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Homebirth vs. Hospital Birth - The Gloves Are Off

Tori Kropp RN | Mar 25, 2009 | 5 | Posted in My Blog

Birthing babies is what I love most in the world. The fact that I now have women ask me "is it really bad for me to have my baby in a hospital?" breaks my heart and has forced me to come out swinging. Enough is enough. I can no longer sit back and listen to this dialogue about homebirth come up again and again without inserting some badly needed facts and a serious reality check.

The argument is always the same by homebirth advocates. Hospitals are loud, hectic, bright, insensitive, uncaring machines full of greedy doctors and overworked “medical personnel” – (I am pretty sure as a nurse, that means me) who are just waiting to hook women up to unnecessary medications and prevent them from “trusting their bodies”. The argument goes on to state that homebirth is safer, more satisfying, more loving, more empowering, less interventive, healthier for the baby, more spiritual and on and on. Anyway you shake it that very implicitly pronounces that to give birth at home is… “better”. Period. But always, at the end of any article, blog or comment about it by it’s proponents, are the words “but a woman should be encouraged to give birth wherever she feels most comfortable, including a hospital”.

Wait a minute. Is that what you just said? Let’s assume I am having my first baby. I am very excited and I want to learn everything I can, and of course, I want to do what is best for my baby and myself. Do I choose to have the "scary, cold hospital birth" that I was told about or the "loving, empowering, spiritually-fulfilling homebirth"? I am very likely to make the choice to give birth in either a birth center or a hospital but wow - what a set-up for feeling badly about my choice.

Let’s look at some actual facts about birth in the United States:

Over 4 million women give birth each year
97% of women choose to give birth in a hospital
2 million women live below the poverty line and have limited access to adequate maternity care
100 years ago, a woman had a significantly high chance of dying during childbirth . Medical advances, including the use of antibiotics, oxytocin to induce labor, safe blood transfusions and better management of hypertensive conditions during pregnancy, are directly responsible for the decline in maternal death rate.

Today, around the world, every 60 seconds, a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth, often from an avoidable cause. There are no well-documented, large-scale studies that show that homebirth is either safer or more satisfying than hospital birth. We have “far from perfect” health–care in this country when it comes to taking care of moms and babies. However, there is truly a disconnect with what is really important here. Perhaps those who exert so much energy on faulting the U.S. maternal/health care system could spend even ¼ of their time working to provide better access to care for the 2 million underprivileged women here who really need it.

I have shared in the births of several thousand women at homes, in birth centers and in hospitals. I have seen miracles, tragedies, difficulties and wonder in all of those places. What angers me so deeply is the direct insinuation that giving birth in a hospital denies a woman a safe, positive and life-affirming birth experience. What kind of support is that? A woman deserves to feel nurtured by other woman, not faulted, questioned or criticized. There is no “better or best” way to give birth and I am no longer going to be quiet about it.

homebirth, hospital birth, nurses, childbirth (all tags)

Homebirth vs. Hospital Birth - The Gloves Are Off | 5 Comments | Post a Comment

Re: Homebirth vs. Hospital Birth

Thanks for your comments. I agree that home birth is not categorically better than having your baby at the hospital. My son was born at CPMC, and since he came earlier than expected, I can only feel gratitude that we got to the hospital in time. We had hired a doula who claimed she had a lot of experience. When I went into labor, she told my husband that her "gut" and "experience" said it was a false alarm. She went out of town, and five hours later we were speeding to the hospital, counting the stoplights. At CPMC the staff wheeled me right up, saving the paperwork for later since I was so far along. I felt very supported by all the nurses, and over the three days my husband and I felt that our room was a little haven for the start of our family. I had hired the doula as an advocate for a more natural childbirth, and in this case, she did little beyond claiming part of her fees. So I can say unequivocally that hospital birthing was the right thing for us.

Li Lovett | Apr 17, 2009 | rated none by 0 others

Thank you!

Thanks so much for posting this. I'm tired of home birth moms acting superior to me when I tell them that I had my baby at a hospital. And I'm especially tired of hearing their spreading 'warnings' to pregnant women about stuff they really don't know about since they didn't have their baby in a hospital.

I feel there is lots of propaganda out there about the 'dangers' of hospital births and I commend you for 'taking the gloves off'. Newly pregnant mothers are naive to this whole controversy and I believe are easily swayed by by their natural fears.

I had a wonderful birth experience at CPMC and the nurses and doctor who helped me were nothing short of heroic in my eyes. They were smart, patient, caring, and thoughtful birth partners and I honestly feel privileged to have had such wonderful care.

Way to go for posting this and thank you.

amberjoyful | Apr 25, 2009 | rated none by 0 others

My hospital birth was all that and then some

I had my baby at CPMC and it was a wonderful experience, everyone took really good care of me and my husband, and gave us options for feeling more comfortable and less nervous about delivering a baby. I wouldn't have it any other way.

yanitxa | Jun 12, 2009 | rated none by 0 others

safety first

Actually there are several large scale studies that show that homebirth has better outcomes. The most recent can be found here: http://mothering.com/canadian-homebirth-study

That being said, it is obvious that you work in a hospital, and most probably a progressive one being that you are located in SF. I live in Florida. The C-Section rate is 67% at one of our hospitals with an average section rate of 40% in our city. I have many friends I have supported through hospital births who have come away feeling disempowered at best, deeply traumatized at worst. One friend stated that she felt like a caged animal. These are "middle mom's" that did not even consider homebirth and were all for giving birth at the hospital. While I had a homebirth, I know it is not everyone's choice and wish that hospitals were more concerned with better outcomes by understanding the nature of giving birth. I had one friend in Mississippi who had to be sectioned because she could not push the baby out - she was not allowed to change birth positions from the standard feet in stirrups because he would not be able to see. After Katrina, doctor's in Houston had to call in midwife's from across the country to help deliver babies because they had no idea how to do so without their beeping machines. Women should be able to safely deliver their baby in a hospital and have it be a sacred and empowering event. Until that is the standard, as it is with homebirth, I will continue to let folks know about this wonderful option.

dandymama | Jan 09, 2010 | rated none by 0 others

Agree!

I had to have a c section a week early because our baby was breech AND there we no amniotic fluid left. People can say what they want about homebirths, but in cases like mine a hospital and medical intervention were the only way to know what was going on and safely deliver the baby.

I think we need to stop guilting mothers into one way or another and instead let each family make their own decision.

bettyjunod | Feb 19, 2010 | rated none by 0 others

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