I know what you're thinking. "That's so dangerous! These hypnobirthing teachers are a danger to us!" Am I along the right lines?
We've been conditioned to believe that home birth is incredibly dangerous, and messy and shouldn't ever be done if you want you or your baby to live. But we couldn't be further from the truth, which I'll explain more on shortly. But my top tip when you're planning your birth is to plan a home birth. Even if you don't want one... 9 reasons why YOU should plan a home birth:
Keeps your options open
If you are under the home birth team or are down for a home birth, you can keep options open. You can be in labour and decide ‘actually, I really don’t want to go into hospital right now’. If you're not under the home birth team and you decide you'd like to stay home when you're in labour, may mean that option is taken away from you. You can always change your mind in labour and think 'nah, I need to go to the hospital, that's where I want to be'. Being under the home birth team doesn't mean you HAVE to birth at home, it just keeps your options of where to give birth totally open to what you decide to do on the day (or night). In my hypnobirthing courses, we discuss in detail your various options for where to give birth
2. Reduces the chances of intervention
If you simply PLAN a home birth, you are..
40% less likely to have a caesarean
50% less likely to have an instrumental birth (forceps, ventouse)
70% less likely to have an epidural
55% less likely to have an episiotomy
40% less likely to have a third or fourth degree tear
60% less likely to have labour augmented (sped up using the hormone drip)
These are all benefits just by planning a home birth, regardless of where the person ends up giving birth, just simply planning it. Those are some huge benefits to your birth experience. Most women who are pregnant do wish to have a birth with little to no intervention and planning a home birth clearly reduces the chances of intervention. Similarly, just by being in hospital increases the risks of intervention a lot. In Leicester Hospitals, the induction rate is 31.7% and caesarean rate is 46.1% so extremely high intervention rate in hospitals. You can read more about the details of Leicester Maternity in my blog post 'A closer look at Leicester Maternity 'inadequate' CQC report'
3. More birth satisfaction
A recent Irish study of satisfaction with home birth showed more birther satisfaction when having a home birth compared to hospital. They rated their home birth experience an average of 9.7/10 compared to an average of 5.5/10 for hospital. They also rated their hospital care by a midwife 6.4/10 compared to consultant led being 4.9/10. They rated various parts of their experience including feeling involved in decisions, being explained risks and benefits, having confidence in the medical team supporting them, and overall experience. 96.4% rated their home birth experience as 'very good' compared to only 10.7% at hospital birth. In comparison, 62.9% of hospital birthers rated their birth experience 'fair to poor''.
Comments from hospital birth included “"t was like it was happening to me rather than I was an active and involved part of the decision-making process" and home birth included "The most striking thing was the continuity of care. The same midwife for all my antenatal and labour care. This meant we bonded and had a huge amount of trust. I felt listened to and heard. I felt in control and secure /safe". A very big and clear difference in how they felt about their experiences ("It could not have been more different." Comparing experiences of hospital-based and homebirth in Ireland: A mixed-methods survery)
4. One to one midwifery care
In hospital, you’re very lucky if you get one midwife just for your room. You’ll likely have a midwife that’s flicking between a few rooms (must be bloody exhausting!). At home you have one midwife dedicated to you, but usually you’ll have two - sometimes the second midwife comes a little later when baby’s arrival is close. Having two midwives is also beneficial as they're focusing so much on you and what your body is doing that they will notice the first sign of something not being 'right'. In hospital, due to a midwife having to go around many rooms and women giving birth, things can be missed until a lot later - some even end up giving birth while a midwife isn't in the room because they're caring for so many women in one shift.
5. All births start at home
If you go into spontaneous labour (so if you're not induced or have a planned c-section) labour starts at home, so you’re going to need to do a lot of your labour at home. Knowing how to manage at home, what to do, how to change your environment so you can help your body work with itself in labour when you’re at home is a large part about planning a home birth, so you'll need to plan this if you're going in to labour spontaneously. It works exactly the same as planning a home birth. You think about where you might be, what the room might look like, what comfort measures you might use at home, whether older children (if you have them) may stay at home or go to someone else - I went in to labour right after bedtime so my older daughter stayed in bed asleep until the morning where she got picked up.
6. Continuity of carer is more likely
Continuity of carer has been proven to improve yours and baby’s outcome including -
16% less likely to lose their baby.
19% less likely to lose their baby before 24 weeks.
15% less likely to have regional analgesia.
24% less likely to experience pre-term birth.
16% less likely to have an episiotomy.
It also helps to create a relationship between the birther and the midwife/care team, as this means that the birther trusts their team and bond together. This also really helps in the birth experience due to the nervous system. If you have a new midwife every appointment and for the birth, you may not trust that person fully, which means you're in the fight or flight part of your brain, which slows down labour, which can lead to more interventions.
7. Midwives are more experienced with physiological birth.
This means you’re more likely to have a physiological birth, as the midwives have more experience with what ‘normal’ birth looks like, so less likely to offer interventions when things are going ‘slower than they like’ for example. The midwives that work predominantly in the hospital have rarely seen normal physiological birth, so they don't know what it looks like, which tends to mean interventions are more common in hospital births and less likely to experience a physiological, intervention free birth.
8. More flexibility than birth centres
Birth centres can have much more strict guidelines of ‘letting’ people in there but somehow, home doesn’t have the same, because it’s your turf, not theirs. When it's a birth centre, they can choose whether to 'allow' you in or not, if they feel it's not the right place for you. Maybe your BMI is ‘too high’ for a birth centre, but you’re fine to have a home birth. A lot of people like the idea of a birth centre because its a good middle ground, 'a home from home' and get that calm, midwife led birth without birthing at home, but what most don't realise, is that they have extremely strict criteria and may not let you in to the centre. It could be that you've gone over 41 weeks pregnant and your local trust policy is to offer induction at 41 weeks and at midnight on the 40+6 week mark, when you tick over to 41 weeks, suddenly, you're 'too high risk' to be at the birth centre anymore, which can throw your plans a bit. Planning a home birth too may mean that if you get to this point, you calm, intervention free birth can still go ahead.
9. As many birth support people as you wish
Want your mum, partner, doula and dog there? Absolutely cool! Have as many people as you want, it’s your home. It's your home and you can do with it as you wish! What some people desperately want is their partner, but also sister and maybe their mum too, but in hospital, you're limited to birth partners. Some hospitals its two partners, but some it's only one. So this can be a real turning point for some people as it means they can have the birth partners that they really want there.
10. Your turf
In hospital, generelly, the power is in the hands of the healthcare professional. It's a familiar environment to them, they're there every day and they feel safe there. But for you, it's likely a new environment. Perhaps this is one of the first proper hospital visits you've ever had. You don't know the area, you have to ask where the toilet is, ask for food, be discharged. Whereas at home, its your turf, your safe space. Midwives are guests in your home. You know where everything is, where the toilet is, how you get food. You don't feel the need to ask for things. The power goes back to you, which is how it should be, as its YOUR birth.
If you’re in Leicestershire, I cannot recommend the University of Leicester Home Birth Team enough! Book in with them, and you won’t regret it, even if you think you don’t want a home birth. Find them on Facebook and Instagram under 'UHL Home Birth Team' or call them on 0116 258 3425.
I'm not here to push anyone in to having a home birth if they don't want it, and it is rare that people choose to birth at home (2.4% of all births in 2021), but its a valid option and not many people consider it. This is simply to see some great reasons to perhaps consider a home birth and open some conversations about the options of where you might give birth to your baby.
In my hypnobirthing courses, we go through all your birth place options, pros and cons for all and help you in to making the decision of where to birth your baby in the right place for you.
Comments