it' home birth week.

so i wanted to write a post myself but Lucy's bashing the keyboard so it's a cut and paste job again.

Home Birth: A Safe Option
by Sheryl Wright

.....Firstly let me say I don’t fit the profile many people have of homebirther’s. This is the biggest myth that surrounds homebirth – that the only people “who do that” are candle burning, new age, hippy radicals! In fact the reality is that women of all ages, races, beliefs and economic brackets choose homebirth – and most are just average women like me! Some of the more common reasons for choosing a homebirth are:

	Midwifery led care
	More involvement for partner, other children and family
	Familiar surroundings and home comforts
	Privacy, freedom of movement and expression
	Less interventions
	Less disruption to regular family life
	No uncomfortable (or embarrassing!) travel to and from hospital
	Not having to comply with hospital protocols
	No separation from baby
	Drug free
	No risk of cross infection (remember hospitals are full of sick people!)

The biggest concern people seem to have about homebirth is that it is not safe and it’s best to be at the hospital “just in case”. In fact the reverse is true and study after study has shown that for healthy women with uncomplicated pregnancies birth at home is as safe – if not safer!

A study published in the British Medical Journal ⁽¹⁾ found that Home Birth is “safe in selected women, and with adequate infrastructure and support”. Another NZ study published in the NZ Medical Journal ⁽²⁾ concluded that 'Home birth was a safe and increasingly popular, though minor, option for New Zealand women from 1973-93'. Even the World Health Organisation reports "it has never been scientifically proven that the hospital is a safer place than home for a woman who has had an uncomplicated pregnancy to have her baby”.

So with all these benefits and proof that it’s as safe why do so many people choose the hospital? One issue is often the lack of pain-relief. People say they are “not brave enough”. While pharmaceutical options are limited at home there are some other very effective pain relief options such as water, birth pools, relaxation techniques, massage, heat packs, music, aromatherapy, hypnotherapy, homeopathy, herbal remedies etc to consider and in fact generally women find labour and birth less painful at home.

In a study into the pain of birth researchers ⁽³⁾ compared couples planning both home and hospital births and asked them to rate the pain of childbirth, compared with other painful events. They found that "the hospital birth group rated childbirth pain significantly higher than the homebirth group".
The UK based National Birthday Trust Report ⁽⁴⁾ into home births in the UK also found that 95% of home birth mothers said they enjoyed the birth, compared to 76% of hospital birth mothers. In the same study, 62% of home birth mothers felt completely in control during labour, compared to 29% of hospital birth mothers; and a fortunate 14% of home birth mothers felt either no pain or very little pain, compared to 8% of hospital birth mothers. This may be due to the three factors which have been shown to hinder or obstruct the progression of labour in mammals: the feeling of being watched, labouring in an unfamiliar environment and being moved from one place to another. Sheila Kitzinger a UK midwife and author says, “"The right environment for birth is exactly the same as the environment in which to make love".

Another myth is that you can’t have your first baby at home. The most likely "problem" with first births is things "taking too long". Fortunately, that isn't an emergency. It might mean that you end up transporting to the hospital, but it's not going to be life threatening.

Birth is never without risk, whatever the location, but generally birth is a slow process and there is usually ample time to transport even in the rare case of a true emergency. Midwives attending a homebirth carry a lot of equipment (often as much as small maternity units) and with experienced skilled one-on-one care potential problems are picked up long before they cause concern.

In closing I always like to point out that just because you plan to birth at home you can at any time change your mind and go to the hospital but the reverse is not true! Maybe it’s an option worth considering when next you are asked “where”.

References:

(1) British Medical Journal No 7068 Volume 313
http://www.bmj.com/archive/7068e.htm

(2) Home Birth in New Zealand 1973-1993 Gulbransen G; Hilton J; McKay L; Cox A (Auckland Home Birth Association.) N Z Medical Journal, 110(1040):87-9 1997 Mar 28
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?uid=9137308&form=6&db=m&Dopt=b

(3) Home birth and hospital deliveries: a comparison of the perceived painfulness of parturition. Morse JM, Park C Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3399698&dopt=Abstract

(4) National Birthday Trust - Report of the Confidential Enquiry into Home Births. Chamberlain, G, Wraight, A & Crowley, P (eds). 1994
http://www.homebirth.org.uk/homebirth2.htm

events in the wellington area

(1) Wednesday 26 October: Home Birth Information Evening

Gandalf Group offices, level 1, 4 Market Grove, LOWER HUTT 7pm
Phone: Tracey 04 586 7955 for info

(2) Thursday 27 October:
A Celebration of Birthing at Home - come share your stories evening

OTAKI Birthing Services, Otaki at 7pm
Phone: Liz 06 364 8337 for info

(3) Friday 28 October: Film screening “Singing the Bones”

Ground Floor Theatrette, BP House, 20 Customhouse Quay, WELLINGTON 7pm
Tickets $15.00 - send cheques payable to "Wellington Homebirth
Association" by Thursday 20th October to PO Box 6676, Marion Square,
Wellington (limited tickets available on door so pre-booking preferred)
Visit www.nurturenz.com/wellington.php or
Phone: Vida/Willow on 04 972 7802 for info

If you live nearer to Palmerston North then Community Birth Services are
showing it on Wednesday 26th October - info here
www.nurturenz.com/palmerstonnorth.php.

This film has previously been shown in NZ in 2003 in Wellington, Rotorua
and Dunedin - the comments/feedback from the audiences (including many
midwives/childbirth educators who you may know :) from this list) are
here www.nurturenz.com/testimonial.php.

(4) Sunday 30 October: Family Picnic / BBQ

Alicetown Community Centre, 38 Victoria St, ALICETOWN
12.30pm – 3pm
Phone: Jo 04 976 3419 for info

Please forward on to as many people as you think may be interested.
Especially re: the film screening as we have our costs to cover before
we can fundraise!