Homebirth Rally

Homebirth is our right, but this right is being slowly wittled away by policy makers in this country.On Wednesday this week, Charlotte and I flew to Sydney to participate in a homebirth rally. The rally was located outside of the annual conference of the Australian College of Midwives. The ACM has issued a policy statement that disallows Independent Midwives from attending women at home if they are not considered 'low risk'. This includes:

- breech babies
- twins
- labours outside of 37-42 weeks
- a previous caesarean.

Vaginal birth after caesareans (VBAC) success rates at home are around 95%, where as in hospital it is sometimes as low as 6.7%. It makes sense for women to stay at home and be attended by their own midwife.



The rally was the first I have attended, it was a huge day, we left home at 3.30 in the morning and got home at 10pm. I caught the plane with a group of women from Geelong that I had met online on Joyous Birth, the Australian homebirth network. We, small town women, had a great day exploring the big city together. It was incredible to be a part of such a powerful collective of feminine energy.


When we arrived at the conference centre, the police kept most of us away from the main site, standing in the sun in the carpark, allowing only twenty near the building, where there was media waiting. Eventually we all got together and walked through the police and the protest began!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6sVqubPmak&noredirect=1

You can see me speaking fifteen minutes into the clip.

We shouted and sang and told our stories. We tried calling down the president of the ACM, but she didn't come. We made the afternon news in some places, but not the 6pm news, maybe if the Queen hadn't arrived on the same day it may have been different. It was such an incredible day, and I am so glad that I was a part of it.