Having your child in the home? Who would even think of such a thing? Wasn’t that just back in the western days when doctor’s had to deliver babies at home out on the prairie?

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.

It is called midwifery the practice of having your baby at home.  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 contrasted with the medical model which believes that pregnancy and delivery should be accompanied by medicine to assist and improve the situation.

With that aside, lets look at why a lot of women are having babies at home rather than hospitals.  What are the benefits that are causing women to have homebirths?

First off, with the continued presence of the midwife, the length of labor can be reduced.  Most women aren’t told that pain medications actually slows down the labor, even though it helps with the pain.  This really causes more pain and the labor actuallly lasts longer.

Second, midwifery techniques in reality reduce the need for forceps or other intrusive devices during delivery.  The process of naturally allowing the birh and delivery to occur is what causes the reduction of the need for those devices.

Third, is it reduces the possibility of a cesarean delivery.  Most cesareans that happen in labor were because it was thought that a vaginal birth was not possible.  Either it was the baby’s safety that was in mind or the mother’s safety.  Well in reality, complications were caused when the natural process was stopped and not allowed to continue.

These are just 3 of the benefits of having a natural birth at home.  There are many more, but I am sure most women in pregnancy would agree 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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