Home births are on the rise in America. Among white women, the number of women giving birth at home rose by 28% between the years 2004 and 2008 following a steady 15 year decline. Why is this happening? Is this an encouraging trend or unsafe?
Why Women are Electing Home Births
With the current cesarean rate in the US climbing well over 30%, there is clearly something wrong with our current system of delivering babies. To put this number in perspective, if you are in the emergency room with 2 other laboring women, chances are that one of you will undergo a c-section. This certainly frightens me. Although there are many reasons why a cesarean may be recommended, many medical professionals link excessive medical interventions with a rise in c-section rates.
Medical interventions refer to routine administration of epidurals and pitocin which are both linked to changes in baby's heartrate. Epidurals can also slow labor which leads to what doctors lable as "failure to progress" as they roll you into the OR. Another hinderance to labor is when you are strapped to monitors and forced to lie in bed during labor so that nurses can keep a good watch on baby's condition. These interventions and excessive monitoring are not even shown to improve health of newborns. For this reason, women are turning to birthing centers and home births under midwife care for a more natural approach.
Is it a Good Thing?
Is it really safe to give birth at home outside of a doctor's care and away from emergency facilities? Newborn death is 2 to 3 times more likely at home births than at hospital births. Even with this scarey sounding jump, the rate is still only 1 in 1,000, which is not a big number according to Aaron Coughey, M.D., Phd. The bottom line is that the caesarean rate is an unacceptable trend that mothers are now choosing to reject. Most low-risk mothers will deliver successfully at home for less cost and less risk for complications than in a hospital. Unless hospital and doctor procedures change drastically, the rate of home births is going to continue rising. It is currently at about a half of a percent in the US. In the UK, the rate is 2% across the country with some areas having much higher rates. Torbay, for example has a rate of 20%.
Personally...
I think that home birth is a great option for low-risk women who live a short distance from a hospital. I would love to try it if I didn't live an hour from the nearest hospital. Birth centers are a wonderful alternative for those of us who are disgusted with the over-medicalization of birth in hospitals. They are convenient to hospitals usually and have all the emergency equipment and qualified staff that you need- the comforts of home plus some extra safety. C-sections have their place, and they do save countless lives of moms and babies. 30% of the population, however, is NOT incapable of vaginal births. We need to remember that birth is not a procedure to be gotten over with as quickly and conveniently as possible. Birth is a natural process that has been going on for a lot longer than monitors and pain killing drugs have been around. We can be safe in delivery without destroying God's perfect design for bringing people into the world. What do you think? Have you given birth in just hospitals? Are you open to alternative venues?
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