Home birth vs hospital birth???

Question

So one of my dearest friends will be graduating from midwife school soon and she has really got my mind going. I am TTC for a year now with no luck but I'm not giving up hope! So a constant question running through my head is home birth or hospital birth...? With this I'd like to explain I'm a nurse, my MIL and SIL are nurses and I dont know anybody who has actually had a home birth. My MIL worked on the OB floor at our local hospital for 30+years and she disapproves of home births. My husband also is terrified of home birth but IM REALLY interested in it! I already have it semi planned out in my head...

So any opinions, stories, advice???

Answer

My nephew was born full term at home. Unfortunately, there were unforeseen circumstances and the healthy little baby from the ultrasounds came out and could not breathe. He was air lifted to a hospital but it was too late. In the time it took for medical teams to respond, he lost most of his brain function. He lived the rest of his short life on a ventilator in an incubator but passed away at four weeks old. My sister is now the black sheep of the family as everyone feels she could have done something to prevent Dylan's death. Many people have such positive birth at home. But i just think he worst case scenario is too much to risk.

Answer

I would never do a home birth, but that is simply my opinion. I loved having trained medical professionals and my OB there to make sure everything went okay. Had there been an emergency, we were already at the hospital in good hands. At home you'd have to wait for an ambulance because midwives aren't trained for labor emergencies. Neither are paramedics (I'm an EMT) so if something happened you'd be on a time crunch to get to a doctor before the death of you or the baby. Again, just my opinion. Not to mention, epidurals are great! It's 2016 so I'm all for modern medicine.

Answer

Also, depending on your insurance if something does go wrong you can end up paying out of pocket for the ambulance and most of the hospital expenses.

Home birth vs hospital birth???

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