
I Brainwashed Myself with the Internet - dsr12
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/she-wanted-freebirth-no-doctors-online-groups-convinced-her-it-n1140096
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revx
Very sad story. As a new parent, I'm devastated every time I read about the
loss of a child.

We did a homebirth (with a registered midwife) and it was an amazing
experience. We found a midwife who listened to us, went to eight weeks of
birth classes, and delivered a healthy baby at 41+6. The birth was an
enjoyable experience and felt very natural.

The cost was much less than we would have paid in a hospital and also was
agreed on upfront. We did end up having a complication, but since the midwife
had medical training she was immediately able to recognize what was going on
and transfer us to the hospital.

I guess I'm telling this story because there are ways of having babies in a
safe and healthy way not in the hospital - but you have to find the right
people and do your research. Our midwife went to an ivy league midwifery
school and had a license. If you're like me and thinking about having a baby
someday, but you don't want to deliver in a hospital, look into birthing
centers and registered midwifes. If you do want to deliver in a hospital - go
for it!

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anyfoo
Almost trivial to say at this point, but I think this is one of the biggest
challenges we face nowadays. Before the Internet, socializing for the most
part required some sort of physical presence. This meant that “fringe” beliefs
were much more readily counteracted by the more balanced make up of respective
peer groups. Now that communication and virtual “gathering” are commonplace,
peer groups are often directly chosen by belief.

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steve_adams_86
“Your whole responsibility is to protect your child, and I didn’t before he
even had a chance to breathe.”

As a parent, the thought of being in this position, or any position of failing
to care for my child, makes me feel sick. This really is a terrible failure.
She found the wrong information and perhaps her child died as a direct result.

In British Columbia, Canada, a home birth under these conditions wouldn't be
supported or allowed by a midwife. These are people who are typically very
pro-homebirth and supported all 3 of my children in home births. I'm disturbed
that people were encouraging her to trust herself so far past her due date.

The danger of accepting advice online with matters like this is that generally
only an idiot would think they're competent enough to provide adequate advice.

I feel incredibly sad for her and her baby.

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ajurna
While a home-birth can be quite safe i'm astonished to hear about a community
that would ignore the need for a midwife. midwifery is probably the second
oldest profession and every community and culture around the world has an
equivalent. I cannot see any benefit for not having at least this much.

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SpikeDad
Sad sad story. She had no medical supervision and her baby was stillborn.

Sorry but I have no comments other than it's 100% her fault. Having a baby
without the benefit of modern medicine is a choice made out of complete
ignorance and she has only herself to blame. I don't care how many Facebook
friends or posts directed her to forgo medical care, no one does that without
a purposeful decision to be ignorant.

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dusted
Finally! A website that gives a usable error message:

Error loading shorthand embed: Could not load Shorthand content from remote
server.

Please see the javascript developer console for more details.

I will check! In the mean time, I wonder what the article is about.

Update: Ahh, the corporate MITM proxy made this a CORS problem. Thank you,
corporate MITM, you waste my time, not only when I try to do work, but also
when I take a break to read an article.

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soonnow
I think it is easy to jump on the "I told you so" bandwagon, be it for
"freebirths" or anti-vaxers or HAES movements. In the end these movements only
lead to suffering. Be it still-born babies, people dying of preventable
diseases or an early death because of obesity. I wish there was an easy answer
to these problems. I feel strongly about personal freedom, but in the end how
can you attack these issues then by information and regulation? The only other
option may be the Chinese way of their social credit system. Don't vaccinate?
Points deducted. Don't have a birth in a hospital? Points deducted. Obese?
Points deducted. That will certainly impossible to implement in the west and
also probably hard to reconcile with our culture, but it may come through the
backdoor, as insurances are implementing finer and finer pricing factors, such
as smoker/non-smoker.

