| There are over 70 research studies documenting the safety of home birth. Many women and their families understand the fundamental differences of gentle birth at home compared to the technology based hospital delivery. At home the woman and her partner maintain control. It's familiar domain! You don't have to ask permission to go to the bathroom, or to have a drink of water. Birth can actually be quicker, and the baby healthier as you continue to eat a normal diet in labor. Eating is actually possible in your own home!! Women who have birthed at home and the hospital state birth hurts less at home than in the hospital. This is due to the uninterrupted flow of hormones, feelings of safety knowing that nothing will be done to you, for which you have not given your permission. Research and personal experience has revealed that getting in a car, driving to the light filled, noisy, and stress filled environment to birth with strangers whom you haven't developed a trusting relationship, increases a woman's anxiety in subtle yet obvious ways, and the first thing that occurs is that the contractions either stop, or they feel painfully out of control. At home, no one whom you don't trust is allowed to be present at your birth. Candlelight, sweet music, a comforting bath, massage can all be employed to your personal comfort needs. The baby experiences less anxiety at home. When baby is born, he is placed directly on your chest to hear your beating heart. The same beating heart he has heard since his conception. This new experience of entering the world has a pulse of familiarity to allay his anxiety. He is dried by loving hands. His umbilical cord is allowed to cease pulsating before it is clamped. Research has shown less childhood anemia when late umbilical cord clamping is practiced. Baby isn't forced to stay in a cold, lighted nursery away from the comfort of his daddy's arms, or his mother's voice. Infection is rarely an issue with a home born baby. At home your precious newborn who was born with a very immature immune system, does not get an infection from unwashed hands, and the other babies in the nursery. Baby can be nursed as soon as you and he are ready so that he gets that precious colostrum full of antibodies to begin fighting infection. Mothers report greater satisfaction delivering in their own homes. Over 99 percent of women who have given birth at home and have been delivered in the hospital would choose a home birth over the hospital experience!! Home birth benefits included less risk of infection to both mother and baby, fewer vaginal examinations during labor, less technology, the comfort of being with only people whom you have established a trust filled relationship, retaining your identity as a woman, and your sense of power. There are risks to delivering in the hospital. The greatest risk is that both mother and baby are exposed to technology. This technology increases the cascade of interventions performed on individual women and babies. Many women report dissatisfaction with their hospital experience. Women report that they feel that they have no control over the process of their pregnancy and birth, and they were not told their options for their condition. They report that aspects of their pregnancy and birth were filled with fear by the practitioners around them. Delivery is of such a safe nature, that thousands of women are actually delivered by residents, people who have very little experience with child birth, and are full of myths and fears about child birth themselves. The risk for infection for both mother and baby is greatly increased in the hospital . Infections acquired in the hospital may not be easy to eradicate due to the overuse of antibiotics. This risk of infection to mother and baby is increased with the amount of vaginal examinations performed, the lack of "hand washing" by hospital personnel, and the amount of people entering the hospital with disease each day. Maternal and neonatal morbidity may be higher in hospitals! There are some variables that must be accounted for when making such a statement. For example, women who deliver at home may have healthier diets and lifestyles. Nutrition is a known factor in a good birth outcome! In the hospital, practitioners have not witnessed normal birth. They see births that have been manipulated with hormones, lights, forceps, epidurals and time constraints, forced bed rest, and protocol! The greatest reason women choose home over hospital, is that babies are not exposed to unnecessary procedures, or medications, and they are not separated from their parents! Home birth is Baby Friendly. |