Home Births Drastically Rising. Why Are So Many Avoiding The Hospital?

By: Don Caldwell


Why are so many mothers avoiding Hospitals?


Excerpts italicized:


A rather significant trend is gripping the United States in the way we go about giving birth to our children. More frequently are expectant mothers choosing to avoid the Hospital in favor at giving birth at home. Many different reasons bring about such a decision (high cost, lack of personalized care, etc.), but (like with anything) this is perhaps both a good thing and a bad thing.


One mother chose home birth because it was cheaper than going to a hospital. Another gave birth at home because she has multiple sclerosis and feared unnecessary medical intervention. And some choose home births after cesarean sections with their first babies.


Whatever their motivation, all are among a striking trend: Home births increased 20 percent from 2004 to 2008, accounting for 28,357 of 4.2 million U.S. births, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released in May.


White women led the drive, with 1 in 98 having babies at home in 2008, compared to 1 in 357 black women and 1 in 500 Hispanic women.
Sherry Hopkins, a Las Vegas midwife, said the women whose home births she's attended include a pediatrician, an emergency room doctor and nurses. "We're definitely seeing well-educated and well-informed people who want to give birth at home," she said.


The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which certifies OB-GYNs, warns that home births can be unsafe, especially if the mother has high-risk conditions, if a birth attendant is inadequately trained and if there's no nearby hospital in case of emergency. Some doctors also question whether a "feminist machoism" is at play in wanting to give birth at home.


But home birthers say they want to be free of drugs, fetal monitors, IVs and pressure to hurry their labor at the behest of doctors and hospitals.


Some home birthers cite concerns over cesarean sections. The U.S. rate of C-sections in hospitals hovers around 32 percent, soaring up to 60 percent in some areas. In some cases, there's a "too posh to push" mentality of scheduled inductions for convenience sake


Gina Crosley-Corcoran, a Chicago blogger and pre-law student, had a C-section with her first baby and chronicled nightmarish pressure from nurses and doctors to abandon a vaginal birth with her second. She followed up with a third child born at home in April.


"I do think there's a backlash against what's happening in hospitals," she said. "Women are finding that the hospital experience wasn't a good one."
By some accounts, in 1900, 95 percent of U.S. births took place at home. That slipped to half by 1938 and less than 1 percent by 1955.


A study in the British Medical Journal based on nearly 5,500 home births involving certified professional midwives in the United States and Canada. The study, considered one of the largest for home births, showed 88 percent had positive outcomes, while 12 percent of the women were transferred to hospitals, including 9 percent for preventive reasons and 3 percent for emergencies.
The study showed an infant mortality rate of 2 out of every 1,000 births, about the same as in hospitals at the time

This issue brings attention to several different problems facing us today.


The high (and rising) cost of health care, has led many to seek cheaper (and possibly more dangerous) alternatives to the exorbitant costs associated with most health care and hospital deliveries.


The lack of proper care in a hospital, as mothers are spending less and less time in hospitals after delivery as health care providers attest to the lack of need to stay more than a day or two. (One has to wonder whether or not this is motivated more by a financial reason as compared to the well-being of the mother.)


Are unnecessary C-Sections being pushed by hospitals for conveniences’ sake?
It is also interesting how many professional health care providers are joining this trend. I, like many, would prefer to do what the doctor does not just what he (or she) says.


Why are so many more white women doing this as compared to other minorities? Are white women given lesser quality care? Is care for a white woman more expensive? One could argue that white women tend to be more affluent and therefore have higher quality (or more likely to have) health insurance. Then why are they 3.5 times more likely than African-American women and 5 times more likely than Hispanic women to do so?


Why is the mortality rate (about 2 in every 1000 births) with home-births about the same as in hospitals? Shouldn’t the level of care be higher?


But, as noted in the article (and as any history teacher can attest), people have been having babies for thousands of years without the need of a hospital without the need for C-Sections. The article even points that out (5 percent in 1900). Do we really need (outside of complications of course) to continue to go to Hospitals?


Or has God / evolution done a good job of designing the process as it is?

­(ORIGINAL LINK) Home birth on the rise by a dramatic 20 percent - Yahoo! News