Benefits of a Homebirth
Having your baby at home? Who would even think of such a thing? Didn’t that only happen back in the early days of our country when doctor’s had to go out to the prairie and deliver babies?
Not so. There is a large group of women who are discovering the benefts of having a baby at home, or homebirth as it is sometimes called.
The practice of homebirths is usually called midwifery. Although they are usually not doctors or nurses, people who are in this profession are professionally regulated. I myself have seen the steady rise of homebirths through my practice as a San Diego certified midwife.
The people, generally women, who perform this line of work are called homebirth midwives. Midwives is a more common term that people are familiar with and means a person who attends childbirth and provides support during labor and delivery.
Now why the midwife generally isn’t a doctor or nurse is because having your baby at home, or midwifery, is usually the belief that pregnancy and delivery are natural events. This is in stark contrast with the medical model which relies on medicine to assist and improve the pregnancy and delivery.
That out of the way, lets take a look at why women are having their babies at home. What benefits are making women choose homebirths?
First off, with the continued presence of the midwife, the length of labor can be reduced. Most women do not know that pain medications, although they do help with pain, actually makes the labor slow down. This in reality causes the pain and the labor to last much longer.
Second, midwifery techniques in reality reduce the need for forceps or other intrusive devices during delivery. The technique of letting the birth and delivery to occur naturally is what reduces the need to use those devices.
Third, cesarean delivery possbilities are reduced. Most c-sections happen when during labor, it was thought that a natural birth process was not possible. Either because of the safety of the baby was in mind or the safety of the mother. Well in all actuality that complication was caused because the natural process was not allowed to happen.
These are just 3 of the benefits of having a natural birth at home. There are a lot more benefits, but I am positive most women who are pregnant would say these are 3 huge benefits.
So although, most might consider it strange to want to have a child at home, studies have shown that allowing the natural birth process to happen is safer for the mother and the baby. With over 300 births attended as a homebirth midwife in San Diego, this has proven to be the case time and time again.
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