when i first started thinking about the financial side of having a baby, the most glaring question was, how much will the labor and delivery cost if we don't have insurance? i had heard numbers up to $10,000 from other people, and that, obviously, is money we don't exactly have saved up in a jar on top of the fridge. so, i thought i'd do a little research and see if homebirths are really as dangerous and crazy as everyone tries to make us believe. (many of you may already know my skepticism when it comes to common perceptions of things like this.)
one of the first things i came across was an article a friend showed me: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christiane-northrup/c-section-or-natural-birt_b_323422.html
one of the things i really liked about that article is that so many of the quotations and references were shown in complete context, instead of little snippets that could have been purposely slanted one way or the other. i also appreciated her touching on the way things are done in other developed countries. i found the following to be quite upsetting:
"It's well known that the maternal death rate in any given population is a very good indicator of the overall health status of that population, as is infant mortality. Unlike most other developed countries, pregnancy-related death statistics for the United States include only women who die within a six-week period after a pregnancy ends. Other developed countries include deaths that occur up to one year afterward..." (the next paragraph has the actual numbers.)
we tend to cover up or misrepresent scary information in this country, and that can be very dangerous.
then there are all the tests done on the baby once it is born. many of these practices are now outdated and unnecessary, yet are still being done. for instance, vitamin k shots used to be given to help the baby's blood clot, as forceps were commonly used and could sometimes break the baby's skin. forceps are rarely used now, but the shots are still given. then there's this article on the eye drops: http://www.unhinderedliving.com/eyeointment.html
this page goes on for days about all the ways your child can be harmed in the hospital, even while still in your
stomach: http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/robert_mendelsohn3.html
there are no citations on this site, so i've done some research of my own. for example, the author talks about the newborns being bathed with
hexachlorophene soap, which can be absorbed through the skin and cause neurological damage. i checked into this, and found that this soap has been replaced by triclosan. but when i researched that, i found mountains of evidence suggesting that many different groups are now questioning the harmful side effects of that agent, (go here for a list of products it's used in: http://www.drbenkim.com/articles/triclosan-products.htm looks like i'll be getting some new handsoap. (you can read about the dangers of triclosan at the top of that page, as well as here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/07/AR2010040704621.html and here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/samuel-s-epstein/the-dangers-of-triclosan_b_481323.html)
this study: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7505/1416 of over 7,000 women found that the rate of intervention in the homebirths assessed was much lower than for the same group of women giving birth in a hospital setting. the death rates were about the same in both settings. here are the findings of that study in a nutshell, with some info on the practice's reputation in other countries:
What is already known on this topic
Planned home births for
low risk women in high resource countries where midwifery is
well integrated into the healthcare system are associated with
similar safety to low risk hospital birthsMidwives involved
with home births are not well integrated into the healthcare
system in the United StatesEvidence on safety of such home
births is limited
What this study addsPlanned home births
with certified professional midwives in the United States had
similar rates of intrapartum and neonatal mortality to those
of low risk hospital births
Medical intervention rates for
planned home births were lower than for planned low risk hospital
births
and this page shows the results of a very large number of studies: http://www.nashvillemidwife.com/safety.html
well, obviously i could go on for days about what i've found, so i'll leave it at this--overall, studies have shown that a homebirth with a professional midwife is at least as safe as one in a hospital, provided that the pregnancy is low-risk, and result in far fewer interventions.
my final take is this--when you give birth in a hospital, you are considered 2 things: a single number in a sea of other mothers, and a sick person whose delivery has the potential for disaster. in a hospital, giving birth is a business. you are one of many, so your delivery needs to be quick. and because of their (unfortunately understandable) fear of being sued, it also needs to be as controlled as possible. this means induction, unnecessary monitoring/exams, and c-sections (a whopping 33%!). (all of these things add up to more money for them, by the way, which should make anyone suspicious, in my opinion.) and most mothers don't put up a fight over any of this, because society tells us that giving birth is a terrifying, dangerous, messy, and inconvenient illness, so let's just schedule a time, and cut this baby out. then, once the baby is born, they will take it from you immediately to perform tests that you're expected to just go along with without explanation or evidence, at a time when the baby should still be getting nutrients through the umbilical cord, (which would still be pumping if it hadn't been cut already), bonding with it's mother while she still, for only a short time, has those labor-induced chemicals running through her body, and learning how to breastfeed at a time when it is most capable of doing so. forget that. i would much rather give birth to my child in the comfort of my own home, an environment whose germs he will already be immune to, in whichever position feels easiest and most comfortable for me, (which you can't do when you're hooked up to a dozen different machines in a hospital bed), at whatever pace feels right for me and my baby, with people around me who i know and love and trust. and when i hold my baby for the first time, i don't want any unnecessary distractions or interferences; i want that experience to be pure and unaltered. just me, jason, and this amazing new life.
