The Homebirth Debate: I Ate Statistics Stew and I’m Still Hungry

“Opponents” (as if this is a battle) of homebirth almost always quote statistics (in the favor of their argument, of course) to question the safety of homebirth.

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Who Gives a Crap About Dr. Phil and His Homebirth Show?

Just in case you haven’t heard, the word on the street in homebirthland is this: The (in)famous Dr. Phil is supposedly having a show that explores homebirth, and is asking for experienced women to write in and possibly appear on the show. Read more

10 Homebirth Facts No One’s Telling You

(Note to Free Thinkers: Please don’t make your birth decisions based on statistics alone. Numbers, statistics and studies can be skewed to support either side of most arguments. That’s why you’ll find tons of folks bantering back and forth… quoting study after study after study. Your birth choices are not about “studies.” They are about you. About your life, your baby and your choice. Studies support your choice. They don’t have the power to make your choice.)

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Ricki Lake, AMA and the Business of Being Born

On Sunday November 4 2007, I hosted a public screening of Ricki Lake’s homebirth movie, The Business of Being Born.

We had a great turn out and some great discussion about the issues that this movie brings into the spotlight.
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Be Your OWN Midwife

How often do you stop and think that YOU are the one in control of your pregnancy?

Of course, “control” doesn’t mean that you decide your own destiny. Sometimes freaky, unexpected things happen in life and in death, and we, as humans don’t have ultimate control with any of that.
But freak situations aside, there is so much in your pregnancy that you have control over.
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Will Your Baby Come Too Soon?

Are you one of the many pregnant women who worry that her baby will come too soon?

But what would you think if I told you that in the homebirth practice I work in, we hardly ever, ever see a baby born before about 39 weeks?

These 2 questions are related because the midwifery community supports and puts into practice certain beliefs about nutrition that the medical world does not. What I have learned is so simple, and makes absolutely so much sense that I hope you can read this and rest assured that if you follow the “advice”, your body will be able to support your baby until it is “full-term” (and in my world, that is 40 weeks, not 37).
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What’s Really Keeping You From a Homebirth?

I want to know why more women don’t choose homebirth.

I don’t know many women outside of my little circle that do choose homebirth. Still, these women are highly educated women who seem aware of their options, and many have even elected to have natural births. So what is keeping them from wanting what I consider the “optimum” birth experience?
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C-Section = 3 Times the Risk of Death

Here’s the question of the moment for me:

Why are pregnant woman choosing c-sections over vaginal birth?

I’m all about birth choices, really. I am admittedly a passionate supporter of homebirth, (whenever I read about the c-section rate I think, “Why doesn’t everyone want a homebirth? You can’t get a c-section at home”), but I am not that naïve and I actually support a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body and her baby. But, there is a big “but” here. You owe it to yourself to do your own research on this issue, and don’t take anyone’s word for it!
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