Home vs Hospital

Giving birth in the hospital, versus giving birth at home...

This topic is incredibly controversial, and there are so many opinions on it, but this happens to be my blog (if you didn't know that already) so now I get to voice my own! Which is rather exciting as its a subject I'm rather passionate about. 

When I've told friends and family that this time around we will be birthing at home, we've had mixed reactions. Disappointingly, most have been negative. "Why?" "Isn't that dangerous?" Etc... Which is funny because as far as I know, none of these people have looked into any studies relating to having a home birth versus a hospital birth. But, most did see the recent 60 minutes documentary which, to summarise, was labelling homebirth as murder. What should have been blindingly obvious, was that the two stories shown were special cases in that one was a multiple birth, and the other was a breech birth. Both had tragic outcomes which is terribly sad, BUT, neither should have been at home in the first place. 

In Australia, to have a legal home birth, you have to first pass a medical via a "health professional" at the hospital. In NZ, you don't. I think there's pros & cons to this protocol but I won't delve too much into that. So legally, you must be healthy with a single baby, no gestational diabetes or pre eclampsia, and the baby must be in the right position to birth. The women in the 60minutes documentary would not have passed a medical for a safe home birth. But obviously, women have rights over their own body and can still choose to birth at home if they wish. 

Statistically, I think most of you would be surprised about how scarcely things go wrong with homebirth in Australia. As long as you are cared for by a registered nurse midwife, you are in extremely capable hands. According to www.homebirth.net.au, in Australia 129 babies have died whilst being birthed at home, in hospital 6067 have died. Now obviously, the number of births at the hospital are far greater than the number at home so the number of deaths was always going to be greater. But, if you look a bit deeper, majority of the homebirth deaths resulted from either congenital abnormalities (which, no matter where you are cannot be helped) or, they are due to improper care not from a registered midwife. Aka; these women are free birthing or just using doulas, not medical professionals. Overall, for every 1000 babies born at home, 0.77% have resulted in death. An extremely low percentage, which in most cases can be put down to the two reasons above. Also, another interesting statistic that my midwife gave me this week was that in WA hospitals, caesarean section rates are up at 35% + for all hospital births. Whaaaaat?!!! That is ludicrous, and completely unnecessary. Seems as though the business of being born is all about slicing you open, and getting you in and out as fast as possible. Now, don't get me wrong- I have girlfriends who have had to have valid C sections, obviously there's a time and a place for this procedure. I'm not saying they're wrong period, I'm just saying, 35% is a tad extreme. Don't you think? 

Now my hospital experience goes like this... Blakes birth was in the hospital and it went really well. I had opted for a waterbirth and as little medical intervention as possible. Luckily for us, it all went to plan. She came out breathing and with all fingers and toes intact, and a doctor didn't even have to be present. I didn't have any drugs (although I was screaming for anything in the last half an hr), and I found the water to be a huge help for the pushing process. My midwife was a legend, she had a great track record with not having any medical intervention and she was all for my natural birth. I think if she was medically inclined things could have gone differently, some of them just love to slice, dice and prick you with whatever they can. 

So why home birth if my first birth was fine you may ask? Well, it was the after care that I despised. Firstly, Oli had to go home. ???!!!!! That is crazy. I was terrified, in a lot of pain, and left with my new baby alone. I had no idea what to do and I had been awake for approx 36 hours at that point so I was beyond exhausted/ borderline delusional.  There were nurses available but I didn't get very friendly ones, and they kept telling me I was feeding her wrong. I don't think they quite grasped that  I had given birth to this child 2 hours prior so hadn't quite managed to perfect my breastfeeding skills just yet... And then, they bought me cold toast. Cold fucking toast. I cried. Anyway, fast forward a few more hours and we checked ourselves out of that joint and never looked back. Leaving early was the best decision I made, and getting home was the absolute best feeling. My bed!! Fresh food!! My shower!! My new baby!! All safe & snuggly.

If you hadn't noticed, I know my shit about homebirth. It is not scary, or dangerous, it is a completely natural process which women were designed to do. Don't listen to the propaganda or pass judgements until you've read up on the facts, which are very reassuring. It isn't something only hippies in cults do or people who haven't been able to quite make the hospital do, it is about making informed choices and taking control of your birth experience. All you need is trust in your midwife, and more importantly in yourself, and you'll be sweet!

A great quote I found from homebirth.net.au was rather relevant for this piece, "no wonder people who do not educate themselves with the truth are frightened into following the herd into hospital". It's all about what you know, or don't know. 

So this time around, I am so excited to set up a birthing pool smack bang in the middle of our lounge (I already feel sorry for the neighbours), and then afterwards crawl (literally) into my shower, followed by my bed with our new baby, and hopefully get Oli to whip me up some stellar bacon and eggs in the meantime. Sounds like bliss! 

Hope I've enlightened some of you on this topic, or at least helped changed your opinion on the matter. 

Thought of the day "fuck yeah it's Friday!"

Gemma