Monday, March 19, 2018

Watch Gideon's Birth on TLC


For those who haven't been able to watch the TLC GO preview of Gideon Forsyth's C-section birth, we have embedded a clip below. Joy labored for about 20 hours at home but was transferred to the hospital after it was determined that the baby was breech.

The preview will air on TLC immediately after tonight's episode of Counting On.



If you enjoy this blog, be sure to visit Ellie's other blogs (NashvilleWife.com and BatesFamilyBlog.com).

Photo courtesy TLC

44 comments:

  1. Why did the midwife let Joy go through such a long labor with a breech baby so large at home? Surely they knew it was breech before she went into labor.

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    1. My guess is that Joy and Austin wanted to give their baby time to flip...which is their choice and right.

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    2. What midwife would say let's wait 20 hours and see if a 10+ pound baby will flip at the last minute?

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    3. I don’t think they knew

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    4. This is definitely on the midwife. This was an obviously large baby and a pro should have known it would be unlikely for the baby to rotate or turn????

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  2. I question the motives and reasoning behind sharing filmed private moments such as this with the world. What is the purpose behind it? Part of the definition of modesty is to avoid drawing attention to yourself- not just in appearance, but also actions. I guess the whole family's infatuation with promoting themselves on a "reality" show, lets the air out of their modesty standards.

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    1. I totally agree with this post, especially the broader definition of modesty. Modesty extends to motives, not just the outward appearance.

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    2. Perhaps it is to show the world that being a Christian isn’t boring or strange. That they live a full wonderful life. If it offends you why do you watch and why come to a blog about them?

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  3. Joy's exhausted face and red eyes going into the operating room just says it all. These Duggar home births are getting scary.

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  4. Poor thing looks exhausted. I must say that I don't understand labouring for 20 hours before giving in to having a C section. Not being mean. I actually think Joy comes across as very sweet and I just feel sorry if she felt she had to keep going and going. I hope it was her choice to keep trying. It was my LAST choice to have a C section but my blood pressure was so low that I kept blacking out so I just went ahead with it before I got too critically ill.

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  5. Why did it take Jill 20 hours of evaluating Joy in labor before she figured out the baby was breech???

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    1. Didn't look like just Jill there. Looked like an unnamed blonde woman there, too, with a Doppler in her hand. So that's 2 women with birthing experience who didn't realize the breech situation until they transported Joy.

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    2. That can happen to anyone. A close aquaintance of mine had a baby a few months ago in a hospital with good doctors... was in labor for close to 24 hours before determining that baby was breech and then did an emergency C-section. So I don't blame the midwife in this case!

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    3. 10:23- Sure, it can happen to anyone. But your friend was in the hospital with good doctors at hand. Joy was not... she was 30 minutes away.

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    4. Maybe Jill wasn't doing the evaluating.....she didn't do good job with her own birthing situations......I think there are those who want us to think she has more education & experience than she truly has....good on Joy and that baby...❣

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    5. 2:31, but 10:23's acquaintance still had an emergency C-section, JUST as Joy did. So, overall, what's the difference except for four hours less of a labour, and the transportation to the hospital. Either way is just fine. This was Joy and Austin's choice.

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  6. I saw this last night. The footage of Joy laboring on the sofa was not nice to watch. She would have been better off in the hospital, receiving pain control and preparing for a possible C-section. Her statement that they were only 30 minutes from the hospital was scary. A lot can happen in 30 minutes. I don't know who decided that it would be a good idea to try to deliver a first baby, 10 pounds, possible breech, at home with nobody there but a midwife and a sister who plays one on TV. Whoever made that decision put both that baby and Joy at unnecessary risk. I also can't believe they felt it was appropriate to air that.

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    1. My guess is that TLC aired it for ratings. Being "30 minutes from the hospital" is wistful thinking on Joy's part. By the time an ambulance is dispatched, arrives at your home, you're loaded into it and taken to the to the hospital a lot more than 30 minutes will have elapsed.

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    2. They likely drove themselves.

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  7. I am very curious why you all put your lives and the lives of your children at risk for a home birth? I know that you all want to feel the labor pain (not me, I wanted a joyful birth) but can you not do that at a hospital where it's safe?

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    1. They don't give medals for enduring pain at home. Home birth makes you no better than someone who went to the hospital at the first twinge. I don't understand why these girls insist on home births. They've been almost disastrous so far, with ambulances and trips to the hospital needed anyway.

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    2. I have no problem with anyone wanting a home birth providing they have had good prenatal care and have been monitored right up to delivery date to ensure all is well and it is safe to proceed. These young women do not appear to do that and have taken huge risks with each baby, five babies from three sisters has resulted in four emergency trips to the hospital and three c sections. Yes things can and do go wrong in hospitals BUT you have highly trained staff, meds, equipment and ORs right at hand if needed, a thirty minute trip to the hospital could result in injury or death of both baby and mother, what will it take for them to stop making such poor decisions? Oh and re the girls wanting to feel the pain of birth, I would love to see how any of the Duggar men would handle the pain of childbirth their wives and sisters endure, every one would be begging for an epidulral lol.

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    3. Home births are safe if you have a qualified midwife, and aren't having a breach baby. My friend had a 10lb baby at home, but he was her third so it wasn't like a first time mom trying.

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    4. My baby's births were all joyful, pain or no pain.

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    5. Ridiculous. No one wants to feel that pain. There are many side effects to using epidurals, pitocin drips, etc. that many, educated women rightly want to avoid. An epidural can be measured in a newborn’s blood for up to 30 days post-birth; it can cause or amplify PPD; it can render you completely paralyzed if the needle slips and severs the spinal cord; it disturbs the natural birth hormones and post partum hormones that are essential for bonding (short term and long term) with your children. These are only a few reasons to choose an unmedicated, home-birth. While painful, I assure you the joy is immense...

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    6. What are the chances of epidural trouble....vs. the trouble of birthing at home? I have never heard of anyone having trouble from an epidural other than a headache. Nor have I ever heard of a mother who was paralyzed or didn't love her child because she had an epidural and her hormones later didn't let her bond. That seems like some extreme cases you're citing with your opinion.

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    7. 7:49- Nice put-down. I vote for hospital births. That way, if something goes wrong, you've got expert medical care and the equipment close at hand. By the way, pregnacy/childbirth has inherent risks. I remember well the experience of my mother. If a woman feels better about the whole process by having pain relieving drugs administered, I say go for it. Unmedicated home births are not for everyone and NO ONE should feel pressured to do something with which they are not entirely comfortable.

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    8. I'm an "educated" woman whose child might not be here in the perfect condition he/she is, had it not been for pitocin. I might not be here myself, either.

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    9. 7:49 is allowed to have an opinion. You’re literally bashing her for educating herself on possible risks to using an epidural.

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    10. That wasn’t a put down. The poster was simply giving an explanation of why some women choose to avoid epidurals and other interventions, something many commenters here seem to be wondering.

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    11. I’m not saying I think a home birth/natural birth is better, but I do know someone who was partially paralyzed from an epidural. It happens.

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    12. I personally know of someone who became paralyzed on account of an epidural. It was with her firstborn ta boot. Very traumatic, and now has to live in a wheelchair... I also had a faulty epidural with my first. Wasn’t anywhere close to a pain free birth, and not just that I had a full 6 months of pain and/or oozing on the site. And after 14 yrs finally no longer seem to be having flair ups in the site. But that certainly was the first and last epidural for me!!! Its very disconcerting!!!! I had 3 more after with only laughing gas for the next one and nothing for the last two. It went just fine. Oh and I had all my babies at a hospital but for the last 2 the doctor didn’t make it on time! And for my 3rd boy 9lbs, 5oz, there was only a very incompetent nurse assisting my husband! Yes, you heard that right!! My husband only had EMR training and when my son’s shoulder got stuck he told the nurse what to do!!! She was totally freaking with a much higher education in childbirth than my hubby, but my hubby knew a whole lot more what to do, and much more calm!! So no, a higher education definitely doesn’t say everything!!!!

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  8. I am surprised that Joy thinks being "only 30 minutes away" from the hospital is not a problem when attempting to give birth at home.

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  9. I'm all for natural birthing because it comes with fewer complications, but there are no medals for suffering. My rule is that after 7 hours of active, painful labor, I'm getting an epidural. I feel like that's my physical limit. Thankfully all my babies were born within that time frame, but I would not hesitate for a second to get pain medication if labor dragged along along. I feel like it's inhuman to go through relentless pain for 20 hours, without sleeping or eating. No one gets a prize for it.

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  10. I noticed that when Jim Bob gathered everyone together to pray, at one point he said something about praying for a "natural delivery" for Joy. What? She is a married woman. Her and husband are the ones making the call about the birth of their child. How awful that someone young and sweet like Joy is badgered into a dangerous delivery by her own father? There is nothing wrong with going to a hospital. Doctors and nurses are accommodating, respectful and helpful. There is also nothing wrong with a c-section.

    I just don't understand pushing these young girls into difficult and sometimes dangerous deliveries. They are extremely lucky one has not ended tragically...

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    1. I think he wanted the pray for a natural birth in that C-sections are dangerous and if you have too many, it’s dangerous to have more kids. I think he just wanted his daughter to not have to go through a surgery and I don’t think it has anything to do with him pushing his daughters to the limit

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    2. While I totally think that c-sections are sometimes necessary and life saving, and I think that it's probably safer for first time moms to deliver in a hospital, and I definitely believe in professional prenatal care, I don't think that praying that Joy has a natural delivery is badgering her. Natural deliveries are generally safer than c-sections, and I don't believe that at that time her father knew that the baby was breech. I'm sure he was happy and relieved that Joy and the babywere okay, no matter how she delivered.

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    3. JB did not badger her about anything. It was a sweet thought for his daughter to have an easy delivery not a c-section. There are more complications with surgery. I agree that the home births seem less than desirable considering the size of their babies and distance from medical facilities.

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  11. I hope that in the future Joy will deliver in a hospital & have a doctor or licensed pro midwife attending. Surely an ultrasound available sooner would have shown the breech presentation & an idea of baby’s size. I hope with the size of the sisters’ babies that there is not a predisposition of gestational diabetes. Gideon is adorable, by the way!!

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  12. Whoever got that bookcase out of the hallway and the bedroom at Jinger's house should have been around at this breech baby's birth, too. A miracle worker with big things stuck in tight places, that was.

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  13. Women die every day while having babies in hospitals. Humans don't control death, sillies! Doctors lose patients every single day. I had mine with few meds, def no epidural, and all births were joyous, except I had delayed joy when I almost died from a doctor's mistake with my second son. I know one thing-any way a woman wants to have her kid is fine by me. I think the world could criticize a new mother a lot less, and stop seeing her as some sort of "victim".

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    1. I'm sure that for every "I almost died in a hospital" birth story there is, there's a matching "I almost died at home." Circumstances differ. But what almost never differs is the amount of trained personnel and medical equipment on hand in a private house versus in a hospital. When seconds matter between life and death and you need those things, the hospital wins.

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  14. I can’t even imagine what an ambulance trip would cost. Seems like being in the hospital to begin with would save them a lot of money.

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  15. Yikes. That was painful to watch. I'd have asked for pain meds. long before that.

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