Looking glass Alice examines birth and parenting in our culture.

• 30/11/2007 - 2008 - year of homebirth awareness!

2008 –the year of Homebirth Awareness!

Changing our world through one action a day.

The time has come to speak out as women and mothers about how our lives have been changed by the beauty of birthing at home. We cannot stand by as more women go through the conveyor belts of our maternity hospitals without speaking the truth –

Birth is safe, interference is risky*, birth belongs at home.

Join all of us in speaking out with just one action a day, however small, and be the ripple effect as each of us across Australia speaks out to inform, normalise and honour birth.

What can you do in one day? How about these ideas?!

* put a HOMEBIRTH sticker on your car, pram, bicycle helmet, letterbox, gate, fence, front door

* sew a homebirth patch on your sling or wrap

* get a note in your school newsletter

* put your homebirth pics on youtube

* drop off JB pamphlets and info on normal physiological birth to your local medical centre

* tell someone about your homebirth, past, present, or planned

* write a letter to your daily, local or national newspaper

* buy a homebirth book for your local library, don't forget the kids' section

* talk to your community group, ABA group, mothers' group however casually you like

* tell your GP if you have one

* tell your natural therapists and give them some JB brochures

* carry a JB tote bag

* take a few pamphlets everywhere just in case the need arises

* say "Homebirth is lovely" on mainstream internet forums

* change your sig to something supportive of homebirth on mainstream forums

* put a link to JB on your website, blog, community group website or anywhere else you can

* give a voucher for JOY to friends who aren't members (and some who are)

* give gift vouchers from Capers

* host a showing of BOBB in your local area and invite the newspapers

* go to anything women-related and talk about homebirth - WEL, CWA, IWD.....

* do some community-minded graffiti or even a mural!

* write stuff on toilet walls in maternity hospitals

* do some Wiki edits

* put a homebirth quote in your email sig

* ring the radio when talkback time is on and say all health matters would be solved by women having babies at home

* do an essay at uni about it if you can, or a tutorial presentation

* wear a homebirth tshirt, put homebirth clothes on innocent children who can't protest

FORUM AVATARS
Each image is 100x100 and is no larger than 19.5 kilobytes in size.

* thanks to www.trustbirth.com for "Birth is safe, interference is risky". Thank you, Carla!!

• 17/1/2008 - Homebirth

Posted by Anonymous

My neice died because of homebirth and I blame it on idiots like you that encouraged her. A completely avoidable death of a perfect baby girl. I'm sure you're proud of the countless contributions you have made to situations like this.

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• 17/1/2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by wildmama

I'm always sorry to hear of a baby dying. How sad for your family. I hope they have support in their grieving. What a shame you posted anonymously so I can't offer you more personal condolences.

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• 9/5/2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous

Dear Anonymous,

I'm sorry to hear about your loss but countless babies die in hospital births each year due to medical interference and hospital mistakes. When a pregnancy is low risk medical research shows that homebirth is the far safer option.

In addition, countless women are scarred physically and emotionally by unnecessary routine procedures carried out in hospitals.

I've had a wonderful homebirth experience after being physically and emotionally scarred by a a hospital birth. I thank the midwife and doula who facilitated my homebirth and gave me the CHOICE of where and how I wanted to labour.

For the most part homebirths have a happy outcome. I feel sorry that the experience you discuss was tragic but this does not mean that homebirth should be denied to women and that those who provide the service should be verbally attacked. After all, OB/GYN's lose babies too and in my case they take out their scissors and cause painful, traumatic incisions against their patient's will.

Jasmineflower

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