Here is the abstract and link to the new study put out on homebirth with CPM's. The largest study to date. Unlike the study done by Pang et al. in Washington, which was so poorly done as to be laughable (yet still published in a respected medical journal), this one seems to be well done and confirms what other studies have had to say about homebirth and the safety of midwives. I'll be interested to see what Henci Goer has to say about this study.
Conclusion: Planned homebirth for low risk women in North America using certified professional midwives was associatedwith lower rates of medical intervention but similar intrapartum and neonatal mortality to that of low risk hospital births in the United States.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Journals will publish anything that is of interet to their readers regardless of where it is from. It's a good thing:)
right you are. We see numerous studies conducted in other countries published in our journals here, such as AWHONN or AMA publications. I have seen numerous articles published in the British Lancet, reprinted or quoted in my nursing journals, for example. I agree also that this is a very good thing.
Why is an American study being published in the UK? I am not being facetious but I truly do not understand this.
because the in the report they spelled the word: "labour".
actually it wasnt just american. it was north american. the primary reasearcher is, i believe, a canadian, and the study included canadian midwives.
mainly i think it's because the evidence agrees with (and cites) recent european studies from england, netherlands, et. al. This issue is very important to the medical communities there, as it is here.
the evidence from both sides of the atlantic suggest that low-risk pregnancies are equally safe when delivered in the hospital or at home/birth centers with certified practicing midwives.
what is mentioned, but not focused on, is that higher-risk pregnancies have a higher risk of infant mortality when deliveries are made outside the hospital.
unfortunately, women at high-risk aren't always identified as such. and there are still always going to be instances when complications arise that require transportation to a medical facility. this transportation takes precious time. for me, it's just not worth the risk. that's my opinion.
if your opinion is that you'd rather deliver at home, or at a birthing center, without having medical intervention teams at the ready, and understand the risks involved, hey thats fine. it is a free country, and if you are truly "low risk" you'll apparently be statistically just as likely to deliver a healthy baby as you would in a hospital.
but i know that statistics only *model* reality, and cant account for -- or predict -- individual experiences. and models are never completely accurate. so i try to avoid making life or death decisions based on statistics whenever possible.
if your opinion is that you'd rather deliver at home, or at a birthing center, without having medical intervention teams at the ready, and understand the risks involved, hey thats fine.
Well, at least we got that much out of you. :chuckle
You have obviously made the choices that you are most comfortable with. It is unfair for you to make sweeping generalizations about others' choices when they don't agree with yours.
Personally, I choose not to have "medical intervention teams" at the ready, for a healthy, normal birth process that doesn't require intervention.
that's not true. i base my opinion on anecdotal evidence. and a little bit of hearsay.
look, we considered midwifery and birth centers. and after the experience we had, we are glad we had a hospital delivery with fully trained staff ready to intervene, as it so happened to be necessary to do so.
yes, i know about secondary staph infections from hospitals. and we didnt get any.
so, yeah, if the person is trained and licensed by the state as a Registered Nurse and a Midwife, and theres a Obstetrician available if necessary, sure go with the midwife. fine and great.
but if you want to go with some back alley lay-midwife, you are putting your lives in the hands of some unprofessional person whom the state has little oversight on... well, thats your choice i suppose. i hope i don't read about you in the next midwife lawsuit.
Whoa, what a flamer you are doggiedaddy! I don't know if you really believe everything you say or are just trying to spar with the others, does not matter. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. Sorry, you are misinformed about midwifery. That is a fact.
if your opinion is that you'd rather deliver at home, or at a birthing center, without having medical intervention teams at the ready, and understand the risks involved, hey thats fine. it is a free country, and if you are truly "low risk" you'll apparently be statistically just as likely to deliver a healthy baby as you would in a hospital.
Actually, I may be MORE likely to "deliver" a healthy baby at home than in the hospital, but let's not let those silly facts get in the way, shall we? (I like to joke that pizzas are delivered, and babies are BORN.)
Interesting how no one points out to parents birthing in a hospital setting that they should understand the risks they are taking. After all, your chances of a c-section are much higher than a homebirth, with all the attendant problems of major abdominal surgery, even for the low risk woman. I mean, with some practitioners who have a high section rate, this is not an insignificant risk to take into account. Or the risks of a hospital borne infection. Significant or not, they are risks.
Or how about the risks one takes with an induction, or continuous fetal monitoring or an episiotomy? Again, in our society we work from this assumption that hospital birth is automatically the safer choice for the low risk woman, therefore any deviation is the riskier one, and the parents are chastised for being frivolous with their health care decisions. Meanwhile, it lets hospital birth off the hook in terms of the real change that can and should be affected, since it's always seen as "safe". And people get to be real smug about their decision without any evidence backing them up.
The language of birth and the decisions surrounding it are laden with these kinds of judgements and assumptions.
Language is such an interesting thing. It's like when I constantly hear about the "benefits" of breastfeeding, as opposed to the "risks" of formula feeding. It's all in the language, and is often informed by cultural expectations and tradition. Ok, now I'm starting to sound like a hippy anthropology major. But there you have it.
(I like to joke that pizzas are delivered, and babies are BORN.)
SmilingBluEyes
20,964 Posts
[quote name=wannabeL&D73your lack of respect for other equally valid choices is appalling.
Shannon[/quote]
i agree.