Having a baby is a hugely exciting time of any person’s life, whether it’s a first baby or a fourth. A new baby brings a great deal of excitement and love and is a truly joyous time for just about any family welcoming a new member. Of course, there are many choices to be made when preparing for a baby, such as what their name will be and what style of parenting will be carried out. Where they’ll sleep, what they’ll wear, what they’ll eat – these are all things that every parent will have to keep in mind and make a decision about, if not at the time of birth or even before than shortly after it.
In many cases, the decision of where to give birth is another critical choice. Unfortunately, far too few women even know that they have options. Many of them think that giving birth in their local hospital is really the only choice that they have when it comes to having a baby. Actually, this is not true, and more and more women are choosing to give birth at home than ever before. While giving birth in a hospital environment might be the right decision for some women, not all women will want to have their baby in such an environment.
This is likely the case for a number of reasons – and these reasons can vary quite drastically from woman to woman. For one thing, some women have already had an experience giving birth in a hospital. For some women, a traumatic hospital birth can prompt them to look into giving birth at home with their future pregnancies and babies. Others are simply looking to avoid as many medical interventions as possible and want to stay away from being hooked up to various monitors as much as possible. The home is their home, and many women actually feel the safest and most comfortable both laboring and delivering in this environment.
And while some might criticize those who choose to deliver at home for choosing to give birth out of the safety of the hospital, statistics show that, in the vast majority of cases, giving birth at home is just as safe if not even safer. After all, only 6% of all babies born at home are considered premature, while up to 12% of all babies born in hospital settings are considered to be early enough to be classified as such. In addition to this, up to 8% of all babies born in hospitals are low birth weight babies, while just 4% of all babies born at home are considered to have low birth weights.
If your birth is considered to be low risk, studies have even found that giving birth at a birthing center or at home is just as safe as giving birth in the traditional hospital. Though this study, conducted by a British group, only focused on second and third children, many a woman has had a natural labor and natural childbirth in the comfort of her own home with a first baby as well. However, high risk births should likely always be under hospital care and monitoring, as these are not normal pregnancies and births and the overall potential for something going wrong is much higher.
Even for a normal birth, having a professional present is a must. Midwives often fill this role at the majority of home birthing experiences. From midwifery Portland to midwifery in Texas to midwifery in other counties, midwives have long been important people for a laboring mother. The study of midwifery Portland has become more and more common in years past, and midwifery Portland is certainly not the only place where modern midwifery has grown, though the midwifery Portland community is certainly a sizable one.
A certified midwife, from the midwifery Portland community or elsewhere, is a great person to have by your side. Such a professional has gone through nursing school, making them more than competent and able to handle anything that might arise during your birth. If any problems were to arise, the midwife in question would know exactly when it was time to transfer the mother to the nearest hospital.