Giving Birth at Home

When you are pregnant, you can choose whether you want to give birth in the hospital or whether you prefer to give birth at home. Although today not many people give birth at home, it is something that used to be quite normal.

Today, home birth is just as safe as in the hospital if you are a healthy and fit woman and no complications arise. If you want to give birth at home, you can be affiliated with a special team of midwives who take care of home births.

Criteria for home birth

As a starting point, you can plan a home birth if you are healthy and well.

However, it is assessed according to the following criteria:

• The pregnancy must not have been complicated

• You must give birth within the due period

• You must not expect twins or triplets

• The baby must be in the main position

• The baby must have an average weight

• The birth must start itself

• You must not have a BMI over 30 as a first-time mother

Some of the criteria for home birth are only known when you are approaching the due date. You can, therefore, well at the beginning of the pregnancy, plan a home birth, and change it along the way if complications arise or you are otherwise advised against it.

Homebirth in practice

Homebirth is inherently different from hospital birth. Once the birth is underway, a midwife who specializes in home births will come to your home, and otherwise, it is just you, your partner, and those you would otherwise like to have present who are there.

It is always a good idea to have a mother, sister, or another close person with you for the home birth, who can help with fetching water, food, towels, etc., for which your partner may not have a surplus.

Benefits of home birth

If you feel pretty comfortable giving birth at home, there are several benefits associated with it, such as:

• You are at home in familiar surroundings

• You can rest in bed

• You can better determine the framework and conditions

• You have peace about your birth

• When the baby is born, you are already at home

When you choose to give birth at home, you and your partner will naturally be more relaxed and confident about the situation. When you relax during childbirth and feel safe in the environment, it also provides suitable conditions for pain-relieving hormones and endorphins.

There will not be the same stress as if you had to pack up and leave for the hospital in a hurry.

You can be moved to the hospital along the way

It is not always that a home birth goes as planned, as there may be complications, the need for pain relief, or simply because the birth stops. Suppose there are any complications of one kind or another that the midwife considers best to take care of at the hospital. In that case, you will be transferred immediately with an ambulance and the midwife, so you are safe.

Home births, however, succeed in the vast majority of cases.