Safety of a Homebirth
Post date: June 24th, 2009 |
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Having your child in the home? Who does such things? Didn’t that only happen back in the early days of our country when doctor’s had to go out to the prairie and deliver babies?
Not so. There is a large group of women who are discovering the benefts of having a baby at home, or homebirth as it is sometimes called.
This practice of having your baby at home is called midwifery. Although not doctors or nurses, people in this line of work called midwifery are professionally regulated. I myself have seen the steady rise of homebirths through my practice as a San Diego certified midwife.
The people, generally women, who perform this line of work are called homebirth midwives. Midwives is the term most people are familiar with and means a person who helps during childbirth by providing support of the labor and delivery.
Now why a midwife is usually not a doctor or nurse is because the practice of having your baby at home, or midwifery is generally the belief that pregnancy and birth are natural normal events. This is in stark contrast with the medical model which relies on medicine to assist and improve the pregnancy and delivery.
That out of the way, lets take a look at why women are having their babies at home. What are the benefits that are causing women to have homebirths?
First off, with the continued presence of the midwife, the length of labor can be reduced. Most women aren’t told that pain medications actually slows down the labor, even though it helps with the pain. This really causes more pain and the labor actuallly lasts longer.
Second, the techniques of midwifery actually reduces the likelihood of the need for forceps or other operative devices during delivery. The process of allowing the birth and delivery to happen naturally is what reduces the need for those devices.
Third, cesarean delivery possbilities are reduced. Most cesareans that happen in labor were because it was thought that a vaginal birth was not possible. Either because of the safety of the baby was in mind or the safety of the mother. When in reality the complication was created because the natural birth process wasn’t allowed to happen.
These are 3 benefits when you have a natural homebirth. There are many more, but I am sure most women in pregnancy would agree these are 3 huge benefits.
So although, most might consider it strange to want to have a child at home, studies have shown that allowing the natural birth process to happen is safer for the mother and the baby. With over 300 births attended as a homebirth midwife in San Diego, this has proven to be the case time and time again.