Home Birth Pros and Cons
Did you know that recent studies have shown that homebirth outcomes for low-risk moms and babies are comparable to that of hospital birth outcomes? Homebirth can be a safe and wonderful option for many people giving birth! Let’s take a look at the home birth pros and cons.
An Introduction to Home Birth Pros and Cons
You just found out that you’re pregnant! How exciting! One of the first things you need to decide is what type of pregnancy and birth experience you want to have. The first step to making this decision is often to decide between having a home birth or a hospital birth. In order to help with your decision, it can be a great idea to assess the home birth pros and cons as well as hospital birth pros and cons. Home birth can provide for an incredibly different experience than hospital birth. The home birth pros are many while the cons are few, but both lists are important to consider when making your own decision about the best birth place for you and for your baby.
Home Birth Pros and Cons
Pros of having a homebirth include:
Giving birth with trusted providers of your choosing who are the experts on natural childbirth.
Giving birth with providers that you have built relationships with over time and who know you and your family / receiving continuity of care.
Birthing in a familiar setting that you feel comfortable in
Being in charge of your birth and being encouraged and supported in having your own voice throughout your birthing process
Having the freedom to move about your home and to labor wherever you like, in any position that you like.
Having the freedom to eat food and drink fluids throughout your labor as it feels right for your body.
Being in charge of whoever attends your birth. You can have the support people you want there, even if that means having several people at your birth.
Being monitored and cared for by experienced healthcare providers with low use of interventions.
Having a physiologic, or natural, birth for both you and your baby.
Giving birth to your baby in the water if you choose to have a waterbirth.
Being supported in catching your own baby or involving your partner in helping to catch your baby.
Being able to go to sleep in your own bed after having a baby while receiving ongoing postpartum care from your midwives.
You can avoid giving birth in the same place that sick people go to receive care and therefore avoid exposure for you and your baby to pathogens that can cause serious illness or infection.
The cost of a home birth is significantly less than the cost of a hospital birth. Hospital births will often be 3 times the amount, or more, than the cost of giving birth at home.
Avoiding an unnecessary cesarean birth. Home birth cesarean rates vary by care provider, but are always significantly lower than the rates of nearby hospitals. For example, the rate of cesarean birth with Hearth and Home Midwifery is approximately 4% while the cesarean birth rate at a nearby hospital is approximately 40%.
Avoiding other potentially unnecessary interventions such as instrumental deliveries, antibiotics, episiotomies, and more.
Avoiding medically induced complications such as maternal hemorrhage, neonatal shoulder dystocia, deep maternal tearing, separation of Mom and Baby, immediate cord-cutting, etc.
Having the opportunity to be cared for by a midwife who trusts birth and is an expert on natural childbirth as opposed to being an expert on surgical birth.
Being able to trust that if you do end up needing medical interventions during your labor that it was for the safety of you and/or your baby and not for some other reason.
Receiving informed choice in regards to each and every procedure, including procedures that may occur during labor.
Being offered evidence-based information to help you make your own decisions about the care that you would like to receive for yourself and for your baby.
Being centered and honored throughout your entire experience, including reassuring of safety and well being for both you and your baby along the way.
You won’t have a time limitation in regards to when you have to have your baby or how long your labor can be.
Receiving in-home postpartum care for both Mom and Baby by trusted and known care providers.
Cons to Having a Homebirth May Include:
Having to transfer to another facility while you are in labor. A small percentage of people who plan to give birth at home either choose to transfer to a hospital for an epidural or are informed by their midwife that for one reason or another the hospital setting may become the safest place for the birthing person or for their baby.
Having a potential delay in accessing emergency medical procedures when transferring from the home setting to the hospital setting.
Having to make payments upfront. In most situations, midwifery care is not considered to be covered in-network with insurance companies so it’s possible that you’ll need to plan to pay for your midwifery care upfront. Midwifery care and homebirth ultimately tend to be only a fraction of the cost of having a baby in the hospital, but not everyone is able to plan to pay for their care upfront.
Biggest Differences Between a Home Birth and a Hospital Birth
There are many differences between a home birth and hospital birth and of those differences, the biggest differences are in the type of care that each person receives. Home birth providers build individual relationships with each of their pregnant and birthing clients and provide individualized care to each unique person and family. Individualized care can make for very different birth outcomes, makes space for evidence-based care to occur, and supports birthing people and their families to feel empowered and often more satisfied with their birth experience. Additionally, when you work with a midwife who knows you and cares about you then you are more likely to receive compassionate, gentle, and human-centered care. You can expect to be treated like the person that you are and to be respected in your decision making, your preferences, and your birth plan. You can also expect that your baby will be treated with kindness, compassion, and that they will receive the safest and gentlest care possible as they are being born.
Additionally, in the home birth setting each person needs to be well in order for safety to be maintained. If someone is healthy and low-risk with a healthy pregnancy and baby then they are considered to be a safe and reasonable candidate for giving birth at home with midwives. If someone has a complication of pregnancy, such as high blood pressure, then it is safer for them to plan for a hospital birth. Your midwife will be able to assess your health throughout prenatal care and make recommendations if it ever seems that the best place of birth for you or your baby is in the hospital.
A Summary of Home Birth Pros and Cons
Every pregnant woman or birthing person has a different health picture as well as unique desires for their own birth plan. As experienced midwives, we strive to empower each individual to choose the provider and birth location that is best for them. The pros to having a home birth are many. Homebirth can be a safe, powerful, and beautiful experience for many birthing people. The evidence suggests that for healthy women and babies homebirth outcomes are comparable to hospital birth while interventions and maternal morbidities are much lower. We encourage each person to weigh the home birth pros and cons for themselves and to choose the type of birth that feels most comfortable, safest, and exciting for them. If you still aren’t sure after doing your own research about which option might be best for you, then we recommend scheduling interviews with midwives in your area. For people living in Oregon and Washington, the midwives of Hearth and Home Midwifery offer free consultations to potential clients. It can often be very impactful to meet with the midwives that you’re considering for your homebirth so that you can hear about their unique approach to care and the home birth pros and cons that each individual midwifery practices carries.
