Homebirth Safety

During your pregnancy, you may find yourself considering or re-considering your planned place of birth. Questions such as which provider/s will care for you, can your older child be present during or after the birth, what will the atmosphere feel like, will the birth tub be available for laboring or birthing — may all be part of your thought process. Of course, feeling safe is also a central factor.

❊   Safety, Satisfaction and Selfishness in Homebirth

It is a misconception that in birth, safety and satisfaction are opposed to one another. Women are wrongly called selfish for wanting a positive birth experience. What I have observed over the past two decades is that when a birther feels cherished and respected, the normal hormonal cascade is set up, as it is in all mammals, to safely and efficiently deliver the young one. Time and time again, I have seen safety and satisfaction are beautifully congruent in birthing.

“I am very confident that the ease and speed of my labor came from working with midwives whom I trusted so deeply.”
-Cecilia, Homebirth July 2012
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❊   Where do you feel safest?

Some pregnant women know that they will feel safest with an array of technology, pharmaceutical options and surgeons in proximity to their birthing space. Others intuit that in their birthing time, they will feel safest with midwives they know well, in the privacy and comfort of their own home. I want all people to birth in the setting where they feel safest because I know that will support them in the courageous work of opening up and releasing baby from the womb. But are those who tend towards low-tech/high-touch kidding themselves? We now have several large studies, both European and North American, which support the safety of midwife-attended homebirth for healthy women. Explore the links below to learn more.

How to decide where to birth your baby, with whom by your side? I suggest you read enough to understand the landscape of factors that matter in your decision-making, and then set aside the reports and statistics. Sit together quietly and feel the growing being in your belly. From the good soil of your mental understanding, invite intuition to sprout up. Information, while valuable, is not the same as wisdom. Ask your baby, ask your belly, ask your heart.