Free birth at what cost?

Dismayed. Disheartened. Disgusted.

I think of myself as a pretty liberal person. I have a pretty much do you own thing kind of attitude about most high debate issues. Although I was watching the Discovery Health channel tonight and was thrown for a loop.
There was a program called Freebirthing.
For those of you that have never heard of such a thing freebirthing is giving birth at home without any professional medical assistance including a midwife. It goes on to include that many of these women have received no prenatal care.

Sure you might think. What do you care? It's their problem. It's her decision on what she wants to do with the birth of her child.

Well no. I can't think that way. Not about this.

To understand my feelings about this I suppose I have to go into a little personal history.
I was born with a birth defect called an omphalocele. An omphalocele is a type of abdominal wall defect in which the intestines, liver, and occasionally other organs remain outside of the abdomen in a sac because of a defect in the development of the muscles of the abdominal wall.
Sounds pretty crazy right?
The labor was short and my mom was rushed from labor to delivery. Being ordered not to push in transit. They had no prior knowledge of the defect before I was born. My mom's last ultrasound had been canceled which would have revealed the defect.
My mom described a panicked, frightened, and awestruck look of the OB's face when I came out.
I was rushed into surgery to repair the defect. The sac was delicately holding part of my liver and intestines. The umbilical cord was attached to the sac since I had no abdominal wall to adhere to. They repaired the defect to the best of their abilities.
I still have a scar running from my mid-breast bone to my pantyline. I have no real bellybutton. Just a scar where they tried to construct one when I was 5 years old.
I suffer from digestive issues that I will live with all my life. I also have a permenant teflon pad in my abdomin which was an early attempt at an abdominal wall. I have to be careful of my core muscles for I am more prone to a hernia. I have back pain because of my weak core muscles.

Though I do have lasting effects of this birth defect, I can't help but think about what would have happened if I had been born at home with no medical assistance present?

It seems pretty certain to me that I would not have survived. Or there would have been more serious complications and infections.

I am hurt that these women think so much about what they want. Or how they want the birth to go. You can't forget that its not only the birth of your child, but its the your child's birth. Its about the baby. Keeping the baby safe and free from harm.

Hosiptals can be scary and doctors don't always do the right thing.

But all I know is I own my life to the doctors, nurses and surgeons that were with me at my birth.

Who will your baby be thanking?