From: znark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Newspaper Article
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2004 10:05:41 +1100
By LAUREN WARE
Lila Japp was born on the patio of her parents' Merbein home on a
sunny Friday afternoon just eight weeks ago.
For Lila's parents, Rowena Keenan and Ian Japp, her arrival wasn't to
be a home birth at all costs - she was only to be born at home if
everything went smoothly.
Rowena had a healthy, trouble free pregnancy and was keen to "trust
nature" for the birth of their second child.
She is one of few women who choose to give birth at home, but
according to local midwife Leanne Wynne, who was present at Lila's
birth, Rowena is a home birth success story.
Her contractions started late in the night before the birth and, when
her four-hour labour started the next morning, Rowena and Ian were
prepared.
Rowena remembers being drawn to the sunshine on the back verandah and,
when Lila arrived, she was born on the couch under the kitchen window,
with Ian, Rowena's sister, Prue, and Leanne all there for the
drug-free birth.
"Everything just went so smoothly and on that day, I had no doubts and
I remember thinking later that not once during the birth did I think
to myself, 'oh gosh, is everything going to be alright here?'",
recalled Rowena.
Sitting on the patio yesterday, not far from where Lila was born, a
relaxed Rowena tenderly held her newborn - the perfect picture of a
healthy mother and child.
"Deciding to have a home birth - if everything went smoothly - was an
informed decision, it wasn't something that I took lightly," Rowena
said.
Rowena and Ian's first child, Finley, was born two years ago in
hospital.
"The idea of having a home birth appealed to me and I don't
particularly like hospitals," she said. "Home is a space where I feel
relaxed and confident.
"I can barely remember the pain at all, this time I felt a lot more in
control and a lot more relaxed, this was a birth on our terms."
Rowena and Ian kept their plans for a home birth quiet in the lead up
to Lila's arrival, partly in an effort to shield Rowena from any
negative reactions to giving birth at home.
"I just felt that if everything went well at home, then we could get
excited afterwards," Rowena said.
"I read a lot about home births, I talked to people who had really
positive home birth experiences and I tried to keep what I was exposed
to positive.
"And really, the benefit is that living here, we are so close to the
hospital, if anything did go wrong we could go there for back up."
Only hot towels were used for pain relief during the birth and the day
after the successful arrival of Lila, family and friends celebrated
with the Merbein couple at their home.
"I remember waking up the next morning and thinking, wow, two
children," Rowena said.
"It was so natural and it took away that sense of being fully
dependent on the medical system, not that I am like that anyway.
"That dependency is fear based, like a lot of things in our society,
and it is fed by that big 'what if, just that concern about 'what if'
something goes wrong?"
Rowena said home birth was not an option or a choice that every woman
would make, but she said it was important women understood it was an
option.
"It is a choice, it's not for everyone, but it's important to give
people the confidence that home birth is safe if you are low-risk and
your pregnancy is healthy," she said.
But according to Leanne, home birth could be an option for many more
local women.
"Over the last 100 years, women have become to believe that they need
a doctor for their child's birth, when the fact is that women have
been having babies for thousands of years without doctors" Leanne
said.
"There is a small number of women who have difficulty birthing and
they should be in hospital for their own safety and the safety of
their child, but if women are healthy and confident and have faith in
their bodies, then they are able to give birth at home."
The first home-birth baby Leanne assisted with is now eight-and-a-half
years old and last week, Leanne was among many midwives and parents
who celebrated National Home Birth Week.
"In Mildura, it's not something you hear much about, simply because
home birthing is not a concept that has occurred to many women," she
said.
"In New Zealand, midwives are employed by the government, with
insurance by the government and Medicare provider numbers so they can
work independently.
"A huge percentage of women in New Zealand give birth at home or in a
birthing centre with a midwife. In Australia, we don't have that and
we are 20 years behind New Zealand."
--
Bradley John
To succeed ... you need to find something to hold on to,
something to motivate you, something to inspire you.
-- Tony Dorsett
