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Owen Wilson, Doctors Urge Your Girlfriend To…

Owen Wilson, Doctors Urge Your Girlfriend To Reconsider Having A Home Birth!

Thu, January 13, 2011 10:51am EDT by Hollywood Life Staff 32 Comments

The actor is anxiously awaiting the birth of his first son at his multi-million dollar Maui mansion, but experts warn it’s best to have the baby in a hospital.

Owen Wilson and girlfriend, Jade Duell, are going to become first-time parents at any moment. According to reports, Jade, 28, was due on Tuesday (January 11) so their little boy is a bit late. The couple is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the bay they’re going to name Ford Linton inside their $8 million Maui, Hawaii home because Owen, 42, wants his birth to be as peaceful and Zen-like as possible. But doctors tell HollyBaby.com that giving birth at home is very risky business.“The fact is that childbirth has killed more women in history than anything else,” says Maui-based psychologist Heather Wittenberg.

We were shocked to find out that the risk of dying in childbirth in the US is worse than in 40 other countries, according to Amnesty International. “I understand that parents today want less medical intervention. But at what cost?” wonders Dr. Wittenberg.

Owen’s going to be a daddy!

“Having a home birth, to me, is like saying ‘I think I won’t wear my seatbelt on a cross-country road trip.’ You know what? You’ll probably be OK, but why take the chance – especially when the risks are so high – and the victims so precious.”

Recently Dr. Wittenberg has noticed a disturbing trend amongst well-to-do parents. “I see more and more upscale parents, who reject the safety net of medicine – immunizations, hospitals,” she tells HollyBaby.com.

This woman biked to the hospital while in labor!

HollyMoms, we don’t need to tell you that pushing out a baby is hard work. Sure, the human body is a machine but even machines have a tendency to malfunction. If and when something goes wrong during the delivery, it’s best to be surrounded by medical experts.

If you want to give birth at home because you don’t like the super sterile hospital environment, Dr. Wittenberg says birthing units have come a long way since our parents were in labor. “Luckily today there are lots of great hospitals that know how to manage birth with the least medical intervention necessary,” she explains. These medical facilities have nurse-midwives to deliver the babies but the doctors are nearby should any serious problems arise.

Celine Dion was happy to be in the hospital before the birth of her twins

“Celebrities should embrace the ‘middle ground’ of delivering in a home-like, but safe environment,” says Dr. Wittenberg. “Others will follow their example.” We certainly wish Owen and Jade the best of luck with the birth of their little boy, but HollyMoms, it’s probably best that you don’t follow their lead when in labor with your next bundle of joy.

–Amy L. Harper

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OK forget it woman obviously werent designed for birth
You scan on a bed to gain the maximum pelvic capacity induce because its going to be a big baby ect ect HELLO your maximal pelic capacity is in a squat not lead on a bed (it closes furthur!) and who knows what the relaxin hormones do to increase the capacity and since when were the ultrasounds ever 100% perfect
STOP TRYING TO SHOCK WOMEN OUT OF THEIR RIGHT TO BIRTH NATURALLY AND INVAIDING THE PROCESS WITH INTERVENTION THAT LEADS TO A CASCADE OF INTERVENTION THAT DOSE RESULT IN MORE RISKS

look at the risks of prostoglandins and syntomentics STILL BORNS HYPOTENTION ECT ECT

THERE IS RISK IN EVERYTHING
LESS WHEN THERE IS LESS INTERFEARENCE TO THE WOMAN!!

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I’m all for informed consent and refusal. As a birth doula, I have attended births at home with certified midwives and in hospitals with OBs and nurse midwives. The care I have witnessed by some OBs has horrified me. Birth at home with a midwife -nothing- like birth in a hospital with an OB.

A wonderful book to read is The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth. It covers all the aspects of birth with pros, cons, alternatives, and research to back it up.

Most OBs practice based on fear of litigation. Midwives practice based on evidence. OBs manage labor from other locations. Midwives labor-sit. OBs treat women like emergencies waiting to happen and intervene under the guise of preventing problems. Midwives trust a woman’s ability to birth and intervene only when necessary, knowing that the birth process happens most effectively when not messed with.

The real issue is that OBs don’t want the competition from midwives. If the secret gets out that women are capable of birthing just fine at home, and seeing as how birth with a midwife is at least 50% (and sometimes 75%) less expensive than a hospital birth, how are OBs going to stay in business? They would be better off partnering with midwives, who are more than happy to labor sit at all hours, leaving OBs to handle truly high risk women and necessary surgical deliveries. Midwives are experts in normal pregnancy and childbirth. Having an OB for that is like hiring a pediatrician to babysit your kids.

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The so-called “risks” listed in this article are indeed given by a doctor – a psychologist. I’m curious what the dentists have to say about home births…come on, Hollybaby, can’t you even interview someone whose specialty is in obstetrics if you’re going to try to shift public opinion one way or the other?

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Childbirth has killed more women in history?! How about CHILDBED FEVER, which is transmitted by DOCTORS who didn’t wash their hands? In healthy, low risk women, home birth is as safe or safer for a prepared mother.

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Yes, well the poor advice pours in. The mortality rate in this country is actually due to the fact that 99 percent of births occur in the hospital here, most with way too much intervention. Guess what? That 1 in 3 chance of having a cesarean isn’t a joke. C-sections are major surgery and triple your chance of dying delivering your baby. Having a baby at home, especially with an experienced midwife is LOWER risk than delivering in a hospital in this country. That’s the truth.

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We had a beautiful, safe homebirth. Most people I know give birth at home too. If you are a healthy person, it is a very safe option. Birth is safe, interventions are risky.

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This is the most irresponsible and poorly researched excuse for editorial journalism I’ve ever seen.

There is an abundant and growing body of SCHOLARLY RESEARCH (you can find scholarly and research in a dictionary if you don’t know what they mean) that shows that low risk births at home are as safe OR SAFER than hospital births.

Trained midwives don’t show up with bong and bongo drums, they carry infant resuscitation equipment, antihemmoragics, suturing supplies and an abundance of knowledge and experience to recognize when a hospital transfer is necessary.

Since you’ve clearly never given birth naturally, hollybaby, labor and delivery doesn’t happen the way it does in the movies. Most problems are recognized with ample time to receive assistance (i.e. you have time to drive your own car to the hospital, going the speed limit) and even in true birth emergencies having the full capabilities of your body (i.e. no epidural) is your best ally when a baby is stuck in the birth canal or a cord prolapses.

We have the most medicalized birth process on Earth and tragically high ranking in infant and maternal mortality … maybe we could learn something from those other 39 countries with better outcomes than us?

Please print an apologetic retraction admitting that you should never have published such an incendiary and fear-based piece without doing some research first. (Think asking a DOCTOR counts as research? Hmmm…. I wonder what a doctor has to lose by women learning that giving birth at home is cheaper, safer, and and all around better experience?)

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I could NOT have said it any better than this.

I re-iterate the first paragraph here:

“This is the most irresponsible and poorly researched excuse for editorial journalism I’ve ever seen.”

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What an absurd article. First of all, ONE percent of US babies are born at home. So when you say that 40 countries around the world have LESS babies and mothers dying during childbirth, consider that those are mostly ALL babies dying while under the “best” of care AT. THE. HOSPITAL. Did the writer of this article even realize how they themselves just contradicted what they said?

Secondly, Celine Dion? Really? She is like 45 years old. Had a high intervention conception, and a high risk pregnancy. You don’t compare apples and oranges.

I wonder how many people have ever actually witnessed a home birth, or know the actual statistics of US hospital birth. 80% are inductions and one out of every 3 babies are surgically born. Does that sound healthy, normal to you?

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“The fact is that childbirth has killed more women in history than anything else,” says Maui-based psychologist Heather Wittenberg.

I wasn’t aware psychologists studied medical death statistics even from times in history where there were no records…hmm…I call bs.

Also, the number 2 country on the infant mortality list has 70% of babies born at home. Booya.

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you are so right… “We were shocked to find out that the risk of dying in childbirth in the US is worse than in 40 other countries”… HOWEVER, MOST OF OUR BABIES ARE BORN IN HOSPITALS.. so the only thing that says to me is that birth in a hospital is dangerous… care to guess what birth is like in most of those 39 other countries? That’s right! most low risk mamas give birth at home… in fact in some of them insurance will not even cover an ob & hospital if you don’t have a medical NEED for them. So perhaps this magizine should get it’s facts straight before it starts putting out propoganda & scare tactic information. My first was a hospital birth that turned into a unneeded c/s… in fact both my family practice doc & ob this last time agreed the c/s with my first should not have happened (and btw, I had a great doctor the first time… the only thing he did was exactly what he was trained to do)… my 2nd was born 4 months ago with a midwife… the only thing that failed me was my mind when I freaked out at the end… care to guess what caused me to freak out? that’s right… left over trama from the hospital birth with my first. This article disgusts me & you owe apologies to all the parents out there that you basically said don’t love or care about the safety of their children. How dare you pass judgement on me & my husband. We stayed home with a midwife to PROTECT myself & the baby (that’s right, I said to protect MYSELF too… because believe if or not, a dead mama from a failed surgery – remember a c/s is surgery – does my newborn baby no good. A mental destroyed mama from being disrespected & mistreated at the most vulnerable time of her life does my newborn baby no good). You owe a HUGE apology to the entire homebirth community & I will make sure everyone I know never reads this site until it is given.

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Didn’t the decrease in maternal mortality back in the day coincide with learning to wash hands to prevent infection? I swear I saw someone make the connection somewhere one time.

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Midwives are trained to vaginally deliver babies. OB/GYNs are surgeons trained to cut them out. Why the hell should anyone on a typical pregnancy want to go to a surgeon for a natural process? The doctors told me I’d die, 100% chance of it, with a vaginal birth. My body screamed at me not to undergo the knife. I listened to my body. Our bodies want to LIVE and won’t tell us to do what we can’t. I can’t wait to have another HOMEBIRTH!!

Also the rate of deaths in this country are going up right on pace with the rise in c-sections. Let that sink in…. If hospitals and their 33% chance of c-sections are supposed to save lives, why are MORE women dying in hospital births now?

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The US is worse than 40 other countries when it comes to maternal mortality, yet we have THE HIGHEST RATE OF OB-ATTENDED BIRTH IN THE WORLD. What does that prove?

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The Amnesty International report about the increased rate of maternal death in the U.S. is based almost entirely on hospital births — after all, only about 1% of all births in the US occurs at home. Women are dying during or after giving birth in hospitals. There is no data whatsoever that links an increase in maternal death to home birth. Recent studies demonstrate that out-of-hospital birth is actually safer for low-risk women if they are attended by an experienced midwife or physician — experienced in out-of-hospital birth, that is. Stop criticizing Owen and Jade. Families that opt for out-of-hospital birth typically do so only after educating themselves thoroughly on the risks and benefits of BOTH home and hospital birth.

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Can I just ask what relevance their home price has to this “article”? None at all? That’s what I thought. If childbirth is so dangerous, how as a species did we survive before hospitals became the norm for birth LESS than 100 years ago? If you are going to “report” on something, maybe FACT CHECK A LITTLE BIT.

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Boy are your “facts” wrong. Women died in childbirth years ago the majority of the time due to blood loss. Home birth midwives carry medications in the event of a hemmorhage, oxygen, IV fluids, and know MUCH MORE about the natural process of childbirth than most any OB you’ll run across. If you want to give birth in the hopsital where they can try to manage your birth and therefore have the tools to fix what they’re messing with, then great – you may fall amongst the 34% who have a c-section and the accompanying triple mortality rate for yourself as well as a NICU stay for your baby and increased risk of Postpartum Depression, the list goes on… If you want mother nature to do so well what she has already done for the 6 trillion people here on earth (90% of who were born at home), then hire an experienced home birth midwife and lower your chances of a c-section down to 4-6%, increase your chances of a beautiful and gentle birth experience for you and your baby, a near 100% breastfeeding success rate, and know you are doing so in an environment that is “as safe and often safer” than a hospital environment. Who wants to kneel or put their hands on a hospital floor or labor on a toilet or in a shower where thousands of other mothers have been? (Oh right, it’s rare to see a laboring woman in a typical hospital out of the bed.)It makes more sense to give birth at home in your own germs that your baby has already been exposed to through your own antibodies instead of being exposed to MRSA and other strep and staph bacteria (it IS after all a hospital where SICK people go.) After being a doula for 14 years and attending homebirths now for 5 years, as well as having had two hospital births and two homebirths of my own, I can see why over 97% of home birth moms would do it again versus the 22% satisfaction rate of women who have had a hospital birth. This is not a medical emergency people. It is a natural life process that a woman’s body was made to do. The belief and fear in America that women’s bodies are somehow “broken” is outrageous. How would we have survived as a species up to this point if 34% of our babies needed to be surgically removed from our bodies? We wouldn’t have.

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You have something wrong. The c-section rate among homebirths is <2%. :)

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Wow! This atrical was….well…IT SUCKED! It looks like you are a one sided jack ass who does not care about reasearching an issue! Wow! Really? I am a mom of 6 kids and have had to have all my kids in the hospital bacause I am NOT a good canidate for a homebirth due to the complications I have during births. But I know many, many (In fact all my closest) friends that homebirth and I have never heard of any complications that have resulted in the death of the child or the mother, while I have had 2 mom’s loose their children and end up being extreamly ill while having a hospital birth.

Accordding to Wikipedia>>>

“A study of 529,688 low-risk planned home and hospital births was reported in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 2009. The study concluded:

A home birth does not increase the risks of perinatal mortality and severe perinatal morbidity among low risk women, provided the maternity care system facilitiates this choice through the availability of well-trained midwives and through a good transportation and referral system.[19]

Further, the study noted there was evidence that “low risk women with a planned home birth are less likely to experience referral to secondary care and subsequent obstetric interventions than those with a planned hospital birth.”[19]:9 The study has been criticised on several grounds, including that some data might be missing and that the findings may not be representative of other populations.[20]

In North America, a 2005 study found “similar mortality rates for low-risk hospital births and planned home births.” The study found that mothers who gave birth at home were less likely to require medical interventions like a caesarean section or forceps delivery. About 12 percent of women intending to give birth at home needed to be transferred to the hospital for reasons such as a difficult labor or pain relief.[21] However, women in the study were more likely to already have had a child, tended to be older, of lower socioeconomic classes, better educated, and less likely to be African-American or Hispanic.[21]

A 2010 metastudy of studies which specifically compared only planned home births with planned hospital births among healthy, low-risk mothers in industrialized countries found no difference in the home and hospital rates of perinatal death, but also found that “planned home birth is associated with a tripling of the neonatal mortality rate.” The authors wrote that they found this increase “striking” since women planning home births generally had fewer risk factors than those planning hospital births — lower rates of obesity, fewer prior Caesarean sections, and fewer previous pregnancy complications.[22]”

Allso on Infant Mortality >>>

“Perinatal outcome is more complicated to assess due to the low incidence of mortality and the subjectivity of Apgar scoring. Most studies found a slight, but statistically significant, difference in Apgar score for infants at five minutes. However, the 1994 UK National Birthday Trust study found a slight advantage for home birthed infants at one minute and no difference at five minutes.[25] No cohort study has conducted long-term follow up on the infants. The perinatal mortality figure still remains controversial. The Zurich study[24] showed an equal perinatal death rate between the home birth group and the hospital birth group (2.3 / 1000), and the Birthday Trust study found a slightly higher perinatal death rate in the hospital birth group (1 / 1000 vs. 0.8/1000).[25] However, two other studies[23][26] found a slightly higher perinatal mortality in the home birth group as compared to the hospital birth group. None of these results were seen to be statistically significant, since the actual mortality rate and the sample sizes were both so low, these figures have been the subject of much debate regarding the relative safety of home birth compared to hospital birth.[26][30]”

According to webmd “Although rare, newborn deaths occurred in 0.02% of the total planned home births included in the analysis, compared with 0.09% of the total planned hospital births. Among infants born without any birth defects, the rates were 0.15% vs. 0.04%, respectively.”

Come on now, do your reasearch!

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Sadly, it is no more dangerous to have a baby at home than it is to have a baby in a hospital, unfortunately Doctors don’t take the time to look at the actual research that has proven this.

Good for Owen Wilson for making an educated decision.

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Doctors know it, but want to keep control of births because of how lucrative it is. They rely on making the rest of us think they’re gods to do it.

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Homebirth is perfectly safe for mothers who are healthy during their pregnancy. Doctors and hospitals are meant to intervent, that is their purpose. If you are healthy and prepared, have a midwife or doula on hand, then homebirth is what women have been doing for…ever. The risk of death to mothers in birth or after birth comes IN HOSPITALS after epidurals or cesearean; it’s the surgical and unnecessary interventions that cause US women to die at alarming rates. US cesearean rates are TWICE the rate of any other Western nation. That is a shame that we need to change.

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Wow! What a crock of crap reporting on this. If the reporter took two second to actually RESEARCH the subject they would know that the study cited links the high mortality rate in American moms to the high intervention rate in American Hospitals. That we could greatly reduce this problem by having more home birth with midwives, and go to a “Baby Friendly” approach to birth as recommended by the World Health Organization. I am appalled at this load of scare tactics, and rhetoric and the fact that any “News agency” would repeat this absolute rubbish. I would like to see a retraction or correction to this very poorly written and researched article.

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This is total BS. Having a baby at home is safer than in a hospital. Women all over Europe, for example, have home births and the have much better birth stats than Americans. Hospital staff want to intervene and unnecessarily do so on a constant basis, which means that American women have an outstandingly high number of C SECTIONS. which is terrrible. C-sections remove the chemical bonding that occurs between mother and child during birth. HOSPITALS are crawling with disease and stress, have a home birth.

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C-sections also make it harder, if not impossible, to have vaginal births subsequently.

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Only at the hospital. My friend has 11 children and is expecting number 12. Her 6th child ended up being an emergancy c-section. But she has been able to have all her others at home. All the ones before hand had been homebirths as well. The trick is to know your body and know when you need medical intervention. Anther friend of mine had 3 c-sections because of her uterus being a funky shape and every single time she and the baby had major complications. With her 4th she decided to take a risk and plan for a home birth as long as everything wit her and the baby were fine. And she did it!! After 3 c-sections!! And being told that she could never have a normal delivery!! And she has had 3 more since then. Without complications!!

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False. The risk of uterine rupture is actually very, very tiny. Doctors just inflate the risk to keep control of women and to lessen their liability. If a woman falls into that tiny number, doctors are afraid of being sued. If a woman died from an unnecessary c-section, because a c-section is the most extremely birth intervention, courts will see it as “everything that could have been was done.”

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Well I love how a psychologist is commenting about something that is not her area of expertise. Either way she knows a bit about birthing but not what an obstretician or midwife knows. Home birth is safe if you are low risk and the reason that the risk of dying during childbirth is so high in the states is two fold- unhealthy moms and an intervention happy medical system that has tried to have moms give birth on their terms not ours. Childbirth has it’s risks but homebirth is safe option.

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We had our second daughter at home, using a doctor’s office that specializes in home births. My wife much preferred it to the hospital birth experience we had had with our first daughter. Most doctors like to act appalled at the idea of home births, but should we really expect any other reaction from people who practice regularly in hospitals? They fail to point out, however, that the high risk of dying in childbirth that exists in this country is achieved with the vast majority of deliveries happening in hospitals.

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the “expert” in this article totally contradicts herself. stating “The fact is that childbirth has killed more women in history than anything else,” then referring to a study that finds that the risk of dying in childbirth in the US is worse than in 40 other countries, according to Amnesty International. well if you read the Amnesty International article you find that the reason that the US has such a high mortality rate is BECAUSE of medical intervention. European countries have a way lower mortality rate BECAUSE they use midwives and birthing centers as the norm and hospitals as a secondary source. The real risk for owen and his wife would be to have a hospital birth, not a home birth.

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I had my daughter at home with a certified midwife 13 years ago. I’d do it all over again!! Having a baby is not a medical event!It is a natural event that has been happening since the beginning of time!! In most European countries midwife home births are the norm as well as birthing centers where doctors are secondary to midwives!! It has been proven that even with high risk pregnancies there is a lower mortality rate among mother and child in home births than in hospital births.

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I agree, having a child is NOT a medical condition!! Too many women are fooled into that thinking by doctors who are quick to jump… and quick to offer “handicapped” tags for their vehicles. It’s pregnancy, not a sickness!!!

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Owen Wilson, Doctors Urge Your Girlfriend To Reconsider Having A Home Birth!

The actor is anxiously awaiting the birth of his first son at his multi-million dollar Maui mansion, but experts warn it’s best to have the baby in a hospital.

–Amy L. Harper

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