Father of baby who died during home birth disputes being warned of dangers
Updated
The father of a baby who died during a home birth lays part of the blame on a "communication problem" with doctors.
Key points:
- Baby died during home birth near Nimbin, northern NSW
- Father says if they'd known it was going to be a breech birth they'd have gone to hospital
- Paediatrician would like to see fewer home births
The baby, referred to as "NA" by the New South Wales deputy coroner, died during a breech birth at a property near Nimbin in northern NSW in February last year.
The coroner found in September the parents of NA were clearly warned by their doctor of the dangers of a home birth because the baby was lying sideways.
But speaking publicly for the first time since the coronial findings, NA's father, who cannot be named, disputed this.
"We were shocked when the baby started coming out backwards," he told 7.30.
"If we knew that was going to happen, we would have had the birth in a hospital."
There was no midwife or medically qualified person present during NA's birth, in a practice often referred to as a "free birth".
Free birth becoming more common
The Nimbin region is considered a free birth hot spot.
"A big part of it is that people have a natural belief in their bodies," local birth worker Kirrah Holborn said.
"And I do think a big part of it as well is [the lack of] access to midwifery care."
Recent research suggests free birth is becoming more common.
"I think there's a few things driving this," professor of midwifery at Western Sydney University, Helen Dahlen, said.
"One of them is the increasing over-regulation and oppression of midwives in this country, and at the same time more women are becoming traumatised by their hospital birth experiences."
She said a woman's right to choose a home birth should remain paramount.
"We've got to be so careful not to start to intrude into women's rights. It's a slippery slope, where do you stop? Do we start regulating what they eat and drink?"
Leah Hardiman, from consumer advocacy group Maternity Choices Australia, agreed.
"Ultimately it is a woman's decision about where she chooses to give birth," she said.
"But we need better supports in place to give the information she needs to decide what's best for her and her baby."
'Things go wrong very quickly'
But the paediatrician who treated baby NA at Lismore Hospital, Dr Christopher Ingall, would like to see fewer home births, especially those more than five minutes away from a hospital.
"A labour ward is a war zone," he said.
"As much as we'd like to think of it as somewhere nice and pleasant and easy, it's a place where things go wrong very quickly.
"The babies need to get a vote in this, and if they had a vote, they'd say no [to a home birth], there's too much risk."
The nurse who first treated baby NA in Nimbin, Petria Maher, is disappointed the coroner did not make recommendations to discourage home births.
"The unborn child just didn't seem to have any rights, any protection. There doesn't seem to be any law that covers the unborn child," she said.
"Having home births in an isolated area when you're at least half-an-hour aware from decent medical care I think is just too high risk."
Topics: pregnancy-and-childbirth, babies---newborns, community-and-society, death, doctors-and-medical-professionals, health, nimbin-2480
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