What’s the attraction to home births? As man, I would imagine if I was a woman, I would absolutely want to be in a hospital, so would be interesting to hear what women’s views are on it.
So much can go wrong at birth, I could never see the sttraction.
Our first decided to make a 7½ week early appearance and required immediate transfer to the SCBU, ok, so granted that could have been done by ambulance, but I’m glad we were in the hospital.
A relative ruptured a blood vessel internally giving birth on no.2, required emergency surgery and a number of blood transfusions, was a perfectly normal pregnancy up to the birth. If she’d been at home, she’d have likely beld out.
My wife had a home birth for our first, it was during COVID and wanted me to be there.
At first I was thinking “You want to what?! But babies are born in hospitals!”. But the more I learned about the process for planned homebirth, got to know our midwife, understood the parameters for hospital transfer – premature and late delivery means hospital, as well as the safeguards in place should there be any complications during labour, the more at ease I became with the idea.
Initially, I was nervous af, we live in a second floor apartment with no lift, and I was sure that it was meant to be hospitals all the way…
But listening to my wife talk about it, listening to podcasts and birthing experiences from others, it became more apparent that home-birthing is a choice people are making based on their individual motivations and circumstances. Every single pregnancy is different!
I also learned more about the hospital process in general, and how decisions are made regarding patients can be more business based than patient led, which can add more pressure to the expectant or new mothers, unknowingly perhaps.
After being a part of it, I can’t imagine a better way for my wife to have given birth to our child, it was great for her and baby. 2 hours after giving birth she was in her own bed, breastfeeding, eating and drinking tea… so much tea… very, very happy.
The article has a quote “from a clinical perspective it would be safest”, but birthing is not solely a clinical process, it is a natural one first and foremost.
By using both approaches in tandem (to identify risks, complications in pregnancy and so forth) birthing can be a very safe and enriching experience, whether someone chooses to do it at home or in the hospital, every single pregnancy is different, just like the people that are born from them.
A massive percentage of women that planned home births request to go to hospital as soon as they go into labour. I think it’s a majority and this is probably why
I’m a man so I speak from pure ignorance but if I was facing the prospect of that ordeal I would want the epidural and to be in a hospital whilst being as drugged up and not aware of the trauma as possible
While it’s not for me at all I’d rather a hospital any day and it sounds like such a dangerous situation It was the only option for 1000’s of women in our grandparents time.
All my dads family were born at home, his mother was the village “midwife” no formal medical training whatsoever she just had a knack for delivering babies which she learned from her mother before her who done the same and she was called for all the births in the village from the 40s to the late 70s. My dads granny delivered him and his siblings at home.
This was a very rural area with no hospital or doctor for miles and no way of getting to one so they had no other option but to deliver at home and by all accounts they never had any problems so it’s not impossible to have a safe home birth.
We’re used to the luxury of having hospitals and doctors within reach but that luxury wasn’t always there, now that it is it should be utilised but each to their own.
I can see why, in my first things went quickly down hill and luckily I was in a hospital and down to theatre in a flash.
Homebirths have been proven time and time again to be same or lower risk for adverse outcomes as hospital births. Pregnant people are regularly assessed throughout the pregnancy and only those deemed low risk will be granted a home birth. Even seemingly minor things like slightly high BP or being overweight will rule out a HB. When they go into labour, there will be an ambulance on standby, a midwife will attend as soon as they are called and they in turn call a second when baby is closer to arrival. The midwives are highly skilled and will monitor closely throughout the labour. Any complications and they will advise a transfer to the labour ward. The midwife also provides post partum care
People want home births for many reasons – labouring in a familiar and calm environment often goes smoother than being on a ward. Once you’re in hospital you’re on the clock and labour is expected to follow a certain path, if you aren’t dilating at a particular rate out comes the pitocin. Often routine interventions like ARM (having waters broken) can have a knock on effect and lead to more interventions which aren’t always necessary. Not being able to move freely due to meds or continuous monitoring can mean the baby doesn’t move into a good position for birth and then requires forceps/ventouse/csection.
Homebirths give the option of knowing who will be there when you deliver and you will have met them a dozen times prior so they will know your wishes and preferences. They will have arranged antenatal checks at times that suit you rather than waiting in a crowded hospital clinic where there aren’t even enough chairs to go around. You’ll have 1:1 care, the midwife won’t be popping out to check on other patients.
They might wish to have additional support in the form of a doula or family. Maybe they want to be able to curl up with their partner and baby afterwards and not be on a busy ward with other families/partners visiting
I’m of the opinion that there should be more home birth midwives available and also stand alone birth centres or at least birth centres within or adjacent to mat hospitals. As it stands, we pretty much have to start looking for a midwife the instant the second line appears and hope that they haven’t been booked already. Some areas don’t have any coverage at all.
I’ve had 3 hospital births (3rd arrived 20 mins after we got to the hospital) and 1 unplanned unassisted home birth. Would have much preferred to have a midwife there but baby wasn’t waiting.
8 comments
What’s the attraction to home births? As man, I would imagine if I was a woman, I would absolutely want to be in a hospital, so would be interesting to hear what women’s views are on it.
So much can go wrong at birth, I could never see the sttraction.
Our first decided to make a 7½ week early appearance and required immediate transfer to the SCBU, ok, so granted that could have been done by ambulance, but I’m glad we were in the hospital.
A relative ruptured a blood vessel internally giving birth on no.2, required emergency surgery and a number of blood transfusions, was a perfectly normal pregnancy up to the birth. If she’d been at home, she’d have likely beld out.
My wife had a home birth for our first, it was during COVID and wanted me to be there.
At first I was thinking “You want to what?! But babies are born in hospitals!”. But the more I learned about the process for planned homebirth, got to know our midwife, understood the parameters for hospital transfer – premature and late delivery means hospital, as well as the safeguards in place should there be any complications during labour, the more at ease I became with the idea.
Initially, I was nervous af, we live in a second floor apartment with no lift, and I was sure that it was meant to be hospitals all the way…
But listening to my wife talk about it, listening to podcasts and birthing experiences from others, it became more apparent that home-birthing is a choice people are making based on their individual motivations and circumstances. Every single pregnancy is different!
I also learned more about the hospital process in general, and how decisions are made regarding patients can be more business based than patient led, which can add more pressure to the expectant or new mothers, unknowingly perhaps.
After being a part of it, I can’t imagine a better way for my wife to have given birth to our child, it was great for her and baby. 2 hours after giving birth she was in her own bed, breastfeeding, eating and drinking tea… so much tea… very, very happy.
The article has a quote “from a clinical perspective it would be safest”, but birthing is not solely a clinical process, it is a natural one first and foremost.
By using both approaches in tandem (to identify risks, complications in pregnancy and so forth) birthing can be a very safe and enriching experience, whether someone chooses to do it at home or in the hospital, every single pregnancy is different, just like the people that are born from them.
A massive percentage of women that planned home births request to go to hospital as soon as they go into labour. I think it’s a majority and this is probably why
I’m a man so I speak from pure ignorance but if I was facing the prospect of that ordeal I would want the epidural and to be in a hospital whilst being as drugged up and not aware of the trauma as possible
While it’s not for me at all I’d rather a hospital any day and it sounds like such a dangerous situation It was the only option for 1000’s of women in our grandparents time.
All my dads family were born at home, his mother was the village “midwife” no formal medical training whatsoever she just had a knack for delivering babies which she learned from her mother before her who done the same and she was called for all the births in the village from the 40s to the late 70s. My dads granny delivered him and his siblings at home.
This was a very rural area with no hospital or doctor for miles and no way of getting to one so they had no other option but to deliver at home and by all accounts they never had any problems so it’s not impossible to have a safe home birth.
We’re used to the luxury of having hospitals and doctors within reach but that luxury wasn’t always there, now that it is it should be utilised but each to their own.
I can see why, in my first things went quickly down hill and luckily I was in a hospital and down to theatre in a flash.
Homebirths have been proven time and time again to be same or lower risk for adverse outcomes as hospital births. Pregnant people are regularly assessed throughout the pregnancy and only those deemed low risk will be granted a home birth. Even seemingly minor things like slightly high BP or being overweight will rule out a HB. When they go into labour, there will be an ambulance on standby, a midwife will attend as soon as they are called and they in turn call a second when baby is closer to arrival. The midwives are highly skilled and will monitor closely throughout the labour. Any complications and they will advise a transfer to the labour ward. The midwife also provides post partum care
People want home births for many reasons – labouring in a familiar and calm environment often goes smoother than being on a ward. Once you’re in hospital you’re on the clock and labour is expected to follow a certain path, if you aren’t dilating at a particular rate out comes the pitocin. Often routine interventions like ARM (having waters broken) can have a knock on effect and lead to more interventions which aren’t always necessary. Not being able to move freely due to meds or continuous monitoring can mean the baby doesn’t move into a good position for birth and then requires forceps/ventouse/csection.
Homebirths give the option of knowing who will be there when you deliver and you will have met them a dozen times prior so they will know your wishes and preferences. They will have arranged antenatal checks at times that suit you rather than waiting in a crowded hospital clinic where there aren’t even enough chairs to go around. You’ll have 1:1 care, the midwife won’t be popping out to check on other patients.
They might wish to have additional support in the form of a doula or family. Maybe they want to be able to curl up with their partner and baby afterwards and not be on a busy ward with other families/partners visiting
I’m of the opinion that there should be more home birth midwives available and also stand alone birth centres or at least birth centres within or adjacent to mat hospitals. As it stands, we pretty much have to start looking for a midwife the instant the second line appears and hope that they haven’t been booked already. Some areas don’t have any coverage at all.
I’ve had 3 hospital births (3rd arrived 20 mins after we got to the hospital) and 1 unplanned unassisted home birth. Would have much preferred to have a midwife there but baby wasn’t waiting.