A fortnight ago, in honour of Home Birth Week I wrote a story about home birth for my local newspaper.
It was a nice, feel good story, with a local mother giving birth to her two sons at home.
She described it as a wonderful experience, and encouraged other mothers to consider home birth as an option.
Feedback from this story? None.
After this article was published, another local mother, who did not have quite such a rosy home birth, contacted me.
She had had a dreadful birth, and listening to her story, my heart went out to her.
Legally, it was difficult to get her story into print. I had to be very careful not to defame anyone.
My first draft of the story was vetoed, and my second, heavily edited, article did go to press.
I felt quite strongly that just as the pro homebirth story was be published, so should the opposing view - which actually, wasn’t an opposing view at all, but was merely another viewpoint, one woman’s PERSONAL experience.
Feedback from this story? Loads. And not positive.
If you are a home birth advocate, an epidural advocate, a water birth advocate or just a scream the place down birther like me…what business is it of anyone else’s?
As far as birth goes, it is our own experience, and we should all be entitled to tell our stories.
Without criticism.
Just as I came under fire for having an epidural while giving birth to my first-born - a nine-pound big boofer (so much for one doctor’s concerns that as a vegetarian, my child would be unhealthy!) this poor young woman has now been criticised for daring to speak out about her birth.
She was educated, but when things went wrong, they went badly wrong, and her experience was not a good one.
I would hate to think of her reading the criticisms her story attracted, because quite frankly she has been through enough already.
When it comes to birth, let us give women some credit, and some understanding. Even if their choices are different to our own.