Why Nikki Reed’s home birth shouldn’t be idealized

Nicky Reedstar Thirteenjust a few days ago she had her second child born of love with husband and colleague Ian Somerhalder and for the event she chose i leave at homeThis is stated in a message posted on their Instagram account.

From Beyoncé to Gisele Bündchen, through Meghan Markle, more stars are opting for this birthing method, which is often suggested or chosen by even “non-VIP” women in labor, as it is considered the most capable of bonding mother to child. unborn child and lived as a comprehensive experience of motherhood. However, apart from the individual freedom to choose what is considered best or most suitable for a person, in the case of childbirth, the main interest should revolve around the safety factor, which is often absent or at least not completely guaranteed, according to maternity activists and the author also explains Francis Bubba

in this post.

There is a protocol for accessing safe home births, Bubba writes, but it is too often ignored in the name of a dangerously incomplete narrative.

What is this “partial narrative”? Anyone who would like, for example, home birth, like traditionally a symbol of maternal powerunder the pressure of the mantra “but our grandmothers / mothers always gave birth like that”, which overlooks an absolutely important detail, namely the fact that 50 or 60 years ago, many home births, unfortunately, ended badly, with the death of the newborn, the mother, or both precisely because of lack of adequate sanitary and hygienic conditions and for the rudeness with which the operations were carried out.

A detail that takes on even more significance today, which, again, according to Bubba’s post based on the data provided by dailysanita.it, the mortality rate is still 1.26 for home births compared to 0.32 for hospital births per 1,000 births.. A sign that although gynecological and obstetric medicine has advanced, giving birth at home remains more dangerous than doing it in adequate facilities. And even if Bubba believes that part of the responsibility lies with the sanitary facilities, which cannot ensure the safety of pregnant women, the main aspect remains the “right to access care.”

we have the right to access security,” the activist writes, “but without complexity and information, there is no security.

After all, Reid herself, in the caption to the post dedicated to the birth of her second son, clarifies how important the safety factor is:

(…) To be honest, the reason I felt compelled to share something so personal is because I have a burning desire to highlight the value of midwifery and show the incredible wisdom these women bring during and after childbirth, – the actress writes – Especially in the postpartum period, many women are left without support and together we must change this situation. With a culture that doesn’t properly care for new mothers and a healthcare system that doesn’t value the need to care for new mothers, it’s time to make a difference.

However, there is another aspect analyzed by Bubba in his post, which is: hidden classism What’s Hiding in Home Births: Beyoncé, who we’ve already mentioned, spent $2 million on her birth at the home of the twins Ram and Sir, to guarantee herself the best equipment, including incubators. in Italy for home birth requires 3,000 euros only as compensation to the midwife who accompanies the pregnant woman and is, in fact, a “service for the rich.” The reason why more and more women choose free birthgiving birth to their children completely alone and in places that are not always suitable for birth, for example, in the mountains or at sea, with all the consequences and risks that follow.

Home birth should not be demonized completely or a priori, but certainly should be contextualized and, above all, not mythized, because that’s not what makes people who give birth “more or less mothers,” in the same way that natural childbirth or breastfeeding isn’t. What people deserve when they give birth is, first of all, the opportunity to do it in a safe environment and under the guidance of trained and competent people.