Sheila's opinion

June 2, 2004

I know i'll be in the hospital for my delivery and if anything goes wrong

there is a NICU unit right across the lake in Vermont he can be flown to in

minutes. i would ALWAYS rather be safe with my baby than sorry. My twins were

born

at 33 weeks and I was over in vermont to have them and the smallest twin had

to be grabbed and pulled out cause he was blue and ssoo not good and tehy got

him right up to NICU and did a great job with him and he came home in 13 days

and is now a very active, smart 8 year old. i would not do it any other way.

God Bless,

Robin, NorthEastern, NY

Age- 41

EDD- July 27th, 2004

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!

Mommy to:

&

(twin boys 8 years),

Madison, daughter, 5 years and

Wife to Pup 15 years (October 31, 1988)

Gastric Bypass Surgery-

October 18th 2002

Start-378, current- 246(pregnant)

goal 170 after baby

It's a BOY!!!!!

Emerson Roger

June 2, 2004

Working, seeing, knowing both sides of the EMS coin; when a 911 call

comes in, the dispatcher sends an ambulance crew out. Our ambulance

service here has a 1 minute time frame that they have to be " in

service and enroute. "

Once on scene, even a " load and go " emergency will take a few minutes

to get the cot indoors, load the patient even if next door to the

ambulance station.

Add extra minutes if the paramedic is in the bathroom or sleeping and

undressed; add additional minutes for traffic congestion if any; add

tranfer time from ambulance bay to the operating room via hospital

elevator (if surgery is required), and IF the Mom happens to have her

cesarean just as she is going to sleep (allowing a minute or two for

anesthesia), I would estimate at least 20-23 minutes have passed

(minumum) since the call came in from home that the Mom and fetus were

in danger, as opposed to several emergent situations in the hospital

where the Mom delivered via c-section in as little as 6 minutes.

According to the American Heart Association guidelines, it is

estimated that the brain deprived of oxygen begins the damaging

process around 4-5 minutes without proper oxygenation or circulation.

As the new AHA promtional ads say, " Time is Brain. "

Just my opinion, formulated from my own experiences!

Sheila L&D RN

June 2, 2004

" Working, seeing, knowing both sides

of the EMS coin; when a 911 call comes in, the dispatcher sends an ambulance

crew out. Our ambulance service here has a 1 minute time frame that they have

to be " in service and enroute. "

=========================================================================

Only time I've ever seen an ambulance or 911 called is

when a baby had a problem...(and we had baby stable

before the EMT's ever got there, it was just a rural place

and so we wanted the airvac team...)

Usually the call is made and mom is driven in by

someone there - either dad or the midwife or whoever is

there that can drive her in...

" I would estimate at least 20-23 minutes have passed (minumum) since the call

came in from home that the Mom and fetus were in danger, as opposed to several

emergent situations in the hospital where the Mom delivered via c-section in as

little as 6 minutes "

===========================================================================

*nods* Absolutely...thus the reason I said " usually " ...there are extremely rare

times in which an unforseen emergency can occur in which the transfer

time does make a difference. I never said that it didn't happen.

I said that the odds are so teeny tiny that they are

almost not worth considering. There is a tiny risk that

something catastrophic could go wrong before labor

that could endanger mom or the baby or both...but we

don't live our third trimester in a hospital based on that

tiny risk or act like women who don't get an apartment

that is next to the hospital should pray that something

catastrophic doesn't happen.

99% of all complications have warning signs...are

forseeable...can be screened out...

>

> According to the American Heart Association

guidelines, it is estimated that the brain deprived of oxygen begins

the damaging process around 4-5 minutes without proper oxygenation or

circulation. As the new AHA promtional ads say, " Time is Brain. "

>

Absolutely...

but what are the instances in which the neonate will be

without oxygen?

even a prolapsed cord can usually be dealt with without

causing injury to the baby.

A catastrophic placenta abruptia is one of the few things

that could go wrong in which the transfer time could

make a difference....but these don't just occur in labor,

and they are very very rare.

And I have no doubt that you've seen scary things and

been trained to view things as a catastrophy in the

making and that's why you feel the way that you do.

(look at how perinatologists view pregnancy/birth! Most

of what they see are complications...is there any

wonder why they view pregnancy/birth as a scary

dangerous thing??)

I've seen scary things...but I've also been trained to

view birth as a normal process unless there is a

complication and screen for those complications and

how to deal with them should they occur...

I'd be happy to send along to you some studies done on

the safety of homebirths and complication rates...and

even hospital/homebirth safety comparison studies if

you'd like...? I know that anecdotal personal

experiences can create such strong emotional

reactions....like evenour child is one of 3 in the world

that falls off of a rocking chair and hits their head and

dies, it's hard to NOT see rocking chairs as scary

dangerous things! But the fact is that millions of rocking

chairs are used without injury...

(just coming up with an analogy off the top of my

head...go ahead and roll your eyes at me. *laugh*)

Soderblom CCCE CD(DONA) CLD

Student Midwife - Mesa, AZ

CAPPA Board of Directors

Doula/CBE/Pregnancy/Birth Photography

Owner: Birth Story Diaries - real births, real photos

http://www.birthdiaries.com

Owner: SouthwestDoulas.com

June 2, 2004

" Only time I've ever seen an ambulance or 911 called is

when a baby had a problem...(and we had baby stable before the EMT's

ever got there, it was just a rural place and so we wanted the airvac

team...)................

What about the babies in trouble in utero that the midwives cannot

surgically remove? That's what I'm talking about.

" No matter how teeny tiny the odds are that they are almost not worth

considering isn't a big deal " .........unless you are the MOTHER of

that one teeny tiny baby.

I don't doubt the majority of home births ARE safe, but but but.....

we can't predict what might happen, so for myself and for my own

personal opinion, I want to be near a NICU.

my own personal opinion drawn from my own personal experiences!

Sheila

June 2, 2004

I agree with what you said. When I worked as a paramedic in California I saw

quite a few home births gone bad. But anytime the ambulance is called....it has

the potential to turn out bad whether your having a baby or a heart attack....

I have no idea if it was unqualified midwives, adament patients, or

what...Granted this was in a poor area of California and I believe that the

midwife in 2 of these cases....even though she had delivered most of the babies

in the neighborhood was not medically qualified and also a bit arrogant.

I would have to say that 2 out of 3 home births that I was called out to would

have had a better outcome if the mother had been at the hospital - seconds are

so important. But mistakes can happen at hospitals too. My perspective is that

of a over cautious Paramedic and an over cautious mother now....

On the other hand. My best friend had 5 minutes of gas pains and delivered her

first child on the steps of her house. Her 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th in December

were equally short and all at home because there were no signs of labor....just

some gas and then out pops a healthy baby........(Personally I'm glad I'm not

her because everytime I had gas I'd be afraid my baby was going to pop out.....)

My grandmother also had 7 of her 9 children at home - my grandfather was a

lighthouse keeper and they were often on an Island without medical care with

only another woman and the other lighthouse keeper there to help if they weren't

on the mainland.

When I had my son 4.5 years ago I started out with a midwife and ended up with a

high risk doctor that she was affiliated. My midwife was in the room when I had

my c-section and offered a lot of comfort in an extremely scary situation and

let me and my husband know everything that was going to happen or was happening.

She also came to the hospital everyday and helped me with breastfeeding issues.

She was great!

It's your choice how you deliver your child and ultimately your responsibility

to pick out the most qualified midwife, doctor, or whatever to bring your child

into the world.....

Chrystal

Wife to Jace - together 6 Years!

Happy Mommy to - 4 Years Old!

New Baby Boy Swenson Due July 28, 2004!

Zookeeper for 2 big dogs and 5 cats who let me feed them!

http://chrystallife.50megs.com/

http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/seeswensonauctions/