Final thoughts

 In my research these past few weeks, I have read a lot of different opinions on whether home birth is a safe option or not. What I have come up with is that if there are no abnormal findings leading up to delivery. It seems a safe practice to have a highly trained, licensed midwife attend a home birth. I believe it has health benefits as well as cost benefits. It seems that a lack of knowledge and fear of something going wrong is the biggest problem when it comes to considering home birth as an option for most women. I have talked to a few midwifes about what they think, and the most popular response is “we work very close with the women we deliver, and there is a trust that builds between us. If there is no trust than the woman is better off going to the hospital”. It is important to make an informed decision, and be comfortable with your care provider. Birth is a natural process, when I think of natural. I think of a Native American Indian women going off into the woods, and plopping out a kid. I do realize that sometimes there are complications, but the midwife knows this as well and is trained to handle it. Sometimes a home birth ends up in the hospital setting due to complications. Statistics show a very low fatality rate in home births, almost the same as hospitals. I think if we look into the facts and stats a little closer, it would not be so scary to consider a midwife. I have learned a lot and hope to learn more on this topic. I feel comfortable writing this argument paper now, but  before all this research I was not sure I could try to convince someone that home birth was even a good idea. Now I think it is pretty awesome and will definitely be open to it when I start having kids!

This little guy was born in Haiti about a week after the quake. the mom came to our little make shift clinic, and delivered fours hours later! That is Kim holding him, she is a P.A.