I wanted to share this awesome birth video (hat tip to my friend Amanda) - it is the spontaneous, unmedicated, vaginal birth of triplets! How awesome is that?
This birth occurs in a hospital, though the mama has had two homebirths for her other two children. You will see from her comments in the video that she had to make some unwanted compromises, but overall the birth went well and was fairly hands-off.
I believe that this birth occurred in England (right? anybody?), and perhaps that is why the birth seems so much less "fussy" than American births. Much less commotion, less shouted coaching at the mother, fewer interventions. Though there were a few things that bugged me (premature cord clamping! ack!), on the whole I was very favorably impressed with this birth. It would be very hard to get a vaginal triplet birth of this caliber in America (as far as I know!).
The short version: Babies A and C are vertex, Baby B is double footling breech and requires neonatal resuscitation (but ultimately does fine).
If I had multiples, I think I'd still want to have them at home. But this mama is an awesome warrior birther (how does she do it so calmly??), and I am in awe of this birth.
This birth was in Australia. It truly is a great example of what woman centered maternity care is all about.
ReplyDeleteSara G
BD (CBI)
Thank you for clarifying that, Sara! The possibility of Australia came to mind later as I was trying mentally to place the "Queensland" marking (on her pillow!) - thanks for confirming. Yes, for sure - woman-centered maternity care! Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteIt shows a natural birth with triplets can be done which is a positive for many mums expecting multiple births hoping to avoid a C Section. One thing I noticed was that the mum had an internal monitor, she should have said no, I can't understand why she didn't. Maybe she did not want to make too much of a fuss or was just grateful to have to OBs support to birth naturally.
ReplyDeleteJenny.
It shows a natural birth with triplets can be done which is a positive for many mums expecting multiple births hoping to avoid a C Section. One thing I noticed was that the mum had an internal monitor, she should have said no, I can't understand why she didn't. Maybe she did not want to make too much of a fuss or was just grateful to have to OBs support to birth naturally.
ReplyDeleteJenny.
Jenny - Thanks for visiting! Yes, I winced at the internal monitors too. I think this mum just had to make some sacrifices - as she said in the video, for example, "So much for the hands-off breech birth." I'm sure she would have done some things differently, but it was pretty amazing for a hospital birth!! Around here, as in most parts of the country, any multiples birth is usually automatically funneled into a section, so her birth is definitely a triumph on many fronts!!
DeleteThanks for taking the time to comment!! Have a lovely day!
Well she only had one internal monitor, and the other external one was belted very lose around her wait and not turned on. So she either maybe took it off as the labor progressed or the staff just decided it wasn't needed. She could have said no but she probably though that as they were willing to do a natural birth, she probably did not want to upset them by being too fussy. But it shows that it can be done.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely!! :)
ReplyDelete