For a second, I thought that Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald were just going to hand all of their exclusives to People Magazine. But that’s not the case. While People Magazine published this “first family photo” of Ben, Jessa and Baby Duggar-Seewald, the photo was also posted to the Facebook page belonging to Jessa and Jill’s new TLC spin-off show, Jill & Jessa: Counting On. Thank God Jessa got back on reality TV, otherwise she might have to get a real job at some point.
Anyway, as we learned late last week, Jessa and Ben welcomed their first child, a little boy. We still don’t know the name. Jill and Derrick named their son Israel, which doesn’t really give me an idea for how Jessa and Ben will go with their baby-naming. My guess is that they’ll totally go biblical, of course, but will it be trendy-biblical or just average biblical? Like, “Noah” is really trendy right now. But “Mark” or “Peter” would just be average. For some reason, “Ezekiel” just popped into my head and it won’t leave. Ezekiel Seewald?
All of the Duggar women have a thing about home births and midwives and all of that. I think in Michelle’s later pregnancies, she was so old that her doctors wanted her to give birth in a hospital, but Michelle’s daughters seem to all want to try home births. When Jill gave birth to Israel, there were so many complications that she ended up being hospitalized for several days. Jessa did give birth at home, but then she had to be rushed to the hospital.
Jessa Duggar delivered a baby boy Thursday night, but it wasn’t easy … we’ve learned she tried giving birth at home but there were complications and she was rushed to the hospital. We’re told Jessa was taken by ambulance from one of the Duggar homes in Fayetteville, Arkansas to the local hospital. It’s unclear what happened, but we do know she was trying to do a home birth.
The baby weighed in at 9 lbs 11 oz., and measured more than 21 inches, so it just may have been too big. Jessa married Ben Seewald last year. It’s their first kid together and if she follows in her mom’s footsteps … it probably won’t be their last.
The Daily Mail got their hands on the 911 call that Michelle Duggar apparently placed, because she was there for the birth. You can read the Mail’s reporting here – while this family offers up all of these kinds of details for public consumption, I do think listening to the panicked 911 call made by Michelle is too ghoulish for my taste. I do hope Jessa’s okay.
Photos courtesy of TLC’s Facebook, Jessa’s Facebook.
I know many of you have done it, but the thought of a pushing out a 10-pounder just made my cooch muscles slam shut! Ack!
Karma’s been a b**** for the Duggars lately. Their philosophies and secrets have been coming back to haunt them and be exposed with all their flaws.
I hope the baby didn’t have to suffer in any way because of the parents’ choices.
yeah, having your first child at home is so presumptuous. If you’ve had a few and know how it tends to go for you, more power to you. But with your first–you just don’t know, and the first is often the most difficult as you’re “rearranging the furniture” (in the words of my OBGYN aunt).
I always get the sense they think they’re doing God’s work so it’ll work out. Pregnancy is a possibility, not a promise. I wish they’d treat that with more respect (ironically, I think they believe they’re more respectful of human life than the rest of us sinful sheep who go off to get medical interventions, use birth control, and decline to announce our pregnancies upon conception).
I hope the baby is ok. When my brother was born, he was too big for the birth canal and was deprived of oxygen because the doctor couldn’t get there in time to do a Ceasarian. He looks perfectly normal but has the mental development of a small child.
Two daughters needing hospitalization either during or after one of Squirrel’s home births. I do believe Jesus is sending a strong message against Squirrel’s skills as a midwife.
I agree. .Of course to each their own, but I myself was a very healthy, zero risk factors, young woman who ended up needing emergency inductions. I would have have been terrified and possibly dead if I tried to do it at home. An unrelated by blood family member had a perfectly normal labor and delivery and then as they were removing the placenta, everything came out with it and she went immediately unconscious and nearly died and had emergency surgery. My aunt lost so much blood and went unconscious during labor that she, too, needed emergency care. Labor and delivery remain dangerous for women, despite being natural of course. Again, I support any woman to make any choice. But for me and lots, LOTS of women I know with no complications or risk factors, things went south fast!
We should never forget than, if it’s is natural, not that long ago more than half the women did died during or from giving birth. Natural does not means easy.
That’s why I could never consider a home birth. What if something went wrong and the minutes spent waiting for an ambulance and getting to the hospital meant life or death for you or the baby. I would consider using a midwife, but in a hospital.
I have a friend who is 37 having her first baby this week in a bathtub. Blows my mind. She wants everything all natural yet has silicone boobs and a botoxed face. I think this home birth thing is the trendy thing to do.
In my culture we say a woman in labour is one foot in the grave. It’s true and not taking advantage of our much improved medicine is irresponsible, imo. Things may get bad in minutes and no one knows if and when. My uncle and cousin are gynecologists and they would never allow a woman from the family give birth at home, ever.
So many U.S. doctors don’t know the first real thing about a woman giving birth. They think it can be forced and orchestrated, and if it’s not “progressing” as fast as their tee time is looming, they call for an emergency c-section.
They don’t allow the placenta to return the blood back to the baby before clamping and cutting the cord, nor do they give the woman’s body enough time to detach and push out the placenta itself. Maternity wards must keep the line moving, you know.
I will be planning for a home birth but will also have a backup plan at a local birth center – with my wishes in writing in advance given to the center and my midwife – since I will be high risk due to my age.
@ Pina Colada, I’m glad that you and your aunt received the medical care that you needed to be saved. You do make a strong case for being at a birth center or hospital, just in case something goes wrong.
Squirrel should only be reserved for endearing reference to Dean Winchester from Supernatural. Please do not taint this name.
Agreed, Moose. Agreed.
I love this. Big fan here. Stuck with it during major plot lulls too.
I have watched too many births go wrong while in a hospital, 30 feet from an OR, to ever let anyone I love try for a home birth. I don’t care how safe someone claims they are, if you need an emergency c section, you want to be as close to that OR as possible. Why risk it?!
Completely agree; having needed emergency treatment myself during a natural birth, it slightly terrifies me to think how things would have gone with a home birth.
My sister had two relatively easy labors delivering two large babies (11 pounds and then 10 pounds three years later) in a hospital and her mother-in-law was pushing her to have her third as a home birth. Thankfully, she didn’t listen. Despite all the monitors saying the baby was in the right position, after 7 hours of extremely painful labor, they discovered the baby was full breech. He was mooning instead of crowning and she needed to have an emergency c-section.
I don’t know. Home births are the norm in The Netherlands, I needed to go to the hospital and knew this beforehand and everyone I knew was pitying me because I didn’t get a home birth, so it is kind of a cultural thing. But, over here you’re never far away from a hospital ofcourse and our midwives are really well trained and professional.
To each his own. But skilled midwives aren’t easily found in other places. And on a personote I would go with a hospital, that’s where they keep the drugs!
Would imagine since its The Netherlands they’re a lot laws making sure only licensed or trained mid-wifes perform the births?
yeah I think highly trained midwives make a world of difference. Mine were absolute crap.
I think it’s bordering on insane to do a home birth. Who wants to be transferred to a hospital before, during or after they are giving birth? Why on earth would you take the risk? Minutes could mean the difference between you or your baby’s life or death. I’ll never understand it.
I agree that it’s utterly insane and negligent to have a home birth in this day and age. If you want to do it the old fashioned way, go for it. They have birthing centers ATTACHED to hospitals. Why risk bleeding out or having your baby die at home? Oh I know.. Because your ever-so-important birth “experience” trumps your babies life. I imagine the Rwandan women woman who give birth on the dirty floor and know that they could die at any second LOVE their birth experience. Im sure it makes total sense when wealthy American women don’t use the resources here in the USA to have safe births. I’m sure it’s not a slap in the face.
My first was born in an ambulance because we obviously were not going to make it to the hospital in time. I vowed to never have to go anywhere while in labor again and had a lovely midwife assisted home birth for my second. Much nicer experience.
Christ GNAT! All hail the birth dictator! Please tell us how to raise our kids too!
Sarah, GNAT is opinionated, not judgmental. The operative words in her post were, “I THINK…” As in, in GNAT’s own opinion, it’s crazy to give birth at home knowing all the risks that can come along with it. Just because someone’s opinion isn’t sugar-coated doesn’t mean they’re a terrible person.
I’ve had my children in hospitals, with epidurals. But living on the crunchy west coast, I have lots of friends who have had babies at home, with doulas, some of whom are true experts and can get the mother the help she needs before she knows she needs it. They have all had good experiences. Hospital births aren’t without risks–many of the interventions to help the mother’s pain slow down the labor, and once you have an IV and ate discouraged from moving around that slows it down too. There are arguments to be made about not over-medicalizing birth, and I wouldn’t call those people insane. (But I would always choose a hospital.)
Lucky you. My mom had a slow and painful recovery because her body was in a bad shape after bi baby me was born. She had vowed to have only home births after a bad experience at the hospital, and she had my older brother fine, but when I was born, she regretted it. Babies usually get bigger after each birth, so I was the biggest and the birth was very hard on her.
Also, my sister would not dilate (sp?) any, she was in labour for days they had to induce her, my first niece was deprived of oxygen and thankfully is alright. She had learning issues tha my sis thought it were derived from her birth. (looking at ISO down here .There is a thing called fetal distress.
@Sarah
You are entitled to think I’m judgmental and dictatorial. I couldn’t care less. And I’m entitled to believe that having your child at home is a risk to you and your child that is, in my opinion, irresponsible and unnecessary. My neice went to a birthing center to have her second baby so her first child, who was four, could “experience the miracle of birth.” The four year old had an experience, alright, with her mother screaming and crying in pain. She was terrified. I was there, along with my neice’s husband and mother. The two midwives stood out in the hall arguing about whether my neice’s complications were serious enough to warrant her being transferred to the hospital and they couldn’t decide, so my sister intervened and my neice had to go to the hospital while she was minutes away from giving birth. That was real comfortable. It turned out that the baby needed to be turned and then everything was fine. But instead of a calm, safe event, this turned into a nightmare. Shambles, thank you for defending me. I’m usually just opinionated and not judgmental. But I am judgmental about this, and about vaccinations. If you have your baby, intentionally, at home or one of these birthing centers, without a doctor and emergency equipment, you are foolish. It might turn out fine, or you might kill yourself and/or your baby. These women should not be permitted to claim they can protect you or see you through childbirth. They were incompetent and indecisive in spite of coming very highly recommended. It’s not worth it.
Only chiming in because of the GNAT/Sarah back and forth.
Home births and hospital births are my job. Literally. Either way I get paid.
There are risks both ways. Major risks if people really new many might fear a hospital and find he births less risky.
It’s a choice we can all make and 1 isn’t necessarily safer than the other across the board.
GNAT has never been judgy that I’ve read here and when wrong readily admit it. The reaction appeared very OTT right out of the gate.
That said GNAT you’ve based your opinion of midwives on terrible representations. We are not so bad:) I would never argue on a hall like that. And also being a nurse I favor neither home or hospital births, but can see the value in both depending on the circumstances.
My only issue with your cment/opinion is not to paint us all with the same brush from your bad encounter.
Given that most of us go to the hospital when we’re laboring, we all kind of transfer before birth…
@Ifusayso – there are vast, vast differences between a home birth-no-other-options in a country recovering from war, zero prenatal care and screening, and no meaningful options to transfer to in case of emergency (not to mention sterile instruments at home and poor nutrition) and a home birth in the US with excellent prenatal care and screening, good backup care and well-nourished mothers. These two things are apples and oranges. Taking away legitimate options here does not better bad situations there. (Furthermore, the midwives at the hospital I delivered at most recently go overseas and volunteer their care and expertise in delivering babies and training practitioners.)
@FLORC: I’m glad you brought that up. There are a lot of risks associated with giving birth in a hospital as well (that is where the sick people go, after all) and each intervention carries serious risks. No matter where you are – hospital, birthing center, home – do your research and find the best midwife or doctor and minimize your risks.
Though I should add, personally I gave birth in a hospital (though it was extremely highly rated for its baby catching and support programs) because that’s where they give you epideurals. I just wish I’d known that I could use a midwife and still get the drugs.
I agree 100% GNAT. And my OPINION is that people are nuts to do a home birth. It’s not only the actual birth that can be dangerous to mother and child. My full term, 8lb1oz baby was absolutely perfect, healthy. Until the next day when a nurse noticed her lips looked a little blue. I hadn’t noticed, neither did my husband, my parents. My baby had an undetected heart defect that could have killed her. What if I’d been at home, in the middle of the night?!? She could have died! It’s not worth it, you NEVER KNOW what could happen. That’s why I wish hospital stays would go back to being at least 3-5 days. But…ya know…insurance companies.
Yes, FLORC, I would certainly say that I am very influenced by a my own personal and horrifying experience. My neice is like a daughter to me, and she’s one of the smartest people I know. To have her life in the balance, not to mention her child’s, simply because of a whim, made me ardently opposed to home births. It is, in my opinion, not worth the risk, no matter how good the midwife might be. However, you are right to correct me for giving the impression that all midwives are the same as these two nimrods. Of course they aren’t, and I apologize for that.
@Betsy
That’s not what I mean and you know that.
GNAT
Fair enough and I can respect your position given your exposure. I do disagree based on a choice 1 can make if they are fully informed on the topic.
And most of my deliveries are within walls medical center. Only a handful of times was it outside of care centers in emergency situations.
Research and preparation is paramount!
@GNAT, I think if you have had a bad experience—as did I—you feel more strongly because you’ve experienced the risks. It’s all very real. I often feel like people casually choosing a home birth for their first are doing so because they have feelings about something they haven’t even experienced yet. They have vague ideas about hospitals and their personal comfort but I understand why, when you’ve watched or been the person having an agonizing and brutal childbirth, you find this just…eye rolling.
At the same time, I really felt like the hospital treated me inhumanely because my extreme pain was in the context of birth. I have so much anger that they described my initial labor as “presenting as normal” when nothing about my pain was normal and they stood by casually chatting as I screamed while my insides ripped apart. There’s deep-rooted sexism at the core of this. So I just can’t be dismissive of other women’s fears even when it’s hard to take them altogether seriously in relation to what can really go wrong.
Well to be fair, not everyone has a hospital nearby that could deal with every possible birth emergency. I myself was transferred from one hospital to another during birth, and I know a lot of women who had that experience during or after the birth. Plus there aren’t always empty theatres so sometimes even if it’s an emergency you wait a while in critical condition or you’re transferred (and there won’t always be an empty ambulance hanging about to do that immediately).
It was about two hours between when my doctors decided to transfer me, and going into surgery at the other hospital. And this was a really major emergency. If I’d been at home it actually would have been a faster process as I would have been calling an ambulance and choosing to go to the bigger hospital hours before my doctors made the decision to transfer me, and any qualified midwife could have given me the same drugs the doctors did in the interim.
@GNAT – Isn’t it? My point stands. Those of us who birth in hospital make a transfer at some point in the labor and birth process – at the first birth my doula attended in this area, the third time mom truly didn’t realize how far she was in the process, skipped the planned (further) hospital and gave birth in the hospital lobby. I had to go in to get pit – some home birthers transfer just in case after birth, some hospital births have to check back in for complications. It’s not always a black or white situation.
I labored at home for three days. That part was a living hell, but I’m sure the doctors would have given the c section signal, because I wasn’t dilating. My son was fine , but yes, thank god, we were near the hospital and I pushed him out. I didn’t think I could handle a c plus a newborn, so to each his own, right?
I guess, but if you or your baby had died, it would have been because you didn’t want a C-section. Is that worth it? Having a hospital “nearby” doesn’t help much when you have three minutes to act. It’s like riding a motorcycle without a helmet. Sure, unless your state says it’s illegal, it’s your decision, but that doesn’t make it a good one.
disagree, think its not each to their own when it regards the life of your child that is so far along he/she is about to be born.
GNAT: there’s a difference though between choosing not to get a C-section because it’s taking a while, and choosing not to do a C-section when the baby is in distress. A LOT of hospitals will push moms into getting unnecessary C-sections even when neither the baby nor the mother is in distress.
I agree with you too, GNAT and especially for the first birth. These women had no history with birthing and anything could have happened especially with such big babies. Where I live, home births may or may not happen, most women choose between the public hospital and a pricey clinic about 5-10 minutes away by car. When I delivered my son, everyone told me to go to the pricey clinic but I refused b/c I was afraid in case of complications they would not have the needed facilities or tools. I’m glad I choose to go to hospital because Another woman that did not died that week as a result of her choice.
Everyone has a right to give birth wherever and however they want to. If I ever have to do so, I wish medicine would be advanced enough to just be knocked out the whole time lol
I understand what you mean but it is extremely enraging to see people making dangerous choices just because something is trendy on mommy blogs.
Of course it is every womans right to chose a home birth (even though it increases risks for both her and her unborn) because it is after all her body. But isnt it funny how the Duggars would never allow that same right to chose what to do with your body to women wanting to terminate pregnancies? Apparently EVERYBODY should have a say over those womens bodies.
But it’s not only her body. I find it problematic that the woman, just because she was equipped by nature to deliver life, has the upper hand in deciding if this life will be given the best chance of survival and having all rights to take any risks. Let’s not forget that birth was the sole reason for nearly half deaths of women not so long ago and is stiill a risk on itself.
My grandma gave birth 3 times all in twilight sleep. That was common in the 50’s and 60’s!
I know it’s a huge personal opinion but j just can’t get behind home births. Too risky and I don’t understand why anyone would willingly do it. People always say ‘well my pregnancy was so normal that my dr said it was fine’
So was mine. I still ended up in emergency surgery and if we had been at home my daughter wouldn’t be here.
Think it’s OK if you have a qualified licensed mid-wife. Have a friend that is an excellent mid-wife and she has medical staff on her team. She has a relationship with the local hospital so if something goes wrong, transport is ready. She actually notifies the hospital of the birth for a just in case situation. She also has rules, if you are over 40 they’re a lot of requirements to meet that also goes with if you are really young. Have a feeling the Dugars are the middies? Which means they don’t have those connections, probably aren’t licensed and that is scary.
This all day long!
A midwife or birthing center should have open communication with the closest emergency care should it be needed. Something you must do for the safety of your charge as a midwife is notify emergency care that there is a birth with details of the patient incase care is needed. The hospital already has the information.
I was wrong to assume this was common sense and basic practice.
I hope she’s OK. *sigh* To each their own, but I think that in this day and age there’s no reason to put your child and yourself in danger by doing home births! Alot like not vaccinating – one too many people have forgotten how deathly it used to be not to vaccinate…or in this case how childbirth used to be a leading cause of death for women.
I know a woman who WAS pregnant with twins and then lost one of them. She then later declared that she’s going to be birthing the remaining twin at home. I wanted to slap her for her selfishness! As she was obviously only doing this to brag! One would think that after loosing a child in the womb that you’d take every precautions to ensure the safety of birthing his/her sibling. I hope everything goes well for her and her unborn child.
That’s what I don’t get. I have 2 work friends who when they were pregnant respectively, said that they loved being pregnant and that they were going to try for no meds for the “bragging rights”. Is this a thing?
Yes, it is a thing. My sister in law thought she was Mother Earth for not having meds.
It is very much a thing unfortunately.
I made the mistake of taking NCT classes and they were very anti-med. The instructor was disgusted with me when she asked me the question about what I wanted from my birthing experience and I said ‘a healthy baby; however this happens’. I think I was supposed to say something about it being a natural experience, lol
It is for some reason. All I know is I couldn’t get the epidural fast enough. To have the insane pain of labor stop was just a wonderful thing to me. They are trying to make women feel like they have to prove something by going au natural. Why and to whom? Labor pain is unlike any other a woman has ever felt and to try and make someone suffer through it unnecessarily is cruel to me.
I had an epidural but it had worn off by the time I was actually pushing out my son, so I wound up giving birth naturally but not by choice! We’re expecting our second, and I plan on going the epidural route again. I just hope it doesn’t wear off this time! But, to each her own.
Despite being 26, 5/7 and 145lb while pregnant, I developed high blood pressure. No risk factors. I had two emergency inductions. I was already in the stroke range. If I had gone natural, the shock and pain probably would have given me a stroke. I needed those epidurals.
Bragging rights were the last thing I was thinking of when deciding to go med free. There are a ton of other reasons to go med free than “showing off” and I had nothing to prove. If you think you will have a safer quicker labor with or without medication, then that’s the one you should have.
I tried for no meds (no epidural) because I was afraid of them sticking a needle in my spinal cord (I hate needles anyway). But after 10 1/2 hours of labor with them pushing the most pitocin they could and I was only 4 1/2 cm dialated, I changed my mind. After the epidural and I relaxed, I delivered an 1 1/2 later. Believe me, I had epidurals with my last two also. I hate when people brag how they didn’t do drugs – good for them.
It is and its frankly ridiculous. My mom was told once by one of those women that she could never be a complete mother because I was born by cesarean delivery. What that stupid woman didn’t knew was that, that was the only option because I had the umbilical chord around my neck and I would have chocked if she had tried a natural birth….
If you go back 150 years, don’t you think all those women would have loved to give birth in one of our time’s hospitals? Safe, clean, access to medicine and doctors…
The whole “natural” thing is such a first world problem. Just have a baby as safely as possible, for chrissakes.
My hillbilly grandmother helped to deliver over 300 babies in the backwoods of Tennessee where there was little medical access. She was actually very good at it and only lost a handful of babies in the time she did it. She learned from my great grandmother, that knowledge was passed down. She could turn a breach baby with her hands and my mom saw her do it many times….but when a local hospital opened that performed deliveries she stopped delivering babies. She sent the women to the hospital, my granddad would even drive them. She told my mom it was better for the women and cleaner. She had a lot of women get infections after successful births because was almost near impossible to prevent it in home deliveries. Its why she stopped when access became available. Yes, women in the past did it because they had to not because it was necessarily a choice.
@ Isabelle – granny midwives! In communities with little available care, they did great work. There is a very famous African-American granny midwife whose name I’m blanking on. I’d be proud to have that heritage, Isabelle.
With hospitals being so open to whatever birth method you want with the safety of doctors available if needed I don’t know why anyone would do a home birth. Of course I’m rural and it would take me 35 minutes to get to the nearest hospital and they don’t have a full OR all the time. Their OR was closed last time I had a baby so I would have had to be driven an additional hour to a main center if something was wrong. I can’t imagine what would happen with a home birth!
My last labor went too fast for any meds and it was AWFUL. Why anyone with access to modern day pain meds would choose to go through such a barbaric thing with no meds simply for bragging rights is beyond me.
Precipitous birth is generally acknowledged to be an especially tough thing as there is no time for you to get used to where you are, so to speak. I hope if I have a third that I am able to go med-free, mainly to avoid the nutballs swelling and engorgement you get with IV fluids.
And not all hospitals are very accommodating, actually. I had to go to a hospital 20 miles from my house when one was 2 miles down the road in order to get a VBAC. And that’s just a VBAC.
Maybe it’s just Canada that’s accommodating? You and your midwife can use the hospital, you don’t have to have a doctor but they’re there if something goes wrong. You can use those bouncy ball things, have a water birth, whatever, they have everything available to you right at the facility.
With my second kiddo the time elapsed between leaving my house and arriving back home with my baby was 7 hours, including commute time. I’m having my third and final in January and I hope it involves a little more time and some drugs. Copious amounts of legal drugs.
I think it just depends on your area. I also live in a rural area and I’ll be driving an hour to get to the hospital. I’m really hoping I’ll make it to being induced. I’m terrified of possibly giving birth in the car, without an epidural. The hospital I’m going to is very accommodating though. They also have the options of using those balls or having a water birth or having a midwife. It’s a really nice hospital and I live in America.
@Sunnyside – it really depends where you are, but on the average, I do not think hospitals are incredibly accommodating. Some are, some aren’t. Those of us in big cities are blessedly spoiled for choice – I have nine hospitals, three or so birth centers, and multiple home birth midwife groups I could pick from – but in small towns and rural areas?
@screwstewrat19 – some hospitals are accommodating, some give a veneer of accommodating. On the upside with babies being born on the roadside – from everything I’ve read, they tend to proceed exactly according to the ideal evolutionary plan, and the ambulance will meet you halfway. 😉 Good luck!
I gave birth without any meds simply for the fact that my labor progressed too quickly. I would never have chosen to do it that way otherwise! Daughters, always giving you trouble, lol!
The idea of childbirth alone frightens me so much that I really, really don’t understand how any first-time mum could go for a home birth. You have no idea what’s going on, there are a thousand things that could go wrong and you’re all on your own with no control. I got shivers just by imagining it. But then again, I’m generally a sissy when it comes medical things.
She may not be a nice person, but i´m happy she + baby are ok! This could have ended badly for both of them
I live in NWA. I don’t understand why they don’t use Mercy Hospital’s natural birth center? It’s on a wing of the hospital, and doctors are near in case anything goes wrong. Other than that, it’s completely crunchy and natural. Is it because of the cost? At home is free?
I hemorrhaged after my twins. It was scary. My BP was 50/30. I received five packs of blood / blood products. My husband is an OBGYN, and he was worried. I’m hoping this scares them enough into at least using a birth center. Things rarely go wrong with deliveries, yes. But when they do, it’s catastrophically quick.
I live in NWA too. Glad I haven’t seen any of the Duggers lately (saw them once outside of Walgreens) My disdain for them would surely show on my face.
I’ve been in Fayetteville, AR and its awesome full of trees surroundings, including that beautiful Beaver lake and Eureka Springs, the caves, etc. It was a beautiful trip, and yes, there are liberals up there, I was at an uni exchange and met lovely people.
Yes, I lived there for a little bit when I was dating a Fayetteville cop. I was very surprised by how nice it was. I had preconceived notions abou AR but it was not hillbilly heaven like I expected. And beautiful. Hate that the duggArs give it a bad rap
I cried and cried when I found out we had to move here…Arkansas, what?!? It took several years and moving away for 3 years for me to appreciate it. But I love it now. It’s still too conservative for my taste, but it’s getting better. I’m originally from Colorado, which to me is still the best place ever. But I’d take NWA over other places I’ve lived like Texas and Minnesota.
But the Duggers do give it a bad name.
Which daughter is the midwife?
Jill is for sure…and I think maybe Jana too.
Jill was undergoing training as a midwife (although I don’t think she would have been licensed), and Jana had to go with since Jill was unmarried. Jana said she wanted to be a doula, but she was just Jill’s accountability partner. Neither continued training after Jill’s marriage.
I just saw a picture of Jill holding up a certificate, something to do with becoming a midwife. Where did I see that? Maybe the People app.
I find it so odd (even though I know I’m talking about the Duggars) that they won’t even allow their daughters to go to “school” by themselves. So if one of their kids wants to go to a training program, they have to find a sibling who wants to go with them? That is so suffocating and limiting!
didn’t Michelle accidentally get Jessa’s age wrong in the 911 call
Yes, and she also sounded like a zombie. I swear that woman is medicated. She’s have to be with all of those kids running around, even if her own kids are parenting them.
Anyway, I understand it’s wise not to panic, but she was peculiarly calm.
Yes she is much more muted off camera. Her hair is even smaller in “real life”
Example: footage of Anna’s 3rd birth-when en rte to the birthing center, Michelle is an entirely different person.
The bizarre thing is that Michelle does not sound panicked or disturbed at all on that call. Still in that beyond-annoying baby voice and can’t remember how old Jessa is. “She’s oh-I-don’t-know 20something?”
I guess when you’ve had 55 children, it’s hard to remember which one is which. She’s such a great mother.
Lol. Seriously, how does she keep track? I can barely divide my attention between two. I guess the answer is she doesn’t even bother. But you’d think she’d know this daughter a little better given she’s got her own show now. Ugh.
My SoNamedMother has problems to remember my name, like i was a Child, No dementia, only too much Children, and the Boys are ways more valuable like me. My Sister was a good Girl and gave Birth to 5 Kids, yay.
Horrible “Mother” but hey…
my normal pregnancy ended up with him getting stuck, having to be pushed back up my birth canal, tearing me horribly and rupturing my uterus
Had I not been in the hospital steps from the OR and 5 surgeons my son and I would be dead.
After they got him out it took 7 hours of surgery with 5 surgeons to repair the damage, including me having to have a hysterectomy. I had to be fully transfused 3 times, with IV’s in my arms feet and legs , I crashed twice and had to be zapped back.
I was pushed hard by numerous people to have a home birth, especially by the birthing class people, since i was having a normal pregnancy.
Why people would choose to put themselves at such high risk, and their babies by not being in a hospital with all the birth choices offered there now, is beyond me.
1 in 3 women died in childbirth! modern medicine is a gift.
And I’m a trained doula that knows all the pro’s and cons of all the birth options.
OMG, Shelly, what a nightmare you went through.
First let me say I’m glad you and your son pulled through. What happened shows how quickly child birth can become a very dangerous situation. For the sake of the mother and child’s well being home birth should be a thing of the past. There are those situations where babies come so quickly that there simply isn’t time to make it to a hospital before birth. Having 2 children I couldn’t imagine going through labor at home.
Shelley
1st glad you and your family are OK.
2nd you had an extreme and uncommon situation. Your experience is yours and no one else’s.
Being trained youuat understand that home births are hardly damning your baby from the start and putting your health In imminent danger. That’s a lot of fear based talk.
Home births are fine with precautions taken and having a hospital aware incase they are needed.
Licensed midwife in my state and MSNursing. Most of my deliveries are within a complex connected to a hospital. Rarely at home like this article states.
I stand firm in my opinion here.
And the 1 in 3 stat includes cases like no care at all or no treatment as a pregnancy will progress. Not things like hospital to home births. The stat is an extreme from full care to no care at all. Like no food, medicine, or added eiak factors like drugs or malnutrition.
@Florc, the thing is someone has to be that statistic. I was that statistic. It’s easy to dismiss low statistical probability and if you’ve had a few births under your belt–I might too. But with your first, you just don’t know how it’s going to be. Somebody has to be that statistic and I can’t imagine going through life so smug as to always think it won’t be me.
I attempted a natural birth with baby number no. 2. I have a small frame, bub was 9 pounds 11 ounces and 57cm long. Long story short, after several hellish hours baby was born, I hemorrhaged (a terrifying experience), was rushed into surgery where I almost died twice. I woke up 48 hours later to be told the surgeons had performed an emergency hysterectomy due to a massive tear which started at the top of my uterus and continued down through my cervix and into my vagina. If I had not been in a hospital with access to medical facilities immediately after birth I would have died. It can happen. Anybody who chooses to give birth at home is an absolute fool.
Wow. What happened to you sounds very much like @Shelly’s comment. Glad you and baby made it through.
I’m really sorry for the pain you had to go through, Inge. I hope you’re doing well now!
A similar thing happened to a close friend of mine a year ago… It was her first (and only) baby, he was healthy and the pregnancy was normal. During birth, she hemorrhaged. The nurse just said “Oh my God” and then my friend fainted seconds later, she lost blood that fast. It was a tear the length of a hand in her uterus and birth canal. The doctor later explained that if she hadn’t been in a hospital with a surgery she would have died. My friend told me she’s secretly relieved she won’t need to even consider having more kids. I’m so going to a hospital when it’s my turn!
I didn’t listen to the 911 call, but the image of Josh Duggar between his wife’s legs catching the baby is wretch inducing. It’s almost gross enough to scream “trigger warning!”
Home birth is out of my personal risk comfort zone, but I’ve known many babies delivered this way. With these people who do it for political religious reasons, though, and I don’t trust to have had competant prenatal care or an actual trained birth attendant? Ugh. Gross, dangerous, stupid. Who was the birth attendant? Was she a lay midwife? Because the home birth midwives who I know are RNs first, then highly trained midwives next. They travel with pitocin, oxygen, IV fluids… Somehow, based on JOSH catching his wife’s baby, I do not believe these folks use real attendants.
I would assume Michelle and one of the sisters were the midwives/attendants
I know one of the sisters acts as a midwife, but she of course does not have the medical training to back that up
stupid stupid stupid is all I have to say
Yup. Do they have neonatal resuscitation training? Practice? Do they know how to judge hemmorhage vs. normal blood loss? I just don’t trust these goobers. But in their worldview, if motherhood is the highest calling to which a woman can aspire, I suppose that dying in childbirth is some sort of other-level martyr sh– guaranteed to earn you a plum spot in heaven, so why concern yourself with the partculars of safety. Also, doctors would probably suggest better spacing and more reasonable numbers of children.
Anna decided on a homebirth for her first at the last minute. Her primary OB was unavailable, and she wasn’t comfortable with a stranger attending her. I think she had a doula with. Her second birth was the infamous “toilet” birth. The poor thing was miserable, and shrieking on the toilet. She pushed out the baby with the entire TV crew watching her in the bathroom. Jill delivered that baby. Her third was at a birthing center. I don’t know about the fourth, since she was in hiding at the time.
I doubt these people use real midwives. Whoever was attending the birth seemed to have no medical knowledge whatsoever.
Yeah I think this is my problem too. I don’t trust that these people (any of them) make decisions in the interests of the mom or the baby. I think agency has been indoctrinated out of the girls. They’re all just making decisions based on the beliefs of their weird childbirth cult and probably a deep-seated distrust of medicine.
They look like such a normal hipster couple. Hard to reconcile their appearance with their freaky cult.
I love how they root for the University of Arkansas despite neither of them ever attending the school. So….it’s ok to cheer for the secular university full of heathens but God forbid they should actually earn a degree there! Especially not the women!
That’s not a big deal. Everyone in Ohio, alumni or not, root for the Buckeyes bc the Browns stink!
But, Nancy, I think the “full of heathens” issue would be especially important to this clan. If one opposed everything the college lifestyle stood for (i.e. learnin’ + fornicatin’), it’s a little strange to wear the college gear.
But don’t ask me. I tend to think of cultists as wearing 19th century handmade prairie clothing.
I’m assuming that Jim Bob and Michele and their minor children qualify for state-issued health insurance, just based on the size of their family. Can you imagine how expensive it would be to insure all of those people? That’s something that most responsible people consider when planning a family.
I’m just wondering if the Duggars did home births out of financial necessity, at least at first. Which is totally stupid when all states have welfare healthy care for pregnant women and their children.
LOLZ, Cousin Amy’s gonna be all up in the hospital, getting her epidural and taunting the Duggars girls with how great the drugs are.
I think Jim Bob, Michelle and their kids (maybe just the minor children but maybe all of them?) actually qualify for free healthcare because he served one two-year term in the Arkansas Legislature a while back. Somebody else might know the specifics but I’m sure I read that once
Jim Bob said their insurance did not cover pregnancy and normal childbirth.
Also the insurance was cheap (a few hundred dollars for the entire family) but not free. I imagine the coverage is excellent since usually that’s the case for medical insurance given to legislators.
If she spent too much time getting professional prenatal care, the doctor might suggest she stop having children. there’s some kooky IFB conspiracy theory involved. probably.
My mother lost her first son during the labor, and she was at the hospital, it was the ’60s so things were a bit different, my cousin souffered the exactly same complications my mother had, thankfully time were changed and doctors were able to save her baby.
I want drugs. I want doctors. End of it.
I’m sure these loonies (like most home birthers) will still act self righteous and joker than thou about home birth. They’ll completely forget about the doctors and nurses who saved their lives (and their daughters lives) and continue to demonize science and medical advancements as being too “worldly”
Oh and “trust birth” (to kill you) lolz
What surprises me about all is that after 19kids + a miscarriage, Michelle doesn’t seem to know much about giving birth…….
No one is guaranteed an easy labor. Much can go right and wrong.
As long as you’re prepared with a plan b of sorts if an emergency comes about you are in an ideal position.
BTW. Not posting much lately. It’s my busy baby season. New years to Valentine babies are here.
On a side point, maybe they should only have enough kids for them and not a legion to carry on their beliefs. How about a number where you can still love them and no need to enlist your first born daughter to be her siblings mom. Just a thought.
Are you a doctor or nurse? I guess I never knew.
Too true to the “no guarantees” in birth idea. At the same time, when I look back at myself when I was pregnant with my first, I was SO desperate to feel some, any control. No one wants to admit that you can do everything “right” and have a bad outcome or do everything “wrong” and have a great outcome. It’s such a heavy time, to borrow an old hippie word.
Licensed and practicing midwife on my state and nurse with Masters.
It’s very important for the mother to be to be comfortable. And to know when their plans take a backseat to health.
All lower to you if you go the natural route. No less power if there’s a complication and you give way to needing medical intervention.
Neato! Were it not for my innate squeamishness, I would investigate becoming a doula.
I look back at my birthing beliefs prior to my first baby and am just like, oh, Betsy…. shhhh…..
Michelle was in the hospital for her later births because she was so at-risk after having so many C-sections.
Jill and Jessa have just had to go to the hospital because their babies are just so darn gigantic.
Also they can’t name it Mark, one of Josh’s sons name is Marcus.
Michelle only had two home births per the website run by their leg humpers.
I read elsewhere that the baby’s name is Gabriel, although I’m not sure where that originated. They usually release the name quickly.
I have the impression, for most of the above posters it seems to be a fact, that hospital birth equals “safe” and home birth “unsafe”. If only it was that easy! It’s not, each choice has its own risks. The high rates of intervention at hospitals are a risk for further complications, just to mention one. A hospital has to be economically efficient, and the choices made by the doctors are not only about patients health. I don’t know how it is in the US, but here in Switzerland the hospital gets paid about 7 x more for a c-section than for a vaginal birth, which may also take hous and hours vs. the quick c-section…one of the reasons the c-section rates explode, it’s not nearly all about medical necessity. And a c-section is a big operation with it’s own risks for mom and baby..so as you might have guessed by now, I don’t share the opinion a hospital birth is per se best for Moms and babies safety and health.
Yup. I have a friend who almosted died after a c-section. She was pushed into the having a c-section by the dr because she had been in labor almost 12hrs, nothing was wrong with the baby the dr just decided she was taking to long. She hemorrhaged after the C-section and they did not have enough of her blood type at that hospital and she had to be transported 30min to another hospital thankfully she’s fine now, but they wernt sure she was going to make it at first. Also a lady who works at my gym died while having a c-section so it goes both ways. I’m in the PNW but the midwife in my town has a birthing center less than 5 min away from the hospital, and at least one of the hospitals will allow you to choose a midwife/doula instead of an OBGYN.
You can hemorrhage after vag birth as well. Giving birth is risky no matter what happens, so be safer and stay in a hospital. Also, the “lady who works in your gym” do you know WHY she had a c section? Could have been many many reasons that could have caused her death. Pre-e, heart failure etc.. You have no proof that “having a c section” was the direct cause of her death.
Lest we forget the MILLIONS of women over the course of humanity who have died in natural childbirth.
Listen, I will defend women’s rights to home birth and I fully acknowledge that birth is a physically and emotionally vulnerable time and that women’s rights are sometimes trampled, but in the US, at least, a huge factor in the increase of c-sections is liability and that, for a long time, VBACs weren’t allowed even under ideal condition. I don’t think most people go into medicine for the big bucks.
The WHO has a target of 10-15% of births be c-sections. The hospital where I work is making it clear that c-sections should be medical necessary only, not ‘just because’.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/14/c-section-rate-recommendation_n_7058954.html
http://improvingbirth.org/2013/01/u-s-hospitals-held-accountable-for-c-section-rates/
That’s not entirely true and I have two OBGYNs in my family. The c-section carries a high risk but not for the baby. For the baby it’s the absolutely safest way out.
Yes, it is, based on what we know now (i.e., subject to change when we learn more about the microbiome), but let’s not sneeze at the experience of adult. effing. woman. C-sections are still relied far too heavily on in some locations, especially considering it is major abdominal surgery. I found infant care almost impossible after mine.
P.S. I gave birth in a birth center.
I would never criticize anyone for not circumcising their sons. If I’d known then what I know now, I would not have circumcised mine. However, he’s 43 years old, and back in the ’70s, you just did it, no questions asked, no options offered.
Every pregnancy, every delivery, is different. You just do what you feel is best for you and the baby.
In my culture this just doesn’t exist. I was very surprised to find out it’s still quite popular in the USA but all the US pediatricians I’ve met advise against it. Kind of odd.
If I had to do it a second time, which I will not (one kid and one kid only for me), I would do it at home with a midwife. My hospital birth experience was horrific, and two of my girlfriends had hospital births followed by MRSA infections that nearly killed them.
I know three women who had all of their kids via midwife service at home, in their own beds. One had a complication and went to the hospital, which was plan b all along and accounted for. Everything went well.
It’s a choice everyone can and should make for herself. To me, it wasn’t about my precious birthing experience. Giving birth is a bitch, no matter how you do it. I never went in for that whole, “Oh, it’s the natural, earth mother way” business. That just isn’t how my emotional and spiritual life works for me. But…I would trust a midwife (male or female) every bit as much as an obstetrician for helping me deliver a baby.
I don’t know how it works in the US but here in Denmark you have a trained, licensed midwife assist you either at the hospital or at home. If you chose to do a home birth, the midwife will be extra careful and transfer you to the hospital at smallest sign that anything is not right. Doing a home birth here is not crazy – it might actually make a lot of sense in terms of comfort and feeling calm. Besides, here you only have a doctor present if there are some sort of complication, and even then the midwife usually seems to know better (during my birth she was definitely more experienced than the doctor).
Personally I chose to do it at the hospital because that’s where they keep the epidurals (that thing was paradise!). But I just wanted to point out that home births don’t have to be a poor choice if you have good midwives.
Midwives cannot save you in a medical emergency. That cannot give you blood or antibiotics via IV at home. They cannot give you a c section. And most of all, they cannot prevent your body from doing crazy shit and killing you in a moments notice. Btw.. Sounds like you had a great epi. Mine didn’t work. Awful awful labor!
Ifusayso: it’s great that you have such passion about this, but based on your comments on this page, you might wish to read some non-biased sources about midwifery because you are flat out wrong on several points.
Also, in which exact instant will antibiotics save your life? Midwives transfer….
Midwifery training in the US is not standardized like in many European countries. There are three levels. Direct Entry midwives basically apprentice with another midwife. Until recently you didn’t even need a high school diploma to be one. Certified Practiciing Midwives meet the standards of the American College of Nurse-Midwives. Certified Nurse Midwives are Registered Nurses formally trained in midwifery. You really can’t compare US home births to any other country because of the lack of uniform licensing practises and education.
That is very true. Basically anyone with some rando “certificate” can be a midwife. That is why home births here in USA are a damn joke. My dad in an obgyn. Needless to say he would never ever ever let one of us have a home birth. OB’s see some shit, and they see it basically 60 hours per week for 40 years. They aren’t SAHM moms who want to earn $1000 bucks by burning inscense in your house and catching your baby. If you would trust your babies life and your own life to some unlicensed, unaccredited midwife then… umm.. sorry but you are a damn fool!
And everyone that thinks obgyns are like evil, rich 24/7 golfers, please get real. There is no magical “tee time” your doctor wants to reach so he gives you an unnecessary c section. Have you ever seen an ob? They have a board to answer to if they give a c-section for non medical reasons. And they don’t want to give a woman a c section JUST FOR FUN! Sections bring a host of complications in subsequent pregnancies. Complications your doctor is worrying about on his day off.
You are seriously deluded if you think that obgyns don’t care about the health of moms and babies or are trying to get in and out of work to go golfing. If you believe that you have never worked in medicine and are very misinformed.
There’s no way I would want to have a home birth simply because of the mess. I know that usually the midwife or doula cleans it up but it still makes me cringe. I remember after I had my VBAC with my last that I left a huge pool of blood on the floor when I stood up. That’s even while wearing one of those padded diapers. I was perfectly fine and it still seemed like so much blood.
Too many women I know had complications from childbirth. Natural doesn’t always mean easy.
I had a really good and easy pregnancy, no complications whatsoever but I ended up needing a forceps delivery because my daughter got stuck. Her heart rate was dropping, I was developing a fever and my blood pressure was getting dangerously low. She needed to come out asap and I can’t imagine what the consequences could have been if I had not been in a hospital.
If people want home births, have at ‘er but for me, I didn’t want to take any risks I didn’t have to.
Hope she and the baby are OK.
I could see Kim and Kanye going with a name like Isreal.
I keep seeing people talk about how they wouldn’t “let” a pregnant woman give birth at home. All debate about whether or not home births are a good idea put aside, are you the pregnant woman in question? No? Then you don’t get to decide. You don’t “let” her do anything.
Her body, her choice is not dependent on whether you agree with her choice.
Why to rush to hospital? Home is perfectly good place to stay. And whatever happens, it’s only God’s will.
Poor kid.
+1
It’s not like she was really allowed to make the decision where to birth.
I had a certified nurse midwife for both of my kids, and I loved it. They were wonderful. But I delivered in a birthing center in a hospital. During my labor with my son he became distressed because the cord was around his neck. So the midwife called in the OB/GYN she worked under in case things got worse. As it turned out things got better and the Dr left. And although I fully trusted my nurse midwife(who was one of three that worked in that OB/GYNs office), it was nice knowing I had the resources of the hospital if I needed them. Long story short, an experienced and knowledgeable nurse midwife can be an amazing part of your birthing process, but I think you have to be smart and safe about it. So find one that has hospital privileges
When I had my daughter, I was 20 years old, in perfect health and no problems during the pregnancy, so seemingly low risk. She was born face up, and the Dr needed to deliver her with forceps. I started hemorrhaging and almost died. If I’d had a home birth, my newborn daughter would have been raised without a mother. After my son was born (and almost losing him during the pregnancy) my ob recommended that I not have any more children. Sometimes medical science is far more valuable than the “old fashioned way”. And my largest baby was only 7.5 pounds. I’m almost 6 feet tall, so not a tiny woman, either.