I feel like a Hippie!
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Category: General Chat
Forum Name: General Chat
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URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=30404
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Topic: I feel like a Hippie!
Posted By: blondy
Subject: I feel like a Hippie!
Date Posted: 09 December 2009 at 6:19pm
A pregnant friend in the US has just let us know she's being induced tomorrow, 10 days early from her EDD, because her doctor thinks her baby's estimated weight of 8 1/2 lbs is too big to go to full term! 
I'm soooo glad we live in NZ, where our options about childbirth are more open! And that we are generally more empowered to say no if we don't agree with something. I suggested to her that she use a bath or shower to help with some of the pain, but all her US friends are telling her to get an epidural as soon as she's admitted. Anyway, never thought I'd be considered a hippie, but by comparison I'm well out there  -------------  
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Replies:
Posted By: lilfatty
Date Posted: 09 December 2009 at 6:21pm
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Yeah those "yanks" are a breed unto themselves ------------- Mummy to Issy (3) and Elias (18 months) I did it .. 41 kgs gone! From flab to fab in under a year  http://www.femininefitness.co.nz/category/blog - LFs weight blog
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Posted By: rachelsea
Date Posted: 09 December 2009 at 6:51pm
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Hehe, yeah my friend in the US also automatically had an epidural as soon as she was admitted when in labour with both her kids, she didn't believe it when I had DD with no pain relief (she just never thought you could do that!) now she says she wants to try and not get an epidural when they have their next baby now she knows it's not compulsory hehe (if she's allowed that is!)
I also must be a hippie as on Good Morning a while ago, a lady was talking about attatched parenting, and said "I don't mean you have to be one of those hippies who breastfeed, use cloth nappies, wear their babies and co-sleep" lol, I'm guilty of three of those, and have co-slept on the odd occasion when necessary  each to their own eh!------------- DD 4yrs DS 2yrs http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: HippyMama
Date Posted: 09 December 2009 at 9:31pm
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The US maternity system is a mess, but at the same time... even though we have more choices here, our maternity system certainly isn't flawless. Women are still bullied by OBs and served up a huge amount of misinformation.
That said, I am looking forward to Christmas with a few of DH's rellies who will probably look at me with two heads when I mention homebirth... should be fun!  ------------- Mama to two earth walkers & two angels. Remember, you are not managing an inconvenience; You are raising a human being. ~ Kittie Franz Next Slingbabies! Meet - Friday 4th May !! |
Posted By: Mamma2N
Date Posted: 09 December 2009 at 9:33pm
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hehe... GOOOOOOOO THE HIPPIES!!!
Although I'm a little perplexed as to why cloth nappies/co sleeping/breastfeeding/baby-wearing are associated with 'hippies' when those parenting choices, both individually and collectively are older than the alternative parenting choices we have today ie disposables/buggies/formula/cots etc
Oh and ETA - why 'natural' birth is considered abnormal too????? Back on topic - I am faced with the same sort of dilemma with the prospect of any future babies we have being born in Italy, where the maternity system is VERY medicalised. They apparently have a very high c-sect rate. DH's family think I'm mad that I want homebirths and that potentially I will be having unassisted births as there are very few, if any private midwifes in the area we will be living in. The cloth nappies/baby-wearing/extended BF'ding and on occasion co-sleeping doesn't help with their view of my parenting choices.. hehehehehehe
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Posted By: HippyMama
Date Posted: 09 December 2009 at 9:45pm
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Mamma2N - me saying this might not surprise you but, your babies - your body - your birth! Trust it, regardless of where you are ------------- Mama to two earth walkers & two angels. Remember, you are not managing an inconvenience; You are raising a human being. ~ Kittie Franz Next Slingbabies! Meet - Friday 4th May !! |
Posted By: Mamma2N
Date Posted: 09 December 2009 at 9:47pm
Absolutely! I also have to commend you for bringing it to my attention that we DO have choices with regards to when & how we birth our babies - the professionals don't have the final say - we do! And atleast I do have DH on my side who is very excited about a homebirth - so he can deal with his family
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HippyMama wrote:Posted By: emz
Date Posted: 09 December 2009 at 9:52pm
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I've heard of it happening here too.. and also for things like 'I was just so over being pregnant'. It really frustrates me because I was meant to be induced due to PE (that went undiagnosed by my m/w for ages) and IUGR at 39 weeks but because it was over Xmas they bumped me off. Yet my cousin, the 'poor thing' is a small girl so got induced at 39 weeks because of a bit of back pain and feeling really fat (her words, not mine).
I can't believe that you go to the hospital as soon as you go into labour in the US - which as we know generally has the effect of slowing down the labour. |
Posted By: Bobbie
Date Posted: 09 December 2009 at 10:02pm
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Plus they like you to be on the bed for the labour don't they? Or is that only on TV shows? -------------  
 
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Posted By: HippyMama
Date Posted: 09 December 2009 at 10:36pm
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Definitely not just on TV shows, and not just in the US either... ------------- Mama to two earth walkers & two angels. Remember, you are not managing an inconvenience; You are raising a human being. ~ Kittie Franz Next Slingbabies! Meet - Friday 4th May !! |
Posted By: AandCsmum
Date Posted: 09 December 2009 at 11:21pm
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Yay us Hippies unite!!
The US programs really get up my nose! ------------- Kel http://lilypie.com"> 
A = 01.02.04 & C = 16.01.09 & G = 30.03.12 |
Posted By: caitlynsmygirl
Date Posted: 09 December 2009 at 11:47pm
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LOL, I used to watch some US maternity program, and I believe the entire time I watched it, I saw only 2 women give birth naturally, it was like "hi so and so , look you've been in labor for 5 minutes, we are going to have to do an emergency C section "
...(and no, im not saying there is anything wrong with people that do have c sections, just highlighting the ease with which they were given on this particular program ) ------------- 
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Posted By: kiwisj
Date Posted: 09 December 2009 at 11:59pm
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Mamma2N - if you want a homebirth in Italy then I'm sure you will be able to do it!
Births tend to be very medicalised here (in Singapore) too, it's not uncommon to choose your elective c-section date based on whether the date is auspicious or "lucky" (the 8th of the month is always busy!). Also there are NO independent midwives. BUT there are 2 obstetricians who will attend homebirths here and they are the same two obstetricians who are much more relaxed (normal, IMO) to their approach to pregnancy and childbirth. I wasn't that excited about being pregnant here until I started asking/reading around and found out that you CAN have what you want.. you just need to know where to look. ------------- SJ Callum - Dec 2008 Daniel - Oct 2010 |
Posted By: bebebaby
Date Posted: 10 December 2009 at 12:17am
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You definately need to watch the movie, the bussiness of being born. That was an eye opener into the USA childbirth system.
My workmate just attended her sisters birth on an island by Spain, and the baby was taken off her after the C/S where the hubby wasn't allowed to be. And taken to the nursery and given a bottle of formula. THAT is the normal. WOW I can't believe it.
Fine if thats what you choose to do. But that you dont really get a choice!! That so far fetched from NZ. Yay NZ!! ------------- http://alterna-tickers.com"> 
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Posted By: kiwikid
Date Posted: 10 December 2009 at 3:17am
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The Business Of Being Born is a great movie / doco, completely the oposite to how the systems in NZ and the UK work. You can watch free online. A friends sister had her baby in the US and had an emergency C Section but after a few hours when baby hadnt fed properly they were threatening to take her baby off her and give it formula as she was insisting that she didnt want the baby to have a bottle. Their family is very pro BF / Grandma is a LLL consultant etc so they discharged themselves I think in the end as the threat from the nurses was that they would give the baby a bottle if he hadnt fed in something silly like 5hrs post birth whether the mother agreed or not.
Watch the movie its really worth it, makes you see how its all about bed occupancy and long labour equals less turn over equals less money, so they bring out the drugs ridiculously early so they can free up the bed for another insurance payout. ------------- 
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Posted By: blondy
Date Posted: 10 December 2009 at 6:55am
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It's pretty crazy, huh? Thanks for reminding me about watching the business of being born - have been meaning to for a while!
I have another US friend who really is a hippie (BFing her 4yo, 2yo and is currently pregnant with her 3rd; co-sleeps, cloth-nappies, spins and knits her own yarn, wears her babies etc etc ), and I now totally understand where she is coming from.....if you're not 'mainstream' in the US, you have to be the polar opposite. I like that in NZ, we have a middleground, and we can pick and choose how much of the 'hippie' lifestyle we want.
(and I mean hippie in the sense that what is more mainstream in NZ is still *out there* by US standards ) -------------
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Posted By: AandCsmum
Date Posted: 10 December 2009 at 7:26am
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Ohh that doco sounds interesting. Might have to download that one.
We were supposed to move to Aus, I said to DH I wanted to stay here until bubs was born as I knew our system was better than the Aus one, based on what I'd seen & heard through my good friend over there. Although where we were moving they had just set up a new birthing unit so that looked promising, but I chose to stay here instead & funny we are still here! Yep understand what you are meaning by Hippy, Andrea  ------------- Kel http://lilypie.com">
A = 01.02.04 & C = 16.01.09 & G = 30.03.12 |
Posted By: ElfsMum
Date Posted: 10 December 2009 at 12:10pm
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I'm on an American board..they must buck the trend cause most want to go totally natural! ------------- Mum to two amazing boys! |
Posted By: ElfsMum
Date Posted: 10 December 2009 at 12:13pm
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emz that is shocking:(
remember they pay through the nose for everything they get done there too! it's crazy expensive! ------------- Mum to two amazing boys! |
Posted By: first
Date Posted: 10 December 2009 at 1:58pm
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Lol I qualify as a hippy under these terms too. I read this just before going shopping this morning with my son and I had a wee laugh to myself as I popped my boy onto my back while I did the groceries. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://pregnancy.baby-gaga.com/"> 
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Posted By: gypsynita
Date Posted: 10 December 2009 at 4:12pm
lol -- i once got accused by an american mum on a forum (not this one!!) of child abuse because i had a home water birth!! 
have to admit though - as progressive and open as we are here in nz, i still turned a few heads having a home birth for my first, and bfing past a year (let alone 3 years!) hippy and proud of it!!  ------------- Anita Mum to Cian (Aug 08), Josh (Jun 10) http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: kiwisj
Date Posted: 10 December 2009 at 4:24pm
WTF?! LOL that's actually pretty funny! ------------- SJ Callum - Dec 2008 Daniel - Oct 2010 |
Posted By: gypsynita
Date Posted: 10 December 2009 at 7:47pm
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yeah funny in retrospect - i was pretty peeved at the time though! ------------- Anita Mum to Cian (Aug 08), Josh (Jun 10) http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: palomino
Date Posted: 10 December 2009 at 9:24pm
| Just watched the doco. Really good! wish i had seen something like that before i had my baby. |