.

Now, the government is trying to push private, qualified, high quality midwives out of the picture. This is why many women choose to freebirth, as the financial expense is so great. Freebirthing has become more prominent in the media since the midwives lost their insurance.

The government needs to try and understand why women are choosing this option, and attempt to provide better services to meet the needs of the birthing woman and her baby, while still practicing safely.

faceofbirth.com/index.html

[miffy]

How does one take a tour of a placenta? Without a Magic School Bus, that is...

Why a shrink ray of course. Just like the dad in Honey, I Shrunk The Kids.

[Minerva]

That is better than what her birthing room smelled like----

The whole room smelt of a powerful bush essence,

Which you can take as you will.

Oh dear God. I'm going to close this thread now.

[miffy]

That is better than what her birthing room smelled like----

The whole room smelt of a powerful bush essence,

Which you can take as you will.

Sweat, encrusted semen & The Marijuana!

[miffy]

I wish I could drag Hellena into one of my classes so she could see that quantum mechanics is 0% magic and 100% boring-ass wave functions and calculus.

Oh but she knows everything. I'd call it 2% MIND BENDING CANNOT COMPREHEND 98% still cannot comprehend (because MATHS!)

[miffy]

She should do this

https://www.coursera.org/course/eqp

*I'm enrolled. I LOVE coursera!

[Blahblah]

Sweat, encrusted semen & The Marijuana!

miffy!! :lol:

[lilith]

I wouldn't agree with that. This is a political issue. There are many countries around the world that have fantastic home birth programs, almost always supported by the government.

Unfortunately, Australia is following in the footsteps of America, where birth is concerned. Allowing women little choice in the birth that she wants. This is why many women choose to birth at home.

Now, the government is trying to push private, qualified, high quality midwives out of the picture. This is why many women choose to freebirth, as the financial expense is so great. Freebirthing has become more prominent in the media since the midwives lost their insurance.

The government needs to try and understand why women are choosing this option, and attempt to provide better services to meet the needs of the birthing woman and her baby, while still practicing safely.

faceofbirth.com/index.html

The Australian government does not have an agenda of preventing women from having the birth they desire. What ridiculous hyperbole.

The government is also not the reason that the insurance premiums for home birth midwives have gone through the roof. That is of insurance companies raising their rates, and part of the reason they have raised their rates is because of incidences of maternal or infant deaths when a midwife should have transferred to a hospital but didn't because of either her or her patients putting their ideology and wishes for their "perfect birth" ahead of the safety of the child.

All elective medical procedures are expensive without insurance, and that's exactly what a home birth is. We have wonderful hospitals and birthing centres filled with wonderful staff who do their utmost to provide women and families with the birthing experiences they desire and provide world class care, all for free. They have an ideal of midwife led care except in the case of high risk pregnancies, and they take the mother's wishes into account at every stage. They facilitate intervention free, drug free, natural births and water births if that is what the family wants and it is safe for both mum and bub, and they also facilitate pain relief and interventions if that is what the mother desires. Vaccinations are optional and I have known women to have lotus births in hospitals.

Despite having private health insurance I chose to have my three babies under the care of the public system and received world class care. I could not have asked for better care.

The system we have allows doctors, midwives and hospitals to provide that care at a reasonable cost and with minimal risk. If women choose to birth outside that system, they are able to, but they must pay for that choice. They can receive their prenatal care through the public hospital system then home birth with their private midwife if they so choose. I think that's perfectly reasonable, and its certainly not the policy of a government trying to take birthing choices away from women.

But there have been cases of home birthing mothers and midwives, both qualified and unqualified, taking risks with their births that ended in death for the mother or the baby. As a result of this insurance premiums have gone up for home birthing midwives and coroners have called for the sector to either have more oversight or to be banned.

There have been no steps taken towards banning it as yet, but obviously responsible homebirthers are aghast at being classified with the growing group of irresponsible families who eschew prenatal care and qualified birthing assistance.

Women around the world for thousands of years would have done anything for our wonderful free maternity wards where you can be almost certain that both mother and child will emerge alive and where there is pain relief for the asking and interventions are available when needed. Many women around the world would still look upon our system as an unimaginable luxury. The fact that women who have access to that choose to put themselves and their babies at risk in the quest for a perfect birth experience is unbelievable.

I have nothing against home birth - I was born at home. But the government can't fund every birthing choice out there, and women choosing homebirths are such a minority that they can't be services economically. Therefore they must pay privately. If they are unwilling or unable to pay for competent care then they should use the world class free care that is available through birthing centres and hospitals.

[Freyacat]

I just read the post and didn't see where she mentioned high risk?? Could you elaborate?

Not in the most recent post. I think the high risk thing was a reference to Hellena's twins, which she herself called high risk:

I walked into this birth knowing that I occupied many high risk categories – being 39 years of age, having had a caesarean 21 months beforehand, being a ‘grand multiparous’ woman, (or a woman who has birthed more than 5 times), as this birth would be of my 6th and 7th children, and high risk just because I was having twins.

And even if that all together wasn't high risk, the fact that she labored hours and hours after the first twin was born should have called for hospital transfer - the second twin could have easily suffered an infection or other complication at that point. She said her water had been broken for 49 hours. Not to mention, her midwife was Lisa Barrett, who has presided over at least 3 or 4 deaths that the coroner said were preventable had she transferred the mother's care to a hospital in time. Anyways, here's Hellena's twin birth story: spunoutpost.blogspot.com/2010/11/natural-birthing-of-twins.html

[Blahblah]

http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/midwi ... 1zwum.html

Lisa Barrett has single handedly set home birth advocates back by a massive degree thanks to her uncompromising approach to home birth.

I was born in the mid 1960s in the UK and was a home birth so I'm definitely not against them. But sometimes modern medicine needs to step in. People like Barrett need to acknowledge that home birth is not always appropriate.

[lilith]

Not in the most recent post. I think the high risk thing was a reference to Hellena's twins, which she herself called high risk:

And even if that all together wasn't high risk, the fact that she labored hours and hours after the first twin was born should have called for hospital transfer - the second twin could have easily suffered an infection or other complication at that point. She said her water had been broken for 49 hours. Not to mention, her midwife was Lisa Barrett, who has presided over at least 3 or 4 deaths that the coroner said were preventable had she transferred the mother's care to a hospital in time. Anyways, here's Hellena's twin birth story: spunoutpost.blogspot.com/2010/11/natural-birthing-of-twins.html

I'm pretty sure Spiral Moon's birth was a VBAC, which would technically make it a high risk birth. If she was then the twins were too, which makes the whole situation that much more risky and crazy.

[August]

I have long hair and I can crochet so I'm thinking about creating my own sparkley quantum physics super rainbow life! First I need to make a nest of yack yarn so I can start birthing my babies!

ETA: I will crochet all my babies placentas and umbilical cords out of sparkley rainbow yarn!

Reread your post and think about it. No need to steal from a yack to crochet that nest!

[lilith]

Reread your post and think about it. No need to steal from a yack to crochet that nest!

No, she needs to retain her hair to dread it, otherwise she won't be accepted into Lauren's super cool alternative lifestyle club and will have to languish in middle class anonymity, despite her awesome yak hair weaving and placenta totes.