Why Homebirths are Safe

Having your child in the home?  Who would do such a thing? Wasn’t that just back in the western days when doctor’s had to deliver babies at home out on the prairie?

Not so.  There are a growing number of women who have discovered the benefits of having your baby at home, or a homebirth as it is commonly called.

It is called midwifery the practice of having your baby at home.  Although usually not nurses or doctors, the people who are in 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 a more common term that people are familiar with and means a person who attends childbirth and provides support during 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.

With that aside, lets look at why a lot of women are having babies at home rather than hospitals.  What are the reasons why women are choosing homebirths?

First, when you have a midwife present, this can cause the time of labor to 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 technique of letting the birth and delivery to occur naturally is what reduces the need to use those devices.

Third, the possiblity of c-section deliveries are actually reduced.  Most cesareans that happen in labor were because it was thought that a vaginal birth was not possible.  Either it was the baby’s safety that was in mind or the mother’s safety.  Well in all actuality that complication was caused because the natural process was not allowed to happen.

These are just 3 of the benefits of having a natural birth at home.  There are plenty more benefits, but most women would agree for pregnancy these are 3 huge benefits. 

  So even though some might call it strange to have a child at home, recent studies indicate that allowing a natural birth to happen is much safer for the mom 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.