{"id":247,"date":"2008-01-17T01:59:47","date_gmt":"2008-01-17T06:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ronrothman.com\/public\/leftbraned\/is-home-birth-courageous"},"modified":"2008-09-15T00:04:44","modified_gmt":"2008-09-15T05:04:44","slug":"is-home-birth-courageous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ronrothman.com\/public\/leftbraned\/is-home-birth-courageous\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Home Birth Courageous?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span>t’s funny. I’ve recently been told—by more than one person—that Sara and I are “brave” for planning to deliver our baby at home. This from people who are educated, intelligent and have my respect. And yet, they couldn’t have picked a worse way to characterize the decision. What’s going on here?<\/p>\n

Read on, and then you tell me: isn’t it actually more courageous for a low risk mother-to-be to voluntarily walk into a hospital<\/em> to give birth?
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\nFirst, let me point out that:<\/p>\n

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  1. “Home birth” means planned<\/em> home birth. The process starts at home, but in those cases where a doctor’s intervention is warranted, the mother is taken to a nearby hospital.<\/li>\n
  2. A planned home birth is attended<\/em> by a qualified, certified midwife.<\/li>\n
  3. In this article, I’m simply answering the question, “Isn’t home birth unsafe?<\/em>” I won’t focus on “Why is home birth better?”<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Q. Isn’t hospital birth safer?<\/h3>\n

    A.<\/span> No. If you’re a good candidate for home birth (and the majority of women are), then a planned, attended home birth is as safe, or safer, than a hospital birth.<\/p>\n

    Q. Come on, how can a hospital not<\/em> be safer?<\/h3>\n

    A.<\/span> Surprisingly easily.<\/p>\n

    If you’re giving birth and you’re low-risk, then simply checking into a hospital<\/em> greatly increases the likelihood of unnecessary interventions–pitocin drip, epidural, episiotomy, cesarean section, et al.–with no corresponding increase in safety for mother or baby.<\/p>\n

    I can also tell you this: my home is more sanitary (with respect to virulent infectious agents) than the cleanest hospital maternity ward [11]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Q. How do you know that home birth safe?<\/h3>\n

    A.<\/span> Evidence. Sara has searched through the medical literature, and every relevant study she has found has shown that home birth is as safe, or safer than, hospital birth. See references below.<\/p>\n

    The upshot of the research [1]<\/a> is this:<\/p>\n

    Planned home birth for low risk women in North America using certified professional midwives was associated with lower rates of medical intervention but similar intrapartum and neonatal mortality to that of low risk hospital births in the United States.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Q. What if something goes wrong at home?<\/h3>\n

    A.<\/span> First of all, it’s worth noting that in the majority of cases, nothing goes wrong. Expecting<\/em> that things will go wrong just isn’t rational. On the other hand, preparing<\/em> for things that might go wrong, even if they’re unlikely, is wise.<\/p>\n

    Certified nurse midwives are trained, equipped and experienced at solving the most common (and remember, “common” is relative) problems. They’ll bring with them, into our home, oxygen, pitocin, resuscitation equipment, etc. Using instruments identical to those used in a hospital, they can stop hemorrhaging, perform an episiotomy, stitch tears, etc., as needed.<\/p>\n

    And, of course, a trained, experienced midwife will know if you need emergency intervention (e.g., cesarean), and in that case she will get you to the hospital and have the staff prepped and ready to receive you once you arrive.<\/p>\n

    Also, it’s important to note that you’re more likely to have one of these problems just by being in a hospital; birthing at home reduces<\/u> the likelihood of many of them in the first place:<\/p>\n

    \nA study by Mehl compared a group of 1046 women giving birth at home with 1046 women having hospital births and found [8]<\/a>:<\/p>\n