Researching Labor and Birth Options

Beth and I are busy reading up on the labor and birth process and firsthand accounts, in library books, purchased books, and online. We had already decided that we did not want a hospital birth (unless it becomes medically necessary - more on this later), and now even the Birthing Center seems like they start a clock ticking when you arrive, expect your labor to progress according to their schedule, and perform unnecessary examinations that may cause infections, just because it's part of their routine.

Our options seem to be narrowing down to a home birth, which is in many ways the best place anyway (no need to move the mother/baby combo before or mother/baby duo after birth) in a normal birth, but there is a cultural bias against it in the USA. This extends to the insurance company not paying for midwifery services in the home birth, to encourage you financially to attend a Birth Center or Hospital.

 I was a homebirth, as were my two older brothers, but by 1966 I was already in the minority, and in the UK the current rate is 2%, in the US about 0.65%. The statistics start to blur here, and information from different sources is confusing, so we have to start approaching the birth place choice from a different direction.

There is no doubt that if there is a complication, such as the umbilical cord descending in front of the baby's head, some fetal distress, or breach birth, then a Hospital is the safest place to be. On the other hand, Hospitals have their schedules and like to see things progress to their timetable, and are more likely to offer painkillers or other drugs, plus unnecessary surgery, and hurry the process along. In the US, 1/3 of births in Hospitals are now caresarian sections, a number that ought to tell the profession that something has gone badly wrong, but seems to be ignored. Beth's birth was a C-section, at 5:50pm on a Friday, in  a Hospital. That seems too much of a coincidence, and suggests that the doctor wanted to get things finished for his own convenience so he could start his weekend. The statistics for babies born on weekends and opposed to weekdays in US Hospitals bear out this "Doctor's Convenience" theory.

A C-section has effects on the baby, and on the mother's likelihood of being able to breastfeed successfully; at least as far as our research tells us, and our own logic tells us so too. In addition to the unwanted c-section, episiotomies occur far too often in Hospital. This is a cut made in the mother to ease the baby out "on time". Given another 20 minutes to 1/2 an hour, it is likely that most babies would come out naturally, once the cervix has been given time to stretch - but that means the Doctor might miss his supper and favorite sitcom.

All of this adds up to us checking out the local midwives who attend homebirths, and setting up interviews. Once we have that extra data, we'll need to pin ourselves down on the Home/Hospital/Birth Center decision so we can move onto the next stage.