A study done by birthing specialists show home births have jumped by 79% in recent years. Of course doctors are outraged and one head OB GYN of a clinic asked “why would anyone ever want to have their baby at home”

The geniuses at Fox wouldn’t allow their video to embed so we have a snippet above, but you can watch the whole video here. It’s interesting to say the least.

The increase in US Home Births

We aren’t surprised that nearly every mainstream news outlet we can find is reporting this story as “stunning” and frightening”. They interview experts who say how incredibly dangerous this is to have a baby at home (women haven’t been doing it for centuries or anything) and how you should have your baby at the hospital! Surprisingly one OB GYN does admit if someone has a licensed midwife overseeing the birth she might be ok with it.

Some doctors in the news today are blaming it on the internet (go internet!) and say people perceive hospitals as evil or dangerous (why yes, many of us do!)

From the article:

A stunning new statistic stemming from a study conducted by birthing specialists claims that the number of unsupervised home births have grown by nearly 80% in the United States.

First of all, why is this so stunning? I imagine as the medical industry continually fails us (try watching CNN’s “Escape Fire” documentary to learn how bad it is) that more people are going to turn away from the broken system and to the “do it yourself” method as CBS calls it.

Do I think that a midwife is in order? I know plenty of friends and family who have had their baby safely at home with no midwife (imagine that!) or other experts. With that being said I personally would want a midwife to help me as it’s not my area of expertise- by any means!

Here’s one take by an OB GYN “expert” from the CBS “Breaking News” article on the subject:

“I would call that [increase] concerning,” says Amos Grunebaum (director of obstetrics at New York-Presbyterian Hospital) who is also a professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. “Unattended home births are usually associated with adverse outcomes.”
His team is to present its findings at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ annual meeting, to be held May 2-6 in San Francisco. Research presented at medical meetings is viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
For the study, the researchers turned to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention database on birth certificates. They defined unsupervised home births as those not attended by a physician, midwife or other doctor.

Interesting that the doctor goes as far to say that *most* unassisted home births are associated with adverse incomes. At least Fox New’s OB GYN expert isn’t quite that harsh about it.

When you have moms in the US who don’t even know they are pregnant with 10 lb babies until they go into labor, you have to ask yourself; is it alright if women (and the dads too!) want to get back to their roots and choose to have their baby in a safe home environment with a hospital nearby (for some of them) if complications were to arise?

I applaud those (like my own sweet cousins) who were born at home and encourage more moms to do the same. Again, I do recommend a midwife our Doula but if I were doing it now? I’d do my best to stay away from the hospital and (like my own friends and family) do a natural home birth.

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