Is Home Birth A Safer Option? 

CONCLUSIONS: Home births are on the rise. About 25,000 women a year have their babies at home. It is shown to be as safe or safer than hospital births.

Source:http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2011940,00.html 

Doctors Note:

Homebirth. Where should I begin? My wife and I have experienced both hospital and home births. We both prefer home birth a great deal over hospital birth. In our experience, the hospital delivery felt very rushed and very medical. The doctors and nurses were in a rush to get the baby delivered, even when no one else was waiting to deliver. In our society, inducing labor is very common and encouraged by OB/GYN’s as early as the first trimester. The United States has a very high cesarean rate, more than 30%!  Often times there are many unnecessary interventions used in the average delivery making new parents wonder how on earth they would have safely delivered at home. Sadly, many times these interventions are done purely for liability reasons and could have been avoided completely in a home birth setting. In a hospital setting, newborns are routinely vaccinated for Hepatitis B at birth and given antibiotic eye ointment that is completely unnecessary in most cases. In our experience with hospital birth, the focus was entirely on the baby and the mother was simply an obstacle in the way. Asking for another pillow for mom was like asking for a million dollars. Worst of all they take the baby away from the mother as soon as they come out rather than having the mom hold the baby. They don’t let the mom get in a comfortable position, they are told to stay in the hospital bed. I could just go on and on and on. I do however truly believe they do most of these unnecessary procedures to rack up the bill and make as much profit as they can.

At home, you are alone with the people you love, you have a midwife who you can truly trust.  The midwife makes sure the mom is comfortable throughout labor. You have the option to sit, squat, stand, lay, get in a bath, or whatever you please to make the labor go smoothly. No need to worry about the unnecessary procedure. The midwife not only focuses on the baby but the parents too. Everyone is involved. No limits in occupants, no rush, and no inducing! It also shown to be a safer option.

For those who don’t want to have a hospital birth but are too skeptical or afraid of having a homebirth, the other option you can have is having a midwife at a birthing center. Birthing centers are usually at the hospital. It’s almost a cross-section of hospital birth and home birth.

I personally believe having a birth at home is the best choice especially if you are confident and have no health complications. Going with an open-minded midwife can make your pregnancy more at ease and can be an educational experience for you. The birthing center is the next best choice and maybe the best choice if you are uneasy of having a birth at home. I would only recommend a hospital birth to women who are at very high-risk pregnancies.