Is it possible to give birth at home? We tell you about the birth of Tommaso, born at home and with Lotus Birth. The baby remained attached to the placenta that fed him for 9 months, until it naturally broke off
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Is it possible to give birth at home? And what is Lotus Birth? Bringing a child into the world it is a very delicate and special moment in the life of every woman but also of their husbands or partners. Too many times, however, a long, painful birth, excessively medicalized or made in a cold and aseptic environment such as hospitals, it ends up ruining a day that should instead be unforgettable.
This is certainly not the case with Patrizia Lancia who, after a first bad experience, she decided to give birth at home and to practice Lotus Birth, or rather to keep the baby united to the placenta through the umbilical cord until, without forcing whatsoever, the detachment occurs naturally.
We asked Patrizia, who is a nurse, to share her experience with us. Here is his exciting story.
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Birth at home: how did you make this choice?
After the first childbirth experience occurred by choice in the hospital, my husband and I decided that if there was another child, we would be away from the hospital environment. Our story is nothing special, like many women we had a private gynecologist, who works in the hospital and who carries out his intramoenia outside the ward, like all women every month I went to the check-up and did the usual 3 ultrasound scans to check that my daughter was fine and growing well. But our gynecologist decided to perform a maneuver before the end of the term during one of the many visits, which induced the preterm sac rupture. A maneuver that normally requires an informed consent from the woman. So I was hospitalized for a broken sac but labor did not start, because it was not the time, and like many women I got the full package with oxytocin for several hours, which was followed by the epidural that I didn't want to do but which had become necessary to endure all those unnatural contractions, and in the end as I was exhausted by the unnecessary practices and by too many hours of waiting (2 and a half days) I also got forced thrusts (kristeller, currently banned in many European countries because it was considered dangerous) and episiotomy because (them) were in a hurry. As I was in total panic by now when I was finally able to let her husband in, I was so scared that he would see me half unconscious and uncooperative that I didn't want him in the delivery room, which I bitterly regretted.
My daughter was born at 02:15 at night I saw her 3 seconds while I was half unconscious from the barbaric practices suffered, and then I was removed to carry out visits and checks despite there being no reasons. I saw her again the next day at 08,30 because I got up from the stretcher where they had left me in the delivery room alone, escaping from the delivery block and going to the nursery, scolded because I didn't have to get out of the bed.
12 stitches separated me from my daughter but I was determined to finally hug her, so at the nursery after a few stories they made me take it (as if it were not mine !!) to try to breastfeed her but no one to help me .
On the 4th day they finally discharged us and we go home and there the ordeal begins because my mood was between the joy of birth and the terror in which I relived the panic of childbirth. Hence the choice of having another child but of to be able to choose our next birth from start to finish. We had to redeem ourselves.
After much discussion and research we found a midwife first who followed us even before conception, until almost the end of pregnancy, then for technical reasons we left her and we found others who took charge of us by listening to our story and taking care of us.
Families were the biggest obstacle but I must say that once the reasons were explained they were happy, albeit with a thousand fears because it is not considered a common choice.
But if you are well informed (as we did) it is clear that with the same low-risk pregnancy like mine, the hospital is not considered safer than other places. On the contrary choosing to give birth at home increases the protection of childbirth precisely because there are no practices at home to speed up childbirth but we follow the physiology of nature that has created us perfectly capable of doing it.
How did the birth in Thomas' house take place?
The house had been ready for a while, there was the labor tub already swollen, when I entered active labor the midwives were with us and after a first visit they practically only observed us and followed the progress of labor only by checking the heartbeat of the baby who was perfectly fine, so no continuous vaginal visit, monitoring or intrusions. There was silence, darkness, scented candles, I was in the hot tub and with me my husband and a dear friend of mine.
3 midwives observed and at each contraction with their hands in the water they massaged the sacred, making one acupressure at specific points to relieve pain. In 3 hours I was dilated and the suffering was very minimal, and I'm someone who can't stand a headache, so I have to think, and I think, that hot water and the tranquility of my home have been more effective than an epidural!
I could drink, eat, change positions, laugh, joke or sleep between one contraction and another. Then I got out of the water because I was so well that the progress had stopped, and they advised me to get out of the warmth.
As soon as it left the expulsive phase, certainly more painful but lived with great strength and serenity. Some fear that reappeared at the very end (remembering the hospital) was swept away by their strong words that put me back on track. I got down on my knees and started pushing. Tommaso didn't go down with his head, and we didn't understand why, but anyway, no panic.
The bag broke shortly thereafter and he started going down to go out, in the end we understood why he didn't go down, he had 3 turns of twisted cord around neck, shoulder and foot. He was unable to get off the way he was wearing but as soon as the sack broke, "Took the plunge" so they explained to us, children who are born stuck in the cord know when to be born, they find the right moment by themselves and he found it when the water started to drain, taking advantage of the water pressure.
Thanks again for making it at home, in the hospital for such a thing they would have cut me in half literally. And then I was immediately put on leaving the cord intact eaWe awaited the birth of the placenta, the twin of Thomas. When she was born she was put in a basin and we rested with our dad.
I immediately had the opportunity to let Tommaso free to look for my breasts through my scent. He was really emotional. Then we all ate a plate of spaghetti and then they cleaned us up, put us in order and Tommaso was weighed. Calmly. No tearing. Then all three of us went to bed (my daughter Benedetta was with her grandparents by pure chance) and we all fell asleep hugging.
Lotus Birth: what is it and what are the benefits for the baby?
Full Lotus childbirth plans to let iThe baby and the Placenta are born without being separated. There are various reasons for this. The first more scientific. This allows the child to receive all his stem cells that are due to him without intermediary cord banks, and provides him with a transfusion of his own placental and cord blood that provides him with a slightly higher number of red blood cells (hyperchromatosis) that help him support blood oxygenation as long as the baby is breathing well and autonomously.
Following are the more "new age" reasons that support the thesis of non-separation between a child and his placenta which has the same DNA as a twin would be, and therefore almost as if to keep intact that exchange relationship that kept the child alive filtering the blood and passing it the nourishment, letting the baby himself separate from his twin when he is ready to do so.
It is slowing down the rhythms of visits from relatives because the placenta is still attached and leaving the family and the child the possibility of still living in a bubble made of pure love and care of the child himself and his friend!
How long did it take to detach the cord? And what did you do with the placenta?
The cord broke off on day 4, but was dry and very thin one day after birth. There placenta after having been treated with salt changed every day, is currently frozen is ready to be buried under a new tree that we will buy and place in our garden, as a sign of new life. I know it's too new age but its meaning is important! While in the hospital she was thrown in the special waste!
Would you recommend giving birth at home and lotus birth to other future mothers?
Absolutely yes! It is not that difficult to treat the placenta and if you get help from the midwives with salt they really take great care of it, I believe that for a newborn baby, receiving his stem cells is important, and in the hospital if you give the cordon it is never for your child unless you pay a lot of money in a foreign cordon bank that can give it back to you if and when it is needed. So why not give it to him right away !!
If you really don't want to deal with this wonderful placental organ, you can at least opt for the delayed cut of the cord which plans to cut it only when it stops pulsing (like a heartbeat) means it's still alive! And he is pulsing to send the cells to the baby !! Would you cut a throbbing thing in two ?! I would like to take this opportunity to thank the midwives who followed me, guardian angels of the sacredness of childbirth. In my case Daniela De Angelis, Ivana Arena and Sara Battaglia from the Zoè health and birth center in Rome.
Every woman deserves to experience a birth like this.
Photo: @Patrizia Lancia
Read also:
BIRTH AT HOME DECREASES THE RISK OF POST-PARTUM HEMORRHAGE. HERE'S EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
