Why Homebirth?

So why would anyone choose a homebirth?

I would rephrase that question to ask why wouldn't they? Most of the fear surrounding homebirth is in relation to the safety of it. I have lost count of how many times I have heard 'What about if something went wrong?' or 'That's a bit risky'... and at that point of the conversation, I hadn't even begun to tell them about Jyrus being breech!

It fascinates me that what was perfectly normal in times gone by has been shadowed by the medicalised world and more so, that people have conformed to generalised opinions that see homebirth as radical.

I am uncertain as to what actually lead people to believe that birth is an illness and requires treatment... but I am certain of the fact that a woman's body was created for the purpose of supporting life and birthing it without assistance and hence question what the hospital can do to improve the perfect physiology of a female... it is for this reason that I refer to the hospital system as the 'birth industry' implying that it has become more about a money making obsessive compulsive need to control what just happens.

Under the medicalised model of care, a woman is subjected to intervention, intervention, intervention oh and hang on... yes, you guessed it, more intervention - none of which has really been based on hard evidence in relation to safety and accuracy. This intervention is based on the premise that we diagnose and then we treat...

And here I find an irrationality to the persistant questioning of whether homebirth is safe. Homebirth is about the normal, physiological process that the body was intended for - no intervention, no manipulation, no intention. Now compare this to a hospital birth - ultrasound, monitoring, induction of labour, epidurals, immobility, fasting, active third stage, time constraints... uh um, (cough) obstetricians...

The logic just doesn't seem to add up. People question homebirth but yet, all of these unnatural and unjustified (in many cases) interventions are accepted without a second thought. What's to say that these interventions aren't the root of many of the problems that we see in pregnancy and labour as well as the postnatal period?

Having said this, the availability of medical management is fine if it is offered as a choice and the woman is empowered with information to make informed decision, including the possibility of adverse effects, because it is about women and it is about choice and midwifery is about supporting the woman's choice.

Maybe the fear extends further to a fear of oneself and gaining control in a world that is domineered by opinion and judgement.

The benefits of homebirth are endless and they dont stop as I have come to realise...