Benefits of a Homebirth
Having the baby in your home? Who would even think of such a thing? 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 is a growing group of women who realize the benefits of a homebirth and having your baby at home.
The practice of homebirths is usually 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 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 taken care of, lets examine why women are choosing to have 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 actually creates more pain and makes the labor last longer.
Second, midwifery practices actually causes a reduction in the need for forceps and other devices in a 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 are performed because during labor, somehow a consensus was made that a natural 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 a lot more benefits, but I am positive most women who are pregnant would say 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.