Looks like Gisele had a HB!

[sbraz]

I´m in Brazil and on the front page of the Globo website there is a small article about Gisele Bundchen saying she delivered her son in her bathtub.

http://fantastico.globo.com/Jornalis...-15605,00.html

No real details about being a planned hb or not, but sounds like it was, she gave an interview to Globo about it and motherhood, etc. for a show called Fantastico which is on Sunday nights, so have to wait for details!

I really hope it was a planned hb and she has good, insightful things to say, it might really stir up some questions for women here, her being such a `role model` and Brazil being the land of the elective c/s.

[mamakori]

from an English-language source:

http://www.people.com/people/article...339949,00.html

[Gena 22]

Wow, way to go Gisele! Thanks for sharing this.

[LovnMyBoys]

Always nice when HB gets focus, even if it is because a famous person did it.

[emnic77]

This was on the local news last night (they live here in Boston) and the news anchors were all "she had a WATER...BIRTH" as though the two words together were an ENTIRELY foreign language that they have never seen before. With all the "best hospitals in the world" around the Boston area, good for her...for awareness, at least.

[sbraz]

well according to the interview last night that showed here in Brazil:

she had a homebirth with her mom, mw, and husband present, did lots of yoga and meditation to prepare herself, and it sounds like it was a pretty easy birth. She also said it was very important to her to be present during the birth, not to have drugs, and that she has always wanted a homebirth, she thinks its very important. She said it wasn´t painful, that she was very focused and during each contraction she was thinking about how her baby was one bit closer, that she transformed the intense sensations into hope and anticipation that her baby was arriving. The labor was 8 hours. She is also exclusively breastfeeding and does not have a nanny (which is also pretty shocking for Brasil, the nanny part, they do encourage bf here).

http://fantastico.globo.com/Jornalis...A+CUIDAR+.html

I´m sure an english article or translation will come out in the American media today. Personally, I´m really happy with what she had to say, I´m planning a hb here in Brazil for April.

[*mama moose*]

There was an article on ESPN about it (because she's married to Tom Brady of the Pats football team), my DH left it on my facebook wall to read this morning
http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nfl...ory?id=4875541

[SilverFish]

wow, i know i always say "don't read the comments" but i can't believe the judgemental comments people are making about her "lack" of weight gain!! i guess it's because she's a model so they automatically assume she starves herself. apparently if you don't gain 40 pounds and keep it on for 6 months, you're a bad mother!

[emnic77]

^^^ Yeah, those really chapped my butt too.

[S.Elise]

Originally Posted by SilverFish

wow, i know i always say "don't read the comments" but i can't believe the judgemental comments people are making about her "lack" of weight gain!! i guess it's because she's a model so they automatically assume she starves herself. apparently if you don't gain 40 pounds and keep it on for 6 months, you're a bad mother!

You see that so often! You just can't win as a woman who just had a baby...either you did not gain enough and thus you are a horrible person who starved yourself and makes other people feel bad, or else you look like a cow and need to get to the gym and on Atkins. Why can't people just NOT COMMENT about women's post-baby bodies? Jeez, give us three months at least!

[miriam]

Yeah!

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellnes...ory?id=9721599

Happy to see a woman from a country with a high c/sec rate come to another county with a high c/sec rate and deliver at home in a bath tub, intentionally!

There is an old thread from years ago with a full list of celebrities who had babies at home...lots of them.

[sbraz]

Since the Gisele interview aired there have been a number of things about homebirth and waterbirth in the news, on morning talk shows, etc. here in Brazil. Most of the things airing have been supportive of `parto humanizado` (literally humanized labor), although most are for the hospital setting. I know from looking here in rio, there is only one room in one maternity hospital where you can have parto humanizado, (like birthing center style) and no drs under my insurance would care for a patient who wanted that, (and i have pretty good insurance!), but some supportive private obs do exist. Out of 5 women I know here who wanted vaginal births in the last year or so, only 1 got one... but with a 90% c/s rate and when every other women you know has had c/s and information is hard to come by, its a pretty difficult situation. There is a small movement here for parto humanizado but this is why I was so excited Gisele did it, her being such a well known figure had the power to provoke some discussion about the topic...

[emnic77]

Originally Posted by sbraz

Since the Gisele interview aired there have been a number of things about homebirth and waterbirth in the news, on morning talk shows, etc. here in Brazil. Most of the things airing have been supportive of `parto humanizado` (literally humanized labor), although most are for the hospital setting. I know from looking here in rio, there is only one room in one maternity hospital where you can have parto humanizado, (like birthing center style) and no drs under my insurance would care for a patient who wanted that, (and i have pretty good insurance!), but some supportive private obs do exist. Out of 5 women I know here who wanted vaginal births in the last year or so, only 1 got one... but with a 90% c/s rate and when every other women you know has had c/s and information is hard to come by, its a pretty difficult situation. There is a small movement here for parto humanizado but this is why I was so excited Gisele did it, her being such a well known figure had the power to provoke some discussion about the topic...

!!!! 90%?!? Seriously!??

[blessedwithboys]

i'm surprised this thread didnt get pulled yet, but i'm glad to see it anyway. i read on CBB the other day where she said she felt she was back in shape due to BF and a "natural birth". i wondered what that meant, if bc of brazil's high csec rate that it meant merely vag. so happy to see this info!

isnt camila alves brazilian too? still wondering how her 2nd birth went. the pics on Cbb clearly look like it was in a hospital...

[miriam]

Originally Posted by emnic77

!!!! 90%?!? Seriously!??

Yes.

As I understand it, there is a cultural bias that feels that a woman can be ruined by a vaginal birth. IMHO, the way some doctors are trained to manage vaginal births, this may often be true, sadly.

Hopefully, Gisele may begin the wave of change.

[sbraz]

I'm not positive as to the overall c/s rate, but I am pretty sure for upper/middle class metropolitan areas it is 90%. I would say from the women I know here 90 is very accurate. There are many parts of the country that do have traditional midwives but they are socio-economically depressed areas with other issues going on there... I agree with what Miriam said, I think after birthing moved to hospitals here women saw some very scary results and decided c/s is better than traumatic vag. birth, I know thats why my mother in law opted for 3 elective c/s after she saw her older sister have a pretty bad experience, even though their mother had 10 births with good outcomes at home. One midwife I met told me that while she was working as an OB nurse there was a dr. who used forceps for every.single.delivery. she would try to hide the forceps from him. I wish hb were more popular here, but if the discussion about that makes people question why better hospital deliveries arent available at least thats something...
When a woman here says she wants a vaginal birth, most people react to that like you would expect a shocked reaction to saying you wanted a hb or uc in the US. I havent told many people here that I am having a hb, but ive already noticed with the media talking about this the ones I have told seem more understanding or relaxed about it I guess...

[Cheryl33]

I heard about this accidentally about a month before it was announced because I was cruising around on the Ricki Lake/Abby Epstein site "yourbestbirth" and there was a thread complaining about Kendra (the playboy model) having an induction and then c-section- and Abby commented in there about a model and football player having a homebirth, despite reports that she had given birth at a Boston Hospital. Apparently in part because of the Business of Being Born.

It's of particular interest to me because we live in Mass and Tom Brady is the hero of the Pats. Then of course the whole natural aspect as well. I have to admit I just assumed she would go the whole scheduled section route, especially considering she was due and gave birth right in the throes of the season. The chances of him missing the birth were pretty high!

I also like that they are pretty private and low key. No photo shoots for magazine covers 3 days after the baby arrived, etc. That stuff drives me mad! The message is out there but they're not screaming it from the mountain tops. Good for them!

They must have a pretty big tub. I can't imagine choosing to give birth in my small tub I can barely take a bath comfortably in (and I'm short) when I could rent a nice big tub to float in. They probably have a totally deep wide tub. Gives me tub envy!!!