E51 – Why Im Not Celebrating Homebirth – Katherine Eden’s Story

Welcome to an epic and absolutely essential podcast to listen to. I decided not to split it up and you can enter in and out of this beautiful journey with Katherine and I. So why are we feeling that home birth is no where in a space to celebrate in Australia and worldwide? This story will unravel some of the mysteries of why women are still subjected to an absolute barrage of political, business and oppression driven birth culture. This story is a hard reality of a woman that wants to be supported by her midwife and birth team and how the system takes charge to make sure there were as many hurdles as possible. Katherine is a beautiful connected soul, and her story now is a gift in ours. Take the time to read her blog if you can (links in the show notes) She has compiled a list of amazing resources. Now the audio dips in and out of some parts, yet the story and Katherines beautiful articulation trumps that! So with that welcome to the story and be open to the medicine. 

THIS IS KATHERINES BLOG BELOW – Find it at – http://katherineeden.com/speaking-the-unspeakable-not-celebrating-homebirth/

Speaking the unspeakable; why I’m not celebrating homebirth.

If this post triggers you or brings up any strong feelings please reach out and speak to someone.

You could call Lifeline , PANDA or Beyondblue

Today I need to be very vulnerable with you. I started writing this post during homebirth awareness week. But I was not, and will not be celebrating. We have since seen some incredible speeches from some inspirational women about the crisis of birth, both in this country and around the world.

I NEED TO GET THIS OFF MY CHEST AND SHARE SOMETHING THAT HAS BEEN BUBBLING WITHIN ME.

My heart hurts. It aches. It aches for me, for my baby, for my family, for my fellow birth workers and for all the women and babies who have been affected by the current climate of homebirth. I want to say something controversial to you;

I AM SICK AND TIRED OF CELEBRATING HOMEBIRTH

Don’t get me wrong, homebirth is, and has always been, my only choice for how I want my babies to enter the world. To me it just feels like my complete natural instinct to support the physiological birthing process and birth where I feel most safe. For me that is at home with a Midwife. Homebirth is incredible and we know from countless stories and an abundance of evidence that homebirth is both safer in terms of physical safety as well as providing increased emotional safety and birth satisfaction (more info here). It is our biological norm. When you tell me homebirth and continuity of care are amazing and worthy of celebration you are preaching to the converted.

This is not to discount women who have had wonderful experiences in the hospital. It’s just that at this time we need to start getting more serious about the reality of birth. We know homebirth is safe and incredible and yes we need to continue reminding those who don’t know. We need to remind, and take more action against those who disempower or take away a woman’s control or experience because they are not evidence based or because they work from a place of fear. Yes, we need to continue to have this discussion. Yes, we need to celebrate the amazingness that is homebirth. BUT this CANNOT and MUST NOT be the ONLY discussion!

DON’T YOU THINK IT’S CRAZY THAT WE ARE CELEBRATING SOMETHING THAT ONCE UPON A TIME WAS JUST CALLED BIRTH?

We are at a crucial time where physiological birth, homebirth or not, is endangered. We are seeing huge increases in intervention birth, and a huge increase in perinatal PTSD (more info here and here and here ) (which actually still isn’t completely recognised, thus not statistically recorded because PTSD was only ever really acknolwedged as something experienced by War Veterans – Sheila Kitzinger, 2006).

NOW IS THE TIME WE NEED TO STOP CELEBRATING AND START ACTING!

We NEED to start being uncomfortable with politics and stories that tell of the truth of what is happening to women every single day!

To discuss even with those who know that homebirth is amazing and worthy of celebration. Because even within these circles many are conforming to policies that dis-empower women, whether they want to or not. We shy away from discomfort in our culture because who likes to feel uncomfortable? No one does. But if we don’t feel uncomfortable then we are IGNORING the truth! And things will continue to get worse.

We need to stop acting as if orgasmic, transformative and ecstatic birth is a type of unicorn birth. Yes, birth is hard. Yes, it takes us to the brink of our being. Yes, it’s painful. But if women and birth were respected, more women would be having these unicorn births where they feel ecstatic more than they feel the pain.

We know this because the WHO statistics, and a number of other studies around what number of women will need intervention is being completely blown.out.of.the.water! The problem is so multi layered and multi faceted it’s hard to see through the fog of where to even start. Well, I’m starting by not celebrating homebirth. I’m not celebrating. I’m getting angry and honest and I hope you are too.

WE NEED TO GET UNCOMFORTABLE

WE NEED TO CHANGE

When I was 30+ weeks pregnant, I sat in the theatre watching ‘Why Not Home’. What a beautifully wondrous documentary. But I left the theatre so angry. I cried. I cried such intense tears of heartache and sadness after watching that movie because it reminded me of what we no longer have access to here.

Whenever I want to remember the magic of birth and true women centred care I watch ‘Birth Story’ about Ina May and The Farm. This beautiful utopian commune with wise women holding space for women in their Matrescence, as they transition into mothers. Just as we as women have done for millennia.

Again, during my pregnancy this movie brought me to tears. Not happy tears. Deep resounding sadness. Guttural longing. Because for me these movies were reminding me of what I already know, what I was already striving for, but what I could not have. They reminded me about everything that I wanted for myself, for my baby and for the women I work with. To trust birth and to trust our bodies, but also to have someone to care for us, someone WE could trust. This was not obtainable no matter where I looked.

Gold Standard of Care was not available to me

I’m a birth worker and am fortunate to be pretty networked and connected, particularly in my local area of Adelaide. Yet I could not achieve the care talked about as ideal in these documentaries. So how do we expect women who don’t know anything about birth to find the care that will best support them? These movies honestly felt like, and still feel like, a completely different planet. Universe even. A utopian dream. The guilt I felt for not being able to find the care that would support my needs and the needs of my baby was intense. The frustration and rage continues to affect me daily.

It’s not safe for midwives

The beautiful Midwife that I still have a relationship with from my first birth moved away when I was early pregnant with my second (like most midwives who want to practice independently do) because it’s not safe to be an independent Midwife in Adelaide; or at least it hasn’t been. Their own colleague is on trial. Facing charges of manslaughter. Being used as an example for standing up against the system. But no one really wants to talk about that do they?

This Midwife is being used as an example, strewn through the media like an ‘evil’ character from a movie. Not like the human being she is. The mother. The wife. The friend.

Other midwives have and are working underground around Australia (please be clear, Lisa is not one of them). They are being reported for attending women at home and are having their registration taken away – most, pretty quietly. But here in my own hometown of Adelaide, one is being publicly vilified as if she represents homebirth and independent midwives everywhere. The whole system has gone to shit and women are being forced into scenarios they don’t want to be in because they are not supported. Many of these options are not evidence based OR women centred (or baby centred for that matter). We know that when women are affected negatively by birth, so are their babies. So this is not about choosing one over the other.

I need to say this again… many of the practices and policies governing women’s birth