Homebirth Family's Protest Song

In response to attempts to outlaw homebirth midwifery in Australia one homebirthing family sat themselves around the piano and came up with this number, entitled "My Life, My Choice"

Quoted In An Opinion Piece About Homebirth In Australia

My "Birth Is" article was quoted in a piece in Sydney's Indi Media online news. In her opinion piece "Support for Hombirth", Helen Lobato wrote:

"Sarah, a feminist mum describes birth in our society as ‘a snapshot of our violent culture more generally. She talks of the societal crisis of drug use, explaining that the vast majority of births also involve drug use and highlights the fact that almost 100% of women give birth according to ‘expert’ advice rather than trusting themselves."

I'm flattered that someone out there read something I wrote and thought it was valid enough to include in their own writing about birth. My only minor disappoint is that I was not referenced in full, so anyone who might have wanted to read the full piece my words came from would have to do their own reserach rather than quickly referring to the references.

It's fantastic to see the issue of homebirth and government regulation of homebirth gaining attention in circles beyond birth activist blogs, forums and email lists. Thanks for spreading the word, Helen.

You can read Helen's article in full here and my article she quoted here.

Cast Aside Excuses & Get Writing!

Whatever you're doing right now (and I know it's reading this, so I know you've got the time) put it on hold for half an hour (if that). Instead, write an email outlining your objections to the current draft legislation which will push homebirth midwifery underground in Australia.

It might sound scary, but it's not. You don't have to write a maternity services review. You don't have to know all the ins and outs of the legislation. You just need to communicate your view that homebirth should be an option for Australian families.

Send it to nraip@dhs.vic.gov.au today or tomorrow before 5pm.

If you're feeling intimidated or got teh writerz block check out these:

Homebirth To Become Illegal In A Year

The Banishment Of Autonomy

Holding Activism Lightly In The Face Of Violence

Women's Bodies On The Line In Australia

Here's Why YOU Should Support Homebirth!

Why Should All Birthers Care That Homebirth Is Being Outlawed?

Exterminate!

Important Message From Security Minister

The College of Midwives

Silent Ways Our Rights Are Eroded

Rally in Canberra September 7: Homebirth: What's The Crime?

July 17 submissions thread

Thank-You Monica Dux

For so clearly and succinctly summarising the true crux of the homebirth in Australia crisis. Most of all thank-you for doing so in a major Australian newspaper.

You can read Monica's article here:
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/its-a-womans-right-to-choose-how-she-births-20090715-dlgs.html?page=-1

I particularly enjoyed her pointing out that the President of the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists assumes the rights of minorities don't matter because they're in the minority! Monica also brought the issue of dignity in birth to the fore:

"Birthing is an extremely intimate, uniquely visceral, sometimes terrifying physical experience. There is much that will inevitably be out of a woman's control during her confinement, so allowing her to birth in the place in which she is most comfortable is fundamental to maintaining both her personal dignity and her sense of ownership over the experience."

A woman's dignity is far from the minds of many when it comes to birth because as a culture we assume that birth is essentially undignified. Birth need not be an experience without dignity for women, if only those present in the birth space served women, rather than managed them.

She concluded the opinion piece with:

"Such a paternalistic provision, effectively telling women what is and isn't good for them, cuts to the heart of women's collective dignity and autonomy. While women were once routinely patronised in this way, the contemporary assumption is that those bad old days are behind us. Sadly, this does not appear to be the case when it comes to birthing."

Which immediately brought this image to my mind:

If anyone has a link to where this photo was originally uploaded so I can credit the photographer please leave details in the comments section.

Submissions Needed To Save Australian Homebirth

Australian readers, we have two more opportunities to put our case forward to the government about keeping homebirth midwifery legal. But submissions are due by July 17 and 20!

For more information please check out the midwivesVictoria blog:

http://midwivesvictoria.blogspot.com/2009/07/please-write-your-submissions-today.html

For inspiration and discussion there are great threads on the Joyous Birth forums:

July 17 submissions thread

July 20 submissions thread

How to make a submission to the Senate Committee...

Why Should All Birthers Care That Homebirth Is Being Outlawed?

I give you the words of a brilliant doula named Julie who left this comment on another blog:

"Any decent dictatorship knows the secret to absolute power is to eliminate any dissent. The essence of democracy is to have a opposition group. In a healthy marriage, there is a checks & balance system that helps keep both people in the relationship accountable. When this balance is destroyed, you have oppression and abuse. I believe the majority of women who birth in hospitals will be impacted negatively by out-lawing homebirth, as much as the 1%who are currently somehow able to access homebirth (no thanks to the government), because destroying homebirth will destroy the last remnant of anything approximating the midwifery model of birthing care, leaving the obstetric model of birth as the only reality the majority of women have ever been exposed to.

An absolute, uncontested monopoly of obstetric control over the field on childbirth, and the successful elimination of the last vestiges of the midwifery model, that exist in homebirth services, means the counterbalance to the obstetric view is removed. There's no checks & balance system. There's no accountability. There's no dissenting voice. There's no opposition party.

North Korea shows us how much an oppressed people will worship their leaders in power when there is NO other reality allowed. That is what the women of Australia will be like when homebirth is eliminated. We will lose normal birth skills. We will lose our knowledge and confidence in what normal is. Pathologising and institutionalising birth will be our new reality.

If the only dissenting voice we have left is "criminalised", it will be open season on the rest of the birthing population. Birth here will not be like birth in the UK or Sweden. It will be like birth in USA or Brazil.

That is why I feel that the majority of women birthing in hospitals stands to lose as much from this misogynistic legislation as women who actually desire to homebirth. They just might not realise how much they've lost for a few decades.

Don't it always seem to go, you don't know what you've lost till its gone. They paved paradise"

As it stands the most effective way to enjoy a normal physiological birth experience if you or your labour deviate from the textbook case is to birth at home with a supportive team. Hospital maternity care is so informed by fear of litigation and the assumption that doing anything and everything is better than not that rates of interventions are high and the policies and protocols staff are bound by are excessive. This means that variations of normal often end up with surgical deliveries that could have been avoided or other interventions that could have been avoided (forceps, ventouse, episiotomy, augmetnation and inductions etc.). This culture of fear concerning birth is so pervasive that even some midwives in private practice refuse to support women in homebirthing non-textbook births like breech and twins. Already we are losing the skills to care for birth and her variants. And it's a slippery slope to automatically booking caesarean sections well in advance of due dates for all non-textbook births.

As it stands a mere 1% of Australian births happen at home (and yet obstetric groups were not satisfied with owning 99% of maternity care?!). When the obstetric model of birth has a complete monopoly over maternity care and there no one to provide an alternative viewpoint (such as the midwifery model of care) or speak of an alternative experience without facing the threat of legal action, obstetricians and hospitals will become even more unaccountable for what they do to women and babies during birth.

This is terrifying given that already Australia's rates of intervention during birth are ridiculously high (for example Australia has a caesarean rate double that of what the World Health Organisation deems "medically justifiable", and even the term "natural birth" is meaningless these days and really only means "got the baby out the vagina in the end" but can include all kinds of interventions like those listed above as well as; external foetal monitoring, IV drips, restricted movement, denial of food and drink etc. etc. etc.)

Never has it been more clear that when the freedom of one group is under attack freedom for all is attacked. It's not Australian homebirth the government is destroying, it's birth!

Too true to make me laugh

Homebirth - A Good Thing (montage)

Joyous Birth put together the following montage to protest the Australian government's attempt to outlaw homebirth. It features the Reel Big Fish song "Good Thing" which includes lyrics such as "You and I are mortal but rock n roll will never die" (which is followed by text saying "and neither will homebirth") and "you know we got a good thing going and I don't want to see end". Enjoy...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Song to Nicola Roxon

Take a listen to this moving song one Australian homebirther has written the health minister conerning the government's move to outlaw midwife attended homebirth:

A really moving song that had me in tears. How the artist didn't break down into tears while performing I do not know, much stronger than I.

Here are the lyrics. I transcribed them myself and could not hear clearly in two parts. Anyone who did hear it please comment with corrections and I'll edit:

Who's been in your ear
Coz I just wanna hear
You say so
But I know you won't

Whispter in my ear
Coz I just wanna hear
You say no
Oh no you don't

This my body,
My baby,
Our safety,
How dare you tell me
That I can't stay home

This is my body,
My baby,
Our safety,
How dare you tell me
That I have no choice

Middle of the night
Candle burning bright
In my lounge room
In my home

Floating in the water
Knowing the time is near
As the waves come
Crashing in

She is there for me
And always
I know
That I'm in good hands

She shows me confidence
She gives me clearance
She watches the slow dance

This is my body,
My baby,
Our safety,
How dare you tell me,
That I can't stay home

This is my body,
My baby,
Our safety,
How dare you tell me,
That I have no choice,

Heard that you've got plans
To cross this wide brown land
To Stop her be with me (couldn't hear the start of this line either, sorry)

Faces massive fines
If steps across the line
Into my home,
My birthing space

This is my body,
My baby,
Our safety,
How dare you tell me,
That I can't stay home,

This is my body,
My baby,
Our safety,
How dare you tell me,
That I have no choice,

Woman to woman
How could you do this to me?
Woman to woman
We live in a place that is free

This is my bodym,
My baby,
Our safety,
How dare you tell me
That I can't saty home,

This is my body,
Our baby,
Our safety
How you tell me
That I have no choice

This is my body,
My baby,
Our safety,
How dare you tell us
We have no choice

These are our bodies,
Our babies,
Our safety,
How dare you tell us
We have no choice

How dare you tell us
We have no choice

How dare you tell us
We have choice

Homebirth Dad & Muso Tells It Like It Is

The following clip from youtube features one Aussie Dad who wrote a song about homebirth a while ago, in celebration of what an incredible experience it is. He put together another youtube clip of himself performing this song, but in the version below he begins by talking about the changes the Australian government are making to homebirth/maternity services next year and what this means for his family, Australian women & their families, midwives in private practice and future generations.

Don't Risk It. Stay Home

My daughter was born after fifty eight hours of early to active labour. She was in the posterior position, which is not considered to be optimal by some care providers and obstetric text books. It is not ideal because posterior babies take their time, time that some care providers would rather not waste when they could speed things up or end them all within the hour by opting for surgery that is not necessary.

Many posterior babies are not even given twenty-four hours to turn themselves and/or be born. Care providers are quick to deem labour too stressful for the babies and look for signs of foetal distress to scare parents into agreeing to interventions.

I'm tempted to say that my baby was lucky, but the truth is it did not come down to luck. It came down to her parents' preparedness. We chose to homebirth because we did not want to rage against hospital schedules and hands-on staff. Instead of a cascade of interventions, anxiety, fear and drama, we held each other. We rocked through contractions, her father whispered words of encouragement and I moaned on outward breaths. My two doulas and my partner took turns at being by my side as I allowed my baby to take as long as she needed.

During hour 58 (and that does not include the pre-labour I had experienced in the two days before I started counting) I felt her head suddenly turn around and within forty-five minutes my daughter was in my arms, perfectly healthy.

Hours later as we snuggled on the couch her father said to me "I'm SO glad we didn't try to do that anywhere else! NO WAY would you have been allowed to do that in a hospital". Sadly, ours is a rare posterior tale, one that will become even more rare this time next year when the Australian government outlaw homebirth. At this rate it's only a matter of time before all posterior positioned babies are booked in for unneceasareans before their due dates.