Article: Home births: home born is best (UK)

Home births: home born is best
Giving birth at home is rare but comforting.
By Beverley Turner
The Telegraph Published: 12:00PM GMT 22 Jan 2010

Safe as houses: James Cracknell and his wife Beverley Turner with their new daughter, Kiki, who was born at home. 'I would do it all again tomorrow,' she says

There's a type of woman that I will never be. She wears a kaftan, fries up a tasty placenta and offers breast milk to a fully verbal six-year-old. But – whisper it – I had a home birth.

It's a myth: home births are not the preserve of earth mothers. Give me a G&T over a raspberry tea any day. But I am a bit of a control freak.

When I became pregnant in 2003, I was terrified. I decided to give myself the best chance of a ''natural'' birth. I got fit, watched videos of other births and practised HypnoBirthing. And despite advice to the contrary, I knew that I didn't want to go through labour in hospital. Lying prostrate in a fluorescent room as personnel shifts changed was nightmarish. I wanted to be relaxed in a darkened room with trusted midwives.

But I wasn't reckless. As a first birth, I wanted medical support close by in case there were complications. A London birth centre close to a major hospital was the perfect solution and I enjoyed one-on-one midwifery throughout my pregnancy. Using HypnoBirthing and a birth pool, I delivered Croyde at 9am and was home in bed by 7pm (nether regions intact thanks to the midwives).

But as my 12 antenatal friends had their babies, I realised how shockingly rare my experience was. Almost 50 per cent of them had caesarean sections. The rest suffered unnecessary inductions, episiotomies, assisted deliveries and – as one woman's doctor told her – a "tapestry of stitches". At least one of the women was left so psychologically traumatised that her daughter will never get a sibling.

And their stories are fairly typical. In 1980, the UK C-section rate was nine per cent. The World Health Organisation dictates that they should constitute no more than 10-15 per cent of births. Today, it is almost 25 per cent. Nobody likes an evangelical mother banging on about her own wonderful experience, but the fate of my friends made me weep. The over-worked, under-funded and ideologically flawed system had let them down.

When I became pregnant in June 2008 I was even more determined to ''own'' my experience with a home birth. But it was emotionally complicated. One month earlier, my sister-in-law's baby had died after suffering cord asphyxia in the latter stages of a seemingly normal labour. It was traumatic for the whole family. For my husband, James Cracknell, it was reason enough to have our next baby in hospital.

I wouldn't be swayed, but I did want his support. (Having supported him over the years
during his own treacherous and crazy adventures, he was on thin ice.)

I explained how infant mortality rates have improved due to greater abortions for abnormalities, rather than the hospitalisation of birth; that maternity units are more likely to make hasty interventions; that the stress of hospitals reduces the body's ability to deal with pain (50 per cent of home births use gas and air, compared with 73 per cent in hospital). I said that epidurals can slow down contractions, eliciting a need for more drugs to ''speed things up'', hence increasing the chance of complications. All that and the fact that at home, he'd have his own fridge.

He argued that only two per cent of British babies are home born. I told him that was because the needs of large maternity units are being met, rather than those of women.
Seven days before our birth, my waters started leaking inexplicably. Had I been under hospital care, an induction would most likely have been advised – only to find that my membranes were intact. My midwife, Pam Wild, monitored me daily. She arranged a precautionary scan and administered homoeopathy and aromatherapy to get things moving. When the day came, James was relieved to be at home, enjoying breakfast until called on to usher my parents and son to the park. We spent most of the morning wandering up and down the garden. The relationship with Pam meant there was no awkwardness or embarrassment.

The birthing pool was heavenly; the gas and air towards the end miraculous – when you've been sober for 10 months it is nectar. I keep the mouthpiece on my bookshelf (you can still see teeth marks).

Croyde dressed his sister an hour after she was born. It was Mother's Day. My mother made Sunday lunch and my father watched the football. James went for a run. When Manchester United were 3-0 down my father turned off the television. "It had been a good day until then," he said.

This, I thought, is how birth should be – normal, surrounded by family and strangely uneventful. Every couple should have the chance to give birth at home; to feel safe, unhurried and in control. James and I would do it all again tomorrow. I just have to work out how to make Pam forget to take the gas and air with her.

HOME TRUTHS

Why do it?
Familiar surroundings
You're in control
Midwife births have statistically better outcomes
Bonding for mother and partner
Positive experience

Any downsides?
Can be a tough fight to get a home birth on NHS
Access to fewer drug options
Complications may require ambulance transfer