I need to rant for a second. My wife is a childbirth educator, dula, student midwife and all around self taught birth specialist. Yesterday, she had to go to the aid of some clients of hers that just had an unassisted homebirth because CPS (Child Protective Services) was at their door. Now, an unassistad homebirth means that these people chose to have their baby at home, not the hospital and without any professional assistance, no doctor, no nurse, no midwife. Now, my wife doesn’t promote unassisted homebirths, she doesn’t promote really one kind of birth over another. She just helps couples make informed decisions. Anyway, this couple chose an unassisted homebirth because their religion tells them that unless their is a serious medical condition, that birth is natural and needs no intervention. They are some kind of Jewish denomination that belives in Jesus (can’t remember the name). Anyway, they had the baby, there were no problems and everyone was fine and dandy… Then, some of their relatives came to visit without notice the other day and it turned into a big argument. The family decided that the couples decision was unwise and called CPS. You know because family always knows what is best for you right??? So, CPS shows up at their door with police and demand to see the baby! That is right, armed men force their way into these peoples house to “make sure” the baby is safe all because they got a phone call from someone. Sound pretty Nazi to me. So, while this is happening, my wife (their childbirth educator), my wife’s friend (their massage therapist and other birth educator), and their Rabbi show up within 10 minutes of CPS coming. So, CPS leaves after 3 hours under the stipulation that they take the baby ASAP to a pediatrician and that doctor calls CPS directly to let them know everything is fine. Since when did we as Americans decide that a government agency can tell us how to have babies? This couple has been studying and researching childbirth for the last 9 months in preperation for this birth. They know more than the average person because they knew they needed to. They didn’t do what they did for any reason other than they belived this was the best thing for their baby.
