A safe and healthy birth is what is most important to us here at Everything Birth. We do encourage childbearing women to make informed choices and never compromise the health of herself or the baby she is carrying.
Less than 2 percent of American women birth at home. And when you ask most women why they want to birth in a hospital, the most stated reason is safety. Although, there is no data supporting the fact that you are safer in the hospital as long as you are low risk, your homebirth is planned, you will have a trained birth attendant, and you have a modern hospital within a reasonable distance.
When you start your process of putting together a birthplan you should remain open and accepting of changes that may occur along the way. If you do choose to have a homebirth you should only work closely with a trained birth professional. Someone who is in support of normal birth. Someone who believes that the majority of women can labor and give birth to their babies with a minimum of intervention.
Being risked out of a homebirth is something that does and can happen. High blood pressure, and the baby coming early are two risk factors that would send you down the path to the hospital. Depending on the advisement of your birth attendant, a previous cesarean may not be a risk factor. Going to the hospital is not the end of the world. Medical support is there for a reason when you need it.
You should rethink your decision to birth at home if you have any risk factors, do not have a trained birth attendant, or you think you will want pain medications. Here is the dilemma, on the one hand, having a hospital nearby should there be a problem may make a difference. On the other hand, a low risk woman runs risks in a typical hospital that she wouldn’t at home. A trained midwife would be able to spot potential complications early, be able to head most of them off, and she wouldn’t potentially be causing complications by inappropriate use of procedures, drugs, and restrictions.
