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Birthing in Comfort
Every labor and delivery when giving birth is different. There are many methods and places to give birth. There can be many doctors around, a few family members experiencing it with the mother, and many machines around monitoring everything that is going on making for a hectic and stressful time. Women often complain that the hospitalized system can be too overwhelming and chaotic during birth, but still choose hospitals as their birthing place because it is what is expected in this day of society. However, there is a way that an expectant mother can have a calm, relaxing, and comfortable birth. A home birth offers a more comfortable situation, prevents the financial damage other birth options can cause, allows little medical intervention, and liberates more control to the mother.
For the past several decades hospitalized births have been the more preferred method. Giving birth in a hospital can make the mothers feel more safe. During the pre-delivery, during delivery, and post-delivery there are multiple nurses and doctors present to help the mother with anything she may need. The Bump Magazine explains that many people will be present in a hospitalized setting and mothers should become aware of that before deciding on a birthing site. Most hospitalized births will have the Obstetrics and Gynecology doctor (OB/GYN), labor and delivery nurse, a practitioner, anesthesiologist, obstetrics technician, and possibly medical students in the room at the time of birth, making for a very congested space ("Q&A: Labor and Delivery Staff during Birth?"). Hospitals also rely heavily on technology to monitor the mother and the baby. The mother is hooked up to many machines during labor and delivery making it very difficult to move around and become comfortable. Hospitals also restrict what the mother can do once she comes in after her water breaks. The mother is advised not to leave her room or walk around during labor making it even more difficult because many mothers walk around when uncomfortable during pregnancy. These restrictions can cause stress on the mother resulting in stress on the baby before delivery. Hospitals are not the best options for birth anymore.
Home births offer a more comfortable and safe birthing place for the mother and child. A home birth can be take place either in the mother's home or in a birthing center. A birthing center is most similar to a home setting. According to the American Association of Birth Centers, "Birth Centers invite you to receive personalized, family-centered care from holistic, professional, health care providers". Most rooms have a normal bed rather than a hospital bed allowing more room for the mother to be comfortable. The birthing center's rooms are much larger than hospital rooms, which is more accommodating if the parents choose to have more friends and family with them at the time of birth. Having the baby at home or in the birthing center gives the mother more peace of mind because she would be in a more familiar setting producing less stress on the baby. Home births allow the mother to feel free to do as she wishes during labor than being confined to a small hospital room. The mother is free to walk around, eat when she is hungry, visit with family and friends, and have a enjoyable and safe birthing process. The British Medical Journal did a study comparing the amount of complications between home and hospitalized births to determine which is the safer option. The study was on over 146,000 women, in which about 92,000 had a planned home birth and about 54,000 had a planned hospitalized birth. The study found that hospitalized birth had many more complications and postpartum hemorrhages than home births. The researchers concluded "Low risk women in primary care with planned home birth at the onset of labour had a lower rate of severe acute maternal morbidity, postpartum haemorrhage, and manual removal of placenta than those with planned hospital birth" (British Medical Journal). Safety and comfortability are just two of the perks a home birth can offer.
Home births are much financial friendly than hospitalized births are. Hospitalized births have many different costs that home births do not have. The average cost of a hospitalized birth is about $30,000 to $50,000 without insurance (Rosenthal). This is ten times the average cost of a home birth. During a hospitalized birth parents will pay for all pregnancy check-ups and ultrasounds, the many hospital staff in the room, different medications the staff recommend, and any additional costs that may come from emergencies such as a cesarean section. Most parents are paying more for a hospitalized birth that can have more complication when they could be paying a fraction of it with less complications by having a home birth. The cost of the average home birth is about $2,000 to $3,000 (New Moon Midwifery). By having the baby at home many of the costs of the hospital birth are nonexistent. That price includes all the services and tools used by the midwife that delivers the baby. However, this cost does not include if the mother needs an emergency hospital transfer due to any complications. The Mayo Clinic explains what complications may need a hospital transfer: the labor is not progressing, if any problems with the placenta appear, the baby shows any signs of distress, or if the umbilical cord causes any complications. Any of these issues may cause a home birth to be much more expensive than originally intended, but these occurrences are rare.
There are certain situations that can help mothers decide if a home birth is for them. The American Pregnancy Association is an organization put together to educate and build awareness for pregnancy and reproductive wellness. Something they elaborate on is which women would be safe having a home birth. The site explains that homebirth is for women that have "a low-risk, healthy pregnancy, want to avoid episiotomy, cesarean section, epidural and other similar interventions, and want to enjoy the comforts of your home and familiar surroundings". They also list situations in which home birth is not a safe option, such as: women who have diabetes, high blood pressure or toxemia, or have experienced preterm labor in the past or have chance of experiencing it now. All of these factors should be taken into consideration to determine the safest possible birth plan.
Many mothers and fathers choose home births due to little medical intervention that is ever needed. A home birth can be done completely natural, meaning the mother does not need any medical drugs throughout the pregnancy. This option can be exciting to mothers who have a fear of taking medical drugs due to they may cause harm or birth defects to the baby. Jill Cohen, a midwife of twenty years and the editor of Midwifery Today Magazine, explains "The general philosophy is that any interventions (administering drugs or trying to hurry things along) cause more harm than good". As an experienced midwife, Cohen knows how the mother's feelings and right to come first is important. Often with hospitalized births doctors are always trying to convince mothers to take the epidural to calm them down and make them more comfortable, but how comfortable can a mother be if she is being pressured to do something she is uncomfortable with? All the different medical staff walking in and out of a mother's room can make the birthing process chaotic and stressful. With home births it is normally only done with the midwife and an assistant, making the mother know exactly who is with her and feel more at ease. This creates a more relaxing and serene environment to welcome the baby into.
Serenity is not an easy thing to accomplish when giving birth but there is a different type of home birth that can give just that: a water birth. "Water birth is the process of giving birth in a tub of warm water" ("Water Births"). With water births the mother can birth the baby under water or go through labor in water and get out to deliver. Giving birth in water is said to create and more similar feeling to the baby of being in the womb and creates an easier environment for the baby to come into. This kind of birth has many benefits for the mother; for example, water allows the mother to feel weightless, water helps lower blood pressure, and the relaxation from the water helps the mother focus less on contractions and more on the birthing of her child. A water birth is an option of home births for mothers who may worry about the pain of contractions and need some sense of ease.
A home birth allows the mother to have a more peaceful and more controllable birth. A hospital normally calls for when everything is going to be done. For example, when the mother's water breaks she will scramble to get to the hospital and depending how far along she is with the birthing process, the hospital can decide to send her home or allow her to stay. With women having their child at home they can simply relax after their water is broken and wait for the midwife to arrive. This allows the mother to have less stress right before the baby is born. Home births allow the mother to control who is with her at the time of birth. Most hospitals only allow the father and one other person be in the room due to the amount of medical staff that are already there. At home the mother can have everyone she loves surround her and her child making for a loving environment for the baby to be welcomed into. Being able to share this time is a unique perk to home births.
Home births offer many different benefits whereas a hospital can cause for a stress, strict, and uncomfortable birth. If a home birth is looking to be an option be sure to research the different risks and what pregnancies are not ideal for a home birth. If the parents have a safe, low risk pregnancy then a home birth can offer a more comfortable situation, prevent the financial damage other birth options can cause, allows little medical intervention, and liberates more control to the mother.
Works Cited
Adams Martinez, Patty. "Labor & Delivery Costs: Hospital Bill Shocker." Everything Pregnancy RSS. Parents Magazine, 1 July 2013. Web. 09 Oct. 2014.
BMJ-British Medical Journal. "Severe maternal complications less common during home births, study suggests." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 14 June 2013.
Cohen, Jill. "The Homebirth Choice." The Homebirth Choice. Midwifery Today, Sept. 2008. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.
"Frequently Asked Questions about Homebirth and Midwives." New Moon Midwifery. N.p., 2013. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.
"Home Birth." American Pregnancy Association. American Pregnancy Association, Jan. 2014. Web. 12 Sept. 2014.
"Labor and Delivery, Postpartum Care." Home Birth: Know the Pros and Cons. Mayo Clinic, 20 June 2014. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.
"Q&A: Labor and Delivery Staff during Birth?" TheBump. The Bump Magazine, n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.
Rosenthal, Elisabeth. "American Way of Birth, Costliest in the World." The New York Times. The New York Times, 30 June 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.
"Water Birth." American Pregnancy Association. American Pregnancy Association, Jan. 2014. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.
"What Is a Birth Center?" American Association of Birth Centers. American Association of Birth Centers Foundation, 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.
Your essay helped me learn something new. So, thank you!
I spotted some redundancy in the following sentences.
Home births offer a more comfortable and safe birthing place for the mother and child
Safety and comfortability are just two of the perks a home birth can offer.
A home birth allows the mother to have a more peaceful and more controllable birth
If the parents have a safe, low risk pregnancy then a home birth can offer a more comfortable situation
Removing them would make your arguments more noticeable.
I also noticed some of your sentences start with the same words. For instance, in the second paragraph, three of your sentences started with the word "Hospitals." Similarly, three of your paragraphs start with the phrase "Home births." I realise, this may not be much of an issue, but as I couldn't find many faults in your essay, nitpicking was all that was left.
