10 Benefits of Home Births
October 30, 2009
Home births are becoming popular for a number of reasons. Let’s take a look at the benefits, as well as when a home birth is not the right choice.
1. With safety being one of the primary factors when making a decision between home birth and hospital birth, much of the research on home births has found that infant and mortality rates are a little bit better in a home birth. And they’ve found that home births have fewer incidences of of cesarean sections, induced labor or the use of forceps.
2. It’s also widely accepted that a home birth is significantly less stressful for the mother, which may be related to the fact that home births are slightly safer than hospital births.
3. A home birth means you can have whomever you want in the room with you.
4. A home birth means you can walk around, make a sandwich, listen to music, watch television or do whatever you feel like doing while you’re in labor. Hospital rooms are much more restrictive.
5. A home birth allows you to give birth in whatever position you feel most comfortable in. The old “on your back with your feet in the stirrups” isn’t the only position a woman can or should give birth in, really!
6. A home birth means you can eat and drink whatever you desire. Hospitals give you ice chips.
7. A home birth means no intervention without your permission. Hospitals often tell you what they’re doing about halfway through the procedure when it’s too late to tell them you don’t want pitocin and you don’t want that IV stuck into the back of your hand.
8. A home birth means you can bond with your baby immediately without them being whisked away to be sanitized and swaddled. You can do the sanitizing and swaddling as you see fit.
9. A home birth means you will likely use a midwife and that experience alone is enough for many women to choose home birth. Midwives tend to have a more personal approach to childbirth and their patients.
10. Finally, a home birth allows you to recover from childbirth in the comfort of your own home. If you’ve ever been in the hospital, even if it’s for a wonderful reason like childbirth, then you know first hand that it’s not a great place to be. Home is much better more comfortable.
Besides, you’re already immune to the bacteria in your own home. The same thing cannot be said of the microorganisms in a hospital.
Generally, if you’re having a healthy pregnancy with no complications and you don’t need to have a cesarean then a home birth is a safe option. However, midwives are also capable of performing c-sections should one become necessary. If you’re healthy, and are having a normal pregnancy then a home birth may be the right choice for you.
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Please correct your information regarding midwives being capable of performing cesareans. Only OBs are surgically trained to preform cesarean births. Midwives assisting births in or out of the hospital never do and never will perform a cesarean. They can preform an episiotomy but that is the only cut they’ll make (and very rarely at that).
Thanks for correcting that, Rachel! You’re completely correct: midwives are neither trained nor certified to perform cesareans. Sorry for the oversight.