Is that safe?

Probably the MOST frequently asked question I get when people find out that I have had 3 homebirths with a CPM (Certified Professional Midwife) and that I’m planning one for this baby is: Is homebirth safe? I am NEVER offended at this question and ALWAYS happy to answer any questions people have about homebirth. Before getting into that; I would first answer the question “Is it safe?” with a couple of questions of my own:

1) Knowing me like you do; do you really think I would do anything to risk any one of my children’s safety? 2) After working in the birth industry for 16 years (and educating myself far before that) don’t you think I might have checked into the safety of homebirth before making such a decision?

With that said, I can quickly answer both of those questions for you: I wouldn’t do anything to risk my children’s safety and I have studied in depth the safety and efficacy of homebirth and the fact is it is about as safe as birth gets.

To quote the conclusion of a recent British Medical Journal (BMJ) study: “Planned home birth for low risk women in North America using certified professional midwives was associated with lower rates of medical intervention but similar intrapartum and neonatal mortality to that of low risk hospital births in the United States.”

You can read this study in it’s entirety HERE.

It is an excellent study which provides specific statistical information and is worth the reading and far more interesting than these rantings so if you want to skip my little commentary and go directly to the study; it will answer the question “Is homebirth safe” with far more efficiency than I will be able to.

Some information which has affected my views on birth and my decisions about how I feel I can give birth to my own babies with the least risk and best outcome is as follows:

*The United States is ranked 42nd in the WORLD for maternal mortality rates and has the second worst newborn death rate in modern world; yet 99% of births are in hospital in the U.S. This does not provide me with a lot of evidence that our industrialized and modern nation has improved upon birth safety with all of our intervention and medicalization of it.

*Conversely: The countries with the lowest infant and maternal mortality rates (i.e., The Netherlands) also have the highest home birth rates.

Mortality rates aside, there are other factors of safety and satisfaction to be considered. The BMJ study further cites the following statistics: “Medical intervention rates included a transport rate of 12.1% (women who intended to deliver at home when labour began but were transferred to hospital). Epidural rate of 4.7%, Episiotomy rate of 2.1%, Forceps use1.0%, Vacuum extraction 0.6%, and caesarean section 3.7%; these rates were all substantially lower than for low risk US women having hospital births.”

I could continue to cite study after study, and give a list of books and authorities which have influenced my decisions but it basically comes down to my answer being:

YES~ Homebirth is very safe.

I am a low risk mother who is under excellent prenatal care and observation. I believe that birth on the whole is safe and is a natural function of the human body. I believe that when left to its own processes will take place without incident and that it is the cascade of interventions that begins to set complications in motion.

Now and then (rarely) there are complications that arise which require further intervention and when those occasions arise I’m grateful for modern science and our access to it. However; in the absence of those rarities I believe that the less you mess around with labor the more normal it remains. It’s ONE of the reasons I choose to homebirth. (Sometime I’ll tell you about the other reasons…the ones that are less science based and more emotionally based. There are some good aspects to those as well.)

In the meantime; rest at ease that neither myself---nor my baby--- is at risk because of our choice to birth at home. Truth be told; in almost any other country but ours it would be considered perfectly normal and as great as our nation is, when it comes to birth we are in a crisis. Maybe we should be looking elsewhere for advice on healthy outcomes.