Why Homebirths are Safe
Having your child in the home? Who does such things? Didn’t that only happen back in the early days of our country when doctor’s had to go out to the prairie and deliver babies?
Not quite. 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 they are usually not doctors or nurses, people who are in this profession 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 the term most people are familiar with and means a person who helps during childbirth by providing support of the labor and delivery.
Now a midwife is usually not a nurse or doctor because in general a midwife generally believes that pregnancy and births are natural events and should be allowed to proceed naturally without drugs. This is in stark contrast with the medical model which relies on medicine to assist and improve the pregnancy and delivery.
That out of the way, lets take a look at why women are having their babies at home. What are the benefits that are causing women to have homebirths?
First, with the midwife’s continued presence, the labor time can actually be reduced. Most women aren’t told that pain medications actually slows down the labor, even though it helps with the pain. This in reality causes the pain and the labor to last much longer.
Second, the techniques of midwifery actually reduces the likelihood of the need for forceps or other operative devices during delivery. The process of allowing the birth and delivery to happen naturally is what reduces the need for those devices.
Third, cesarean delivery possbilities are reduced. Most c-sections happen when during labor, it was thought that a natural birth process was not possible. Either because of the safety of the baby was in mind or the safety of the mother. Well in all actuality that complication was caused because the natural process was not allowed to happen.
These are 3 benefits when you have a natural homebirth. There are a lot more benefits, but I am positive most women who are pregnant would say these are 3 huge benefits.
So although, most might consider it strange to want to have a child at home, studies have shown that allowing the natural birth process to happen is safer for the mother 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.
