Move Over Ricki: Homebirth has a New (Super) Spokesmodel
Last month’s reports of Gisele Bundchen giving birth to baby Benjamin at a Boston area hospital turn out to have been greatly exaggerated. She indeed gave birth … to baby Benjamin … but she did it at home in her tub.
The supermodel revealed this particular detail in an interview on “Fantastico,” her country’s version of “60 Minutes.”
She told the interviewer that she had opted for homebirth with a midwife after watching Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein’s “The Business of Being Born,” a documentary about homebirth, hospital birth, midwives and the choices women sometimes have — and sometimes have to face — when bringing a baby into the world.
As the Boston Globe points out, homebirths are hardly the norm in Bundchen’s homeland, Brazil, which until recently has had the world’s highest c-section rate.
Here’s what Lake has to say about the latest celebrity to give homebirth a shot:
“It’s so great to hear that (Gisele) had a positive homebirth experience,” Lake told us yesterday. “Not only because it was at home and in water, but because it says a lot to girls who follow her.”
Some reports say Bundchen also used hypnobirthing techniques to stay calm and manage pain.
I have never been the least bit interested in Giselle Bundchen, ever, ever, ever … until now. Homebirth can always use another role model (errr, you know what I mean), and Bundchen is a great one. She’s skinny (none of this “too small for a vaginal birth”), rich (the higher the income the higher the risk for c-section) and from Brazil, where c-section has been normalized and is obviously preferred. She’s also not associated with armpit hair, macrobiotic diets and/or megalomania, which far too many people think has prerequisites for wanting to stay home to have a baby.
I’ve got two homebirths behind me (including one waterbirth, which, for the record, aren’t such a big deal — the tub is the epidural. Think of it as the epidural!) and once in awhile grow weary of defending it because it’s really not brave, it’s really not dangerous, it’s really not wacky, it’s just what you do — what some of us (including Giselle-freaking-Bundchen!) do.
Size 12, Old Navy-sporting, disheveled me has never felt so connected to haute couture and the runway. Call me, Gi! Let’s trade birth stories!
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“I have never been the least bit interested in Giselle Bundchen, ever, ever, ever … until now.” Madeline,I couldn’t agree more.
“I’ve got two homebirths behind me (including one waterbirth, which, for the record, aren’t such a big deal).” Madeline, I couldn’t agree less! My waterbirth was just incredible. Three years on and I still get a rush thinking about it. For me, it was a truly transformative experience.
Great perspective on this story! Let’s hope that all this attention on homebirthing and informed birthing has a positive outcome, instead of inciting a backlash.
Hmmmmm…. Then again… Bring it on!
You’re right, VoR, I wasn’t trying to downplay the birth, water or no. But often, the stories and discussions get fixated on the waterbirth aspect. The big, big deal is that: she gave birth outside the hospital! Who cares if it was in a tub, it was a high profile homebirth. And for those who would like families to have more legal and affordable options when it comes to birth, someone like my girl Gi giving birth in her apartment — tub or otherwise — is the big, big deal.
[...] Move Over Ricki: Homebirth has a New (Super) Spokesmodel [...]
[...] fog of burning sage and into the clean-aired living rooms of Brooklyn apartment dwellers. It also influenced more than one woman to go the at-home route for [...]
[...] Move Over Ricki: Homebirth Has a New (Super) Spokesmodel [...]
I have been a strong supporter of homebirth in my life. I made the choice to have an attended, natural, unmedicated waterbirth. It was beautiful. However, my baby had several rare life-threatening complications that my extremely experienced midwife did not recognize that needed immediate treatment. After two days he went downhill, and we brought him to the hospital, within moments of the pediatrician seeing him, she recognized two of the multiple problems. My child has lasting neurological issues from the delay in diagnosis and treatment.
I will plan to have another unmedicated birth with no hesitation. I would never ever consider giving birth away from immediate access to a pediatrician again. I’m so conflicted because I, like many of you, was a vocal supporter of homebirth for so long. I would definitely have rather had a c-section or ANY other discomfort than put my son through all the trauma, tests and treatments he has had to endure. Any comfort I benefited from at home was not worth it for me.
I hope more woman stand up for more unmedicated births without intervention in a hospital’s birth center when possible.
Birth is not pathological but the stakes are life and death.
I don’t mean to start a fight, I just noticed that when I started telling my homebirth horror story, I started hearing lots of other poor outcome stories. I truly wish I would have heard them when making my decision. It seems that no one wants to ‘scare the pregnant lady’ so lots of these stories were censored while I was pregnant.
Frankly, I’m just writing as I sit here feeding my sleeping little one through his feeding tube because I am still processing the PTSD..
It’s just, I have seen both sides of the coin and have landed on the flipside.