Chicken Wire Canoe

The one who requested an early induction to get her husband out of going to the field, had her baby yesterday afternoon. The baby was born not breathing, with a heart defect, and was airlifted to Phoenix to undergo open heart surgery within the next five days.

The induction, while still an idiotic decision by any reputable standard, was not to blame for any of this. What it says to me, though, is that hospital birth and prenatal care by the obstetrical model do not guarantee a healthy baby. This woman had ultrasounds at EVERY appointment (the OB she went to just does that for everyone because people like it, I guess), went to an OB that did pretty much overkill of everything, took every test, and every screening, and did her labor, start to finish, in a hospital. Ask most people, and that's the recipe for a healthy baby. It didn't work this time, though.

Now, the billion dollar question, because I get it every time anyone has anything go different from plan with their babies. What would happen if I had a baby in that same condition at home? Basically, all they were able to do for the baby at the hospital here was give her oxygen, and we can do that at home, too. If we had this situation, we would call 911 to do an emergency transfer to the hospital, and while waiting for it to arrive, Alyson would administer oxygen to the baby. When we arrived at the hospital, they would treat the baby the same as they did this one, then we, too, would airlift to Phoenix. The only difference is that unlike this mom, who's stuck here while her sick baby is 2 states away, I would go, too, because no hospital would need to release me.

Even with a sick baby, we would be better off at home. Everyone always wonders if seeing people have unhealthy babies (which they seem to do left and right around here for some crazy reason, although this is the most extreme case I have seen) makes me question my homebirth plans, but I'll be honest and tell you it's quite the opposite. When things don't go as planned, it's more important than ever, NOT to just be a cog in the machine at a hospital. That's when you need it more than ever, to be a person, not a number, and to not be bound by protocol. Treat an emergency like an emergency, yes, but be free of policies that make things harder than they have to be.

The entire post and community are wishing only the best to this family and the new baby. We all know that they are in the best hands now that the baby and her daddy have arrived safely in Phoenix, and are waiting to find out when the doctors there want to operate. Put bullshit aside and just hope for a fast and complete recovery for the baby.