Natural Child Delivery - Weighing The Choices Between Having A Baby In The House Or In A Hospital

It's surprising when you realize that people usually believe we are strange if we think of having a newborn anywhere but in the hospital as natural childbirth used to be the only method of child delivery. A home birth was anything but unique. Then, things transformed. Ironically, this didn't mean much for ladies or their babies, who often fared better in the house compared to in some of the first hospitals. Earlier hospitals usually had higher infant death rates and more moms who died in child delivery, even a century ago, in much bigger numbers than mothers attended to in the house by midwives.

Obviously, medical practice has transformed a lot ever since the first days of labor and delivery in some of those first hospitals, however, many things truly haven't. When you line up all the figures on home birth versus hospital births, natural childbirth is still less dangerous for the majority of mothers and babies.

Yes, in a few instances, it probably is best to have mom give birth in a medical facility. This can be because the birth is high risk or because mother is expecting multiples. High risk pregnancy may include a mom with preeclampsia or diabetes, or an infant who is preterm. A home birth might also not be the best option if mom has high blood pressure. For the majority of mothers, however, a home birth is a good alternative.

Natural childbirth presents alternatives which not all hospitals might provide. Usually, mothers have more freedom about things like moving around and taking their time, whereas, at a medical center, mom might be confined to a bed, often even strapped in. Being confined in such a way often itself causes a delay in labor. Depending on what time a year mom goes into labor, the hospital may not permit a number of visitors to the labor room. For example in a few spring months, when the risk of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is higher, visitors are usually limited to adults only. RSV brings up another serious complication of hospital stays and that is infection. Infection is among the main reasons for complications and even death in America's hospitals.

The thing is that hospital stays, while at times essential, expose both mom and newborn to numerous unnecessary hazards and may often limit mom's options for her own labor and delivery.

There are, of course, other factors that make natural births a better option too. Research in the British Medical Journal found that a "planned home births for low risk women in the USA are associated with similar safety and less medical treatment as low risk hospital births".

In general, a natural childbirth is usually a safer option than a hospital birth and offer mom choices which she may, in fact, not even have in the hospital, not the least of which is a safe delivery, surrounded by the folks she loves.