A newborn died in NSW recently after a woman gave birth at home without medical support. The mother reportedly had earlier presented at a nearby hospital, but chose to return home after refusing advice by doctors to induce labour due to concerns she was at high risk of complications, including the rupture of a scar from a previous Caesarean.   The stillborn homebirth was possibly unavoidable, as the baby probably contracted Group B Streptococcus inside the womb. However, there has been an increase in women “freebirthing,” where a woman births at home without a midwife in attendance. Have your say & win! What are your thoughts about the risk for homebirthed babies, with or without medical supervision? Share your views on this topic in the My Child forum and you could win one of 10 personalised polo shirts from Simply Colors, valued from $23.45 each.

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Win one of 10 Simply Colors personalised polo shirts

1 Information on how to enter and prizes form part of these conditions of entry. Entries not completed in accordance with these terms and conditions are ineligible.
2 The competition is open to My Child magazine website registered users who are Australian and New Zealand residents only and starts October 1 2008 and closes October 31 2008.
3 To enter, post a comment about your thoughts on the risk for homebirthed babies in the linked thread on the My Child forum.
4 The winners will be selected in the week commencing November 3 2008 and the winners notified by email. Entries may be published in a future My Child eNewsletter or on the My Child website.
5 The top 10 users, as chosen by the judges, who post the most relevant comments on the My Child forum, will receive one of 10 personalised polo shirts from Simply Colors. Winners can choose from 10 colours in sizes NB to 10, with up to three rows of text in the font type and text colour of their choice. Total value $235
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I think it's up to each individual.  I feel if you risk a home birth without medical supervision then you are treading on nails, but with medical supervision and a trouble free pregnancy I don't see a problem.  i have chose to have all 3 of mine in hospital luckily as all 3 have needed extra attention after birth with the last having the cord around his neck and needing help to start breathing.

It would be interesting to find out what the high risk complications were that she was at risk of?  Why did they want to induce her?  They would certainly try to avoid induction due to a previous caesarean as induction places too much stress on the uterus and increases the chance of rupture, so this point does not make sense.  Recent evidence has shown that home births for LOW RISK women are as safe as, if not even safer, than a hospital birth.  Birth that is "safe, secure and undisturbed" (Dr Sarah Buckley) is what we should be aiming for to optimise good outcomes for mother and baby.  Independent midwives that practice home births are well prepared for emergencies and will often forsee a need for transfer to hospital well before it becomes critical.  Unfortunately in Australia access to midwifery led care is hard to come by due to an obstetric culture that has not supported this model of care.  Midwifery care needs to be funded by the government so that more women can access this service and people won't be in the position that they "free-birth' due to an inability to access safe care.  In New Zealand they have had this type of midwifery led care for many years now and their caesarean rate is much lower than ours! 

Of course it is every woman's right to be able to choose what type of care she receives and where and how she births.  It is very sad that this baby died, but would the outcome have been just the same in hospital?