Homebirth Is Safe!

Homebirth is safe! That is a fact!

So let's - once and for all - put the myths to rest. Moreover, it is our belief that it is the mother who should choose where and with whom she wants to give birth, not some government official. Nobody tells you where to have sex, nor should anyone tell you where to give birth. Your baby is - or should be - your responsibility and your responsibility alone...and this does start before birth.

Homebirth is Safe: Some Studies

A 2009 Canadian Study

A Canadian study published in September 2009 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal - CMAJ - concluded that planned homebirths - with a midwife in attendance - have comparable or better outcomes than hospital births.

This study was performed in British Columbia, a Canadian province with about 4.4 million inhabitants.

The study sample was far from small: 2,800 planned homebirths were studied - spanning a 4-year period.

The results?

Women who planned a homebirth had lower rates of invasive and negative interventions than the moms who chose a hospital birth - regardless of whether the birth attendant was a midwife or a doctor. No surprise here.

What are invasive and negative interventions?

Electronic fetal monitoring

C-sections

Episiotomies

Augmentation of labor with Pitocin

Augmentation of labor with AROM - amniotomy also known as artificial rupture of the fetal membranes

The use of drugs during labor

Etc

There is more: while there were six baby deaths at the hospital. There were no deaths at home.

In conclusion, homebirth proved safer in almost every category measured.

Homebirth is Safe: A 2005 North American Study

Setting: Homebirths - attended by certified professional midwives (CPMs) - across the United States and Canada.

Number of participants: 5,418 women.

Published: BMJ 2005;330:1416 - June 18 Issue

Conclusions: Planned homebirth for low risk women was associated with lower rates of medical intervention but similar intrapartum and neonatal mortality to that of low risk hospital births.

Homebirth is Safe: A 2005 Canadian Study

Published: British Medical Journal 2005; 330: 1416-22

Conclusions: Among low-risk women, home births assisted by certified midwives achieve similar rates of intrapartum and neonatal mortality as hospital births, with lower rates of medical intervention, reveal Canadian researchers.

Homebirth is Safe: A 1996 Netherland Study

Published: BMJ 1996;313:1309-1313 - November 23

Conclusions: The outcome of planned home births is at least as good as that of planned hospital births in women at low risk receiving midwifery care in the Netherlands.

And these studies are but a few conducted worldwide.

Homebirth is Safe: It is a Fact!

So should all women birth at home? No!

Should all women have the option to birth at home if they so choose without any government deciding for them what is okay and what is not? You bet!

If a woman cannot make that choice then there is no choice. Our problem is that we have people who feel the masses - us - are too stupid to make intelligent choices of their own and therefore are in need of a Big Daddy aka more laws. Homebirth has been the way women have birthed for thousands of years and it seems to us that the human race has done very well.

As to ACOG - American College of Obstetrician and Gynecologists - it is a college in name only. Rather ACOG is a trademark union - or a professional organization for a nicer term - and it was created to protect its members....meaning doctors, not you!

We hate to be so calloused but interventions are the bread and butter of the childbirth industry. ACOG will always be against midwives no matter how much training and certification they get and how many hoops they jump through. A partnership between midwife and doctor can only occur if the midwife is under a doctor.

So not to be redundant but homebirth is safe...homebirth is therefore not the true issue. As far as we are concerned it is control. And the only person that should control you is you. As there always will be hospitals to birth in, so should there be other alternatives...homebirth being the oldest and as we have shown just as safe...if not safer.

To leave a comment or review Click Here

Read others' comments and reviews.

Homebirth is Safe: Reviews

Any thoughts? A story of your own? Share with us!