Continuing on in the series on birthing choices, I have a post to share with you today from Shannon of Nourishing Days. Shannon has birthed at home twice and is eager to share with you some information you might not know about homebirth:
I have delivered both of my boys at home with caring and skilled midwives. I was able to labor and push however and whenever I needed to in complete comfort.
I want every mother to have that experience.
What is important to me is not that every woman have their baby at home, but that every woman is given all of the information about birth.
So let me tell you what I know about homebirth...
It is Just as Safe as Hospital Birth
Safety is most people's biggest concern, but statistically it's just as safe, if not safer than hospital birth.
We can look outside of the U.S. to make a comparison...
- In the Netherlands 30% of all births are homebirths. They have an infant mortality rate of 4.73 deaths/1000 live births (according to the CIA World Factbook, 2009)
- In the United States 1% or less of all births are planned homebirths. The United States' infant mortality rate is 6.26 deaths/1000 live births (according to the CIA World Factbook, 2009).
There are Fewer Interventions
The current c-section rate is nearly one third of all hospital births. One third. That rate has increased 50% since 2005 and it is double the World Health Organization's recommended rate of 15%.
I am not against c-sections - they can be life saving for both mother and baby. But it is also major surgery with significant risks to both mother and baby, and therefore should not be done unless necessary.
The average transfer rate, and therefore intervention rate, for homebirth is 12%.
My sister-in-law, who is a nurse working with moms and babies, has told me that she would choose a birthing center over a hospital birth. She has seen the snowball effect of interventions in the hospital.
It Costs Less Than Hospital Birth
Have you seen The Business of Being Born? If not I would highly recommend it for anyone who will ever have a baby.
There is a lot of money involved in birth. If half of us mamas chose to birth at home, with midwives, does that mean that half of the obstetricians would lose their jobs? Would they make half the money? I don't know, but they certainly have some incentive to keep us in the hospitals, even if we don't need to be there.
If you look at the average facility labor and birth charge by site and method of birth you can see that it is not cheap to give birth in the hospital.
In 2005 a vaginal birth in the hospital cost almost $7,000. In 2006 our family paid less than $2500 for a homebirth with the best care you can imagine - and that price covered prenatal, the birth and postnatal. Everything.
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The above three reasons helped motivate us to have a homebirth, but their was more to it than that.
We know that whatever the outcome of a hospital or homebirth - God is in control.
While we can seek out the best care possible and nourish our bodies as best as we can, some things are out of our control. This was never more clear to me than during the birth of my younger son.
Given God's sovereignty, and the three reasons above, we have chosen homebirth.
I am often asked if we will have another homebirth if we become pregnant again. At this point I can't say for sure, but I know it will depend on my health and how the pregnancy goes. I can say that if it is not a homebirth, we will choose a birthing center and the wonderful midwives who do not get near the credit that they deserve in the medical community.
Shannon is a wife, mama, and homemaker who is passionate about nourishing our families with real food. She writes about sustainable agriculture, mindful stewardship of resources, living simply, and more at Nourishing Days.
(photo of Shannon and her younger son just moments after she birthed him at home)
