Help with letters to the editor- HB related

[Faith]

Today's issue of our town's paper had a headline on the front page about the first baby born in our county this year, and a huge picture, and made the point of how he waited til the 3rd to be born.

Fine, except... He was the first HOSPITIAL born baby, NOT the first baby! There was no "wait" at all! I know personally of at least two babies born on Jan. 1st with a Certified Nurse Midwife who lives just a few minutes from me and is very well-known and advertises everywhere.

So, if anyone wants to help my cause and send an email, here are the guilty parties:

The Chronical
editors: Michael Wagar [e-mail]
Gordon MacCracken [e-mail]

the "reporter" who did the story: Julia Nicholls [e-mail]



Here was my letter:

I am writting because of the extremely innacurate headline on your Wednesday edition. It appears Julia Nicholls is discriminating against familes who choose homebirth and has decided their babies are not worth counting. To say that this hospital born baby was the first born baby in Lewis county, simply bacause it happened to be born in a hospitial, is an outright lie. There are certified nurse midwives in Lewis County (a fact anyone with a phone book should know) who delivered at least two babies on January first. I know a newspaper wants to be accurate, but it looks like either Julia just didn't care to get her facts straight, or she is discriminating against homebirthers- but either way the story is a gross inaccuracy and should be corrected immediately. It is a shame that this story didn't go to the rightful baby anf her proud family, and that all your readers were lied to. I expect better reporting next year, and an apology to the rightful family this year! I hope you take more care on other issues, and that your other stories are based on facts and not on reporter's personal bias and ignorance of a topic. I expect better.

[jplain]

I'll be blunt. I think you are overreacting. Instead of expressing your frustration in such negative terms, why not take this opportunity to educate? Is there something that makes you think this is a deliberate slight, rather than a completely innocent mistake?

It is likely that the reporter (and let's face it, the entire newspaper staff) doesn't know much about the option of homebirth. Where I come from, most people don't know that homebirth is a possibility. I had never met anyone who'd had a homebirth or been birthed at home until I started considering homebirth in my second trimester!

I certainly wouldn't blame the reporter or newspaper if they didn't explore the idea that there might have been a homebirth before the first hospital birth. What's a reporter to do? Call every CNM, CPM, and lay midwife in town? Wait for them to get back to her when they have time to talk? Hospitals have the luxury of spokespeople who handle such requests for information, and midwives don't. I'm sure this was just an oversight.

I'd take a much gentler approach than what you've outlined in your post. I'd write a nice letter to the editor congratulaing the parents of the first hospital-born baby, and then extend my own congratulations to the family of the "real" first baby, mentioning that he/she was born at home with a midwife. (Clearly I'd have to work out some details, like whether or not the family and midwife/midwives involved would want their names used.) I'd try to work in a sentence or two about what a wonderful option homebirth can be for those families that choose it, and how statistics show that a homebirth can be every bit as safe as a hospital birth.

(I'll admit though, that when I was reading our local newspaper I wondered if there might have been a hb baby born before the first hospital baby. Not too likely, as the first hospital baby was born at 5 seconds past midnight!)

Carolyn

[ramlita]

While I understand the your feelings, I'm with Carolyn.

My local paper reported a home-born first baby of the year a few years ago, and I'm sure that it happened because the midwife not only felt secure in her standing in the community, but had the time and media savvy to call the press herself. Vermont is homebirth friendly, and even then I'm sure the story would have been about a hospital-born babe if the mw hadn't notified the press.

With the right approach, this could turn into a great interview opportunity for the midwife and her clients- think of the great photo ops in a cozy home setting, and the free pr!
I say encourage the midwife to call this reporter and pitch the story idea.

[Faith]

The thing that makes me so mad though is they know about these babies, because every Saturday they print all the births for the week and usually a third of them are listed as "born at home."

It's like they don't even care to try at all, yk?

They are going to look realyy silly this Saturday listing the babies born before the one they decided counted as first.

[jplain]

Originally Posted by Faith

They are going to look really silly this Saturday listing the babies born before the one they decided counted as first.

:LOL
Yes, I think you are right. Maybe they'll just hope that no one remembers the story published earlier this week. Or maybe they'll actually write a little correction blurb. That would be interesting....