Why Would You Choose a Home Birth?
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Giving birth at home is increasing in popularity. More and more women are deciding that they feel safer giving birth at home than in a hospital. Most people I have spoken to do not understand why a woman would choose to birth outside of the hospital. But I think the greater question is why do most people give birth in the hospital?
Do the majority only give birth in the hospital because they want to or because they don’t think they have any other option? Because they want to or because ‘that’s what everyone does.” Because society has told us that’s what we’re supposed to do?
The interesting thing is that most women don’t know anything about pregnancy and birth until they are already pregnant. They head to the doctors office and listen to everything the doctor says and does what the doctor says without question. They head on to the conveyer belt of maternal care. When their doctor says it’s time for this test or that scan women just nod their heads and make the appointments. But what if you were empowered with the knowledge of pregnancy and birth and had appointments that were tailored to you and your individual pregnancy instead of getting standard care?
Women don’t just choose home birth on a whim. It’s a very well thought out decision based on many factors that you’ll see below.
You get to choose
There’s something really incredible that happens when you have a homebirth midwife as your provider. They give you the freedom to choose. To choose if you want the array of testing that is typical in pregnancy. You choose if you want ultrasounds. To choose which positions to labor in. Midwives also give you true informed consent which helps you to learn and make choices. Nothing is expected, you get to decide. How incredible is that? There isn’t this automatic scheduling of tests, but instead, asking if you want to do this. Not only does this help you become educated on your pregnancy and birth but it allows you to be empowered in your pregnancy and birth.
Of course if there are any indicators that something is wrong they are going to recommend testing or scans. Midwives are trained to identify problems and they are going to do what it takes to help you and baby stay healthy and make decisions on whether or not you have a pregnancy suited for at home delivery.
Natural birth with no Interventions
In birth interventions are anything that a doctor or midwife does that intervenes with the body’s natural birthing process. Some examples are induction, c section, breaking water and episiotomy. Interventions are sometimes necessary and what is safe for baby and mama.
Unfortunately many interventions are overused in the hospital. Hospital births have a 31% c-section rate today compared to 5.2% for women who are planning a home birth.
A short list of some intervention statistics from hospital births
- 67% of women have an epidural during vaginal birth
- 31% are given pitocin to speed up labor
- 20% of women have their membranes ruptured
- 89% have electronic fetal monitoring
Again, sometimes these interventions are necessary, however, if you have a healthy pregnancy and want to have an intervention free birth then giving birth at the hospital may not be the best choice.
Comfort
Where are you the most comfortable? When it comes to giving birth, comfort is SO important. Giving birth is a very primal act and our body completely takes over. When you are comfortable and at ease your body is fully able to move forward with birth. When you are not comfortable your body is more likely to tense and birth can stall. This phenomenon has been observed and they have found that if a person the birthing woman didn’t want in the room entered the room that woman’s birth slowed down or completely stalled.
Comfort is key. From the location, to the lighting, to who is present. Are you most comfortable in your bedroom with your partner where you can control the temp and the lighting, the sounds etc? Or in a hospital room where strangers -nurses – come in and out of the room, new ones coming on during shift changes? Definitely something to think about.
You aren't chained to hospital policy
When you have a home birth you can do what you want. Are you hungry? Eat as you please! This is not the case in the hospital because of policy ✨just in case✨ you may need a c-section (79% of women experience food restriction during labor in the hospital). But the thing is, labor is one of the most physically demanding things a woman will experience and you will need energy.
Want to move around? You’re not hooked up to anything when you are at home and can move as you please. The midwife does check your vitals and checks on the baby as well but she doesn’t require you to be anywhere specific. She will come to you where you are and quietly and quickly get the vitals and get out of your way.
The position you give birth in is up to you. You don’t have to be on the bed. Whether that’s in the bath, shower, bed, on the floor, whether you’re kneeling, standing, laying or on all fours. Again, you get to choose what is most comfortable to you.
Midwifery care model
Not only do you have long prenatal appointments with your midwife(45-60mins vs 6mins with a doctor) but they are also there in labor with you. In the hospital the doctor isn’t sitting there with you, but at home once your midwife is at your house she doesn’t leave. This is beneficial for many reasons, but one in particular, is that she will easily be able to identify if anything is going wrong before it becomes an emergency.
Final thoughts
There are a lot of freedoms that come with giving birth at home. the way you give birth matters. Your desires in pregnancy and birth should be respected. How incredible would it be to reflect on your birth while holding your sweet new baby and feel empowered, peace and happiness about your birth? In the United States this isn’t a common feeling to have with a hospital birth, unfortunately many women experience trauma and negative births. There’s a 95% satisfactory rate with home birth mamas. When thinking about where to give birth, a home birth is definitely worth considering.
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I created Natural and Empowered Birth because I want to help women have a positive birth experience.
I’ve always been fascinated by birth and love hearing other mama’s birth stories. Learning about how women can have a beautiful and empowering birth set me on a path to have one myself and now I want to help women have a great birthing experience too.
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