Benefits of a Homebirth

Having the baby in your 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.

This practice of having your baby at home is called midwifery.  Although not doctors or nurses, people in this line of work called midwifery 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 a midwife is usually not a doctor or nurse is because the practice of having your baby at home, or midwifery is generally the belief that pregnancy and birth are natural normal events.  This is in stark contrast with the medical model which relies on medicine to assist and improve the pregnancy and delivery.

That out of the way, lets take a look at why women are having their babies at home.  What benefits are making women choose homebirths?

First off, with the continued presence of the midwife, the length of labor can be reduced.  Most women do not know that pain medications, although they do help with pain, actually makes the labor slow down.  This in reality causes the pain and the labor to last much longer.

Second, the techniques of midwifery actually reduces the likelihood of the need for forceps or other operative devices during delivery.  The technique of letting the birth and delivery to occur naturally is what reduces the need to use those devices.

Third, cesarean delivery possbilities are reduced.  Most c-sections happen when during labor, it was thought that a natural birth process was not possible.  Either the safety of the mother was in mind or the safety of the baby.  When in reality the complication was created because the natural birth process wasn’t allowed to happen.

These were 3 benefits of having a homebirth naturally.  There are a lot more benefits, but I am positive most women who are pregnant would say 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.