Having the baby in your home? Who would even think of 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 quite. There is a large group of women who are discovering the benefts of having a baby at home, or homebirth as it is sometimes called.
This practice of having your baby at home is called midwifery. 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 a more common term that people are familiar with and means a person who attends childbirth and provides support during 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 contrasted with the medical model which believes that pregnancy and delivery should be accompanied by medicine to assist and improve the situation.
With that taken care of, lets examine why women are choosing to have babies at home. What are the reasons why women are choosing homebirths?
First off, with the continued presence of the midwife, the length of labor can 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 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 c-sections happen when during labor, it was thought that a natural birth process was not possible. Either it was the baby’s safety that was in mind or the mother’s safety. When in reality the complication was created because the natural birth process wasn’t allowed to happen.
These were 3 benefits of having a homebirth naturally. 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.