A study in Canada comparing thousands of births indicates that home births with an attendant midwife are safer than going into hospital - for the the full article connect here.

HOME BIRTHS by NATURAL NEWS

LATER NOTICE - STUDY IN THE NETHERLANDS INDICATES HOME BIRTHS JUST AS SAFE AS NATURAL BIRTHS (01 Oct 2009)

We enjoyed a home birth and it was a very calm experience - Moira delivered naturally in a pool with midwives attendant. She still has some issues about how one of them, shall we call her Helga, proceeded to intervene once our son was delivered and basically sought to undermine what was a gorgeous and almost pain-free birth. She dove in to cut the umbilical cord explaining that he wasn't breathing, wipe the baby down and administer oxygen. The emphasis was on the 'he's not breathing'. How the hell had he been breathing in the womb then? Via the umbilical cord. I've since learned that if oxygen had been needed, it could easily have been administered with the baby on Moira's chest with the umbilical cord uncut. Simple. She's still angry about it though, since she had requested a full placental birth. Next time, we're thinking of going for a lotus birth! That's bound to raise some eyebrows. Need to get pregnant first though.

However, we would certainly emphasize that any thoughts of having a home birth must be translated into doing a lot of preparation - we had chiropractic to help Moira's pelvis and encourage the baby to head downward (chiropractic and acupuncture as well as imaging can all help to turn a baby), acupuncture to encourage delivery as we were approaching the time when the hospital wanted to get its tools and drugs out (which would have disrupted breastfeeding!). We also used hypnobirthing methods for preparing to have a natural birth and this day and age with so much noise ranging from other mothers' horror stories to the culture that we are all brought up in that assumes women's bodies are somehow unnatural and birth a medical emergency, we certainly needed all the help we could get MENTALLY! By altering our conscious and subconscious images and expectations of birth, we felt well prepared. It was hard though going against a multi-billion pound NHS that deemed us crazy (and we had one bullying midwife manageress declare - three times no less! - that Moira and/or baby could die). Well, she was stupid, and by then Moira (who was alone dealing with this witch from the state) had effectively become immune to such terrifying warnings.

The entire gamut of pregnancy is typically filled with fear. Fear that you or your baby may die or that something may go wrong or that something is wrong. Yet, when births take place in non-medicalized communities, the typical rate I've heard needing intervention is less that 5%. That means 95% of women are subjecting themselves to a fear-loaded ploy created by medical institutions (who enjoy having the work to interfere) unnecessarily. Birth can be beautiful and even sexy! A good percentage (20% I think) even have an ORGASM GIVING BIRTH!

They don't mention that in school sex lessons do they?

Wonder why.

If you're expecting, try an alternative route - always consult with professionals in your choice, but don't let medics bully you. It's your birth, not theirs!

We used to hear so often, 'We just want to make sure that you have a healthy baby.' And I'd retort, 'And a healthy mother?' 'Oh, yes, that too.' Hmm. Then I'd say, 'When we've had our baby, you won't be popping around to see how things are, dropping in with loving thoughts and smiles all around. You'll forget us as soon as it's five o'clock and we're out of your face.' That didn't seem to go down too well. Nobody countered it though!

We worked hard and DID A LOT OF PREPARATION to have a home birth: don't expect it'll be easy - you'll need a lot of support. We used Mia Scotland from Mindfulmama to help us through the issues (and there were loads!) that we had about birth, never mind home birthing!! There was a lot to unravel in both of us - Moira's fear of giving birth and my rather unjustified assumption that birth was a woman's affair (as it was for my birth), and although I was open to a home birth I was suprised to hear that my wife was for it as well - and her mother, Dr Helen Brown, had been a GP and her father a pharmaceutical salesman! Talk about going against the cultural grain!

The researchers note that those going for a homebirth may be more prepared than those going into hospital, which certainly underlines the need to do your work. Mia once noted in a newsletter that people put more thought into going on holiday than having a baby. Go figure. And if you think that men shouldn't be talking of pregnancy, read her missive on that issue too.

We get no commission for recommending Mia or her services - she's offers a great service that made our birth so special, and that is enough in itself.

Alexander Moseley

Any information on these pages should be taken as information only and not health advice. You should always consult a professional medical practitioner concerning any issues that you may have or change of diet regime - the GP is often the first port of call, but there are also chiropractors, osteopaths, physical therapists, homeopaths, nutritionists, naturopaths, herbalists, and so on, who can offer relevant advice.