Midwifery Home Birth
-- Who Can and Who Can't Have It --

When I told people that I had midwifery home births with all my children (two, so far), they thought that I was brave to do that.

Yes, the thought of having a homebirth can make most women giddy.

"I would never do that with my first pregnancy," somebody told me after I told her that I gave birth to my first child at home.

"... because I don't know whether my body can stand the test of childbirth without complication," she continued.

Over the time, I've heard many people said similar things. Many women feel that they won't be able to give birth at home because of many reason, from 'untried' pelvic (aka a first time mother) to 'too small pelvic for the size of the baby' (aka the baby is too big to get through the pelvic). In fact, I can have a long list if I want to make a list of reason why women feel that they are not good candidates for midwifery home birth.

It looks like that most women think that home birth is so unsafe that it should be reserved only for the brave and the fit, and that most women won't be able to go through a childbirth without being in hospital.

But, nothing is further than the truth.

In fact, every women who are categorized as low risk and healthy can have a midwifery home birth safely as long as she does whatever she can to ensure that she is prepared properly for the birth. Secondly, if you read my article on the truth about hospital birth, you may realize that the complication which happens during labor and birth at the hospital is often man-made, which means that the complication happens as the result of endless interventions and routines administered at the hospital.

Therefore, to answer the question: who can have a midwifery home birth, I must say that: most healthy women with low-risk pregnancy can have a homebirth as long as she prepares for it to ensure the home birth safety and she's comfortable with it.

Having said that, I also realize that a minority of women may not be suitable for midwifery homebirth because their pregnancies are high risk, which means that the possibility for complication (for either the mom or the baby) is high.

Here are the reason on why a woman may not be suitable for a homebirth:

• a smoker, unless she quits during pregnancy.
• an alcoholic,
• an underweight or overweight person.
• woman with a high blood pressure.
• woman with gestational diabetes or cardiovascular problem.
• woman with rhesus negative blood type.
• woman who is carrying a child which needs to be in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) as soon as possible after the birth.
• woman who previously carried a baby pre-term.

In addition, these following women are sometimes also categorized as high risk and hence in some states, it is not legal to do a midwifery home birth with these women:

• woman carrying a breech baby
• woman carrying more than one baby

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Related articles

• Why choose homebirth, part 1 and part 2
• Why choose to have a natural birth ?
• Home birth risk: conditions which makes you transfer to hospital.
• How to ensure home birth safety ?
• How much does a homebirth cost ?
• Birth supplies - everything you need for your birth.
• What Is A Midwife.
• Child birth preparation - preparing for natural birth.

Other birth setting

• Giving birth at hospital
• Giving birth at a birthing center

From Midwifery Home Birth page to Homepage

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