Safe Motherhood: Why More Mothers-To-Be Choose Home Birthing?

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Every mother should be entitled to experience pregnancy and childbirth with joy and safety. Yet, it's an ideal that hasn't been met, even in western countries. Every day, WHO estimates that about 830 women die during childbirth due to complications.

And beyond that, even doctors and hospitals don't always make mothers feel safe and well cared for. The tales of women's experiences are rarely told, but numbers show that the home birthing trend is rising. 

Women are moving back home, and we'll see why.

A brief history of childbirth

• 1500s: maternal death was so common that when a woman learned that she was pregnant, she would prepare her will before giving birth. Pain relief was forbidden as it was believed to be women's punishment, according to the Bible.

• Around 1760: upper-class women started wanting doctors by their side during labor, hopeful that their education would provide safer deliveries. Before that, birth was taking place at home with midwives and female relatives. 

• 1853: Queen Victoria obtained to use of chloroform during her eighth delivery. We needed non less than a queen to start a revolution! 

• 1910s: As women wanted painless childbirth, anesthesia and the "twilight sleep" grew in popularity. But in the process, it was erasing women's memory, provoking psychotic episodes, and babies were born... drugged.

• 1920s: delivering children in hospitals became more common. While in 1900, half of the babies were delivered by midwives, in 1935, only 15% were. 

• 1970s: the feminist movement revived the interest in midwives.

• 1980s: alternatives births became more popular, including homebirth.

Childbirth, a history of trauma

Childbirth then...

In the past, maternal and child mortality during labor was widespread. While today we question the way birthing became "unnatural" and "over medicalized", back in the days, it was definitely a natural process but a source of fear and great danger.

Early 19th century, in Europe, about five women in a thousand were dying in labor. And when women survived, they still suffered a lot and were often treated as mere "baby-makers". Providing a male heir was the priority. Period.

... and now

Despite progress made possible by modern science, giving birth is still a traumatic experience for too many women. They moved to the hospitals in quest of safety and painless childbirth - but is it what they've got? 

Even today, the medical staff doesn't always provide mindful care to mothers. And that's one of the reasons why women turned to home birthing. It can surprise you, but obstetric violence is so common that it became a legal term in Venezuela, Mexico and Argentina. 

It refers to violence towards women, from being condescended, disregarded of consent to being forced into medical interventions during labor. 

In 2017, a survey gathered numerous shocking testimonials of women relating their experiences. It states that the majority of them attribute their trauma to the actions and behavior of medical staff, including: 

• Vaginal exams without warning

• Medical procedures being done to speed up labor without the mothers' consent (along with lies and threats in some cases), including episiotomy and C-section

• Forcing women to get onto their backs, which isn't the most natural position to deliver

• Staff ignoring mothers' instinct and body knowledge

• Medical staff making decisions for their own convenience over the needs of women

While these experiences are prevalent, the stories aren't often told, as it isn't socially acceptable to complain about your delivery if you had a healthy baby. Sure thing, these testimonials put a big question mark on respect of consent in hospitals and contribute to shaking the trust we tend to have in them.

Giving birth in hospitals is assumed to be better and safer because they're official entities, but medical staff still fails to attend to mothers’ care and well-being, including after delivery. In the USA, Black women are three times more likely to die due to mistakes, racial discrimination and lack of care during the postpartum period. 

Another interesting study shows a serious gap between what mothers expect from nurses and the actual time nurses can allocate to each patient. Indeed, little time is spent with mothers during labor, as modern hospital practices show an increasing shortage of staff, more pressure, and less support to patients.

The rise of home birthing

Nowadays, women want to take control of their bodies and pregnancy. After years of decline, the number of home births went from 35,578 in 2004 to 62,000 in 2017 in the USA.

While all women aren't perfect candidates for a home birth, a report shows that out of the half-million women who had home births, around half experienced fewer medical interventions, including episiotomy and C-section.

Being accompanied by a doula (a non-medical professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to a mother before, during and after childbirth) also demonstrates more positives birth outcomes. Away from institutional routines and impersonal staff, a doula contributes to fewer complications, stressful births and offers constant presence and encouragement to mothers.

Research showed that a mother's experience during pregnancy and childbirth could impact her future well-being and the relationship with her child. Care and support are too essential to be set aside ♥︎

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