Having your child in the home? Who would even think of such a thing? Didn’t that only happen back in the early days of our country when doctor’s had to go out to the prairie and deliver babies?
Not quite. There is a growing group of women who realize the benefits of a homebirth and having your baby at home.
This practice of having your baby at home is called midwifery. Although they are usually not doctors or nurses, people who are in this profession are professionally regulated. I myself have seen the steady rise of homebirths through my practice as a San Diego certified midwife.
The people, generally women, who perform this line of work are called homebirth midwives. Midwives is the term most people are familiar with and means a person who helps during childbirth by providing support of the labor and delivery.
Now a midwife is usually not a nurse or doctor because in general a midwife generally believes that pregnancy and births are natural events and should be allowed to proceed naturally without drugs. This is contrasted with the medical model which believes that pregnancy and delivery should be accompanied by medicine to assist and improve the situation.
That out of the way, lets take a look at why women are having their babies at home. What are the reasons why women are choosing homebirths?
First, with the midwife’s continued presence, the labor time can actually be reduced. Most women aren’t told that pain medications actually slows down the labor, even though it helps with the pain. This actually creates more pain and makes the labor last longer.
Second, the techniques of midwifery actually reduces the likelihood of the need for forceps or other operative devices during delivery. The process of allowing the birth and delivery to happen naturally is what reduces the need for those devices.
Third, the possiblity of c-section deliveries are actually reduced. Most cesareans are performed because during labor, somehow a consensus was made that a natural vaginal birth was not possible. Either it was the baby’s safety that was in mind or the mother’s safety. Well in all actuality that complication was caused because the natural process was not allowed to happen.
These are just 3 of the benefits of having a natural birth at home. There are many more, but I am sure most women in pregnancy would agree these are 3 huge benefits.
So although, most might consider it strange to want to have a child at home, studies have shown that allowing the natural birth process to happen is safer for the mother and the baby. With over 300 births attended as a San Diego midwife, this has proven to be the case time and time again.
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