Would you consider a home birth?

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As a NICU nurse? I personally would not (on purpose that is) given my experiences in the NICU. The homebirths we see are the ones with severe MAS who end up on ECMO or on cooling blankets. I know our view is skewed. Wondering what others thought.

Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.
Well in my experience the majority of people in general are opposed to homebirth, medical professional or not. So NICU nurses may just be a fairly typical subset of the population at large.... Although the overwhelming majority of midwives I've met support homebirth! :roll

Chaya,

If you read these posts carefully, I believe you will find that very few NICU nurses indicated any OPPOSITION to home births. Most of us simply stated that, based on our professional experiences, we would not CHOOSE one for ourselves. We seek to interfere with the plans of expectant parents who desire a homebirth.

Just as I would not choose to have elective cosmetic surgery, I do not oppose it for others, and would never interfere with someone's plans to have it done.

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:yeahthat: I don't see anyone saying homebirths are wrong, just they wouldn't have one for whatever reason and I've seen a couple of reasons cited.

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.
Chaya,

If you read these posts carefully, I believe you will find that very few NICU nurses indicated any OPPOSITION to home births. Most of us simply stated that, based on our professional experiences, we would not CHOOSE one for ourselves. We seek to interfere with the plans of expectant parents who desire a homebirth.

Just as I would not choose to have elective cosmetic surgery, I do not oppose it for others, and would never interfere with someone's plans to have it done.

OOPS! I meant to say that we DO NOT seek to interfere with the plans of expectant parents who desire a homebirth

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Specializes in Newborn ICU, Trauma ICU, Burn ICU, Peds.

I'm glad you all said *most* NICU nurses. Because I am a NICU nurse in a Level IIIc and I would definitely HAVE a homebirth if I was deemed well enough to.

And if I wasn't able to have a home birth for whatever reason, I would have the baby in a birthing center and I'd be one of those moms that the L & D nurses hate who comes in with an 8 page birth plan.

Now, that having been said, if I knew my baby had something medically wrong, then I'd have more to think about. Because as a NICU nurse, I have to say there are a few diagnoses that I would not want any interventions for.

But that's another thread entirely.

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Sorry didn't mean to post a reply

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Specializes in Peds, 1yr.; NICU, 15 yrs..

It's not for me. Like those above, I'm a NICU nurse that has seen too many bad outcomes from home births.

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Specializes in ER.

I appreciate the concern everyone voiced on both sides. I agree that the NICU and L&D nurses would be against home births because they see what goes wrong; a normal home birth doesn't go to the hospital. I have been an RN for over a year and an LPN for 4 years. My first baby was born Feb 15 this year---at home. Everything that could have gone wrong--didn't. I agree that many "routine" proceedures at the hospital have high potential for causing problems. Moms get scared when labor doesn't "progress" and that in turn causes failure to progress. Frequent lady partsl exams can cause infection and pain, and pain leads to tightened muscles which leads to failure to progress. I also must say that I almost had to break my husband's arm to let me give birth at home and now he tells everyone he meets that he will never go back to the hospital. Note, however, that not all women are really built to have babies, and a hospital delivery is necessary. My midwife was not a CNM but she had been delivering for thirteen years at home. She has seen everything and has no problem sending moms to the hospital if they need the care. During my prenatal visits she told me of women she refused to deliver because they were not taking care of themselves well enough to have a home birth. If you are an expectant mom and you want a home birth, find someone who has enough respect and concern for the well-being of you and your baby to send you packing to an MD if things are not ideal. Research has also shown that planned home births are safe, and that a delivery is much easier if the mom who plans her birthing at home has to go to the hospital. Pregnancy is not a disease, and women without access to hospitals still have healthy babies. In fact, the infant mortality rate is highest in countries with highly modernized healthcare. My belief is that moms plan to prevent complications right from the start rather than going through pregnancy with the mindset that she will be in the hospital if anything goes wrong. An ounce of preventionis worth a pound of cure, so I would tell every pregnant woman this: Plan your pregnancy and delivery as though you were going to have the baby at home. I also believe every mom-to-be should read EVERYTHING about pregnancy, not just what her OB gives her. (I'm not promoting or endorsing anything, but Hypnobirthing, by Marie Mongan is an excellent read and helped my home delivery.) Education is power.

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Specializes in NICU- now learning OR!.
In fact, the infant mortality rate is highest in countries with highly modernized healthcare.

I would like to see statistics on that one.

So, in poor underserved countries, when a 28 weeker is born it's chances are.....good?? I think not. Perhaps our mortality rate is high because we resuscitate anything 23 0/7 and up?????

Be sure you are comparing apples to apples here.

Jenny

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I have to say that I dont understand where you get that the infant mortality rate is higest where there is good health care.

In Iceland we have the lowest infant mortality rate in the world, 2.5 of a 1000.

We have good health care system and a hospital birth rate of over 99%.

So at least in our

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Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.
So, in poor underserved countries, when a 28 weeker is born it's chances are.....good?? I think not.

Actually I believe in those countries a 28wker would be considered a miscarriage. From things I've heard (some on this board) in many underserved nations, under 35wks is not considered viable.

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Specializes in nursery, L and D.
Actually I believe in those countries a 28wker would be considered a miscarriage. From things I've heard (some on this board) in many underserved nations, under 35wks is not considered viable.

What, do they kill them? I've seen 33 weekers do great....po feed...etc. I can see the puny ones maybe not doing well, but to say under 35 weeks is non-viable is kinda crazy.

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jess, some of the worst outcomes can stem from complications at delivery, shoulder dystocia, tight nuchal cord, intolerant to labor (and without the use of a monitor, you will never know until the baby is out and stillborn) ... all of these have nothing to do with how well prepared mom is or how great the midwife is. If the shoulder doesnt drop, and she has to push the kid back in, there WILL be a dead baby by the time they get into the hospital.

I am still just baffled at what risks people are willing to take to have the "perfect birth experience."

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