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I am all for the practice of a home birth where a midwife, or some sort of trained professional is standing by but to go it completely alone is foolhardy.
I also agree that using a 30-year-old study is problematic. In Ontario there are many more options available these days. We had the option to go to the hospital and use a midwife rather than a doctor. We also had the option to use a birthing room, a purpose-built series of rooms where you can do labour and delivery in the same place (nice lighting, specially designed beds, bath tubs , etc.).
The point here is that there are choices we can make.
I am disturbed by the free birthing movement. It strikes me as another symptom of the amateur vs. professionals thing mixed with a healthy dose of back to nature and anti-medicine.
Nobody is really asking for us to go back to the clinical childbirth of the 50s and 60s where a father was forbidden from even entering the birthing room, where it was treated like surgery.
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"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke
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