Mothering wants nothing to do with UC?

[cottonwood]

In response to the accusation that Mothering will not publish articles about unassisted homebirth, one month ago Peggy O'Mara wrote "We do not have any policy about articles on unassisted homebirths and welcome them as well. Please don't jump to so many conclusions." http://mothering.com/discussions/sho...4&pagenumber=1

Well, apparently now they do have such a policy: Laura Shanley inquired by letter, and was informed that Mothering is not willing to publish articles about UC.

I just wanted to say that I find this disappointing, though not any longer surprising.

Interestingly, MidwiferyToday, a magazine whose sole purpose is to support the model of midwifery in birth, has mentioned UC or run articles about it, including:

"Unassisted Homebirth: One Father's Experience" by Bob Greisemer,
"An Unassisted Homebirth" by Casey Makela, and
"Intuitive Unassisted Homebirth: This One's for the Babies" by Leilah McCracken

Jan Tritten, the editor for MidwiferyToday, bravely writes:

"Families in the United States still have the freedom of [unassisted birth], but in France, a family that practices unassisted homebirth may be incarcerated for reckless endangerment of a child. I wonder, though, what constitutes reckless endangerment? Epidurals, amniocentesis, aborting babies whose test results may be "bad" but who are truly healthy, Cytotec and other inductions, and unnecessary cesareans? The medical way of pregnancy and birth is more reckless endangerment than true midwifery and natural birth could ever be, with or without a midwife."

The unassisted birth movement is happening for a reason; and it is not simply the fringe element, crazy uneducated women who are doing it. This issue is one that Mothering is choosing to ignore, either because they believe unassisted birth inherently bad and wrong or because they are afraid of losing their carefully cultivated portion of the mainstream populace. Which is it?

[Arduinna]

You know I really agree with you. I think that it would be great if Mothering at least ran first person stories of UC. I don't think that the typical article length in the magazine could truly due justice to this issue though.

I think to truly inform people it deserves a special issue like vaccinations and circumcision got.

[indigolilybear]

very thought provoking post sweetwater. I too would LOVE to see something about the beauty of freebirth.....however, the reaction of mothering does not surprise me at all.

I think that freebirth/UC really provokes many issues, many of them fear-centered. It seems protective, what they are doing, not wanting to let that last fringe in.....to stay respectable. The thing is for me personally, freebirth is inspiring to ALL births and the inherent strength and beauty of the female body. Many of the more "medical" issues and diagnoses are stripped away and many lessons may be learned and passed on in this way, I believe.

Reminds me of a quote from the musical Rent that went through my mind a lot during my pregnancy w/ds...."I'm used to relying on intellect, but I try to open up to what I don't know". I hope mothering choses to "open up".

[Cynthia Mosher]

I've passed this thread on to Peggy and Ashisha for their input.

I am inclined to assume that there is a good, well intended reason for everything and without knowing what was asked and exactly what response was given and for what reason I can't comment on what is being said here related to Mothering's policies. As soon as I get that I'll pass it on here. Or perhaps Peggy or Ashisha will do so themselves.

Until then, peace everyone and let's assume the best rather than the worst.

[cottonwood]

Originally posted by indigolilybear
The thing is for me personally, freebirth is inspiring to ALL births and the inherent strength and beauty of the female body. Many of the more "medical" issues and diagnoses are stripped away and many lessons may be learned and passed on in this way, I believe.

Beautifully put! The point is not that UC is always best or that just anyone should attempt it, but that there is much of value in freebirth -- and the reasons that women choose it, if examined, would illuminate issues that are important for all birthing women to address, whether they are planning an attended birth or not.

Cynthia, Laura posted the response from Mothering in the "I WISH" thread. If the response had been something more along the lines of: "we are not interested in running an article on UC at this time," or "thank you for your interest but we are looking for a different style or approach to the subject," I certainly wouldn't have started this thread but instead probably would have approached Mothering myself at some point about doing a UC article. But the message to Laura seemed pretty clear that because it is "too risky" to publish an article on the subject, Mothering is therefore unwilling to do so.

One person at Mothering said something publicly that the other negated privately. I just think it would be nice to have an official stance on it -- after all, I would not waste my time actually writing an article if it wasn't going to be considered in the first place, you know?

[cottonwood]

And I should add that my intent here is not to be inflammatory. Just disheartened. I love Mothering and I love women and am passionate about helping them have beautiful empowering births that are just right for them. For me and so many other women, reading about unassisted birth has been so inspirational, shaping our philosophy of birth and influencing our attitudes toward life itself. I'm thinking right now of Jeannine Parvati Baker, who coined the term "freebirth" and whose book my reading of did not in fact precede the choice of an unassisted birth but rather a midwife-assisted birth, nontheless affecting me deeply.

This is my plea for Mothering to reconsider printing something about this very important subject.

Love and peace,
Linda

[Peggy O'Mara]

homebirth

I'm so sorry for the confusion. What I wrote in that previous post is true. Ashisha made a mistake when she said that we didn't cover the topic of unassisted homebirths. We have no such rule or no rules at all about topics. We just print what we think is the best written and most helpful. We only get to print 6 articles about birth a year and we have many, many on hand. I spoke to Ashisha this morning. She called me at 8 am in tears. She is such a loyal Mothering worker and has worked with me for nearly 20 years. She's not a mom, however, and sometimes she may miss the nuances of an issue. From what she tells me, she was tired and overwhelmed and wanting to finish her correspondence and she said we didn't cover the topic when she really just didn't like the article enough to keep it knowing how much material we have on hand. We as many rejection letters as she has to write-- and she does it gently--I think she thought she was being kinder by saying we didn't cover the topic. I don't know what triggered her. I don't see all of the articles that come in. Ashisha sends back a lot and brings many also to our regular editorial meetings where we read and discuss articles and queries. I hope you will understand that Ashisha made a mistake. You're right that we haven't covered the topic of unassisted or free birth in ages, but the foundation of our magazine was on free birth. I myself had an unattended homebirth (ended up as a transport beause of a 6 hour pushing stage) with my first the three subsequent
homebirths with midwife and doctor attendants. By the fourth, I
just wanted to have the baby in the closet and be left alone. So,
I definitely dig free birth and don't censor any topics out of hand. I'm friends with Jeannine and Jan and perhaps should ask Jeannine to write something. I agree with Jan's words as well. I find that the magazine increasingly serves an advocacy position with the larger culture, for example when we did the vaginal birth after cesarean special a couple of issues ago to combat the lies in the mainstream press. All to say that it is very hard for us to choose among the wonderful articles we receive and that sometimes articles we love get bumped because of current events. For example, the Consumer Product Safety Commission current nonsense requires us to respond strongly in the September issue and this bumped a Marsden Wagner article. Enough. Please hear this and I'd love to speak to any of directly my phone or email.
505-984-6293
[e-mail]

[Arduinna]

I can definately understand that there are probably lots of submissions to go through and it's a difficult job to do. I do wonder how many submissions there are on UC topics? I assume there probably aren't too many. And since UC is not really covered in the magazine wouldn't any articles on the topic be given extra consideration?

I think it would be of great benefit if the magazine would be willing to work with possible authors to come up with some UC topics and articles that could be published. I've never submitted an article, so I don't know what kind of feedback is given with rejections. I would hope that this topic which generates so few submissions I assume, would be a place where feedback could be of use so that something could get published.

[Peggy O'Mara]

You're right, Arduinna. We don't get many submissions on UC and could work to develop an article on the topic. What we like best are stories that are compelling in themselves without trying to convince anyone of anything. Like the homebirth vbac a couple of issues ago. It was so convincing in itself without even suggesting it for others that it must have converted a lot of moms. So, a day in the life story with the background of what led up to it. It's hard to explain, but I am open to hearing more from you and to developing such an article.

[Arduinna]

Thanks Peggy for your reply. I wish I could say I could help with an article on this topic, but I've never had a UC. It's just something close to my heart that I would love to do, if I ever have another child.

I hope someone more qualified than me, will write something that is publishable.

[Peggy O'Mara]

UC

Good news. I've just gotten an email from the woman who sent the original query. It wasn't an article afterall. I must have misunderstood Ashisha. She's going to give us another chance to take a look at her book and consider an article. I'll let you know if we need help with an article, but it sounds like we already have a good source. Thanks all.

[indigolilybear]

Peggy--is there a place to read your birth stories? Now my curiousity is piqued. I"m glad to hear that mothering is open to covering this and I personally would LOVE to read something written by JP Baker. just my .02

[tiffani]

I just wanted to lend support to the idea that "freebirth" stories are tremendously inspiring to all women giving birth in any setting, as they empower women to truly believe that they themselves are totally capable of "giving birth", rather than having someone "deliver" their babies. I don't think I would personally elect to have an UC, as I was very lucky to find a WONDERFUL midwife (Patti Thompson, Vancouver, BC) who was totally unintrusive and relaxedly supportive, but reading UC stories made me feel that if I had to do it alone, or ever chose to, I easily could. Recently I've been telling various people about my friend who had a wonderful homebirth with her first and was considering an UC (couldn't find a midwife in her area) until she found out she was having twins. The point of my story is how disappointing it is for her to go from one extreme to the "high risk" twins birth scenario she is trying to avoid, but as soon as I mention that she was considering an UC, people gasp and say "oh, that's just wrong" or some such thing. I got that a little when mentioning homebirth, but if you mention unassisted homebirth, people totally freak out and pass judgement immediately. Our society is totally dominated by western medicine--it's ridiculous! So, yeah, I'd love to see mothering mag do an article on UC, and think it would do a lot for the promotion of natural childbirth in general.