Why Choose a Home Birth?

There is a lot of talk about home birth these days. The American Medical Association is up in arms about it to the point that they are willing to support legislation preventing women from birthing at home. Why? Only about 1 -2% of women birth at home. Yet this 1-2% seems to threaten the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. They still get the vast majority of birthing women… even if you add in the amount of women birthing in hospitals with certified nurse-midwives. Let's get at the crux of the issue… why does a woman choose to birth at home?

For me, birthing at home meant no interventions. My midwife did not give me an IV or do electronic fetal monitoring. She listened to the baby using a fetoscope and at times, a Doppler. I was not invaded for vaginal exams. She could tell what stage of labor I was in by my behavior. When it was time for the baby to be born, no one counted to ten yelling at me to push. Instead, I was encouraged to push when I felt like it, and encouraged to breathe through the contractions when my body told me it needed time to stretch around the baby. If you've ever felt that famous "ring of fire" they talk about in childbirth classes… that is your body telling you to give it a little time to stretch.

Birthing at home meant that my other children were there if they chose to be. It meant my husband could catch the baby if he chose to. It meant my oldest daughter usually cut the cord. It meant after the birth we were all tucked in together to marvel at the newest family member.

At the hospital, I got filled with pitocin I didn't want. They were always in a rush to break my water. I got talked into medications I didn't want because they managed to take away all the confidence I had in myself. Oh, and I wasn't allowed to make noise. I wasn't allowed to eat. I ended up with a cesarean. Managed birth at its finest.

Don't get me wrong… if something is wrong, I would go to the hospital and get the care I needed. For example, if the cord prolapsed, or if the placenta was covering my cervix, or if the baby was transverse, the hospital is the first place I would go. However, I discovered it was not the best choice to get a normal birth.

How does this impact anyone but myself? Well, the majority of women at the majority of hospitals get fed the same line I got. And today, even more of them end up induced and/or sectioned. Why? Certainly a third or more of all birthing women can't be incapable of having a baby on their own. If that were true, we never would have survived as a species. Luckily, there are some great sources of information available today that women can access to let them know of their options. I know that a large portion of women will still choose to birth in the hospital. It has come to be expected in our culture, even though we've only been doing it regularly for 60 or 70 years. Birthing at home has been accepted and is accepted the world over for thousands of years. But really, at this very vulnerable, emotional time… is it really necessary to bully women into unneeded interventions? The hospitals believe it is, because the more women that can pass through their doors, the more it helps their bottom line. Managed birth has become the norm. Assembly line birth. Is that how you want your baby to enter the world? I've been there, done that. I wouldn't want to do it again unless there was a true, medical reason. Give me home birth in any other circumstance.

If you haven't had a homebirth... think about it. If you have, tell us about it. :)