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just wonderful in comparison.
I have also read alot of horror stories about hospital births and although I am not nervous of being in hospital, I do get the impression that women in labour are perhaps not given the appropriate level of support because of limited resources etc and that does make me nervous.
I have also heard many positive things about women who have had homebirths and those who have used birthing pools and it just sounds like such a better and more pleasant experience. I think the most worrying thing about a home birth is obviously if something were to go wrong and then I guess we would have to go to the hospital!
Aw! Congrats
To you too SCC!
That's the only thing that would stop me from birthing at home. Problem with obstetrics is that when something goes wrong, it can go wrong very quickly - take a prolapsed cord for instance. Even with the healthiest pregnancy, low-risk woman etc, no one can predict what will happen, and in the example I gave, you literally have minutes to get to the foetus out, and even if someone lives 4 minutes from a hospital, that's an extra 4 minutes plus trying to get someone on their hands and knees with a hand up inside them taking the pressure of a cord off the head into a car/ambulance.
Don't get me wrong, as I said, I don't think a hospital is necessary the best place to give birth, (take my example below set up by Michel Odent) but I wouldn't choose to birth there based on horror stories, as there is potential for horror stories on both sides. Home birth can be a fantastic, rewarding and happy experience - when everything goes according to plan.
I'd happily give birth in a place like the unit set up at the Pithiviers Hospital in France during the 1970s - you can labour naturally in a comfortable room with a midwife, the woman is in full control, but there's a theatre in the unit just in case it's needed.
Do home births work out more expensive?
How much does going private cost? If that was an option, I'd do that. Otherwise probably the hospital.
Also, as I've never been at a birth, how are women treated in hospitals?
As with all birth stories, it varies greatly. I know plenty of people who have had positive experiences with supportive staff etc. And it also depends on the approach she wants to take with pain relief etc. epidurals for instance, increase the likelihood of having interventions like ventouse, episitomy etc. which can also affect her overall experience. But there are stories where for instance, some staff members are very against certain forms of pain relief, and women are refused it, or invasive/painful internal exams etc.
I wouldn't really recommend it if you're trying to get into the mindset of positive birthing, but the Birth Trauma Association has a list of women's stories.
The United States is a little different (watch some of the labour and delivery programmes on Discovery Health, I'm not surprised people want to homebirth after that) and a film maker has just released a film about the process and the criticisms, it's called Pregnant in America, I'd recommend you look at the trailer at least.
I know a lot of people (well, three!) who have had very positive home birth experiences recently, so that draws me to that.
But at the same time, I don't know if i'd want to be at a hospital just in case anything were to go wrong.
I think gut-feeling at the moment would be to have a home birth, but obviously i don't really know as i'm not in that situation and if i were i might just change my mind completely.
And whats the difference percentage-wise of deaths at a homebirth or deaths at a hospital birth???
Birth CAN be a life or death moment, as can ANYTHING, but in the vast vast majority of cases it isnt, and scaremongering creates fear which creates bad birth experiences in itself.
Evolution hasnt designed us to die when we give birth. We`re only animals, and it wouldnt do any harm for people to just have a bit more faith in what their bodies can actually do.
I would have assumed hosptial births would have higher infant mortality due to the larger number of high risk women giving birth there.
I know that Gottvall et al (2004) looked into perinatal mortality over a 10 year period in Sweden, at a birth centre, and while the results weren't statisitcally significant, from some of the data, they concluded that a birth centre may be less safe for first time mothers and their infants.
Hodnett et al (2005) in Home-like versus conventional institutional settings for birth found that a home-like setting reduced the need for pain relief and other interventions and were more likely to result in a spontaneous vaginal delivery - however, they also reported higher perinatal mortality levels.
I have no problem with people choosing homebirth providing that they're correctly informed of the risks and benefits. What I have a problem with is the way it's somehow deemed to be 'safer' than birthing in a hospital, I've seen this numerous times in pregnancy and birthing communities, yet there's no mention that independent midwives are not insured etc. If by 'safer' they mean 'less risk of intervention' then it should be specified, so there's no room for misinterpretation.
My personal hero Michel Odent has written numerous literature on the importance of a woman being in a relaxing environment, preferably in a dark place with a 'hands-off' midwife so her neocortex can shut out and she can labour as was intended. I don't agree with unneccessary interventions, but similarly, I don't agree that something should be painted as a more favourable option, when the statistics say otherwise, especially when there's no method of predicting how someone's labour will go. If that's the risk then people want to take, that's their choice. There are risks and benefits to wherever a woman will birth - she needs all the information about all places so she can make her mind up, and not a biased version of one over the other.
I do believe we're kindred spirits, mate.
Would seem so, .... good luck world!
I would have thought that proper statistics would take that into account.
Also take into account that most people who give birth in a hospital are low risk.
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7505/1416