Home Birth Vs. Hospital Birth

The Birth House by Ami McKay tells the story of a young midwife named Dora, living in rural Nova Scotia during the early 1900’s. Dora is trained in midwifery by Ms. Babineau, the midwife of Scots Bay until her death when Dora takes over. Dora is challenged by Dr. Thomas, a professional doctor who opens up a modern hospital in the community who encourages the women of Scots Bay to abandon traditional midwifery as a means of giving birth. Dr. Thomas persistently attempts to convince the residents of Scots Bay that modern medicinal technology is a safer and cleaner means of giving birth than allowing Dora and Ms. Babineau to deliver their children, despite their vast knowledge and experience of women’s reproductive health. The novel discusses

However, Ricki Lane, the producer of the film, “The Business of being Born,” hopes that viewers will see that economically, births out of hospitals and at home is cheaper with a midwife, who will charge their patients only $4,000 for everything, including post-natal care. Whilst, a normal vaginal birth can cost up to $13,000, and a birth with multiple drugs involved, which typically leads to C-Section costs up to $35,000. However, with the American Medical association’s relationships with the hospitals and insurances, they are actually discouraging home births and midwifery, when the truth is that, statistically, it is safer and cheaper with home births and midwifes. It kind of makes you wonder just what exactly is on their agenda when it is a common practice to give births at home in both, developing and under developing countries, and has been for hundreds of years.

Most Americans associate hospitals to be the standard place where women can give birth. However, women did not always deliver in hospitals. Gynecology, the medical practice dealing with the female reproductive system, did not emerge until the early nineteenth century. Before doctors came along, women used to hire midwives to deliver babies in the comfort of their own homes. In this paper I will examine the social, political, and scientific implications of how giving birth has transitioned from being a midwife’s job into that of a doctor’s. Furthermore, I will attempt to show how these implications intersect together to make birth a feminist issue. To support my argument, I will be referencing Tina Cassidy’s “The Dawn of the Doctors,” Abby Epstein’s documentary film The Business of Being Born, and Eesha Pandit’s article “America’s secret history of forced sterilization: Remembering a disturbing and not-so-distant past.” I argue that the processes surrounding birth are intersectional feminist issues because they are often manipulated by male figures pursuing money and authority, which ultimately compromises women’s health and power of choice.

In America, most of the childbirth 's take place in a hospital. I am talking about 99 percent of delivery and off that percentage 34 percent is c-section. An article by Lisa Selin Davis states, “Well, it turns out that we’ve exported this model to the far corners of the world; in Japan, Korea and China, Western-style hospital births have all but replaced traditional home birth in the last few decades.” Meaning that these other countries mentioned above also practice hospital childbirth. Contrary to other where home birth is still an option. One example is Uganda;

According to “Human Sexuality: Diversity in Contemporary America,” women and couples planning the birth of a child have decisions to make in variety of areas: place of birth, birth attendant(s), medication, preparedness classes, circumcision, breast feeding, etc. The “childbirth market” has responded to consumer concerns, so its’ important for prospective consumers to fully understand their options. With that being said, a woman has the choice to birth her child either at a hospital or at home. There are several differences when it comes to hospital births and non-hospital births.

And it's really being spurred by midwives, labor instructors called doulas, forward-thinking doctors, and women who don't want "medical" births but don't necessarily want their babies at home either.

Delivering a baby in the home and in the hospital both provide comfort to some, but homebirth offers decreased cost and hospital births offer more options. Some women have different birthing methods in mind when it comes to delivering a child. Some women feel that it is more convenient to stay home to deliver their child. Mothers-to-be will choose to have a hospital birth because they may feel safer or more secure knowing that if something is not right or if she has had complications, the doctor is there and she is in a hospital and everything will be okay.

In the United States giving birth has become medicalized and it is because the medical community has convinced women that having a baby in a medical facility is mandatory and better for the baby. Medial birth is not natural birth. The American populace is uneducated about the natural process of labor. The overwhelming amount of women having babies in hospitals is unique to the United States. Most other nations including first world nations, women give birth in the presence of midwives rather than a doctor. According to experts documented in the film, “The United States has the second worst newborn death rate in the developed world.” Also “The US has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among all industrializes countries.” The makers of this film link those fact with the common practice of hospital birthing. According to the film makers, Doctors should only be used in high risk pregnancy and births.

Dr. Neel Shah, to start, is a certified medical doctor (MD) and also has earned a masters in public policy (MPP), all of which were obtained through Harvard Medical School. In addition, he is an accredited as a professional assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology, through Harvard Medical School as well. Furthermore, Dr. Shah believes that home births and births that don’t occur in a hospital are for the best compared to if they were taken care of in a hospital.

Giving birth in the hospital has become so normal in our lives that we can’t see any other alternative when thinking about childbirth. Due to the medicalization of childbirth, risks and fears of health complications can be addressed. However, it has led to women not truly being in control of their labor and delivery experience. Although the medical practice comes in handy when there is an emergency, the medicalization of childbirth has created a social reality that simply state that women are not in control of their own labor and delivery. The outcomes of the medicalization of childbirth have good influences on the health of the baby, but a negative effect on the women’s agency power and empowerment.

The birth place study (2011) suggests, that whether or not a woman gets her desired water birth can depend on where she has chosen to given birth. Water birth statistics for achieving water are as follows. 13% of prim gravidas’ who chose an obstetric unit, 39% for those who opted for an adjoined birth centre to an obstetric unit, freestanding birth centre achieved 54% and the home birth figure was 50%. Multigravida women have even less success in achieving the water birth they sought 7% for obstetric unit, 23% for an adjoined birth centre to an obstetric unit , 41% freestanding birth centre and 28% at home (Birthplace study, 2011). Gould (2007) suggests that midwives are less likely to offer a pool birth on the medicalised labour ward

Proponents of home birth make a compelling argument against pregnancies in the hands of hospitals. While many of their assertions are valid, many proponents of modern methods claim that they are adapted for the modern mother. American mothers in the twenty first century are very different from their counterparts in previous years. For example, mothers are, on average, both significantly heavier and older than in previous years. These factors, particularly the “advancing maternal age” necessitates the use of “assisted reproductive technology.”19 In other words, because twenty first century mothers postpone motherhood and take less care of their bodies, they essentially created the increasing need for hospital births as their bodies became less fit for natural births.

According to the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNMb) (2015), home births account for 1.4% of all births in the U.S. In eight years the number of home births in the US increased by 41% (ACNM, 2015b). Providing home births falls within the scope of practice of midwives and is supported by the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM, 2015b). A mother can have the option of a home birth as long as the home birth follows regulations set in place by the state and can provide a favorable safe environment for both mother and newborn (ACNM, 2015b). Both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) state that the ultimate decision of having a home birth is a patient’s right, especially if she is medically well informed (Declercq, & Stotland, 2016).

Two years ago, I was introduced to midwifery when my brother and his girlfriend were considering options for the impending birth of my nephew. Since that time, everything I’ve pursued and studied has helped bring me a step closer to becoming a midwife myself. I find pregnancy, childbirth, and babies to be the most fascinating things in the world. I spend heaps of time independently researching different aspects of childbirth. Last year, I wrote a research paper on the differences between home births and hospital births, and I’m currently working on a podcast about home births and the role midwives play. There's so much knowledge out there that I was oblivious to; once I figured out that pregnancy, birth, and even postpartum care need not be

When it comes to deciding on where to have a child, there seem to be two definitive choices. Either have the child in a professional setting such as a hospital, or opt for a smaller setting by having a home birth. Both of these options have their ups and downs that could make an individual choose one as being the best in their own eyes. This ethnographic research report uses both peer reviewed journals written by medical professionals and research obtained from interviewing participants of varying age and gender to find which of the two options is truly the optimal one. After doing the internet research, it seemed as though most lean towards the hospital setting as they referenced lower mortality rates as their strong point. On the other hand, those in favor of home birth clung to the idea that the intimacy of the setting is the most crucial part of the process of birthing the child. Although there were arguments in favor of home birth, the overwhelming majority of sources emphasized the choice of the hospital setting. This ratio was also represented by the interviews as most of the participants believed that they would rather have their child be born in a hospital. They came to this conclusion on their own, even after being informed of the benefits and downsides to each of the settings.