Comments on: Oprah.com article on alternative birth practices

By: Oprah.com Reports on Alternative Birth Options | Bloom

Oprah.com Reports on Alternative Birth Options | Bloom — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:54:19 +0000

[...] Perez of Radical Doula was interviewed for the article and commented, “[The article] is a pretty good overview of [...]

By: Oprah.com Reports on Alternative Birth Options | Bloom

Oprah.com Reports on Alternative Birth Options | Bloom — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:54:19 +0000

[...] Perez of Radical Doula was interviewed for the article and commented, “[The article] is a pretty good overview of [...]

By: Anne

Anne — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:32:49 +0000

I’m not sure who’s list you have there for “at-risk” conditions that would rule out home birth, but I am obese and am due any day with my second home birth baby. I am also in an online group of obese women who have safe home births, with a midwife.
Obesity is really only an issue if the practitioner knows how to do cesareans or if the practitioner is not well informed on obesity and pregnancy.
It’s very sad that there are so many CPMs that are not comfortable working with overweight women, because in a hospital, we are a target for unnecessary procedures and even verbal humiliation.
If a midwife dismissed a fat woman because she is uninformed or misinformed and would rather just avoid the potential risk (where there usually is none), then she is contributing to the outrageous cesarean rates as much as the OB and hospital that the woman she rejected now has to submit to.
The same goes for women of young, or advanced maternal age, like myself.