But I suspect the reason some take this view is that the lay public are blissfully unaware that becoming pregnant and giving birth is one of the most dangerous and potentially life-threatening things most women will voluntarily undertake during their lifetimes.
David
Or not even within miles, as in the case here.
Having missed a few posts in this thread I'm not sure I get the point about the NHS. You can have NHS midwives at a homebirth. We did for two of our children.
I just don't get why that experience wouldn't turn you into a rabid anti-home-birth campaigner, though.
"Fortunately" the baby was OK, you say - what would have happened if it hadn't been, and you'd been stuck at home waiting for the ambulance rather than SWMBO being whisked in for a rapid section?
In our case, my wife was in labour in hospital (there was never any intention to do otherwise); she was hooked up to a foetal monitor and being watched routinely by the midwife when there was an obvious 'oh, shit' moment and the midwife rushed off for help: within 2 minutes the room was filled with all manner of scrubs-clad staff and within a couple more minutes - the scariest of both our lives - a very blue baby arrived and was whipped off to the incubator by the neonatal paediatrician. Fortunately the baby was absolutely fine, but I genuinely don't believe that would have been the case had SWMBO not been right there in the hospital when the baby suddenly went 'off'.
All anecdotal I know; but then there's the friend of SWMBO who wanted her baby to be born at home and tragically ended up with a stillbirth. Then a wife of a former work colleague of mine had a massive haemorrhage during birth at home and was scant minutes away from the final curtain when the ambulance finally got her to the hospital. In both cases, the women went on to have uneventful births for their subsequent children... and were very happy to do so in hospital.
David
Similar here except no c section (ventouse). Baby & mother badly batterred. Mother in severe pain throughout in spite of using every form of pain relief known to (wo)man. The room she was in was so small I had to leave every time the midwife arrived. There was no continuity of care since he was delivered on Sunday (where the shifts are very short). I even missed the actual birth since the cafe was closed and I had gone to find something to eat!
Second and third births at home with relaxed mother with far less pain. She used no pain relief at all (except breathing if you count this) on one birth.
The added benefit of a homebirth is that you have exclusive access to the midwife. In hospital they seem to disappear without trace for long periods of time.
How about this one: Anderson R E, Anderson D A. The cost-effectiveness of home birth. Journal of Nurse-Midwifery, 1999; 44(1): 30-35
"The average uncomplicated natural birth costs 68% less in a home setting than in a hospital, and births initiated in the home offer a lower combined rate of intrapartum and neonatal mortality and a lower incidence of cesarean delivery."
(One word edited to get around dumb filters).
That depends on what 'goes wrong'. Very little does go wrong which can't be dealt with by the attending midwife or doctor, unless you're thinking of mechanical intervention.
That's been tried, pretty curtains and soft furnishings do NOT replicate the home situation, there's a lot more to it than that.
And how many O2 deprivations happen in hospitals? And how many babies and mothers are damaged either physically or emotionally or both from hospital intervention?
Mary
That's beginning to be the case with elective induction and CSs.
The woman should feel that she's more in control than the obstetrician in an ideal delivery. It shouldn't be assumed that anything can happen at the direction of the medic, explanation and agreement should be sought and gained.
Mary
Voluntarily?
How many pregnancies are planned?
Mary
Rubbish, the baby is in control not the mother.
How many are responsible parents?
Well that's the real nitty gritty.
Why don't you research the statistics BEFORE say WWII when hospital birth was the exception, and recently, when its the rule.
I think you might find it a shade shocking.
Obviously of nothing bad goes wrong, home is ideal.
If something bad does go wrong, its a very ill equipped place for surgical or mechanical intervention.
I am fully in favour of having the choice, provided that the home birther signs a waiver of indemnity against any or all medical staff involved in the birth.
Well Mary, if you haven't heard, contraception exists and therefore involuntary pregnancies can only be ascribed to men or women having less brains in their heads than between their legs.
Is this an accurate description of you?
I was lucky enough to have my second child in such a maternity ward. I was considered at high risk, due to age and a previous Caesarean, so home birth was out of the question, but the facilities provided were the next best thing. We had the use of two rooms - one was a small, nicely decorated sitting room, with rocking chairs, TV, and reading material; the other looked like a very nice bedroom, with a brass bedstead, patterned sheets, art on the walls, another rocking chair, etc. It had its own shower room, too. But - behind the cupboard doors, was every piece of equipment that might be needed in an emergency, the end of the bed could swing away, and leg supports could be fitted. As it happened, I had a normal, unmedicated birth - and I think the stress-free environment had something to do with it.
And I'll bet you'll never, ever, ever be allowed to forget that!
The birth of our last one was a bit like that. Nothing at all was happening in the delivery room so SWMBO dispatched me home at lunchtime to check all was well there; the two grannies(*) having been imported to look after the elder two toddlers. So I'd just got home and was eating a swift sandwich whereupon I had a phone call from the midwife suggesting in a WTF-do-you-think-you're-doing-swanning-off-for-lunch-while-your-poor-wife-is
-here-in-the-latter-stages-of-labour sort-of voice, that NOW would be a rather a good time to get my butt back to the hospital. In the ensuing excitement, one of the grannies 'saved' my two-year-old from falling over by yanking his hand, and in doing so managed to dislocate his elbow (it had happened similarly very recently so the joint was rather weak).
Oh Christ...
So I zoomed back to the hospital, one granny and whimpering son in the back of the car and into A&E. I thrust my son at a surprised nurse 'sorry, can't stop my wife's about to give birth upstairs - here's granny' and rushed up in time to welcome my next son into the world. God, we guys have it tough.
(There were more shenanigans down in A&E, since because we'd just moved house days before, granny was completely unable to provide an address or phone number for this injured child in her care. We got it all sorted eventually though, including the elbow. But hey - maybe a home birth would have been easier?!)
David
*yes, both of them - long story
If that's the case, then given that costs are sadly but unarguably the be-all and end-all when it comes to NHS patient care these days, I wonder why home births aren't made compulsory for uncomplicated pregnancies?
David
As they were in Leeds at lest fifty years ago.
Mary
because one complication and the resultant litigation would completely outweigh any cost-benefit.
Planned or unplanned, the majority are voluntary. Very few pregnancies result from coercion or assault.
Owain
The current figure is somewhere between 5-8 maternal deaths per 100000. The figure for road deaths is between 5-6 per 100000, so it could be considered about as dangerous as going out in your car or crossing the road.
While giving birth is not to be taken lightly and can indeed have many complications calling it the most dangerous things a woman will voluntarily do is pushing it.
Alternatively you'll put an enormous strain on the local midwifery service by having a team of midwives on call 24 hours a day (at something like 50p per hour for the time they are at home and on call for you)
go to a decent hospital where you may well have a bath in your room
You can get up and do what you want in a well managed labour ward
My wife's had three great experiences delivering in hospital.
As a midwife she has also been out and delivered many babies successfully at home. But the vast majority of the public simply do not realise what a strain home births place on an understaffed service.
My wife had three very good experiences, but she will be the first to admit that she had an easy time in comparison to the majority of women.
All were normal births, gas and air for pain relief and delivery by the midwife.
At least now you've heard a positive account.
best wishes for your own delivery this time around and I hope all goes well.
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