Calling 911 if mw's aren't going to make it in time - Page 3

[MegBoz]

Originally Posted by BtotheG

The thing is, you don't really need training to have a baby.
<snip>
You don't need training to see if a baby is pink, alert, and breathing. I knew we would both be fine until the midwives arrived.

Everyone here has agreed that if there actually *is* a real emergency, of course call 911 - although from the posts here it seems that calling doesn't ensure that the EMTs will be any more knowledgeable about the situation than the mom would be.

Right, exactly! Not only that, but it's probably highly likely that those EMTs would mess things up!! That they'd panic, try to interfere, make the mom panicked (& therefore potentially reverse dilation,) etc.

Originally Posted by BtotheG

But I don't agree that it is somehow irresponsible to have the audacity to let your baby slide out of you without the presence of someone with training in how to let the baby slide out of you.

I like how you phrased this & I agree! Plus, as stated repeatedly on this thread, EMTs really don't "have training in how to let the baby slide out of you." Shoot, even if they do have training, it's probably not training in "how to let the baby slide out of you" but training in how to "manage" 2nd and 3rd stages and, therefore, them up.

[honey-lilac]

Originally Posted by prancie

Every pregnant woman and her partner should be prepared to give birth unassisted, no matter where she plans to give birth. If you plan an out of hospital birth I would not call emergency services just because my midwife was not going to be there. Emergency services are for emergencies and childbirth is not an emergency. A baby or mother in distress is, so call if that happens.

That.

[cathicog]

Originally Posted by starkyld

I would, absolutely. I've never given birth before. I've never been at a birth before. My husband has never been at a birth before. Neither of us would feel equipped to handle an emergency if something went wrong--or to be able to tell whether something was truly going wrong in the first place. I might also call my friend who's an ER nurse and lives nearby.

My midwife told me that she wants for me to be able to give her an hour's warning (she only lives a few miles away, but Brooklyn neighborhoods can be difficult to traverse). She'll call another homebirth midwife for me if she's already with another laboring woman at the time. I don't have any reason to suspect that she wouldn't be able to make it in time, but I do know that I'm not comfortable going it alone (and neither is my husband).

Since it's a first baby, it probably won't even be an issue, but you might want to prepare as part of your birth preparations by watching some YouTube videos under Unassisted Birth. Very educational, everyone who anticipates a homebirth should know what normal looks like....