Comments

1

Add "vegan" to his title and he could be "Intersectionalist of the Year" for 2019.

2

I assume trans men whom give birth kept their vaginas.

3

@2 I'm pretty sure the fetus gestates in a box.

4

To all the bigots out there, men have been having babies since Roman times:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgp9MPLEAqA

5

Birth is not typically as dangerous as the first two paragraphs imply. I have two daughters, both born at home. The first arrived before the midwives, so I delivered her. Trying to delay the birth never crossed our minds. I don't recommend DIY childbirth, but I'm thankful I got to participate in one. Births can be complicated, but the quick ones generally aren't. Babies get born in the back seats of cars and do just fine. This is something mammals have been doing successfully for tens of millions of years. It's nice to have medical support available in case things go wrong, but most of the time nature can just take it's course. Congratulations and best wishes to Simon Ellis on his chosen profession. Midwifery is right level of medical support for most births.

6

"Midwifery is right level of medical support for most births."

Just a shame, though, that midwifery combined with home birthing has a higher death rate than hospital birthing.

"The death rate for midwife-attended home births was the highest with almost 13 fatalities for every 10,000 deliveries, the study found."

Source: Reuters

But the fewer hippies breeding successfully the better.

7

Midwives aren't physicians however. Life saving procedures might need to be performed. I'd advise expectant mothers to always choose a hospital if possible.

9

"Most births might only need midwife"

Most babies don't need safety seats in cars.

10

Pregnancy is just a social construct anyways. It's every man's right to have a baby, even if he cannot - through no fault of his own!

11

@6:

While that number is certainly high compared to fatality rates for hospital births, it's also worth noting that the U.S. has the highest overall neonatal fatality rate of any developed nation, regardless of the circumstances. So yeah, home births have significant risks, but so do hospital births compared to other countries. In fact, there are industrialized nations where the home-birth fatality rate is actually lower than the hospital-birth fatality rate is here.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/us-home-births-may-never-be-successful-those-other-countries-180963108/

12

Simon was my nurse for an IUD insertion and he was AMAZE when I had a bad reaction and threw up during the procedure. I'll never forget him, and I can imagine he would be a badass midwife.

14

"By the time we get light rail to Northgate everything will be fine"

Heh. Nice thought!

Thanks for writing the story. Too bad some people still get triggered by the idea, but they'll probably go away in a few years.

15

@14 Facts don't care about your feelings.

16

I find the term "midwife" highly offensive, gendered and cis-normative and demand he call himself a "mid-person" especially for when he works with pregnant persons who are not married.

17

I have to agree with @16, midhusbands are needed too to help men birth their babies.

18

lot of comments here seem pretty academic considering no one will ever make a baby with them!!

(or maybe it's just Katie Herzog's pen names?)

19

@18 she's not quite this kind of trollish, I don't think

20

Simon is the best. He was the leader in my pregnancy group at Kaiser and attended my labor at the hospital. I never gave two thoughts about his gender because he was a great, caring, funny, and totally competent midwife. That's all that should matter but I'm so proud of him for being recognized. Some people have commented here about midwives and home birth. I want to clarify Simon works at a hospital so if anyone needs serious medical attention the option is there to get a doctor.

21

Simon, thanks for your work and activism. Nathalie, thanks for bringing this to light.
A big FUCK YOU to the bigots in this section and beyond.

22

"A big FUCK YOU to the bigots in this section"

What's bigoted about pointing out that the term "midwife" is misgendering to pregnant men?

23

Well, men found a way to negate women yet again. Women's lib really backfired. Now men can invade yet another FEMALE SPACE. I wonder when WOMEN will get tired of the BS from men pretending to be women. Wearing a woman's clothes and prancing around like some kind of fool does not make you a woman. You aren't a woman. You are a man. Deal with it.

24

Here's a hint: Just because you wear a flower or bow in your hair does not make anyone a female. I think it would be OK if he was a midwife. why not ? Simon sounds very caring & capable.

25

Simon was the first person I saw at Kaiser after I found out I was pregnant. I was so nervous and he was so wonderful. I’m pleased to see that he is getting recognized for his leadership and the excellent care he provides!

26

It's really funny that there are commenters here are trying to misgender this guy because they think he's a trans woman.

27

Thanks to randommonkey for accidentally correctly-gendering the subject of the article. And a mighty fuck you, also to randommonkey, because trans women are women (though they are not the subject of this article).

28

My hat's off to anyone who dedicates their professional life to helping others and improving their chosen field.

This guy sounds awesome. Keep it going, man!

29

I worked in pregnancy care for many years and have attended births with hundreds of different providers. Simon is one of the best I ever had the pleasure of working alongside. Total respect and professionalism, and excellent clinical and therapeutic skills that are difficult to find in most other health care providers who work with pregnancies and labors. Congratulations Simon!


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