Birthing Options and Places of Birth

Now that you are pregnant what are your birthing options?

During the course of your pregnancy, you will to need to decide where you are going to birth your baby and with whom. For most women - 99% of American women in fact - it is a matter of choosing which hospital to go to and which OBGYN to have as a birth attendant. After all, birthing a baby means going to the hospital...right?

True, you may think this is a no brainer. Indeed - as we have already mentioned - 99% of American women give birth in the hospital and 96% of them do choose a doctor. Although resent studies are showing that more and more women choose midwives and out of hospital births. Even so, the majority of women will birth in a hospital.

Of course, we all know that hospital births are safest...right?

May we ask kindly: Do you know that to be a fact?

While this is true for some mothers, hospitals are not necessarily the best places for all women to give birth.

Birthing Options: The Transition from Home to Hospital

You must have heard - as we all do - horror stories of women dying in childbirth at the turn of the century or in third world countries...implying that thanks to hospitals this is no longer the case?

Did you know that actually - at the same turn of the century - wealthy women did not want to give birth in a hospital because women died more often there? Home was safer then.

This is true.

At the time, women who gave birth in hospitals where much more likely to die of childbed fever...proven to be given - inadvertently - by...doctors.

It was during World War II - with its shortage of doctors - that hospital births became popular in the United States. It made the job much easier for the remaining doctors. Indeed, a few laboring mothers all in one place rather than going from home to home was easier for the shorthanded doctors who stayed behind.

Now, let's put some numbers into perspective.

In 1900, the maternal death rate was indeed higher than it is now - at 700 maternal deaths per 100,000 births. Babies also died at a significantly higher rate. However, even in 1900, the percentage of women who died giving birth was only 7/10ths of one percent! And while all premature deaths are tragic, we cannot say that women were "dropping like flies" while giving birth at home with lay midwives.

Furthermore, do you wonder how this percentage compares with our country's current cesarean section rate of over 32%? Are these surgeries performed on expectant mothers actually saving them - or their babies - from imminent death?

The data says no!

Actually thanks to an increase in these - major - surgeries, the maternal mortality rate is actually increasing for the first time in decades.

The assumption that hospital births are safer for all mothers birthing a baby has never been supported by research nor science. Prenatal care, better nutrition, antibiotics and blood transfusions have played more of a part in the relative safety of birth today.

We need to point out that we are not opposing hospital births. They are needed for some women. However we are saying that women should not be under the false assumption that hospitals are the only - and best place - to give birth.

So, what if you are not happy with the hospital choice? Or what if you already had a hospital birth and you know this is not what you want this time? What if, you want a natural vaginal birth and you know that a hospital may not be best place to achieve your goal? Do you have other birthing options?

You absolutely do!

Birthing Options: Birth Alternatives to Hospitals

Indeed there are alternative birthing settings.

You might be pleasantly surprised to find out that a free standing birthing center - meaning out of hospital - can actually offer you the birth you want.

And no, we are not talking of in-hospital birthing centers which are so popular nowadays but are still a hospital setting...just prettier and more comfortable.

Remember, birthing a baby is an experience you will not soon forget. The birth of your baby will be a memory you will remember forever...however precious - or regretful - it may be.

But what if there is not a birth center near you? Is there another alternative birthing option besides a hospital?

What if we told you that there was a place that has been proven in many studies to be as safe - if not safer - than hospitals for low risk women?

What if there was a place that was the most relaxing to you?

An "alternative birthing place" where you call the shots, where there are little - if any - interventions?

A place where your baby is handled by you - not the medical staff?

A place where you can have as much privacy as you want?

A place where you hand pick your birthing team?

A place where your baby is born gently and alert?

A place where your baby never has to leave your side?

A place where you are not starved but are encouraged to eat and drink...and dare we say it...even move around?....

If this sounds too good to be true, you need to know that it is not!

And if it sounds like something for you then you may want to consider...a homebirth!

Please, do not rule this birth option out just yet. Take an honest look at the data and even at some birth stories. Talk to women who have chosen this "alternative" - which by the way was the "traditional" way until less than 100 years ago.

Ask questions and then ask more questions still.

Perhaps you have one of "these women" in your own neighborhood...invite her for tea - or coffee - and talk.

Birthing Options: Conclusion

Don't settle for a hospital because "everybody does it." More and more women are educating themselves and realizing that they have other options and that an out-of-hospital birth does not mean certain death for you and/or your baby.

We are not asking you to have an out-of-hospital birth, but we are asking you to look at the data with an open mind and to realize that the women who choose a birth center birth - or a homebirth - are actually very well informed. They believe that they know a better, safer way to birth and they are willing to challenge the "status quo" of the American birth machine.

Strangely, they are not alone in their quest for gentler - and safer - birthing options. Many prominent, world-renowned OBGYNs agree with them. Some have even paid a dear price to get the message out...

Nevertheless, the voices of women and their babies will not be silenced. Most women who choose "alternative" birthing options are passionate about their research and discoveries...and their numbers are slowly rising.

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