It seems some people confuse having a home birth with shunning all medical assistance, pre and post natally. We are planning on a homebirth for #2, where for #1 we had a scheduled c/s because of placenta praevia. This was picked up at u/s at 20 weeks, then again at 32 and 37 weeks. I fully intend to take advantage of the same level of prenatal care (probably better, because I'll have a midwife who personally visits me at home throughout the pg), complete with blood tests, GD tests and u/s. If there's something that means I or the baby will need medical assistance beyond what can be offered at home then I'll book myself into the hospital (which I was very happy with for #1, btw, so it's not always a choice following a traumatic experience).
I just will not take the short drive to hospital during or after labour unless something happens to cause my midwife to think it's necessary. As I've pointed out to DP, if I was labouring in the hospital birth suites and something went wrong, it's not like they whip the ob and anaesthetist into your suite and perform a c/s right there. Everyone needs to be called in and you have to be prepped and taken to surgery. I may as well be spending the 10 mins riding over in an ambulance (with everyone getting ready at the other end anyway) as waiting in the corridors...
Plus, there's the fact that I'm far less likely to have something go wrong during labour while I'm comfortable at home without pressure and intervention, so less likely to need that emergency c/s anyway.
I can totally vouch for the effectiveness of transfer to hospital for extreme emergencies. recently a friend's baby was born with an incredibly rare condition that meant that he cannot breathe/swallow without full assistance. he was born at home with two midwives in attendance and they started performing resus on him while an ambulance was called. bubs was safely transferred to hospital and the staff were ready to immediately assist on arrival. the hospital made it clear from the get go that him being born at home had NO adverse affect on his outcome or the timing of assistance. the hospital persisted with the same resus methods as the midwives and ambos had been doing and in fact it is only 2 WEEKS later that they have worked out how to stabilise him and keep him breathing (with full assistance). his being born at home HAD NOTHING to do with his outcome and made NO difference to his care and assistance in the immediate minutes after birth.
In fact, now that i have seen just how effective midwives/ambos and the hospital can be when working together in such an extreme situation only hardens my resolve that HB is a safe, valid and valuable option for women and their families, and also reassures me that even in extreme cases like this one can be handled and managed with amazing efficacy.
not for a minute have i ever believed that a family that chooses to birth their baby at home is ignorant of adverse outcomes (whether due to birth process or baby's development). i guess this however, is a matter of education for those that have not had experience with a homebirth setting or research?
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