Why I Love Homebirths

Caveat: It truly doesn’t bother me where someone chooses to give birth. It’s not up to me, it’s up to that woman or person (with support from their partner if they have one) to decide what is right for them, and if that is a hospital setting, then there’s nothing more to be said! I will support births in any setting.

THAT BEING SAID…

I do just LOVE a homebirth. There is something special and magical about bringing life into the world in your own space, with the minimum number of people surrounding you with minimum disruptions. Just you and your baby working together, making magic.

There’s no anxiety of when to go to the hospital, no uncomfortable car ride (or worse, taxi/uber) over, no stress of looking for parking. There’s no apprehension of whether you’ll be admitted or told you’re not in established labour and sent away. There’s no concern about whether there are available rooms or bed, whether the special room with the birth pool is available. There’s no unfamiliar faces or places, or smells and sounds, there are no bright strip lights. There’s no hot and loud postnatal ward, there’s no wondering when you can go home, there’s no worry about whether your partner can stay with you. There is so much less stress.

There is the comfort of your own space, familiar smells, spaces, sounds, sights. There is a luxury of having antenatal appointments at home, that last longer than 15mins, where someone isn’t just focused on typing notes on a screen, but they actually look up at you and listen. There is the knowledge that you’re very likely to know the midwife who attends you (or if you don’t it’s one of roughly 5 or 6 on the homebirth team). There is the calm of knowing that when the first niggles or cramps start, you can get in touch and someone will come to you to check in. There is the confidence of knowing that things are a more on your terms, the midwives who attend will be in your home and they will be mindful of this. There is the protection of birth physiology and minimised disruption to this smyphony of hormones that allows birth to unfold. There is eating your own food afterwards. There is having a shower in your own bathroom and getting into your own bed!

Often people believe that hospital is the safest place to give birth, however it’s been shown that giving birth at home means:

  • >45% less likely to have an unplanned caesarean

  • >50% less likely to have an instrumental birth

  • 70% less likely to have an epidural

  • 55% less likely to have an episiotomy

  • >40% less likely to have a 3rd or 4th degree tear

  • >40% less likely to have labour augmented (sped up with a synthetic hormone drip)

  • 70% lower rate of infection

  • less likely or no more likely to have PPH (post partum hemorrhage)

  • As safe as hospital and birth centre births for babies (adverse outcomes in less than 1% of births in all settings)*

For more reading on this, I just love Dr. Sarah Wickham’s website and in particular this page. She summarises the research and evidence clearly and also include information for those who have been deemed ‘high-risk’ (yes you CAN still have a homebirth!).

*Source: Maternal outcomes and birth interventions among women who begin labour intending to give birth at home compared to women of low obstetrical risk who intend to give birth in hospital: A systematic review and meta-analyses

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