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Monday, January 16, 2012

Let's be clear, you are entitled to think for yourself and come to your own conclusions.

If you've been reading my blog very long, you'll know that I have had three of my babies at home. I'm not interested in convincing anybody to hire a midwife and birth from home instead of a hospital. The location of birth is unimportant. I'm not anti-induction or anti-cesarean. I have a respect that these interventions can save lives. I'm not even anti-epidural. However, I strongly believe that a woman's body is well made for birth, that home birth is a valid, safe option for healthy woman experiencing an uncomplicated pregnancy, and that we have a bad habit of intervening unnecessarily. I hope to always share information from credible sources that promote these beliefs.

I'm particularly invested in promoting the idea that normal pregnancy typically lasts 37-42 weeks. Although we know that to be true, women (including myself) are prepared to host a child for only 37-40 weeks. Due dates are no longer a median date for the babies birth, but instead are the last day that a woman is willing to be pregnant. The perpetuation of this new normal has personally brought me a lot of grief. With every pregnancy I have found myself working extremely hard to get past this current trend and embrace the scientific truth. Since we learn so much of what to expect from other women's experiences, it has been helpful for me to get to know other moms who have made similar decisions to refuse induction and wait for labor to start (mostly) spontaneously. My experiences don't seem as uncommon when compared with theirs.

Here are a few articles that I wanted to share in regards to this topic.

I just realized that this is my second blog post in a row about babies or childbirth. I might be giving the wrong impression, but just to clear it up, I'm not pregnant.

An NPR article that suggests Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait .

A USA Today article that suggests home births can be just as safe as hospital ones.

A personal story from an OB who chose homebirth.

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