Our post-birth hospital experience: A warning
We had the home birth we wanted, but afterwards I had some trouble stopping my bleeding. I felt fine, but I kept bleeding through pad after pad. My husband said to get in the car, and he took me a block away to the ER because it was closest, and he was worried for my safety.
While there, we were severely questioned about the events of the morning, and treated like criminals. I had to remind them that I was there for possible hemorrhage, and shouldn't they take a look to see if I was all right? They were more concerned with why the birth took place at home than whether I would survive the bleeding. So when they asked to examine the baby (who was still doing quite well) my husband said no. He was getting pretty suspicious that they would take our baby from us.
Then they became vindictive. They kept us there for hours under false stories of waiting for photocopies, but we knew they were turning us in to the authorities. They would not admit to it, but lied, saying they needed just a few more minutes for the copies to be made. They ordered drug tests and a pregnancy test without our consent (WHY? After looking in my pants he should have known I'd JUST given birth!) They didn't even inform us that they felt the need to investigate our drug history (which came back pristine, of course), or take a pregnancy test. They just did it, and lied about it. I can understand that some people's situations need further investigation, but the fact that we were not even informed that these tests were ordered broke any trust we may have had in their ethics. (We were told later by our family doctor that these tests were done without our consent, and he had a strong opinion about how they went about it.)
Then the police officer showed up. He told us the truth, and confirmed what we already knew: that we were being investigated. The officer listened to the amazing story of our short birth, and how well my husband handled it all. He congratulated us, apologized that we were treated like criminals, and told the doctor & nurses to let us take our baby home. I had still not eaten or rested, and I had just given birth & bled excessively. Finally we were allowed to go home to eat, rest, and bond with out new tiny baby.
I should mention that the bleeding had stopped on its own by the time they examined me. I wish we hadn't even gone in, but at least we got the inevitable investigation over with early that way, as I hear it is all too common to have DHS called to investigate the parents simply because they choose to birth at home.
We saw our new family doctor in Spirit Lake the very next day that the clinic was open, two days after the birth, Monday, October 20th. So he verified that the baby looked 2 days old, and was a healthy live birth.
I did file a complaint with the hospital's "boss", namely, the head department in Chicago that runs all the associated hospitals. But the idiots...they forwarded the complaint to the Spencer Hospital for THEM to answer me! So Spencer Hospital wrote an extremely troubling reply to me about how it was my fault that we were turned in for not handing over our baby to a suspicious character who was not even Finlay's doctor. They had no leg to stand on demanding to see him. It was just a way to get hold of him to...to do what? I don't know, but 2 options come to mind, both bad: vaccinate him against our wishes, or take custody. Imagine we'd submitted to that: Even if the cop told them in the end to let us go, WITH our baby, if we'd handed him over for those 2 hours, they would have had WAAAAY too much time to monkey around with our tiny baby, administering all sorts of dangerous crap that we object to. He might be dead now, due to vaccination reactions. Like our friend's baby.
We have not pressed for further litigation or even an apology, simply because I want to never hear from them again. EVER. I AM, however, going to post this in order to spread my story among the locals, so that no one goes there without having their guard up SKY HIGH. Better yet, Spirit Lake is 15 minutes away. Save yourselves, and go there. We toured that hospital, too, in case of emergency, and it was a MUCH better vibe than we got in Spencer. I wish we'd gone there for the ER visit. But Jeremy thought I was going to die.
Like I said, I felt fine, though. Probably another reason they didn't trust us. I was coherent, vivacious, walking around, answering questions...if I had just given birth, they thought, I should be EXHAUSTED. Pale. But I was as bushy-tailed as ever, so they also thought I'd stolen the baby. The cop told me that.
Oh, and they lock you in. Not just us, but anyone that goes to the ER in Spencer gets locked in! I never saw that anywhere else, but there is a security guard that buzzes you in, and you can't leave unless he presses the buzzer. So if we'd said, "Never mind, we're leaving," we couldn't have! I was thinking of it, too, when they refused to examine me, and instead just grilled me about the home birth. I thought of leaving, since there was no point being there for help if they won't look at my hemmorhage. But we were locked in.
I think it comes down to doctors' fear of losing authority. If it gets out that birth is a natural process, IMAGINE all the money they lose. Here is what I found on the Web about what they make on maternity: "Birthing is the largest source of income for American hospitals. Over HALF of all hospital admissions in America are for maternity. A 24-hour hospital stay, uncomplicated delivery in the U.S.A. costs anywhere from $8,000-10,000. This cost DOUBLES for a c-section."
The doctor asked me how I managed to cut the cord. I said, "Jeremy tied it off with string, and cut it with sterilized scissors." He rolled his eyes. I thought of it later. I should have said, "Even a goat knows how to CHEW the cord in half. I, on the other hand, have an opposable thumb, which gives me a distinct advantage!" But that would have been disrespectful, and I was very respectful. I was not trying to push buttons. I was not ASKING for trouble. We got it anyway.
BTW...Finlay's wonderful doctor looked at the cord stump 2 days later & said it was very well done. It fell off completely at 5 days, and he said that was because it was very healthy, and healed fast. It is usually 7 to 10 days, or more.
And finally, I need to say that we have an awesome letter in our home file box now, written by that same police officer. It gives every detail of our case, and then states that "home birth is NOT illegal. Police involvement in this matter is now closed." I will keep this letter on file for all of my future births, in case anyone ever threatens our freedom in this regard again. The entire home birth was planned years in advance in order to keep our baby safe from all of the dangers that are found in any hospital. Since Finlay's birth was not high-risk in ANY way, we chose to keep our baby away from unnecessary exposure to all that. (I can list HUNDREDS of dangers, but that is another topic. It is too long for this post.) So thank you, Mr. Police Officer for standing up for what is right.
That is our story...amazingly wonderful, fast, ...and other than Spencer Hospital's involvement, the best day of my life!
