Traditional Birth vs. Hospital Birth?

Grandmotherbear · #41 02/04/13, 09:32 PM

Well, from my experience 35 years ago as a labor and delivery nurse, someone who came into hospital in labor with things going bad got seen much more quickly than the patient who was laboring in the labor room and gradually devloped problems..I remember 2 babies lost that way during the time I worked there. It was such a negative experience, it soured me forever on hospital birth- or working L&D.
Women mainly died in the old days from childbed fever (infection) or contracted pelvis due to rickets and corsetting. Don;t discount the effects of malnutrition, either- on both mother and child. You can't compare apples and oranges. just like you can't compare maternal mortality rates from 1100 AD to 1900 AD with rates from 1920 on and draw the conclusion that "hospitals make it s afer".
Robert Bradley MD in his first edition of "Husband Coached Childirth (1974?)" stated that women MUST birth in hospitals because 7 out of every 100 women need some form of intervention. Many hospitals run a 40% Csection rate now. You can't convince me tht Bradley was committing malpractice by sectioning so few women. I believe his statistics are very accurate. He also refused to schedule sections- even when he knew he'de e doing a repeat section, even if he had to have the woman admitted to hospital because she lived too far to safely come after starting labor- he would wait for labor to start before initiating c section. He believed that labor was beneficial to the fetus. Further studies show he was right. It was not CSection itself that caused so many babies orn y csec to have respiratory problems. it was delivering babies who had never been in laor. It has been discovered since that labor causes the fetus to secrete hormones (think steriods) that hasten to mature lung lining in the fetus and prepare it for breathing. So Dr Bradley many times did a midnight or later csec, saying in the book that a doc can guess rightly many times that a baby is ready to be born, but even ione mistake-pulling a aby not ready to be born - is one mistake to many.

jen74145 · #42 02/04/13, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshie

This is often a testy issue here but I'll give my two cents anyway. Women have had unassisted births for millennia. Women have been dying from childbirth for millennia. Childbirth was a leading cause of death in young women, especially healthy young women. It wasn't all that unusual for a man to have several wives because the man had been widowed when his wife died during childbirth. From about 1850 to about 1900 around 40 to 70 out of every 1,000 women died from childbirth in England. The Four Horsemen of Death were puerperal pyrexia (a horrible, horrible way to die that's very uncommon nowadays in industrialized countries), hemorrhage, convulsions (caused by toxemia), and illegal abortion.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1633559/

Jen, the likelihood of having a problem caused by having a baby in the hospital is far less than the risk than one takes when having a child without access to lifesaving technology. I don't believe that anybody is saying that giving birth eliminates all birth accidents. I am saying that it reduces those accidents. Jen, my first baby would have been dead had he been born at home. I'm not "playing" the dead baby card lightly. It is real and was my experience. We would both be dead if not for a hospital birth.

Only you can make the decision that's best for your family. I would suggest that you not look at online home birth sites. They have the agenda of getting many, if not most, women to deliver at home.

I am the mother of two. Had I been born twenty-five to fifty years earlier none of us would have survived. I have twin aunts who would have died had they not been born in a hospital. I have an aunt who died because she was born at home.

Birth accidents happen. You cannot fix all of them, hospital or not, but you do have a better chance of saving your child when doctors and nurses are in attendance. For me, at least, that's what is important. I understand that the birth experience is really important for many but I'd rather have a so-so birth day than to risk losing my child or risk a birth injury. I realize that risk isn't nearly as high as it used to be. I think I read somewhere that the average response time to a 911 call is something like 23 minutes. Seconds can count when a child is being born.

What was best for my family may or may not be what's best for your family. Only you and your husband can make that decision.

Exactly. Everyone makes their own choices. You research, you hope you choose correctly. No parent can do better than that.

I am currently nursing a dear frined along who had an elective caesarian and is doing many, many things differently than I. No big deal, that is her baby and her life. I would NEVER HAVE SAID to her, while she weighed her options, that I thought she should have a VBAC because the baby could die and then what, or I thought she should have another caesarean, because the baby could die, or I thought she should birth in any way you could imagine because "could you live with yourself if he died?"

Seriously.

therunbunch · #43 02/05/13, 07:05 AM

I'm 39 weeks and we're having a homebirth as well.

dlskidmore · #44 02/05/13, 08:28 AM

The best compromise I've heard of was a family that parked their RV in the hospital parking lot. If anything went wrong they were right handy to the emergency room.

If a birthing center near the hospital was an option, that would be my preference. I'm getting kind of old for my first, and I'm overweight, so complications are a serious risk. I do however want to have the freedom to follow my instincts rather than being forced into bed and strung up with medication.

If I was in my 20s, and it was not my first child, I might give home birth more thought.

3sunz · #45 02/05/13, 10:17 AM

I had 3 hospital births. No bad experiences. If I had to do over again, I would definitely home birth. Just seems more compassionate and natural to me...

Molly Mckee · #46 02/05/13, 10:34 AM

If your hospital does not have a birthing center but an old fashioned ob dept and they supposedly do things you don't want, talk to your doctor about what you want to do, then go in and talk to the head nurse. If you explain how you feel and what you'd like, if you ask ahead instead of coming in labor and making demands, you might be find out that they will accommodate you very willingly.

lexa · #47 02/05/13, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dusky Beauty

This debate is fresh in my mind being that I am anticipating a birth of my own in June, but I thought it would be fun to discuss what you think of as the ideal birth?

Does your homespun attitude extend to home birth? or do you still think a hospital birth is best?
How about you? What do you prefer and why?

With my first one I was in a mindset that I will not tolerate the pain and was worried what "something dangerous" might happen, so I started with a hospital OB group that had like 12 doctors, so you would see one at each appointment. The first visit was fine but they ordered some blood test that they should not have in my case and when it came positive I was sent fr a spin. Finally after fighting the nurses and front desk to tell me about results of retesting which they would not release unless I came in for more unecessay testing that I would have to pay from a pocket, I walked ina nd demanded to see my chart where I found my test results and a letter from specialist requesting more uneccesary testing that I would have to pay from my own pocket. I decided that I can not trust them if they are withholding information like this from me and at 25 wks I took my chart and went to a differnt hospital. I have learned at that point a bit about natural childbirth and when I was asking new doctor about his and his partners protocol he was very elusive in his answers. Fed up, I contacted a midwife. And what a difference it was! I had appointment that lasted 45min instead of 5, I could discuss things with her, ask questions about any little thing, if something bothered me I could call her any time and get to talk to her immediately instead of waiting for nurse to call me back regarding something that she did not know. At the end it took 46housr or so to birth my daughter and if I was not at home, It would have been a ceserean. She was fine throughout the whole time, just taking her time.
With my second I was in Germany where insurance pays for homebirth, so
I planed a homebirth that latter urned into freestanding birthing center birth since I moved to an appartment and their place was much cozier. I wrote a birth plan and discussed it with midwifes and it was perfect birth and very empovering experience. DD 2 was out in 8hrs.
I also think that both ways have the reason to be. There are times when medical help is absolutelly necessary and it saves life but if you want a natural birth I think, based on my friends experiences with hospital midwifes and doctors, it is much harder to achieve. Hospital is a system and when you enter it you have to ether comply or fight. In our culture birth is something to be afraid of ad not a natural process. OB have highest malpractice inshurances in all medical world and they too are trained to manage labor instead of supporting women through it. This management I believe a lot of times leads to cascade of interventions that turn normal labor into complecated "high risk" situation. I also know for a fact, again friends experiences, that a lot of times moivational factors are money that doctor would get and his time managment. Having said that, I think if someone want to have a homebirth, it is safe to have one with midwife assisting and not going an unassisted route, learn about risks of chilbirth and their managment at hospital and at home, learn as much as possible about normal childbirth and than decide if it makes sense to her.

ErinP · #48 02/05/13, 02:05 PM

Quote:

The best compromise I've heard of was a family that parked their RV in the hospital parking lot.

I think a CNM in a 12-bed rural hospital, who designed the "birth wing" btw, (ie both rooms lol) was a nice compromise, too.

And birth centers are only available to people who live in highly populated areas.

opportunity · #49 02/05/13, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Molly Mckee

If your hospital does not have a birthing center but an old fashioned ob dept and they supposedly do things you don't want, talk to your doctor about what you want to do, then go in and talk to the head nurse. If you explain how you feel and what you'd like, if you ask ahead instead of coming in labor and making demands, you might be find out that they will accommodate you very willingly.

This is a nice idea but it doesn't always work. I had to fight while in labor to not have things done becasue my midwife wasn't there yet and the hospital "forgot" all the things we had preapproved in our three visits before the birth. Some of them have ideas that they don't want to change. I wish I could have signed the release of liability waviers before I was in labor but they didn't let me.

bluemoonluck · #50 02/05/13, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by opportunity

This is a nice idea but it doesn't always work. I had to fight while in labor to not have things done becasue my midwife wasn't there yet and the hospital "forgot" all the things we had preapproved in our three visits before the birth. Some of them have ideas that they don't want to change. I wish I could have signed the release of liability waviers before I was in labor but they didn't let me.

Depends on what hospital you're at IME

I had a fantastic, laid-back delivery with my DD....at a hospital, attended by a midwife. The midwife told me all my rights during our office visits (she was in a practice that had OB's as well) and let me know that if anyone at the hospital made me feel uncomfortable or not in control of my delivery, I could request a patient advocate (and she gave me the phone # so I could call them directly from my hospital room!).

I was encouraged to NOT lay in the bed - they had a whirlpool that they let me sit in for a while, then they told me to do whatever made me comfortable in my room, and if I wanted to go out in the hall to walk that was fine as long as I checked back in at my room once very few laps around the ward.

Like I posted before, DD was born with her cord wrapped around her neck and it was very dicey for a bit there. They had the NICU staff at the door ready to roll with her if necessary - thankfully it wasn't necessary but it made me feel secure to know that they were not just in the building, but within less than a minute of being paged they had a NICU nurse AND a NICU doctor standing at the door ready to spring into action if needed.

Molly Mckee · #51 02/05/13, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by opportunity

This is a nice idea but it doesn't always work. I had to fight while in labor to not have things done becasue my midwife wasn't there yet and the hospital "forgot" all the things we had preapproved in our three visits before the birth. Some of them have ideas that they don't want to change. I wish I could have signed the release of liability waviers before I was in labor but they didn't let me.

The problem here may have been the fact that the midwife wasn't there. If things are approved based on the midwife being available and she isn't they may not have the staff to do what you want.

lexa · #52 02/05/13, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael W. Smith

I too think you should have a choice between home-birth and hospital birth - just realize that problems can develop in an instant, and if you aren't in a hospital setting with monitors and such - your child's life (and yours) could be gone.

My wife had high blood pressure and was being monitored closely.

If something goes wrong with a home-birth, how quickly could you get to the hospital? Could you walk on your own to a vehicle or would an ambulance have to be called? First stop would be the emergency room while they determine what is wrong which could eat up precious time.

I know even in a hospital setting, things can go terribly wrong. But I have to wonder - if you chose a home-birth and something went wrong where you lost the baby - could you live with yourself for choosing a home-birth when if you had done a hospital birth, things could have turned out completely different?

I think that in the discussion like this there needs to be a differentiation between a)Midwife assisted home birth b) planned unassisted homebirth and c) accidental unassisted homebirth and maybe a negligence case where parent knew that they would be hvinga child at home and did nothing to prepare for birth. Those cases and their outcomes are very different as are their outcomes and they should not be lumped together into one category.

Midwives who attend home births receive same labor and delivery education as OBs minus medical school and sometimes they even teach OBs aspects of Labor and delivery. They have same knowledge and more experience in normal natural births. They can carry limited medicaments and equipment necessary for emergencies. CNM usually but not always work in hospitals. They are nurses who also completed midwifery education and tend to be more medically minded.
There really not that much that could happen out of the blue without prior indication during normal labor that is allowed to progress on its own. And even less of it is something that midwives could not deal with. Worst things that happen are mothers bleeding and baby is not breathing well.Sometimes of course midwife can misjudge the situation and miss something but the doctor can do so as well. Midwives carry pitocin to stop the leeding and oxigen for first aid. They monitor their clients carefully during prenatal appointments and refer them to OBs if pregnancy becomes risky to deal with in home setting. For example lay midwife would have risked out you wife from a homebirth because of her blood pressure. They are trained to recognize issues that can arise during labor and can access the severity of situation and make a choice if the client can be transfered by car or ambulance needs to be called. They notify the hospital that their patient is transferring and what is the problem so there is time lost figuring out what is wrong. As far as complications go, for example, with shoulder dystocia sp? midwives have better outcomes than OBs.

Unassisted homebirths are when a mother on her own or with her partners help monitors herself during labor and birth. Most people I know are online people and they seem to be knowlegeble about birth. I personally think that it is a bit extreme and I would prefer hands off midwife who would come and check on me every so often than me having to worry about my vitals and remembering what to do in what situation. I prefer to be in the birth zone. As someone said that is something people usualy do after having some negative experience in hospital or homebirth.

Accidental homebirth is when birth happens to quick and baby is born at home. Outcomes of these if they are first time births are not good because parents panic and end up doing something stupid like trying to keep the baby inside until paramedics arrive or use dirty shoe string to tie the cord. I don't think that anyone would do something like that on purpose. If it is not a first baby and parents know what is happening outcomes are usually much better.

I have said it before and I will say it again that in our culture parents are not educated on what normal birth is and what it looks like. People are not educated on what complications are serious and require real emergency responce and which are scary situations. For example a cord is wrapped N times around the neck. Bluemoonluck, I am not downplaying your experience with this, it is just a situation that comes up often as an argument. It is scary and traumatizing to parent and the baby possibly will have a low 1 minute apgar score nd looking bluish. However there is nothing that midwife can not do for the baby that the doctor could. 25% percent of babies are born this way and only very very rarely it causes any harm. Home birth midwife would ether cut it if it is too tight or slip it over babies head if it is not. On other hand something very dangerous is a cord prolaps which happens mostly in the hospital, when membranes are ruptured before the baby\s head is engaged in hopes of speeding up labor, the cord can prolapse into the vagina and gets compressed cutting off blood supply.
Or you see articles like "neigbor or father or cop saved the mother and baby" Ad you read it and the only thing they did was cut the cord with dirty scissors and tied it with a shoestring. That is not saving and if he did not know that what he did was possibly dangerous in emergency birth situation, he has o business touching that cord. But it is a great story of rescue!
As far as living with the thought that things might have been different if parents went to hospital when "something" happens at midwife attended homebirths, however insignificant it might be it is always perceived as the fault of midwife and poor choice of parents. When "something" happens in the hospital the doctor is a hero who did everything to save the baby and mother, or at least peole say, the baby if fine what else should we want? even if doctors choices and parental ignorance led to complications in the first place through the cascade of interventions and labor augmentation. For example Epidural administered in early stages of labor before 5 cm, it doubles the possibility of birth ending up as a CS. a CS in itself is a major surgery that has it own set of complications ranging from cuts to infection and to child or mother death. Most people would not think twice about what led to the CS and its outcome. Double standards?
But you are right at the end it is parents choice where to have thier child and it is a choice that they would have to live with and that needs to be an educated choice and not the one done because of "what if".

lemonthyme7 · #53 02/05/13, 06:17 PM

My first was born in a military hospital as DH was in the Army at the time. They were compatent but I saw a different doctor every time I went for a prenatal visit as you waited your turn and you got whatever doctor was available next. There was no building a trust with your doctor which probably didn't matter because when I went into labour I got whatever doc was on duty at the moment. I did get a nice private room for the beginning of my labour and when my DD was close to being born I was taken to a very sterile looking room with bright lights - it looked like an operating room. It didn't help that DH and I were on our own and far from home and family. After DD was born I was in a ward type room with curtains seperating us. Since it was a teaching hospital interns got to come around and look at my stitches and wasn't that fun to have a bunch of strangers staring at your private bits? BTW, not long after I had my baby they built a new, fancy hospital!

For the birth of my son (after DH was out of Army and we were back home) I had a Certified Nurse Midwife who worked with the local hospital. Her husband was a OB/GYN and they had a LOT of experience. She told stories of when the worked with the Native Americans out West and some would pay them with chickens or such. She was amazing! I did have labour induced as I went past my due date. It was just my DH, me, the CNM and a nurse in the room. The room was comfortable and she talked and worked with me and my body and eased me through the whole process - of course it hurt but with real support and not clinical detachment I had a good birth even though my son did weigh 9 pounds (she was even suprised how big he was!).

I support home birth if you make an informed descision about what is best for you and are ready to make a change to go to the hospital if something goes wrong or live with your choice.

6e · #54 02/05/13, 06:39 PM

I've had both and to me, if your pregnancies are uncomplicated, homebirth in a hot tub can't be beat!!!! It is SO nice to be able to labor the way "I" want to, not what's convenient for the hospital. To labor with no needles sticking in me. To not have someone checking me constantly to see how dilated I am. To labor by candle light with soft music playing. To be able to relax for a few minutes afterwards in the water. And then to go to sleep with baby and husband and wake up to everything cleaned up and the house empty and quiet. It was truly one of the best experiences I ever had!!!

6e · #55 02/05/13, 06:44 PM

Just as a side note, I'm not saying hospital births are "bad", but they're invasive and do what is convenient for them and are too big on pushing state guidelines which I don't agree with half the time. :-P I prefer doing things MY way.

Lizza · #56 02/05/13, 06:52 PM

I have had: hospital birth with ob/gyn and emergency c/s; hospital birth with midwife, vbac, no drugs; and homebirth

For me, hands down, as long as me and baby are both doing good, Homebirth. If there were any complications I would go to the hospital. Having experienced both though as long as everything looked good I would absolutely choose Homebirth as my first option.

ErinP · #57 02/05/13, 07:32 PM

Quote:

To labor with no needles sticking in me. To not have someone checking me constantly to see how dilated I am. To labor by candle light with soft music playing. To be able to relax for a few minutes afterwards in the water. And then to go to sleep with baby and husband and wake up to everything cleaned up and the house empty and quiet.

This was EXACTLY what my hospital birth was.

Well, not a hot tub, just a Whirlpool...

Michael W. Smith · #58 02/05/13, 07:38 PM

Wow. This thread is going downhill fast.

I guess you, your husband, and family all need to look at all the options, look at the risks, and make a decision based on what YOU think is best.

This is kind of like the pros and cons of getting immunizations. (I said "KIND OF"!) There is a risk either way.

Grandmotherbear · #59 02/05/13, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lexa

I think that in the discussion like this there needs to be a differentiation between a)Midwife assisted home birth b) planned unassisted homebirth and c) accidental unassisted homebirth and maybe a negligence case where parent knew that they would be hvinga child at home and did nothing to prepare for birth. Those cases and their outcomes are very different as are their outcomes and they should not be lumped together into one category.

Midwives who attend home births receive same labor and delivery education as OBs minus medical school and sometimes they even teach OBs aspects of Labor and delivery. They have same knowledge and more experience in normal natural births. They can carry limited medicaments and equipment necessary for emergencies. CNM usually but not always work in hospitals. They are nurses who also completed midwifery education and tend to be more medically minded.
There really not that much that could happen out of the blue without prior indication during normal labor that is allowed to progress on its own. And even less of it is something that midwives could not deal with. Worst things that happen are mothers bleeding and baby is not breathing well.Sometimes of course midwife can misjudge the situation and miss something but the doctor can do so as well. Midwives carry pitocin to stop the leeding and oxigen for first aid. They monitor their clients carefully during prenatal appointments and refer them to OBs if pregnancy becomes risky to deal with in home setting. For example lay midwife would have risked out you wife from a homebirth because of her blood pressure. They are trained to recognize issues that can arise during labor and can access the severity of situation and make a choice if the client can be transfered by car or ambulance needs to be called. They notify the hospital that their patient is transferring and what is the problem so there is time lost figuring out what is wrong. As far as complications go, for example, with shoulder dystocia sp? midwives have better outcomes than OBs.

Unassisted homebirths are when a mother on her own or with her partners help monitors herself during labor and birth. Most people I know are online people and they seem to be knowlegeble about birth. I personally think that it is a bit extreme and I would prefer hands off midwife who would come and check on me every so often than me having to worry about my vitals and remembering what to do in what situation. I prefer to be in the birth zone. As someone said that is something people usualy do after having some negative experience in hospital or homebirth.

Accidental homebirth is when birth happens to quick and baby is born at home. Outcomes of these if they are first time births are not good because parents panic and end up doing something stupid like trying to keep the baby inside until paramedics arrive or use dirty shoe string to tie the cord. I don't think that anyone would do something like that on purpose. If it is not a first baby and parents know what is happening outcomes are usually much better.

I have said it before and I will say it again that in our culture parents are not educated on what normal birth is and what it looks like. People are not educated on what complications are serious and require real emergency responce and which are scary situations. For example a cord is wrapped N times around the neck. Bluemoonluck, I am not downplaying your experience with this, it is just a situation that comes up often as an argument. It is scary and traumatizing to parent and the baby possibly will have a low 1 minute apgar score nd looking bluish. However there is nothing that midwife can not do for the baby that the doctor could. 25% percent of babies are born this way and only very very rarely it causes any harm. Home birth midwife would ether cut it if it is too tight or slip it over babies head if it is not. On other hand something very dangerous is a cord prolaps which happens mostly in the hospital, when membranes are ruptured before the baby\s head is engaged in hopes of speeding up labor, the cord can prolapse into the vagina and gets compressed cutting off blood supply.
Or you see articles like "neigbor or father or cop saved the mother and baby" Ad you read it and the only thing they did was cut the cord with dirty scissors and tied it with a shoestring. That is not saving and if he did not know that what he did was possibly dangerous in emergency birth situation, he has o business touching that cord. But it is a great story of rescue!
As far as living with the thought that things might have been different if parents went to hospital when "something" happens at midwife attended homebirths, however insignificant it might be it is always perceived as the fault of midwife and poor choice of parents. When "something" happens in the hospital the doctor is a hero who did everything to save the baby and mother, or at least peole say, the baby if fine what else should we want? even if doctors choices and parental ignorance led to complications in the first place through the cascade of interventions and labor augmentation. For example Epidural administered in early stages of labor before 5 cm, it doubles the possibility of birth ending up as a CS. a CS in itself is a major surgery that has it own set of complications ranging from cuts to infection and to child or mother death. Most people would not think twice about what led to the CS and its outcome. Double standards?
But you are right at the end it is parents choice where to have thier child and it is a choice that they would have to live with and that needs to be an educated choice and not the one done because of "what if".

I can't believe I am going to be 63 this month and we're still fighting this battle!!

Most of us choosing home birth have no desire to force home birth down EVERYBODIES throats but it seems the "Hospitallers" do!

No matter how calm and reasoned, statistically supported a pro home birther is the oppossition drags out :Would've died if we hadn't een ina hospital" trump card. No one knows for certain they would've ddied, I hav

e seen all sorts of things inexplical by medical science, and in GFB;s and my experience the "You would've died if you hadn't been in a hospital" card played by a doctor is usually an attempt to cover up some degree of less=than=sterling performance. Because that shakes people up and they are falling all over themselves with gratitude even tho their outcome may not be optimum.
I remember back in the 80's the lowincome maternity clinic for the county was always being interviewed by the newspaper and they were trying to use the newspaper to increase patients. The nurse-midwives would report how frustrated they were to have those South American women coming in with heart problems, they would render prenatal care while trying to stress that the women must birth in the hospital, and they'de miss an appointment and then show up with a weekold baby, mom and baby doing fine- God knows what sort of csection rate they would've subjected those poor, non English (sometimes Non Spanish) speaking women to. I lost my last pregnancy in 1985 because it was an anencephalic monstrosity, but if you listened to my sisterinlaw, it was because I'de planned a homebirth and was using a midwife. I challenged her what submitting to an obstetrician could have done in the face of a major genetic mutation, but her mind was made up-don't bother her with facts.
I am outa this thread. I am so sick and tired that this battle still needs to be fought- that home births have been proven a safe method of delivery many times for selected populations of women, yet so many ignore the reality and keep blowing up worst case scenarios and playing the "so and so would've DIED if she hadn't been in a hospital trump card".
Do YOU know what the statistics are for Adult Respiratory Syndrome after
general anesthesia for Csec?? But nobody says- Oh, you wouldn't have had pneumonia if you hadn't gone to the hospita;, let them start a epidural too soon, let them pit you cause the epidural relaxed your contractions, until your fetus wentinto distress because of the induction and you had to have a section...
If you don't want a home birth, for whatever reason, don't have one.
I will now go take a pain pill...being in pain and seeing the same old tired arguments arguments makes me feel like throwing the computer.

Molly Mckee · #60 02/06/13, 12:28 AM

Things have changed since the 80's GMB. Many hospitals are sent up to do home type births, based on what the pt wants, in a safer environment for the baby, especially for a mom that lives out in the country.
As a nurse who has scrubbed for hundreds of deliveries, with all kinds of doctors, and have delivered a number of babies while the doctor was on his way, I will say I would prefer to have hospital equipment on hand just in case. It is quite safe for a healthy, well monitored mother to have a home birth if everything looks good and she can get to a hospital quickly. I have just seen things go bad very rapidly and I think a home type birth in a hospital is the safest for mother and baby.

I think that with the number of woman OB's we are now seeing, we will see much more compassion and understanding in the hospital ob depts. If not, the bad ones will be shutting down.