Home Birth Bashers

i think everybody should decide for themselves. me too i wanted to have a home birth, but my husband was not really supporting it and we didn't had the money to get a midwife. i'm still happy hat i went to the hospital, because i couldn't deal with the pain. i found a mixture of both. i stood at home as long as i could and for the pushing part i was in the hospital. i couldn't imagine the recovery at home....i didn't had a big support who could cook for me and take the baby for a while. anyway at the end i believe some babies where better of born in the hospital and others at home. i don't think it is unsafe to deliver at home when you and your baby are in healthy condition. ciao vicky

It is so funny how the medical community has hyped things so that you don't think you can do anything without them watching for safety issues. The fact is that most pepole were born at home, in caves, on thesides of hills...long before males got their hands on the medicines that women had used for centuries to heal the sick, ease childbirth, and the like. If I was still in my childbearing years, I would seriously consider home birth to deny chemical companies free access to the placenta, which dow chemical used to extract substances from for some of their products. Another issue for me is the way they will start slowly and subtlely convincing people to have their child's DNA on file. They are using the excuse that it protects the child in case of abduction. What a crock. If they are looking at DNA to identify someone usually its because there isn't much left. It PROTECTS no one but does get a piece of your offspring in storage for them to use as they wish!

Since I am terrified of giving birth I would prefer a hospital with ALOT of doctors *hehe* However I know that there are programs that you can join who will sign you up for a doctor to come to your house for the birth. I do see some risks though. If something were to go wrong, the right place to be would be in a hospital! However it is up to each person to decide!

Hi there - I just had my first baby in hospital. He was a fine big nine pounder and healthy thank God. If I am lucky enough to have a second baby, I will opt for hospital again. Even though it was quite unpleasant!! In my opinion, the aim of the whole birth is to have a healthy baby. All the equipment is available in hospital. My labour was just 3 hours long, I went into hospital at about 3 in the morning and was told I wasn't in labour, then they swept the membranes with the big plastic hook (ow!!) then suddenly I was 8cm. That was when I started screaming for the epidural but they would not give it to me. It went ok up to the end, then the baby got stuck and they did an episiotomy. Which was painful later on. So he was born at 7.30 am. I think it should be up to each individual what they want to do, but I would not recommend home births to anyone unless they have already had a successful, event free birth and they know what they are doing. You obviously have great faith in your own abilities and the abilities of your body, for myself I would prefer the certainty of knowing that if the birth becomes obstructed or any complications arise they can be sorted in hospital. So it is better for people like me to go to hospital!!

Each to their own. Home births can be perfectly safe with the correct precautions. I'm all for the parents having this choice. I would personally choose Hospital birth because of the support available if there is a serious problem. It's not that I feel home birth is unsafe. Thats the way I feel, if my wife wnated a home birth then we would look into it and I would probably defer to her since she would be doing all the work. Thats how I feel and I wouldn't expect supporters of Home birth to criticise my decision, just as I wouldn't feel I had the right to criticise anyone having a home birth.

If I were in good health and had a normal pregnancy I would be for home birth all the way! To be at home, surrounded by all your things, in a place that is comfortable and filled with memories for you during the experience of giving birth would be lovely! I didn't get to have a home birth, for a variety of reasons. I have a lot of health problems, I developed a new one during the pregnancy, and several times during my pregancy my son's heartbeat did funny things. So I really needed to be in a hospital setting, and at the end I had to have a C-section anyway. Ultimately, I think that the decision between home birth and hospital birth should be made depending on the health and safety of all involved. I don't think there's one answer for everyone.

I have a friend who had three children home birthed with midwives. She has been a midwife for the birth of her grandchildren also. All the kids were healthy. For me, I would prefer a hospital just in case something wasn't right and immediate care was needed. But, I do think the home birthing is a beautiful thing to do.

i am from the philippines and i know a lot of women here who give birth at home. there rarely negative records i've heard of about giving birth at home. just last month, a friend of mine gave birth to her first baby boy in their house with the assistance of a midwife ofcourse. both the mom and the son are in good health. plus they paid so less than in hospitals. but as for me, i cannot give birth at home since i have heart problems and i needed doctors with me when giving birth. i am still single. but my boyfriend (future husband) and i planned to have my delivery (if ever) in the hospital for my safety.

I really wanted to have home waterbirths with my 4 children. Unfortunatly I had high blood pressure (worse with each pregnancy) and my ob felt it was safer for me to deliver at the hospital. I don't see anything wrong with home birth, as long as you have someone trained to help-like midwives. I'm sorry people aren't more open minded and knowledgable about homebirthing. Seems everyone is pro hospital, pro cio and anti bf lately. Makes it very difficult for the AP and crunchy parents.

As for me, I went with hospital birth, just because I'm a wus and couldn't put up with the pain. LOL But if people decide they want to do home birth's that's totally up to them. I don't see anything wrong with them. And the training that the midwives go through today they know about as much if not more then the doctors.

Really? Maybe some of them thought that you deliver your child alone without the help of anyone. I am far from being pregnant or delivering a baby, but I was born with the help of the midwife. My mother told me that nothing bad happened to me. I guess it actually depends on the situation. There was this hospital in our country who had multiple child deaths because of what they call post-natal infection. The health officials said that it's because some of the tools that the hospital used wasn't sterelized. Imagine that! Well, I saw this "water birth" on a local channel yesterday. They say that it has a lot of advantages compared to the normal delivering.

wow, your pretty tough lady! giving birth to the 3 childrens you have! Im scared each time i heard situations like "she's in labor right now!!" it gives me the creeps coz i know giving birth is really risky, totally gives an "ouch!" feeling to those who experienced and witnessed someone who is giving birth in actual. Ive experience that seeing someone giving birth! it scares me and now i don't plan to have a baby at all! yikes! My mom gave birth at a MATERNITY CLINIC. It is a little way like giving birth at home and somehow like giving birth at the hospital. Even the stuffs used is also as what are there in the hospital and very much hygienic. They say in the hospital, they care much than any other. But what i witness in alot of the people ive known who deliver their child in the hospital, somehow, theyre not given the kind of comfortability. Sad to hear right? My mom gave birth to my sister in a maternity and i can say its worth the money we paid them because the services is good and the only patient that time is my mom so all the attention is endowed only to her. Private Doctor's can have a service of giving birth at home. Its depend to the doctor if he serve that kind of assistance and he make that kind of services.

I don't think there is anything wrong with it. There does need to be a trained professional present (yes, this includes midwives). There also needs to be some contingency plan incase something goes wrong.

It should be entirely upto the lady having the child, as they are the one bearing all the pain and problems which are part of the amazing process of having a baby. At the end of the day women have been giving birth for centuries when hospital were not around! Imagine in the medieval days! Haha! But jokes aside, the point I am trying to say is that giving birth is a natural process which can be nice to have at home in your familiar surroundings, as well as making for sweet memories when you look back. Their are women who are unable to make it to hospitals and sometimes end up giving birth in taxis etc! So I don't understand peopls saying home births are dangerous or unsafe! However as in this present day and age we do have hospitals and a lot of care and safety procedures in effect, I don't see why women would not want hospital births. As stereotypical as this may sound, back in the day women would normally fall pregnant after marriage and therefore would probably have a lot of guidance through their mothers, mother-in-laws, and family and friends in general! Nowadays women are falling pregnant at younger ages, sometimes out of marriage relationships, and therefore do not have that same type of support and guidance as women had before. In this sense it is suitable for the woman to have a hospital birth just for the help, support and mostly reassurance first time mothers usually need. I would personally prefer a hospital birth, but there is nothing wrong if there are some women who want home births. If anything I think these women are definitely more courageous for having wanting home births.

I posted on your other thread on homebirths & what we thought of them. As I said for ME it would be a very bad idea because of previous complications (like stopping progressing partway through my first childbirth, and premature labor & NEC with my second). But if no complications can be foreseen, for mom or baby, then I have no problem with it. Besides isn't having a healthy baby the most important thing? Not where the baby was born? :)

I have had difficult pregnancies and deliveries. So i for myself and ones like myself would say hospital. If your healthy and everything went ok with you first pregnant i say if you want a home birth try for it. M/W are very smart and know what to do in emergency and usually have a back up plan if a problem arises.

I was born at home. With a midwife. It can be more helpful in my opinion. As long as you are prepared for it. I mean come on...wouldn't a woman about to give birth be more comfortable in her own home and not in an unfamiliar place with a bunch of strangers watching? When I became pregnant, the midwife who assisted my mother also became my midwife. To me, having a midwife is just less stressful and more informative and personal.

It's more expensive to gave birth in the hospital rather than at home. all midwives are licensed and I'd like to say that it's preety much convenient for me to gave birth at home rather than to the hospital.....

I don't think that home birth is unsafe. I could say that giving birth at home here in the philippines is normal in Filipino Lifestyle and I'm one of those. I gave birth normal at my house in a safe way. and those midwives here are licensed. but some procedures we called it Massage Birth by giving birth at your own house just massaging your tummy and the baby will just come out. :)

i was born in my home , iam all fit and healthy too and even my mom its only a misconception and people tend to go hospitals in this misconception