For centuries, women have given birth in their homes, surrounded by their loved ones and attended by traditional birth attendants or helpers. 

However, in modern times, the practice of giving birth at home has been replaced by what’s now the norm of hospital births leaving only a small percentage of women choosing to give birth at home. 

This leads many of us to question – Why? Are hospital births truly the safest and best option for every woman and baby? Or is this just what we have been programmed to think and believe?

The Ontario Midwives have a great post about research, studies and reasons home birth is not only safe, but recommended in low-risk pregnancies. Why Give Birth at Home? | AOM (ontariomidwives.ca)

Birth was never a medical event. Birth was physiological and natural. However, as soon as the hospitals and ‘white coats’ took over birth many of the traditional practices and knowledge was suppressed. 

Birth is now sold as being dangerous and scary. Birth now has this stigma attached to it that says it’s something that needs to be altered, intervened, or fixed.

Birth went from being ‘magical’, to being ‘medical’.

When people have little knowledge about birth and its natural process, they turn to authority figures. We trust these people to give us the information and facts, when in reality modern medicine is quite biased and one-sided. Studies have been flawed for decades and also false in their findings. 

Despite it being the norm to have your baby in the hospital, there is no conclusive evidence that supports the argument that birthing in hospitals is the safest and best way. We listen to the ‘white coats’ and now put our trust in a system that doesn’t understand physiological birth and the natural process. 

If you are a healthy woman with a healthy baby, there is no reason why having a baby in the hospital is the best. Yes, there is a time and a place for hospital births but this message that has spread that it’s ‘safer’ than home birth isn’t supported by the evidence. 

The message surrounding birth is that the hospital is the best and safest place to have your baby because ‘birth isn’t safe’. Or ‘birth is dangerous’. Or ‘birth needs to be fixed’.

I often hear from women choosing home birth and getting push back from friends and family who ask her “Aren’t you scared” or “Wow, you are brave to make that decision”. We have been programmed to think birth is scary, something to fear, something that is dangerous. It’s impossible for most of us to be able to comprehend how you can give birth safely at home.

However, the truth (and evidence) clearly shows us that giving birth at home can be just as safe (and even safer) than giving birth in a hospital, especially for women with low-risk pregnancies. 

Home birth allows for more freedom in terms of choice, movement, positioning, and birthing support, leading to a more positive birth experience.

Need more support and proof by the experts that home birth is safe? Check out this article here The Safety of Home Birth – Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada (jogc.com)

So how the heck do we have a home birth in British Columbia?

You have to find a midwife in the area that supports home birth (and also has space on their client roster) – waiting lists are common and we have a midwife shortage (they are in high demand). 

You also need to fit the ‘low risk category’.

So let’s address the elephant in the room – what are the RISKS of home birth?

Yes, there is a risk involved in giving birth at home, just as there is a risk involved in giving birth in a hospital. 

Unfortunately, babies and mothers die or get injured no matter where they give birth. 

However, the best and safest place to give birth is different for everybody, depending on what their definition of safety is.

In hospitals, physical safety is made priority over emotional, social, cultural, and psychological safety. 

This can result in a traumatic birth experience for a lot of women. (resulting in the insane birth stories being told in kids play parks by moms with severe PTSD from their hospital birthing experiences). 

BIRTH TRAUMA is a real thing. Often resulting from hospital births with excessive interventions that have interrupted the natural and physiological process of birth. 

1/3 of women opting for hospital birth come out of it feeling traumatized. (I would say these numbers are much higher, but a lot of women live in silence and fear of speaking out about their experiences.)

In the hospital, the authoritative message is that you’re alive and your baby is alive, so why would you be traumatized? You should just be happy everyone is breathing. 

However, physical safety is not the only aspect of safety that should be considered when giving birth. 

Emotional, social, cultural, and psychological safety are just as important.

Ultimately, if you and your baby are healthy and well, you are physically safe to birth anywhere you choose. 

The difference lies in the interventions that you may receive in different settings. 

In a hospital, you are more likely to receive significantly more interventions to reach the same outcome as if you were having a home birth. 

Physical safety in a hospital is defined by mortality and morbidity rates; ‘The number of deaths and injuries sustained, and the number of babies and mothers who end up in ICU.’

In their eyes, if you walk out of the hospital in 24 hours with your baby in tow, you’ve had a ‘safe birth,’ despite possibly having an unnecessary episiotomy or vacuum and forceps delivery.

In the end, it’s up to each individual woman to decide what’s best for her and her baby when it comes to giving birth. But most women I talk to think their only option is the hospital birth with the OB. Some don’t even realize home birth is an option. 

You need to ask yourself what is safe in your eyes? It’s your own individual and personal decision. 

If you had a hospital birth and felt safe and supported, that’s fantastic! 

If you had a hospital birth and felt like it wasn’t the safest and best option for you, that’s okay too. 

It’s okay to go against what the authority says. 

Trust your instincts and listen to your own body.

One thing I’ve learned is that if you don’t feel safe and supported when giving birth, complications can occur.

Giving birth becomes more difficult because you’re going against your gut and biological instinct.

Mammals have been observed to wait to give birth until they’re in a safe, warm and familiar environment, we are no different. There have been studies of cats placed in hospital settings to birth their kittens and the stress and upset this caused as they had been watched in this environment is insane!

You can’t birth a baby if you feel cold, unsafe, and in an unfamiliar environment. 

Of course, there is a proportion of the population who need and must have medical intervention to be alive and for their babies to live. Our society looks at birth as a mechanical system, often robotic, and something technology should be forced upon. 

Sure, there is a time and a place for hospital births. I’m not anti-hospital or anti-institution. 

I just believe that they should be used only when needed.

Ultimately, what’s safe for you is what you feel is right and aligns with your beliefs and values.

FREE BIRTH is also something that is happening and I won’t touch too much on this topic (that’s for a whole other blog). But it’s birth, but without the presence of a medical attendant at all. No doctor, nurses, or midwives. The birthing person might choose to have have a doula, a wise woman, their family, or a partner present, but no medical providers. 

Some women choose free birth because of deep-seated trauma from a previous birth.

Some believe any interruption in the birth space increases risk for them and their baby, and they want to reduce that risk as much as possible. 

Some women simply believe in their own authoritative knowledge of birth.

But the biggest proportion of women who choose free birth are those who would have liked to have a home birth with a midwife but couldn’t access it. With the midwife shortage, but also with some midwives not taking on as many (or any) home births. 

Again, I won’t dive too deep into free birth in this blog, but it’s a thing. It’s showing women are trying to take back birth. It isn’t medical. It never was medical. And the interventions and take over by the medical system isn’t working. Women see this. It’s time for change and this is a far right way of showing it. 

I invite you to block out the outside noise, or what others tell you about their own experiences, or preferences. 

To be able to make your own decisions surrounding YOUR BIRTH. This is in fact YOUR BODY, and YOUR BABY. It’s your decision to make. 

Birth is unpredictable, and that’s what makes it beautiful. 

It’s a journey that takes you on a wild ride of emotions and sensations. 

You have to surrender to the process and let it guide you. 

Simplify your decisions around birth by asking yourself two questions

“What is best for me and my baby?”

“What is important for me and my baby?”

Your birth story is one you will remember for the rest of your life. You won’t forget a moment of it, every single detail. Ensure it’s the one YOU CHOOSE. 

Happy Birthing!