Homebirth

I am 9 weeks pregnant with my first and have decided I want a homebirth for a number of reasons including I don't see birth as a medical event, rather a natural process of the body and would rather work with my body than expose myself and my baby to unnecessary, but common procedures.

When other people hear of this they are very judgemental, give me horror stories about women bleeding to death or tell me i'm jeapordising my baby!! (which i'm obviously not)
Then when they find out i I won't be assisted by drugs (not allowed to with homebirths here because they increase the risks of complications but i don't want them anyway) they have more judgements for me.

Why do people think hospital births are "safer" ?
It is statistical fact that in the majority of cases homebirths have less complications and are safer and easier for mother and baby.
Why also do people feel that there is one singular way to raise a child and that is their way?

It freakin bothers me!

I can't wait til I have the baby and everything goes well and they eat their unkind words.

 

I think home birth is better but it is expensive to hire a trained mid wife. I know a few people who did home birth and it went great. I think it is cool a kid could be born in a nice home instead of a strange cold hospital.
I think the advantage a hospital has is if something goes wrong you have all the emergency stuff right there to help you and the baby. And insurance will cover a lot of a hospital but I don’t think they will pay a midwife.
If you have the means to do a home birth that would be my first choice, when my daughter was born we could afford a midwife so it wasn’t an option.

 

Some insurance will pay for a midwife. Also, you can usually pay out over the course of the nine months with a midwife. Or even barter with her. All birth carries some degree of risk. Things can happen. My daughter almost bled out before they got the bleeding under control. Turns out the hospital overdosed her on pitocin. In my opinion, weighing all the risks, homebirth is safer. Just have a good backup plan.

Kathi

 

I was going to say the same thing about homebirths generally being safer than hospital births, but you beat me to it, lol
I was actually just having this debate with some people today.
The majority of people out there are "brainwashed" - so to speak - that birth is a medical "risk" and needs a doctor's assistance. Um....how many years have women been delivering babies without the assistance of a doctor??? lol
If you are concerned about complications, any good midwife will know what to watch for, and if something is going wrong, they'll get you to the hospital as fast as possible. Make sure you interview a few midwives to find one you are comfortable with and share your concerns.
As for people and their opinions, welcome to parenthood. Especially if you choose to do things a little off the wall. Alot of AP style parenting is becoming more and more popular, but in general, everyone ends up defending their parenting choices to everyone else. The best advice: trust your instincts and do what is right for you!

 

I'm not a parent yet, but the problem I have with hospitals is that you don't know what they're doing to your baby once they take him/her to get "cleaned up."

 

Midwives are almost always cheaper than a hospital, especially with the high risk of caesarian in a hospital. The midwives in my area charge 2000 or 3000 for the entire birth. And you can make payments.

Also, it's important to keep in mind that if you qualify for a non-paid birth in a hospital that is what you will likely get and how you'll be treated. Low income families could get midwifery care, I'm sure. Most midwives are open to bartering.

I will not have a child in the hospital, barring some serious complication. I don't think it's a good idea to have a child in a building of sick and dying people.

 

Oh, and congratulations. Stand strong behind your birthing choices. The more women who choose homebirth and spread the word, the more mainstream it will become. Remember, we're not working against that many years of history here.

 

Hi, I'm having a drug-free homebirth next month (well, when baby decides to arrive!).
The best thing you can do is arm yourself with so much facts and figures that when these people start having a go, you have accurate information to throw back at them.
It's worked for me so far.

They think hospital is safer because that's what everyone does and dr's are unlikely to dissuade them. I've read of women who decided to have homebirths and their dr's actually refused to care for them! They couldn't handle the womens independent views and had a tantrum!

There's loads of good books out there, try starting with Ina May's Guide to Childbirth.

 

I'm pregnant, I've been in labor before with my daughter... it hurts.

I didnt' scream once.

But I had drugs. Thank GOD.

I'm going to a damn hospital to give birth, but I know a lot of women who had a homebirth and they're very very happy with it and glad they did it.

 

and how many more babies live through complications that they wouldn't have before doctors? i'm not trying to argue with anyone here, but that statement is just kind of silly to me. homebirths are wonderful. hospitals are wonderful if you have a good doctor who understands and respects your needs. i'm not one sided on the issue, and to put down hospitals as much as you guys are is mind boggling to me, you talk about it like they butcher babies for fun or something. i had 2 wonderful experiences in the hospital with my babies, wouldn't have changed a thing. i do think that some people let the doctors bully them around to much but if you *respectfully* voice your opinion, they usually respect that. in my experience anyway. just my 2 cents.

 

oh boy and this will continue for the next 18+ years. everyone has an opinion. as long as you know you are doing the best that you can, you just smile and nod, smile and nod good luck to you

 

I'm a little bias, I had an AWFUL hospital birth with my daughter, and a wonderful natural midwife assisted birth with my son. I had a compeltely normal pregnancy with dd, yet I was pushed and pushed into thinking I needed a c-section from 6 months on. I never had one, and decided my doc was a money hungry jerk. (After doing some background searching on him, I found out his c-section rate was 75%). On top of that, I was so dehydratyed when dd was born, I passed out in the shower, dd was given a bottle and a pacifier (they rejected my birth plan when I brought it in, saying they do not believe in them since anything can happen....retarded!), giving her awful nipple confusion. The whole next day I tried to bf her, she couldn't get it, and she ended up dehydrated with a fever and was placed in the NICU, and I was discharged, much to my objection. All of this could have been avoided.
Honestly though, only up until a few decades ago, midwives were the ones delivering the babies, not doctors. I don't believe what I said was at all silly, it's the truth. I'm not saying that there are not cases where doctors are needed; of course there are! But then there's cases like mine, making a perfectly healthy thing into a mess.

 

I think each and every pregnant woman should have the right to choose how SHE wants her baby to be delivered, and the choices available to her to make it happen. All of my children were born in hospitals, and I have had four of them, but either I got supremely lucky, or some of you have gotten supremely unlucky, or it really is a matter of how you choose your doctor and hospital.

Let me explain a bit. For all four births I was low income, unmarried, and on State medical assistance. But, not one single time was I ever, EVER treated with less than respect and my doctor's, and nurses', full attention and time. They listened to me, they communicated with me, and never once did they disregard anything that I had to say about what I wanted. And my children weren't removed from the room for cleaning, or any reason for that matter. The pediatrician came to my room, they never spent time in the nursery, and they all were very healthy, and when I did have problems with my last child, I was where I needed to be to have it dealt with. The only time a cesarean was even mentioned was when baby number three went into distress, but the doctor gave the oxygen on me another turn, and things progressed naturally as the baby's heartbeat returned to where it needed to be. He avoided having to give the cesarean, not pushed for it. I don't understand how doctors who push for medical procedures that are NOT needed can still be practicing medicine. It boggles my mind.

Basically, I just said a lot to say a little. Do what YOU want to do with your birth, and let others do as THEY choose to, without judgment. We are all different, and your way may not work for someone else, just as their way may not work for you. Tolerance and respect is key, always.

 

LadyDragon, you are also in the Pacific Northwest. Things tend to be a bit more progressive here.

 

I understand that. I guess I am just hoping that sooner or later all women will have the choices available to her to have what SHE wants for her childbirth, without being judged so harshly. I don't feel we, any of us, should be judged for our choices at all, as we are all different and we all need and want different things, with the exception of the freedom to make our own choices. We ALL need and want that, I imagine.

 

I want to have my baby at home, but I'm a little concerned about sanitation issues. I have two dogs and three cats, and I'd hate to have the baby before I did the vacuuming that day.

 

3 home births, no problems, great experiences, highly recommend it.

 

We've had a combination of home births and hospital births. (I use "we" loosely since my wife was the one doing the birthing). We had one homebirth end up with a wild ride down winding mountain roads with a stuck baby that ended up vacuum extracted. In that case I think we were maybe not advised correctly. A hundred pound woman may just have a little problem delivering an eleven pound baby.

In total we have had three home births, one I guess was technically a hospital birth, one midwife birth at the hospital's alternative birthing center, one midwife birth at a private birthing center and the last two were hospital births. (One of our homebirths was in a teepee.)

While I can't really complain about the times we did the hospital, without a doubt we would prefer a midwife home birth over a hospital birth. Also by the time we did our hospital births we were seasoned parents and were able to make decisions based on experience and not what they were telling us.

Our last hospital birth was great fun in the sense that my wife delivered seven minutes after we arrived.

That is why I never let one our our babies out of our site, ever, during any of the births. Our last two births were in the hospital and I found that most of the nurses were respectful and understanding with my insistance that I would accompany the baby everywhere, but there were a couple of older nurses were just downright bitchy about it and kept insisting that I stay with the mom and let them do their job.

 

I got a lot of "are you crazy's" when I told people I was having a natural, homebirth as well. But after the birth the naysayers were amazed at how happy, healthy, aware and calm I was and the baby was, and how elated and exciting my birth story was, and how much easier my birth was compared to some of their hospital births... like someone said you will get used to hearing everyone's opinion, just stick to your guns and know your stuff, rather by researching, or being very intune with your intuition, know why you want what you want and believe what you believe, be open to hearing from people who actually care about you and learning, after all that's what parenting is, but don't let anyone bully you into changing your ideals because they said so. Good luck.