Having your baby at home is as safe as birth in the hospital, according to a new study published in the September Canadian Medical Association Journal. In Ontario, as in BC where the study was conducted, Registered Midwives are the only heath care professionals who attend home births.
"Giving birth at home is safe, rewarding and natural," says Lisa Weston, RM, Vice-President of the Association of Ontario Midwives. "When a client's pregnancy is progressing normally and she wants to have her baby at home, we develop a plan together so that her birth is right for her. Many families feel most safe, comfortable and in control in their own home."
The CMAJ study reviewed five years of birth data in British Columbia, and showed comparable rates of infant death (less than 1 in 1000) in both home and hospital groups, and reduced interventions to the mothers in the home birth group. No maternal deaths occurred.
"Home birth has many advantages for women who chose it," says Weston. "Giving birth at home avoids exposure to potential hospital infections, reduces the risk of interventions and c-sections, and allows a full range of mobility and positions that might not be as accessible or comfortable in the hospital. Birth works better when women can feel open and relaxed, and being in your own bed or bathtub can help with that."
Labouring at home, women can eat or drink what they want, when they want. A home birth allows the mother to have as many or as few support people involved with the birth as she chooses.