# Can you have a lotus birth in the hospital?



## Raene (Jul 24, 2008)

I know that some hospitals do not allow you to take your placenta home b/c they consider it to be "medical waste" or something like that.

In my town you CAN take it home. But I'm wondering if they would draw the lines at a Lotus Birth (leaving the placenta attached to the baby). I have been planning a LB for 2 years and with some pregnancy complications, I may end up in the hospital. I would like to know what my rights are re: the placenta.

Anyone know of anyone who has done this?


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## Jilian (Jun 16, 2003)

I think you'd have a really hard time getting a doctor to be ok with that in the hospital. Most hospitals don't even want to delay cord cutting. I guess it all depends on the care provider and the hospital but I'm not sure it will be readily accepted. My only suggestion is to claim it is a religious ritual and ask if you'll be discriminiated against based on your religion?


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## wombatclay (Sep 4, 2005)

A lot will depend on your care provider and how on board they are with the plan. They'd need to be ok with leaving everything alone during the third stage and depending on bleeding/etc they may not be ok with that... so you'd want to have a few very open, honest, _detailed_ discussions with them about the possible scenarios. Don't settle for a "of course, unless there are complications" or "no way" answer... get specifics about what complications, options in those situations, reasons why they don't want to consider it, etc. And then get this in writing with signatures for your hospital file (prevents confusion with the hospital staff/protocols).

Assuming they are on board, you'd want your partner and labor support people to be keeping an eye on things. A lot of times "unusual" requests are forgotten as the nurses/staff go through their routines. It's not so much that they want to violate your request, it's more that they just forget till a second too late since it's not what they're used to doing. You'll be bonding with babe and may not be able to intervene with the staff so make sure you have someone who knows that that is their "job" at that moment.


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## JennTheMomma (Jun 19, 2008)

You should talk to your Dr. about it. At my place of birth you can have a lotus birth. They are not allowed to take the placenta away if you have plans for it, or cut the cord if you don't want it to be.


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## goosysmom (May 28, 2005)

The hospital I birthed at with both my children let me make my placenta prints and then I had to "dispose" of it in the medical waste bag. I did so bc I wasn't going to encapsule it or plant it bc we rent and weren't going to be staying near that tree.

With my second, the delivery was not complicated and easy peasy. My MW signed my discharge paperwork a few hours after birth and said I was welcome to go home when I felt up to it (I stayed the night bc my stepdaughter was there that day and it's always stressful and loud at the house and I wanted a quiet first night....no judgements please) and I spose I could've sent it home with DP and they wouldn't have known.

My hospital though it very woman centric, has staff midwives and are planning on staff doulas sometime in the future so......

I would talk to your doctor/mw and then make a very detailed birth plan regarding it....


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## HypnobabiesLover (Mar 11, 2009)

So I have been doing a little research on this topic as I too will be having my baby in a hospital. Once I'm pregnant of course.









I first heard of this from a friend. There is a Dr. Sarah J Buckley MD who had 3 out of 4 lotus births. She has a website if you wish to google her name. I was also reading somewhere that you can state: "I refuse non-urgent institutional protocols that are against my religious beliefs". Just one way of phrasing it and also discussing with your care provider "Umbilical non-severence to see where they stand with the matter.

That's all I found for now and www.lotusbirth.com seems to have a lot of info as well.

Good Luck!


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## FourTrees (May 14, 2003)

With my last birth I had a hospital based CNM in North Carolina who mentioned once doing a lotus birth. She thought it was funny...


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