The Benefits of Home Birth

Home, Sweet Home

You've probably heard this message before, but it's worth repeating: Having a baby at home with a registered midwife in attendance is safe for mothers and babies. A new study reported in the British Medical Journal looked at the outcomes of over 5,000 planned home births of low-risk women in Canada and the US and compared them to outcomes for low-risk hospital births. Among the home births, less than 13 percent of the mothers and newborns required transfer to hospital. Rates of intervention were significantly lower among the planned home births than the hospital births: 9.6 percent were induced; 4.7 percent had an epidural; 2.1 percent had an episiotomy; and 3.7 percent had a cesarean. Women who had their babies at home reported a "high degree of satisfaction" with their birth experience.

For more information on home birthing contact our resident home and water birth expert Nicole Colibaba of With Child Birthing and Parenting Services.