My boyfriend and I are going to be having our first baby in June and I want to kind of make a decision either to have my baby at home and have a midwife so I can be comfortable or have my baby at the hospital. My doctor says it would probally be safer in a hospital since I am pregnant with my first and since I am also 17, plus with all the better medical care. Have anyone experienced with either or is anyone getting a midwife or having your baby at the hospital?


Not sure why your doctor might say that- unless you are having a high risk pregnancy, but statistically that wouldn't be true.
It is generally safer and easier to avoid the place where the interventions are common, managing birth is the norm, and outcomes are less safe overall.
There are plenty of interview questions you can ask that doctor, others, and midwives (homebirth and non HB) to get a better idea, a fuller range of perspectives. (you might expect a doctor to sell their preferences, but it doesn't make it fact)
I am familiar with hospital and home birthing, I understrand the risks and benefits to those settings (and with care providers and their preferences), and because I have normal healthy pregnancies I would only choose a hospital if I had complications that required it.
;-)
GL!

Quoting beckyaj110:
I prefer being in a hospital where I have access to pain medicine but that's just because I have a very low tolerance for pain.
There is help for this!
:-)
Faith, Acceptance, Surrender ~Unknown
Fear can be overcome only by Faith. ~Dr. Grantly Dick-Read
Rain, after all is only rain; it is not bad weather. So also, pain is only pain; unless we resist it, then it becomes torment. ~I Ching
If I don't know my options, I don't have any. ~Diana Korte

Quoting doulala:
Quoting beckyaj110:
I prefer being in a hospital where I have access to pain medicine but that's just because I have a very low tolerance for pain.There is help for this!
:-)

I am not sure either. I had a check up today, but I did have high blood pressure and that was about it. I have been a little stressed out with school. I asked him if it was ok to have a midwife before I left the doctors office, so maybe thats why he said that. But I think I might try some light yoga, so I wont be stressed.
Quoting doulala:Not sure why your doctor might say that- unless you are having a high risk pregnancy, but statistically that wouldn't be true.
It is generally safer and easier to avoid the place where the interventions are common, managing birth is the norm, and outcomes are less safe overall.There are plenty of interview questions you can ask that doctor, others, and midwives (homebirth and non HB) to get a better idea, a fuller range of perspectives. (you might expect a doctor to sell their preferences, but it doesn't make it fact)
I am familiar with hospital and home birthing, I understrand the risks and benefits to those settings (and with care providers and their preferences), and because I have normal healthy pregnancies I would only choose a hospital if I had complications that required it.
;-)
GL!

If you are low risk and want to do things naturally, home birth is MUCH better than a hospital birth. Even a birthing center with a midwife is better than a hospital birth. That being said, I've had 2 hospital births. You really have to know your stuff and not let the staff, including the doctor, push you around.
As far as better medical care, midwives can do most of the things doctors can do. You can also be transferred to a hospital quickly if the need arises. And midwives tend to be a lot better at natural birth. They know not to interfere which often causes more problems than would happen if you are left to labor on your own.

Do your research and ask a ton of questions. Find a reputable birthing center and research. I was considered low risk with my son. My water broke and I had him 4 weeks early by c-section. If I had stayed home we might not be here right now. I lived an hour away from the hospital. I wanted to deliver naturally but that's not what my body had planned. There are positive and negatives on both sides. I have heard home birthing horror stories and hospital ones as well. Once you do your research make a birthing plan. Just remember not all births go the way you want them to and by all means do what is best for you and your baby so both come out of the birth, happy, healthy and alive! Good Luck and Congrats!!
For Homebirths
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/26/hospital-birth-vs-home-birth.aspx
Against HomeBirths
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/25/home-birth-increasingly-popular-but-dangerous.html


- mommytobe05-13
on Feb. 10, 2013 at 2:06 AM