Safety
Hundreds of studies undertaken over the last 40 years have demonstrated the safety of healthy women giving birth at home when a skilled attendant is present. THERE IS NO COMPROMISE IN SAFETY AT HOME! Neonatal mortality is the same in both settings. There has never been any research that indicates that the safest place for all birth is a hospital. In fact, birth at home can be seen as healthier than hospital, because there are fewer interventions: fewer disturbances of the personal rhythm of birth; fewer surgeries, infections, instrument deliveries, birth injuries, hemorrhages, episiotomies; fewer separations of mother and baby (leading to higher rates of breastfeeding).
Comfort
Most of us feel that our homes are our sanctuaries, our havens. We tend to feel most comfortable, uninhibited, protected and secure in our own territories, surrounded by our loved ones. Hospitals are alien environments for most people, reminiscent of illness and death. When you are stressed, preoccupied, and in need of paying the closest possible attention to yourself in order to accomplish a highly important task, would you feel better and more focused when you walk in the door of a hospital, or in your own home?
Control
When preparing for birth at home, you know that the people who
will support you are your guests - familiar loved ones and invited professional attendants who have been working with you throughout your pregnancy. You can direct the environment where you envision greeting your new baby. At home, each
woman can control the sights, sounds, smells, textures, touch and tastes that will bother her as she moves through labor. She will play a fully informed part in all aspects of her care, which will be individualized and mother/baby-centered.
Family Continuity
The inherent intimacy and sacredness of this miraculous event are
respected as private, integral parts of family life. When birth is at home, in the same setting as day-to-day activities occur, the family is unified and strengthened. When children are present they have a sense of security and confidence instead of fear, thus normalizing the arrival of their
sibling. Many believe that there is less postpartum depression following homebirth.
Cost
The cost of birth at home is considerably less than birth in
hospital.
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