WOW! I'm suprised this is a Mothering article! Crummy!

[MomInCalifornia]

http://www.mothering.com/community_t...homebirth.html

Really, I am shocked this came from Mothering...reasons to avoid homebirth...twins, VBAC, etc etc etc

I was really suprised by most of them actually. What do you think?

[fek&fuzz]

Well, to be fair, the reason they included those things was because you may be unable to find someone to attend the homebirth, not because they are unsafe.

* You know you are having twins. Most midwives are not willing to try to deliver twins at home.

* You have had a previous cesarean. Depending on the standard of care in your area, it may be difficult to find a birth practitioner to attend a homebirth after a cesarean.

[MomInCalifornia]

You may have to look harder to find a provider, but they certainly are not reasons NOT to homebirth, which is what the section was called.

Also, the majority of MW's I know have no issue with either of those situations. It is certainly possible to have a homebirth and I would hate to see someone read this article and automatically assume they can't HB because they have had a surgical birth or are having twins.

The majority of items on the list were not reasons I would consider birthing in a hospital.

Just not at all what I would expect from Mothering

[pamamidwife]

I think it's pretty silly. Most of the reasons "not to" are totally bizarre.

[barose]

Originally Posted by pamamidwife

I think it's pretty silly. Most of the reasons "not to" are totally bizarre.

ITA - Thats why I posted that question about renting and HB!

[AllyRae]

I thought MDC was pro-unassisted birth? The reasons they listed "not to"--many of them are very anti-UC...

[mendomidwife]

Wierd....it's almost like it was writting by a formula company.....
Carla

[Snowdrift]

Yep, the midwives I used do vbac and twins. ITA its really pretty focused on the negative. It's much easier at a glance to quickly "get" why *not* to have a homebirth that why to have a homebirth. Weird.

[MomInCalifornia]

Anyone else feel like writing to the author? After a quick glance I didn't see one, but I;m sure it would be easy to find.

Something to add to tomorrows to do list.

[MtnCanary]

Wow, so according to this article, I have three reasons to not to a homebirth: The nearest hospital is an hour away (2 hours if you want to go to a good one), I have a history of preterm labor contractions (both kids waited until 37 weeks, thank goodness), and our insurance won't cover the cost of a midwife (yep, all out of pocket for us : ).

At first glance, this article appears to be much more anti-hb than pro-hb. There are so many many more reasons *to* homebirth that aren't mentioned. Off the top of my head: My daughter didn't have to have a babysitter, she wasn't surprised by mommy leaving for 3 days and coming back with a new baby, dd got to bond with ds right away, there's no visiting hours at home so they can't make hubby go away, there's no nursery to whisk the baby away to, you can nurse right away more easily, there's actually somebody (or two or three) to help you to the bathroom or shower postpartum, you can monopolize the shower/tub (at our hospital, it's one bathroom per 2 l/d rooms), the food's better, you can get food when you want it, you don't have to listen to the floor polishers at 2 in the bleepin' a.m., you don't have to deal with your roomies entire extended family trooping past your bed to visit her (after you finally got to sleep for the first time in 48 hours).... I'm sure there are many more. Maybe we all should write a rebuttal article and send it in

Kristin

[member234098]

I knew of a group of mothers in UT who deliberately tried to see how many of these contraindications to homebirth they could personally beat. The list they had included having children too close together in time and having babies too small.

[sapphire_chan]

Most of the "reasons not to choose homebirth" are actually "reasons you might have to work your off to be able to have a homebirth"

[LoveChild421]

I thought the one about renting or subleasing was pretty crazy. It may not have been my own home but I felt a whole lot more at ease in my little one bedroom apartment than I would have in a hospital. :

[Midwife Kris]

It doesn't appear to me to be Mothering's opinions about why a woman shouldn't have a home birth but a list of reasons women choose not to have a home birth. Big difference.

[boheime]

I know when I first heard about Mothering, I checked them out and they were very anti-UC. I was hoping that by the Mothering.com message board having a UC forum, this had changed.

[huggerwocky]

bleeding during pregnancy? ooopss....shouldn't have had a homebirth then!

:

[member234098]

I frankly think all births should be at home.

Even c-secs. Doctors would actually have to talk to their patients and listen to what they say if this happened. But it won't.

But the docs like their own turf.

[laohaire]

Yuck

You live more than 30 minutes away from a hospital.

This is a good reason to have a home birth. I don't think it's a good idea to spend a long time in the car during labor - restricted movement, etc.

You have a pre-existing medical condition, such as diabetes, epilepsy, anemia or high-blood pressurethat makes it advisable to plan on a hospital birth right from the start.

I don't know enough about these to respond. Maybe those are good reasons for a hospital birth, or maybe not.

During pregnancy, if you have bleeding, premature labor contractions, high blood sugar, protein in your urine.

Well, I had bleeding. Also, every woman I asked also reported bleeding during their pregnancies (my mother; my aunt; my mother's best friend; my own friend; and my mother's friend AND her TWO daughters).

Full blown premature labor is, to me, a reason to transfer. But having contractions is not IMHO a reason to quit homebirth.

You are not in generally good health, smoke heavily or are extremely overweight.

I do think smoking heavily is a good reason to ensure your baby has access to medical equipment. I don't know about being extremely overweight.

You know you are having twins. Most midwives are not willing to try to deliver twins at home.

This is possibly an obstacle to finding a midwife, but not a reason to not have a home birth.

You have had a previous cesarean. Depending on the standard of care in your area, it may be difficult to find a birth practitioner to attend a homebirth after a cesarean.

Planning a VBAC is a very good reason to home birth. Also, another possible obstacle to locating a midwife, but not a reason to not have a home birth.

You are renting or sub-leasing a home, you don’t feel it is comfortable enough right now, or you don’t like the environment.

Renting or sub-leasing is not a reason to not have a home birth. Not liking the environment is a good reason to locate your home birth elsewhere, such as your mom's house, your midwife's house, a friend's house, a hotel. The author actually added in the first paragraph that a home birth is not necessarily in YOUR HOME.

There is very little privacy where you live or you live with people, such as housemates or in-laws, whom you would rather not be with during the actual birth. If you think you will feel uncomfortable in any way, it’s worth considering another option.

Why does another option have to be a hospital birth or birthing center? Once again, the author pointed out that locations other than the woman's home can still be used for a home birth.

You are unable to find a practitioner who is willing or able to assist you in a homebirth.

I didn't know a practitioner was a requirement for a homebirth. This is a good reason not to have one IF you are uncomfortable without a practitioner, sure. But, this sentence made a lot of assumptions there.

You feel so insecure about the concept of homebirth that you feel you will be unable to relax or feel safe during the birth.

This is a darn good reason to not have a home birth. I'm totally in agreement with this one.

Your insurance will not cover the cost of a midwife or doctor unless you are in a hospital and you can not afford other choices.

Totally stupid. My insurance did not cover mine. I saved. This is a good reason to PLAN AHEAD and SAVE and WRITE YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY, etc. Also, a UC is darn inexpensive, though I would NOT recommend someone have one purely for financial purposes.


So - yeah, I'm quite disappointed with this article. Where can we complain?

[~Mamaterra~]

Most of the "reasons not to choose homebirth" are actually "reasons you might have to work your off to be able to have a homebirth"

LOL!!!

[JesseMomme]

Totally stupid. My insurance did not cover mine. I saved. This is a good reason to PLAN AHEAD and SAVE and WRITE YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY, etc. Also, a UC is darn inexpensive, though I would NOT recommend someone have one purely for financial purposes.

Also everyone I know personally who used mws ended up doing payment installments. I don't know of anyone who just has 2000-4000$ to just hand over for services.