Jamaica Gleaner News - Gifted midwife - Woman delivers hundreds of children in remote community - Lead Stories - Tuesday | May 19, 2009

“No one was in the district to do it and when the mothers got sick, they called me,” she said.

Morant has lost count of the number of children she has delivered.

“I can’t say how many of them I have delivered, but it’s plenty - a couple hundred. I deliver mother, her daughter and her grand-children. Sometimes, one mother will have 12 or 13 children and me deliver all of them,” Morant said proudly.

The community hero bragged that she has never had a mishap while conducting her deliveries.

“Sometimes, they come for me in a taxi and I do everything for them. I wash their nappies, cook porridge and make sure that everything is right,” said Morant, smiling.

She said she does not charge a fee for helping people, but appreciative persons sometimes reward her for her efforts.

Morant was born in the community of Harmons and went to St Jago Primary School. She worked as a domestic helper for some time and has never been trained as a midwife.

The last child Morant delivered was her great-granddaughter two months ago. Her granddaughter Bobbeth Powell, whom she also delivered, told The Gleaner she preferred to give Morant full charge over her children’s entry into the world.

Powell was awaiting a taxi to go to the hospital, but time was running out, so Morant decided to take control.

“She has more patience with you and I am more comfortable than when I am at the hospital,” said Powell. Morant has delivered four of Powell’s seven children.

“I was not afraid because my grandmother prays for you before she delivers the child,” Powell told The Gleaner.

“I feel good when I see the children who I delivered. They all respect me and most of them call me Mama. It’s my children in a sense, but it’s not my birth,” she said.

1 month ago

YouTube helped father deliver baby | News

A proud father has explained how watching video clips on YouTube helped him deliver his baby son.

Marc Stephens said he had to act quickly when his wife Jo went into labour three weeks early as she had a history of fast births with her previous three children.

The 28-year-old Royal Navy air engineer, from Redruth, Cornwall, searched “how to deliver a baby” on the internet and after viewing a few clips said he was ready to help deliver healthy baby Gabriel.

Mr Stephens said: “I didn’t even have time to panic. She started complaining of pain around 10.30pm. I went on Google and watched a couple of clips on YouTube.

“At 2.30am she woke me up, but when I rang the midwife to come out she said they were busy at the hospital.

“The next thing I know she is coming through the bedroom doorway on all-fours. I looked down and the baby’s head was showing.”

After delivering baby Gabriel safely all the family, including daughters Jasmine, two, Sophie, five and Zoe, six, waited for an ambulance to take them to the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Truro.

They were all home again by 6.30am.

Mrs Stephens, 28, said she and baby Gabriel are doing well and being looked after at home.

2 months ago

Beautiful advertisement from Spain, featuring a home birth! (via miraloqueveotv)

2 months ago

BBC NEWS | Health | Home births 'as safe as hospital'

The largest study of its kind has found that for low-risk women, giving birth at home is as safe as doing so in hospital with a midwife.

Research from the Netherlands - which has a high rate of home births - found no difference in death rates of either mothers or babies in 530,000 births.

Home births have long been debated amid concerns about their safety.

UK obstetricians welcomed the study - published in the journal BJOG - but said it may not apply universally.

The number of mothers giving birth at home in the UK has been rising since it dipped to a low in 1988. Of all births in England and Wales in 2006, 2.7% took place at home, the most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics showed.

The research was carried out in the Netherlands after figures showed the country had one of the highest rates in Europe of babies dying during or just after birth.

It was suggested that home births could be a factor, as Dutch women are able and encouraged to choose this option. One third do so.

But a comparison of “low-risk” women who planned to give birth at home with those who planned to give birth in hospital with a midwife found no difference in death or serious illness among either baby or mother.

“We found that for low-risk mothers at the start of their labour it is just as safe to deliver at home with a midwife as it is in hospital with a midwife,” said Professor Simone Buitendijk of the TNO Institute for Applied Scientific Research.

“These results should strengthen policies that encourage low-risk women at the onset of labour to choose their own place of birth.”

2 months ago

Home Birth after 2 Cesarean Sections (via joandchris18)

3 months ago

Staying Home to Give Birth: Why Women in the United States Choose Home Birth

The newest issue of the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health includes an article on home birth, detailing the reasons women make this choice. Here is the abstract:

Approximately 1% of American women give birth at home and face substantial obstacles when they make this choice. This study describes the reasons that women in the United States choose home birth. A qualitative descriptive secondary analysis was conducted in a previously collected dataset obtained via an online survey. The sample consisted of 160 women who were US residents and planned a home birth at least once. Content analysis was used to study the responses from women to one essay question: “Why did you choose home birth?” Women who participated in the study were mostly married (91%) and white (87%). The majority (62%) had a college education. Our analysis revealed 508 separate statements about why these women chose home birth. Responses were coded and categorized into 26 common themes. The most common reasons given for wanting to birth at home were: 1) safety (n = 38); 2) avoidance of unnecessary medical interventions common in hospital births (n = 38); 3) previous negative hospital experience (n = 37); 4) more control (n = 35); and 5) comfortable, familiar environment (n = 30). Another dominant theme was women’s trust in the birth process (n = 25). Women equated medical intervention with reduced safety and trusted their bodies’ inherent ability to give birth without interference.

4 months ago

Hypno-waterbirth.(via happyolya27)

4 months ago

Charlotte Church gives birth at home for the second time

The 22-year-old delivered her second child by rugby star Gavin Henson on Sunday January 11.

She was at home in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales, with Mr Henson for the birth just after midnight.

The baby boy weighed in at 7lb and 5oz but the couple have yet to announce a name for their son, according to a statement on the star’s website.

Both mother and baby are doing fine, said the statement.

It is understood that Miss Church delivered her son in a birthing pool at home, with the help of two midwives. He was 10 days overdue.

5 months ago

Pregnant women are urged to give birth in their own homes - Scotsman.com News

MOTHERS-to-be are to be encouraged to stay away from hospital in an effort to more than double the number of home births in the Lothians.
Pregnant women living furthest from the ERI and St John’s in Livingston will be urged to consider giving birth in their own homes.

It is thought that avoiding long trips to and from the maternity units – including the sometimes hectic dash to “get there on time” – will make the experience of giving birth more relaxed for many women.

The health board also hopes to ease the pressure on the hospitals caused by the growing number of births.

There has been a gradual increase in the popularity of home births in recent years, with 150 taking place last year – two per cent of births – compared to 112 in 1995.

Health chiefs hope to see that number rise to closer to 400 in the coming years, or five per cent of all births.

What a refreshing outlook on birth. Did you catch that they are actually asking those living further from the hospital to consider this option?

6 months ago

Our Home Births (via Prism7513)

After having had a home birth, rarely do people return to planning to birth in the hospital for future children. This is a touching slide show of three sequential home births in this family.

7 months ago