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You are here : Parent24 : Baby (0-1) : Birth : Home or hospital?

Home or hospital?

More and more women are opting for home births assisted by midwives. What are the advantages of having a home birth?

Health24

Pic: iStockphoto.com

Article originally in Health24

Home birth

The woman may feel more in control as she is in her own environment
She has more privacy
She will be assisted by the midwife of her choice
It is cost-effective
It can be a more relaxed and peaceful atmosphere
There is no unnecessary intervention
A woman may use natural ways of relieving pain
She can have as many people present as she wishes to
She is never separated from the baby
There is less distraction
An episiotomy can be avoided
Birth is seen as a natural process rather than a “medical” event
Older children don’t have to deal with the absence of their parents

Make sure that you are assisted by an experienced, qualified nurse/midwife or by a qualified physician. In case of a medical emergency, you should be within 20 minutes of the nearest hospital.

According to Dr Martin Puzey, Gynaecologist, a woman should be cleared as being a low risk case for home birth by her gynaecologist. “People tend to forget that giving birth is a very dangerous process and is a time in a woman’s life when things can go seriously wrong,” he says. “Many years ago, the first thing a father asked of the delivering doctor after the birth was ‘how’s my wife … did she survive the birth?’. If a woman has a high risk pregnancy, she should examine her alternatives.”

Hospital birth

You may want to consider the following advantages of a hospital birth: