To do or not to do a home birth! Help??

Re: To do or not to do a home birth! Help??

• angelz429 member

  September 2021

  As a physician (even though I’m now specialized in addiction psychiatry), I have been a part of m&m boards (morbity and mortality) and seen too many physicians asking for support after a friend didn’t listen to them and had a poor outcome in home birth. 

  
  

  My first thought is, each state has different licensing requirements to be a home birth practitioner, so please find out the training needed to do this in your state. 

  
  

  My second thought is, as a loss mama, I would do anything to not lose another one of my children. So I would never do a home birth. There are so many things, even in a healthy and normal pregnancy that can go wrong. The chance may be low, but if you’re the 1 in even a million, the odds and statistics won’t matter to you. 

  
  

  My third thought is, there are a LOT of hospitals with birthing centers. Where they do unmedicated births, let you be with a midwife or doula for the whole birth unless something is wrong, have birthing tubs, etc. and I feel like this is a good compromise. 

  
  

  I can’t tell you what to do or make the decision for you, though. 

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• modoodles member

  September 2021 edited September 2021

  Totally up to you @cynthiahaugen14 but for me, personally, absolutely not. I've delivered a 39 week old baby, perfect pregnancy, was a runner throughout, very healthy, and 12 hours after delivery he had to be transported by a flight crew and spent a month in the NICU for PPHN. He crashed in the ambulance and they spent hours stabilizing him. He had to have blood transfusions, and each of his lungs collapsed during the NICU stay. I don't tell you this to scare you away from it, just to point out that even very healthy pregnancies and deliveries can have completely unexpected complications- and it is because of this that I will always choose a hospital delivery for myself and my babies. 
  
  Edit: I also wanted to add that I know 3 women who have had home deliveries and loved it and had zero complications. 

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• lexilougolden member

  September 2021

  Personally, I want to birth in a place that I feel is safest for me and the baby-- at the hospital with as many resources as we may need. That gives me peace of mind and eases my anxiety of "what if ___". I know plenty of people who do home births and have had no problems. Ultimately, it is up to you. The pros outweigh the cons for me for a hospital birth so that is what I am doing (fx).
  

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• angelob88 member

  September 2021

  @cynthiahaugen14 If a homebirth is something that you are considering I think that it is an extremely personal choice and research needs to be done so that you feel 100% confident in the decision you choose. I don't just mean research on hospital recommendations either, dive deep into all aspects of birth and the birthing process. I personally choose to homebirth due to an extremely traumatic hospital experience that led to an unnecessary caesarian with my first that sent me into a spiral of post partum depression that could have been avoided had I sought care outside of the hospital setting.
  
  If you are low risk, trust your midwife team, and you are confident in your body's ability to birth (something that mammals have done for thousands of years), then homebirth is a safe alternative to hospital care. That being said, I will never pass judgement on mothers who choose to birth in a hospital. What is amazing about where we are now with care is that there are options available to ensure that each mother is able to birth however they choose whether that is in a hospital, a birth center, or home birth. Birth how you feel comfortable, make informed choices and don't let anyone (provider or not) bully you into something you don't feel right about. Empowerment during the birth process is the most important thing in my opinion.

  
  

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• dee_east member

  September 2021

  There has been a lot of research that has shown that for low risk pregnancies, a home birth can be the best option. I think one of the main considerations for a homebirth vs a birth center (which is another option, not involving a hospital) is how close you live to a hospital which has all of the vital support services a patient might need.
  
  If you live in a very rural area, where hospital transport would be difficult, then you might want to opt for a birth center. In many states, these birth centers are legally required to be within 5 minutes of a hospital with a NICU, and are connected to a physician. Where I work, in New Jersey, we met the people at our local birth center, and they were amazing.
  
  There is an article on the Bump at https://www.thebump.com/a/home-births-safe-low-risk-moms that discusses research into home birth safety, and a study done by the NIH at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4321785/ that talks about how birth center deliveries result in a decline in the C-section rate without increasing other adverse outcomes.

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