ND parents have suprise hb triplets - Page 2

[2+twins]

Yeah, I'm one of those that had "surprise" twins - I seriously doubt these trips were truly a shock.

[Peppamint]

Well, I'm glad she had her lovely triplet homebirth. And I hope the midwife (whoever she is) will be alright legally too. You just never know when some official with his/her panties in a wad will decide to go on a witch hunt.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by Valerie

Even one of your own previous posts referred to this story being posted in the "Odd News section." It is hardly going to "normalize homebirth" when a story is found in the same category as two-headed calves and "escaped chimp cleans bathroom."

If you'll refer to that same post you'll note that I also observed that Yahoo tends to reserve the "Odd News" section for things that are human interest--i.e. not real news and not involving celebrities.

In any case, it's pretty obvious that the "odd" part is the supposed suprise of triplets--not the homebirth.

However, I did use an inaccurate word. By "normal" I was trying to convey "non-emergency"--to reemphasize that the story presented homebirth (even with 'surprise' triplets) as something that is just done without fanfare or panic. This story was not "they had surprise triplets and it was a *HOMEBIRTH* OMGBBQ!!!111!!!" it was "they had surprise triplets and are happy about their homebirth."

[jillc512]

A few more (secondhand) details: the babies were all between 4 and 6 pounds, and were 35-36 weeks gestation. The woman had a history of large babies.

If this wasn't a surprise (which I also think it wasn't), I think it does a disservice to midwives in some sense because doctors and others (like the ones who posted after the article here: http://www.kxmb.com/getARticle.asp?ArticleId=84599) have thier suspicions confirmed: that midwives are uneducated, backwoods types who can't even tell the difference between a belly carrying one baby and a belly carrying THREE (for the record, that's NOTwhat I think, regardless of whether this was a surprise or not). Are there going to be some women who might consider a homebirth but remember this story and think "But what if it's triplets and we don't know until delivery?" Then again, maybe this will just increase the number of ultrasounds for homebirths instead of decreasing the number of homebirths. Or will this have no effect whatsover on the well-read, highly educated homebirthing mama population?

[ColoradoMama]

I do see your point Jill, but I don't see a good solution unfortunately. I was absolutely, completely prepared to have "surprise" twins. No one would have know but me and dh - not even the kiddos.

[ColoradoMama]

Originally Posted by [e-mail]

It is a wonderful story of a community coming together to support a family. I'm just hoping the midwife who attended the birth gets the same level of support and benefit of the doubt. There are plenty of cases of midwives being prosecuted in states very similar to ND (rural, small-town) where it didn't matter in the least that the family/midwife were supported in their own community. I hope that's not the case here.

Katie Prown
Legislative Chair
Wisconsin Guild of Midwives

Yea - that really concerns me. I hope this midwife isn't suffering because of all the media hype. I really wish I knew what to do to help midwifery in this country. I still say we should take all our hb babies and march on Washington.

[mykidsmom776]

Originally Posted by ColoradoMama

I still say we should take all our hb babies and march on Washington.

I had the funniest image reading that of thousands of women and babies standing at the Washington Monument while a Midwife stands at a pedestal saying, "I have a dream... that every woman in this great nation will have the right to give birth in the manner they choose. I have a dream... that midwives would be respected just as much as an OBGYN and never have to work in secret again. I have a dream... that women would be given information on all the birthing and prenatal care options available to them so that they can make truly informed choices without scare tactics and without fear of being ridiculed by their peers and loved ones... I have a dream... that pregnancy is no longer seen as a medical condition but the beautiful part of the cycle of life that it is..."

It would be AWESOME!

[christyc]

Well, I'm having twins in May. If someone wants to fly me and my midwife to Washington around 37 weeks or so, I can give birth to my twins at our "march on Washington" at the mall as the keynote address. I'll address them during transition, I'm sure. We'll just need a censor.

[gentle_mama04]

I just saw this thread now. This same midwife is my midwife.

The ped who treated silas(the trip who was transfered) got his panties in a twist because the parents didn't bring the two girls in also. He got a comittee together and tried to outlaw direct entry midwifry in ND. It passed through the senate and went to the house comittee. You can bet that every homebirthing family was there to show how normal this is. The house comittee forwarded it on to the house with a unanymous "do not pass". The house basically said, "It seems that the families are happy with the current and it has been working thus far, we see no reason to change it now." Yay!!!! Athough the battle is not over, the ped is already trying to get things going for the next legislature session, which is in two years(I believe).

My midwife chooses not to have her name published because she doesn't want trouble. KWIM? She really is a cool lady. She was part of the grassroots movement to get homeschooling legalized in ND.

[HarperRose]

Originally Posted by gentle_mama04

I just saw this thread now. This same midwife is my midwife.

The ped who treated silas(the trip who was transfered) got his panties in a twist because the parents didn't bring the two girls in also. He got a comittee together and tried to outlaw direct entry midwifry in ND. It passed through the senate and went to the house comittee. You can bet that every homebirthing family was there to show how normal this is. The house comittee forwarded it on to the house with a unanymous "do not pass". The house basically said, "It seems that the families are happy with the current and it has been working thus far, we see no reason to change it now." Yay!!!! Athough the battle is not over, the ped is already trying to get things going for the next legislature session, which is in two years(I believe).

My midwife chooses not to have her name published because she doesn't want trouble. KWIM? She really is a cool lady. She was part of the grassroots movement to get homeschooling legalized in ND.

WOW! How cool! I missed this story, also, so was glad to see this thread pop up.

The doc is an idiot. Just because it's different, it freaks him out. :

[GinaRae]

I am so grateful that here in California, Midwives are certified (or whatever the term was) through the same board that handles the Doctors. So they're recognized, legal, accessible, etc..

[AmieV]

just have to ditto Jill 100%. My good friend just had "surprise twins" at home, and I find it so stupid that her m/w is not allowed to attend a twin homebirth, yet it's ok to supposedly not know a woman is having more than one baby.:

[HeatherB]

Does anyone have a current link for the original story? The Yahoo link doesn't seem to work, and the first link posted now wants payment! eep! I did read the one that appeared to be a transcript, though, but would love to see more.

My MW and I were discussing multiples recently and she both knew of a natural triplet pregnancy recently AND would assist with trips at home! So cool to hear of it happening.

[gentle_mama04]

Here you go...
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/artic...t#blogcomments


If you read through the comments it's pretty good. I think the link takes you directly to the comments. You just have to scroll up to read the article.

There is also this one.

http://www.kxmc.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=84599

[HeatherB]

Thanks so much!

[Jilian]

I don't believe that it was a surprise at all, but I'm really happy this mom got her HB I hope the MW doesn't get into trouble, it's sad that people have to pretend to have a "surprise" multiple birth in order to get the birth that they want. I wish it were different.

[gentle_mama04]

So far she hasn't gotten in trouble and is still helping women with their births as usual.