The right to choose
Some time in the eighties, my aunties started to have their babies at home. I was eight when my cousin Liam was born, gently and without drama, in the upstairs bedroom of my parent's house in Newtown. Bunch of other home births happened when I was a child, and countless female discussions over cups of tea in kitchens, about the safety, wisdom etc. of birthing (midwife assisted) at home. Birthing stories in my family include the story of the two and a half year old calling her brother from the window:
"You have to come, we can see the head!"
i have since, of course, moved in with six boys all of whom were born at home. M talks of stomping around Mt Ainslie not long before L came into the world, complaining about the pain. Both her boys were born in the Ainslie house, which has been in their family for sixty years.
My sister had her second baby in a big tub of water in her bedroom, six months ago. Calmly, joyfully. Such a difference from her first birth, which was stressful & unnecessarily interventionist (in a hospital).
Along the way, I have internalised the sense that its right & normal for babies to be born at home. After all, many of the births close to me have been home affairs. I don't think that everyone should share this view however, I know lots of people very happy with their hospital births, and more power to them, too. I believe women and their families should have the right to choose where their babies are born, and who with.
I'm taking today off work to go to the birth choices rally outside Parliament House. This post was meant to be a calm, rational discussion of the issues - insurance and all of that - but if you don't already know the details its easy enough to look them up online. I can't be calm about this one, I am too outraged that some of the choice women have around birthing their babies is at risk.
So think of me, at eleven thirty today, I will be with my sisters & cousins & their various babies and young children, and lots and lots of others.
"You have to come, we can see the head!"
i have since, of course, moved in with six boys all of whom were born at home. M talks of stomping around Mt Ainslie not long before L came into the world, complaining about the pain. Both her boys were born in the Ainslie house, which has been in their family for sixty years.
My sister had her second baby in a big tub of water in her bedroom, six months ago. Calmly, joyfully. Such a difference from her first birth, which was stressful & unnecessarily interventionist (in a hospital).
Along the way, I have internalised the sense that its right & normal for babies to be born at home. After all, many of the births close to me have been home affairs. I don't think that everyone should share this view however, I know lots of people very happy with their hospital births, and more power to them, too. I believe women and their families should have the right to choose where their babies are born, and who with.
I'm taking today off work to go to the birth choices rally outside Parliament House. This post was meant to be a calm, rational discussion of the issues - insurance and all of that - but if you don't already know the details its easy enough to look them up online. I can't be calm about this one, I am too outraged that some of the choice women have around birthing their babies is at risk.
So think of me, at eleven thirty today, I will be with my sisters & cousins & their various babies and young children, and lots and lots of others.