So why homebirth?

This is going to be a long post, so be forewarned. After our last homebirth, I had many people ask me why we would choose to homebirth with a direct entry midwife, as oppsed to having a hospital birth with an OB, or even a Certified Nurse Midwife. Since I'm sure there are people wondering that this time too, I thought I would explain. There are a lot of reasons, but here are the big ones:

1) I've already had an unecessary c-section, and I don't want another one. The odds of me having a c-section with my midwife are less than 1%. I am not sure what the statistics are for our local hospitals, but I have yet to find any hospital with c-section statistic for low-risk mothers that is anywhere near that. The national average for c-sections is 29.7%. Since that is an average, there are hospitals out there with c-section rates of 50% or more. So just by walking in the door of a hospital in labor, my risk of a c-section goes up anwhere from 20-50 times. That is not acceptable to me.

2) I do not want to deal with unecessary and potentially dangerous procedures performed on me that are dictated by hospital policy. Policies such as: continious fetal monitoring, restricted food and water, a "labor curve" that I must progess along, or otherwise having my labor screwed around with, when it doesn't need to be. Since I am a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesearean) the odds of me being able to refuse these policies with little resistance from the staff is even lower than normal. I do not want to have to fight medical personel while I am in labor.

3) I do not want to deal with unecessary and/or potentially dangerous procedures performed on my newborn, and I don't want to deal with medical staff giving us a hard time for refusing those procedures. There are more than I care to list here, but they would include: immediate umbilical cord clamping and cutting, eye medication, Vitamin K injection, Hepatitis B vaccine, and circumcision.

4) I want a medication free birth, so being at home makes it impossible for me to get an epidural in a weak moment. I also know my support team will not offer me medication, like a nurse in the hospital might.

5) When I give birth, I want to be in a familiar, comfortable place, with people who I know, who know me, and whom I feel safe with.

I've also been asked the big "What if'" question: "What if something goes wrong?" There is a misconception in mainstream American society that childbirth is a disaster waiting to happen. Studies comparing low-risk homebirthers to low-risk hospital birthers have repeatedly and consistently shown that homebirth is as safe or safer than hospital birth. In reality, there are very few things that go catastrophically wrong very quickly in birth. 95% of the time, childbirth will happen just fine if you leave it alone. With a homebirth, I have one on one monitoring from an experienced midwife. The odds of her catching a potential problem early are much better than if I were in a hospital with a nurse watching a monitor showing my contractions at the nurse's station down the hall, while watching three other women's monitors at the same time. There is only a minute possibility that something would go wrong so quickly that I would not have time to transfer to the hospital before the issue becomes life threatening.

I mentioned a few interventions in #1 that are very typical for most hospitals. Any one of those things can lead to distress in the baby, a "stalled" labor, or problems with mom. One intervention typically leads to another, and another, and another. This is known as the "cascade of interventions." Any one of those interventions can cause problems, but when you start adding them together, you increase your risk of a whole host of problems which include fetal distress, instumental delivery, or c-section. So the truth is, the odds of something going wrong are increased by being in the hospital, simply by virtue of things they do as "standard policy". If you want more information on iotragenic (doctor or intervention caused) c-sections, and the cascade of interventions, you can read Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth, by Henci Goer, or pretty much anything written by Ina May Gaskin.

So, I hope that answers any questions anyone may have about our choice to homebirth. Here's a quick update on baby's development: At 7 weeks, she or he is almost half an inch long — roughly the size of a raspberry — and has elbow joints and distinct, slightly webbed fingers and toes. Both hemispheres of the brain are developing, as well as teeth, the inside of the mouth, and ears. And although I can't feel it, apparently the little bub is bouncing around like a mexican jumping bean in there.

I am still going to the bathroom a lot, and am still very tired. I'm trying to keep up with my excercise, but it's tough when I feel so run down all the time. Still no morning sickness!! That's it for this week...