The Birth Wars: Who's winning the home birth debate?

The Birth Wars: Who's winning the home birth debate?

This is an excellent article that details the home birth debate between the medical community and those who are pro home birth. I found it to be very interesting and informative. I would recommend this article to anyone who is interested in learning more about the pros and cons of hospital vs. home birth, and the research studies (or lack thereof) that are behind the claims on both sides of the issue.

The Birth of Baby Stephen - A Mother's Story

At our midwife appointment on April 14th, the day before my "guess date", my blood pressure was still high, so our midwife was concerned that pre-eclampsia was on the horizon. She didn't want to send us to the hospital for the 4th non-stress test in 2 weeks, so she suggested that we go to the hospital that night to start Cervadil to get my cervix to dilate since I was still at a 0, and then plan to start Pitocin the next morning to get things moving.

We went to the hospital at 7pm and by 7:30 they put in the Cervadil---it's like a suppository, but they have to put it behind the cervix to dilate it---NOT fun when your cervix is completely closed and high. Anyway, then Josh and I just played games and hung out til we got tired and went to sleep. As I'm sure most of you know, hospital beds are like ROCKS. I couldn't hardly sleep, so I listened to my "Come OUT Baby" Hypnobabies CD (our instructor suggested it as a way to avoid induction----it's like anything else used to induce---it won't work unless your body is ready for it). Well, I guess it was, because at 3am I woke Josh up because I was having pressure waves. I have no idea what stage I was in,

because the pressure waves were coming so close together I'd have like 5 in a row and Josh thought I was only having one. He was SO great supporting me and using Hypnotic suggestions and techniques to get me to relax. It was fabulous.

We really realized how important it is that birth partners get involved and how vital it is to practice together diligently. I didn't want to listen to any CDs (I thought the I-pod headphones would irritate me, so we put the relaxation music on on Josh's laptop), so Josh had to use scripts that he made up from what he could remember and what instinctively seemed to work from my body cues to get me to focus and relax. IT WORKED GREAT!

He called our doula, Cherylyn, and she came over, totally surprised to see me so relaxed and having so many pressure waves...it was nuts. The nurse came in and checked me and I was at a 2 and totally effaced. By 7:30am when they came to take out the cervadil and start the pitocin, I was at a 5, so they decided to just forget the pitocin because I was obviously progressing quickly on my own. By 8:30 am when the midwife came, I was at a 9, and by 9:57am Stephen was born. So total time was 7 hours. It was crazy and happened SO FAST. Josh was totally my hero, and Cherylyn was totally amazing.

Everyone kept saying that I was just glowing and so happy and were surprised that I could smile between pushes---the nurses were fabulous help too, and very encouraging. They never once offered me an epidural. Near the end I did get some Fetanol just so I could breathe in between a few contractions and they gave me oxygen to make sure that the baby and I were both getting enough. At one point they also had me stop pushing so I could let the last lip of my cervix finish dilating, which was SO hard, but when my midwife got there, she held back the cervix edge and let me push---it's amazing how your body just does it---it doesn't take any effort from you at all...you just have to go with it.

They also had to put an internal monitor on him shortly before he crowned because the pressure waves were so intense and close together that his heart rate was dropping and not going back up after each wave (he was also pinching off the cord- it was once around his neck, and one of his arms was tangled in it too), but he did just great and had a beautiful cry when he came out. I can't describe how I felt when his body came out---which is a totally amazing feeling too---I cried and laughed and was just...WOW....jeesh, I'm starting to cry now just thinking about it. :)

He weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. at birth and was 20 inches long, so a perfect size. We love his fluffy brown hair and love looking into his eyes. He's so alert and just loves taking in everything he can hear and see. It's so amazing to have this new little life in our family.

Do Hospitals Discourage Breastfeeding?

I believe they do, for many reasons. Unfortunately it can undermine a new mother's will to breastfeed her newborn.

But you don't have to take my word for it. The New Born Baby blog has a recent post about hospitals and the way they handle breastfeeding. It's a really good read, and not too long. In the post they mention the Baby Friendly Initiative. I learned a lot about this initiative when I attended the Utah Doula Association's Conference recently.

The Baby Friendly Initiative is intended to help hospitals transform their infant feeding programs to more fully support breastfeeding and only offer supplemental feeding when medically necessary. This initiative is amazing, and I hope more hospitals will strive to become officially Baby Friendly. Right now, only one hospital in the state of Utah has achieved Baby Friendly status.

One big hurdle for most hospitals is that the formula companies give them free infant formula, which they lose by becoming Baby Friendly. However, the representative from the University of Utah Hospital that spoke at the conference I attended said that they found when they renegotiated their contract with the formula companies they were given lower prices on adult formula and the cost of formula for the hospital as a whole remained the same even though they now have to pay for infant formula. What they thought would be the hardest step turned out to be one of the easiest.

I fully support breastfeeding and the Baby Friendly Initiative. Please take some time to educate yourself about these programs and issues.

Home Care Instructions for the Mother

I found this through a doula's blog, and I think it's very informative, whether you birth your baby in a hospital or at home. It was written by a group of midwives.

Home Care Instructions for the Mother

Years ago a woman who had just given birth was routinely kept in the hospital for over a week, in bed the whole time, not allowed to do anything for herself, for it was believed this was best for healing. We now know that moderate activity is helpful and encourages healing, but I'm sure many women struggle in finding the right balance of rest and activity to facilitate postpartum recovery.

I myself have a hard time gauging how much I should do after having a baby, especially after I've come home from the hospital. I've been reading about postpartum care and recovery, and what I've read encourages careful observation of energy levels and as much rest and time with the baby as possible. Most of the material I've read suggests having help at home with household demands to allow the mother to focus on just herself and the baby, and establish breastfeeding early on. This pdf I've linked to above seems to be pretty close to many of the other materials I've read on the subject, and I think it's very informative for any woman, wherever she chooses to birth her baby.

Click here for more on postpartum care

If you would like more information on this subject, please check out the list of Recommended Reading on the right-hand side of the page. Scroll down a bit to get to it.