Been Told That Homebirth Studies Prove Its Dangerous?

Many women mistakenly assume that their hospital caregiver is willing to have a open hearted, respectful discussion about homebirth if they bring it up.   Sadly, and to everyone's detriment, to date I have never had a client have that happen.  It's usually ends in a lot of scare tactic, inflammatory statements.  Not too long ago, to add fuel to the homebirth discussion fire, a paper came out from the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology saying that homebirth was associated with a higher death rate, and insinuated that those who chose homebirth were really just being selfish and choosing a more homey experience over safety. 

Not coincidentally, the paper came out right before New York was about to pass midwifery legislation, and all most parents heard was a sound byte of "Homebirth Kills".

Sadly, most people, much less OB's and some CNM's won't look any deeper than this sound byte into this highly politicized issue.  I urge you to get the facts on the paper, called "The Wax Paper" and keep in mind that the following criteria was put in place for this paper:

• Accidental out of hospital births were included
• Unplanned out of hospital births were included
• Unattended out of hospital births were included
• Women that had little to no prenatal care were included

All of these factors play a huge role in safety and do not reflect the real safety of homebirth, which has been scientifically shown over and over again to equal or excel hospital safety records.

To read more about homebirth, please visit Birthologie.com