Homebirth
For healthy women and their babies, homebirth can be safer then hospital births.
Explore your options below and review some of my recommendations to decide if a homebirth is for you.
Is homebirth safe?
For MANY women, the answer is YES! In most cases, home birth is even safer then hospital birth. But first let's look at the facts
"The Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health published two papers – which they have kindly made freely available (link above) – that report on key outcomes of 16,924 planned home births in the first data set (2004-2009) of the MANAStats data registry. Although this was a descriptive study which did not compare the outcomes of the planned home births directly with another group of women, the authors compared the outcomes of the women with national statistics and the results speak for themselves…" - Dr Sara Wickman
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A 5.2% caesarean section rate for women who planned home birth compared to a national average of 31% for term infants.
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A 1.2% instrumental delivery rate (forceps or vacuum extraction) for women who planned home birth compared to a national average of 3.5%.
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Only 4.5% of women were perceived to need oxytocin to augment or speed up their labor (the national average is 40%, though this includes induction as well as augmentation. Induction is when labor is started with medical intervention and augmentation is when labor starts on it's own but interventions are used to speed-up or intensify labor).
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Only 1.4% of women who planned a home birth were given an episiotomy compared with about 25% nationally).
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Women were far less likely to need epidural analgesia (4% for women planning home birth versus a national average of 67%).
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0.7% of mothers and their babies experienced infection in a home birth while hospital births experienced infection at 2.6%
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1.3% of babies were born with a low birth rate with intended home births while hospital births were at a 2.2%
Here are some more studies you can reference as well:
But what if you were told you could never have a vaginal birth? Maybe that you could never have a VBAC? Maybe you just believe you are not capable of a safe homebirth, because your other (hospital) birth(s) ended in trauma and 'emergencies'?
The chances are that you CAN still have a safe, homebirth experience, and you can't really know for sure until you first speak with a homebirth midwife. Not a hospital midwife, a homebirth midwife. A lot of these things do NOT necessarily mean your high risk. Here are common myths and misconceptions why women believe they can have a homebirth:
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Had previous c-section(s) or told they could never have a VBAC
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Told pelvis/body was too small, or odd shaped; will never have a vaginal birth
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Baby is too big
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Pregnant with multiples
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Baby is breech
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Had previous hemorrhage or told you are at risk for hemorrhage
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Blood pressure issues, gestational diabetes, strep B positive, etc
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Being a first time mom
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Believe hospitals are safer, and homebirth is risky
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Little support from nearest family/friends
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Had an 'emergency' in a prior birth, or hospital experience was too awful. Imagines a homebirth to be way worse
My recommended resources....
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