# Hospital Lotus Birth?



## MamaHippo (Dec 4, 2004)

Asking a question for a pg friend - Anyone know if you can have a lotus birth at a hospital, especially if a midwife is delivering you there? Anyone experienced a sucessful hospital lotus birth?

Thanks!


----------



## JanetF (Oct 31, 2004)

I know a few women who have and they were c-secs too. Home birth transfers who asked that they still get their lotus birth even though it was a c-sec. Apparently the hospitals assumed it was a religious custom and so were unwilling to say no. So my advice is tell them it's an important part of your religion! I was pretty surprised to hear of it happening but made a mental note to ask for it if I had to transfer because it might be the only way to keep the baby on the placenta until it's truly ready to come off.


----------



## kerikadi (Nov 22, 2001)

I think religious is the way to go.
A friend of mine planned a homebirth but transported and they had to 'steal' the placenta because the hospital wasn't going to let them have it. I would think most would object just because they would have no idea how to deal with it and it wouldn't be convenient for them but if she claims religious they really don't have a leg to stand on.

Keri


----------



## MamaTaraX (Oct 5, 2004)

I think I've heahrd of one. I'mnot a huge lotus birth fan, but I'd at least birth a babe and letthe placenta stay attached for a little while. I was going to do that last time but my oldest was our cord cutter and anxious to do his job







I'd definately goi the religion route and get my lotus birthif i wantedone.

Namaste, Tara
mama to Doodle (7), Butterfly (2), and Rythm (due at home 1/06)


----------



## MamaHippo (Dec 4, 2004)

Hmmm - good ideas - what religion should my friend say she is? She's not anything specific, so she has no problem saying she's a buddhist or a hindu or whatever religion practices lotus birth.
Also - what to tell hospital workers when you ask them for the placenta, and they refuse, saying it has to be sent to 'pathology' and preserved with formaldehyde? that's what happened to me when DS was born, and my friend is having her first and wants to take the placenta home to plant after her lotus birth. She cant afford a homebirth cus it isnt covered under her insurance.
can you refuse to let them have the placenta? Is there a legal right to it?


----------



## MrsMoe (May 17, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MamaHippo*
Hmmm - good ideas - what religion should my friend say she is? She's not anything specific, so she has no problem saying she's a buddhist or a hindu or whatever religion practices lotus birth.
Also - what to tell hospital workers when you ask them for the placenta, and they refuse, saying it has to be sent to 'pathology' and preserved with formaldehyde? that's what happened to me when DS was born, and my friend is having her first and wants to take the placenta home to plant after her lotus birth. She cant afford a homebirth cus it isnt covered under her insurance.
can you refuse to let them have the placenta? Is there a legal right to it?


What religion you are is none of their business. You don't have to specify. Your spiritual beliefs are the only thing that's important.


----------



## JanetF (Oct 31, 2004)

The mamas I know didn't even say it was religious, they're mamas of colour so it was assumed... Stupid really but on this occasion helpful







I'll be claiming it's religious and refusing any more info than that!


----------



## peedub (Aug 4, 2006)

I am feeling heartbroken after trying to negotiate a lotus birth for our child who is due any day. We are having the birth at a hospital for good reasons, and we picked a great hospital that has a highly regarded, progressive midwifery program. Our midwife was supportive of the Lotus birth, but she ran it by the Nursing Administrator, who was very hesitant. She read the Wikipedia entry on Lotus birth, but is only giving us 30 minutes with the placenta. I was frustrated that there were not more good web references that are aimed at clinical people. Most of what's out there is very new-agey and lacks credibility for medical folks.

I'd love to see nurses who are at hospitals talk more about Lotus birthing - what their hesitancy is, how parents can approach this better. The help I could really use is for nurses to talk about how the issue of blood-borne pathogens could be handled with a Lotus birth. This was the major sticking point, and a valid one, IMHO. I could figure out some ways around it, such as taking responsibility as the parent for all the placenta care, but the NA needed to cover any possibility that liquid blood could be spilled.

Maybe we need to develop some kind of container that holds the placenta to drain, and allows air to circulate and the drained liquid to be caught securely. The other issue is preventing any torque on the baby's belly. The container would have to attach to the bed securely. And we need stories of hospital Lotus births that went well and were supported by the nursing staff.


----------



## JanetF (Oct 31, 2004)

Tell them you'll sue if they touch your child or your organs without permission. (A colander with a lid should suffice for draining etc and just go home straight after the birth.) They just can't force that on you any more than they can force any of their other crap hospy ideals on you. You don't have to justify your choice. If you want to have that kind of discussion tell them the onus is on them to prove it unsafe. Personally I'd just tell them how it will be. You're the parent. you decide your child's needs. Stick it to 'em!

You know, when you birth in your own home no one tries to tell you how it will go


----------



## arlecchina (Jul 25, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *JanetF*
Tell them you'll sue if they touch your child or your organs without permission. (A colander with a lid should suffice for draining etc and just go home straight after the birth.) They just can't force that on you any more than they can force any of their other crap hospy ideals on you. You don't have to justify your choice. If you want to have that kind of discussion tell them the onus is on them to prove it unsafe. Personally I'd just tell them how it will be. You're the parent. you decide your child's needs. Stick it to 'em!


I agree, scream that you'll sue and have the news in there in an hour, they'll back off. they cannot, under any US law I know of, FORCE you to subject your child to scissors to any body part









they cant just say it's unsafe or unclean, they have to prove it's against the law to NOT cut. which it isnt. so scream suing, religious reasons, and "all the way to supreme court". that should do the trick.


----------



## maxmama (May 5, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *peedub*
I am feeling heartbroken after trying to negotiate a lotus birth for our child who is due any day. We are having the birth at a hospital for good reasons, and we picked a great hospital that has a highly regarded, progressive midwifery program. Our midwife was supportive of the Lotus birth, but she ran it by the Nursing Administrator, who was very hesitant. She read the Wikipedia entry on Lotus birth, but is only giving us 30 minutes with the placenta. I was frustrated that there were not more good web references that are aimed at clinical people. Most of what's out there is very new-agey and lacks credibility for medical folks.

I'd love to see nurses who are at hospitals talk more about Lotus birthing - what their hesitancy is, how parents can approach this better. The help I could really use is for nurses to talk about how the issue of blood-borne pathogens could be handled with a Lotus birth. This was the major sticking point, and a valid one, IMHO. I could figure out some ways around it, such as taking responsibility as the parent for all the placenta care, but the NA needed to cover any possibility that liquid blood could be spilled.

Maybe we need to develop some kind of container that holds the placenta to drain, and allows air to circulate and the drained liquid to be caught securely. The other issue is preventing any torque on the baby's belly. The container would have to attach to the bed securely. And we need stories of hospital Lotus births that went well and were supported by the nursing staff.

We have a very similar situation, in that a patient has requested a lotus birth. The concerns from the nursing staff are primarily BBP (placentas fresh out are pretty bloody; I've never seen a long-term attached placenta, though), maintaining temps and accidentally snagging the placenta/cord during newborn care. As you noted, though, there's not a lot of information available about lotus birth in hospital, so we're not sure about the temperature thing. The BBP were the biggest issue.


----------



## JanetF (Oct 31, 2004)

My placenta sat in a colander draining into a large bowl so there was no spillage at all. Normal safe handling procedures should be sufficient since no one needs to touch the placenta once it's checked over to see it's whole.


----------



## maxmama (May 5, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *JanetF*
My placenta sat in a colander draining into a large bowl so there was no spillage at all. Normal safe handling procedures should be sufficient since no one needs to touch the placenta once it's checked over to see it's whole.

Right, but a hospital birth is a little bit different, and I think we probably handle/pick up the babies more than at home (to do vitals, etc.) It's a concern, because most of the assessments are done in the first two hours, when I'd assume the placenta would be gooiest.


----------



## rozzie'sma (Jul 6, 2005)

There was an article on lotus birth a few issues ago in Mothering. The woman let the placenta drain, dried it off with a towel, wrapped it in cloth and placed it inside a velvet pouch next to the baby. Once it detaches on its own all the baby's blood is pumped into the baby and after it is clean and dried the mama blood isn't there either.

The hossy I had my daughter in offered to let me take my placenta home and it was a military hossy. I would think it wouldn't be a problem. The only thing I have heard is that if there is a pathology with the placenta, such as the cord attached wrong, or a high risk birth with complications, they usually want the pathologist to do a study on the placenta for legal reasons. I am sure you could get around this somehow


----------



## JanetF (Oct 31, 2004)

But if you're handling the baby you're not handling the placenta so how would it being bloody be a problem? It's at the other end of the cord, not wrapped around the baby! All baby checks like Apgars and listening to it's chest/temps can (and should!) be done with the baby on the mama anyway. There is no earthly reason a hospital can't accommodate this. If women having c-secs can have lotus births then women having VBs can too. It's only a problem if it's made out to be one.


----------



## maxmama (May 5, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *JanetF*
But if you're handling the baby you're not handling the placenta so how would it being bloody be a problem? It's at the other end of the cord, not wrapped around the baby! All baby checks like Apgars and listening to it's chest/temps can (and should!) be done with the baby on the mama anyway.

In an ideal situation, sure. But in the case of mec and a non-vigorous NB, that's not going to happen. If a baby's slow to start, it's not going to happen. Most of the time, yes, the babies come out and scream and are fine, but there is a percentage of the time that doesn't happen. We are fine with parents taking home their placentas, but they're pretty gooey even after a day or two draining in the fridge. It's a lot of biohazard, and while at your home that might be okay, there are a fair number of nurses uncomfortable with having two pounds of biohazard attached to a baby we're supposed to be caring for. Even an unbathed baby makes some staff nervous.


----------



## Quickening (May 20, 2003)

A biohazard? In that case, the baby itself is a biohazard if their cord has been cut. A cut cord is an open wound.

Besides, this isn't about what hospital staff are / are not comfortable with. This is about the baby's rights to their placenta, and the mother's rights to her baby and placenta. A woman should not be forced to birth on her back on an elevated bed to make the doctor more comfortable to assist with her birth, likewise, a baby should not be forced to have his/her cord cut merely because it makes SOME people uncomfortable.

A placenta is NOT a biohazard to the baby, or the mother. During birth, hospital staff wear gloves, and I imagine if they were doing stuff to the baby afterwards, they should also be wearing gloves too because THEY pose a hazard to the baby with their foreign germs!


----------



## DreamsInDigital (Sep 18, 2003)

A







biohazard?!?!?!?!








It's a PART of the baby and the birthing mother and should be address how the parents want to. The hospital and nursing staff obviously need to be educated on these things.


----------

