Should I have a homebirth?

Well, you’ll think we’re biased for saying it, but the answer is no. While birth can be and usually is a very benign event, the truth is that the safest place for you to deliver your baby is in a hospital. It is the safest option for your and your baby’s health, in case anything were to go wrong. We cannot completely predict who will have issues at the time of delivery, or leading up to it. We know of certain risk factors that increase the chance of serious events happening, but ultimately, a number of things could happen to even the healthiest people. 

The biggest risk factor for issues at delivery, believe it or not, is being nulliparous (a woman who has not delivered a child before). The reasoning behind this is because we do not know if you have an adequate pelvis for childbirth and you are at the greatest risk for shoulder dystocia and stalled labor. In the next section, we discuss some complications that can arise during pregnancy. One thing that all of these complications have in common is that the quicker we identify them and come up with a plan to treat them, the better it is for you and baby. That identification and treatment is best facilitated if you are in a hospital under the care of nurses and physicians that can monitor for these things. 

The bottom line is that studies consistently show that even with low-risk and well-selected patients, home birth is consistently more dangerous for mom and baby.