Why choose homebirth?
Women who choose homebirth desire a safe, natural and active birth, where they are in charge of their experience. Birthing at home, in your own environment, allows many women to be as comfortable and relaxed as possible. Being surrounded by your own sights, smells and supportive friends and family can facilitate a gentle, loving birth of your baby. Your midwives will be well known to you by the time you are ready to birth your baby, and they will provide the personalized care you deserve. Midwives are guardians of normal birth, and you and your baby will not be exposed to unnecessary interventions. You and your baby will remain together throughout the whole experience. Birthing at home can be a joyous, family centered event.
You may want to read Midwifery Today Magazine's article, The Homebirth Choice for more information.
Is homebirth safe?
Your midwives will facilitate a safe birthing environment in many different ways. During your care your midwives will get to know you well, and have a good idea of what you and your baby's normal, healthy state of being is like. Having this base of knowledge will provide more personalized care during your labor and birth; your midwives will be able to detect any deviation from normal. Alma midwives are trained and experienced in managing medical emergencies, such as postpartum hemorrhage and neonatal resuscitation. We carry all our emergency equipment, such as oxygen and pitocin, with us to every birth. We only leave when you and your newborn are safely tucked into bed.
What does the scientific research say?
There have been many recent studies supporting the safety of homebirth. Here's what some researchers have to say:
It is interesting to speculate on the reasons for such consistently favorable results in studies on homebirth. One hypothesis is that the common obstetric interventions at best do not improve outcome and at worst are hazardous; this implies that their use should be reduced drastically. Alternatively, the intervention rates may be appropriate for the hospital populations, but are not necessary for women who are giving birth at home; this implies that one or more factors are operating at home to facilitate the progress of normal labor. Suggested factors are: the surroundings at home are more relaxed...; the relationship between the homebirth midwife and the patient is much stronger and therefore perhaps more therapeutic...; and the homebirth mothers are more motivated then are their hospital counterparts, and this motivation is a strong positive factor in terms of outcome.
Howe, KA, Homebirths in south-west Australia. Med J Aust 1988.
No significant differences were found...for perinatal death, bleeding, birth injury, respiratory distress syndrome, or 5 minute APGAR below seven. However the Farm Cesarean rate was 1.5% versus 16.5% for the national sample (the national cesarean rate now is close to 25%). The results of this study suggest that for relatively low-risk pregnancies, homebirth with attendance by lay midwives is not necessarily less safe than... hospital-physician delivery. Support by the medical and legal communities for those electing and those attending homebirths should not be withheld on the grounds that this option is inherently unsafe.
Duran, AM. The safety of homebirth: The Farm study. Am J Public Health, 1992.
NEW STUDY!
A brand new prospective study published in the British Medical Journal shows that homebirth with CPMs is safe! "Planned home birth for low risk women in North America using certified professional midwives was associated with lower rates of medical intervention but similar intrapartum and neonatal mortality to that of low risk hospital births in the United States." To read the full report click here.
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~ ALMA Midwifery Service ~ Licensed Birth Center ~ Homebirth ~ Waterbirth ~ ~ Phone 503.233.3001 ~ FAX 503.233.7686 ~ 1608 SE Ankeny St. Portland, OR. 97214 ~ |
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