After reading the drivel published in The Herald Sun around Danni Minogue's apparently reckless attempt to birth her baby at home I am left feeling so enraged and very very frustrated. I'm not shocked- the very ill informed opinion writer S. O'Brien doesn't shock me any more- I have read enough of her un-researched opinion to expect to read rubbish from her when I occasionally paruse The Sun (if others are already reading the quality publications) while waiting for my coffee at my local cafe.
What is missing from many articles is the statistical information about the safety of birthing at home with a trusted midwife. It's not that hard to find. You can GOOGLE it! It doesn't take expert investigative journalism to find out- just a little effort. But you know what? These "journalists" do not want to read the facts. If you are healthy and low risk, home is a safe place to birth your baby. For the record, here's a little bit of investigative journalism of my own:
The Netherlands Study 2009: Homebirth Safety
Click the attachment at the bottom of the article to see the study information.
The largest study in the world confirms that homebirth is safe.
Over three hundred thousand women had planned homebirths with midwives in this study, proving that homebirth IS safe. The conclusion to the study "shows that planning a homebirth does not increase the risks of perinatal mortality and severe perinatal morbidity among low-risk women".
Danni Minogue was portrayed in such a negative light and made to look like she would put her baby's and her own life at risk by choosing to birth at home. We are not seeing anyone give the appropriate praise to her independent midwife who clearly made the resposible call to get Danni transferred to hospital when it became medically necesarry. This was not a bad outcome for a homebirth. It was a very very good one! It is further proof that homebirth is a safe option as you receive expert care by a trained midwife who knows when complications arise! If she had not needed to transfer I wonder if there would be such media hype? Maybe we would not know about it yet? Maybe Danni would have had the opportunity to let the world know on her family's terms and in their own time?
What scares me is that other's read the Herald Sun and feel they are reading accurate journalism. Someone's sensationalist, violating and insulting opinion of a private and personal event in the life of another woman is not journalism- it's catty trash.
Shame!
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1 comment:
Briliant post :) I think the government will do whatever they can to continue with making it difficult for women to choose homebirths. What they don't seem to understand is that it's not a homebirth gone wrong, it's a transfer that went right. Birth is normal. I believe that we should keep birth as normal as possible, when something deviates from the norm, that's when hospitals need to be involved. Hospitals are for sick people, not for normal healthy low risk births.
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