Knocked up? Thinking of having your kid at home? You’re insane. Nah, just kidding.

A lot of people I know are squeezing out babies lately, and every once in a while the subject of home births with attendant midwives comes up.

The only thing I keep thinking is midwives can’t give epidurals, reason enough for me to balk at the idea. (No, I’m not preggers, just musing.) 

But many view the non-hospital experience as more relaxed and human than the one under the glaring fluorescent lights, surrounded by all sorts of potential infections. 

Of course, there are risks, but then there’s all the bonding stuff about welcoming a new earthling into your bedroom.

What the experts say

“Labour and birth for healthy women tend to go more smoothly in their own environment where they feel safe, as opposed to being in a place where they don’t have control over the light, sound, smells or have access to the things that make them feel relaxed. Midwives are well trained to deal with emergencies. If we have to call an ambulance, often by the time it’s come, the situation is resolved. There is a shortage of all obstetrical providers. It takes time to grow midwives, and there are only so many of us.”

LISA WESTON, vice president, Association of Ontario Midwives, Toronto

“There are many pain-relieving techniques that we use at home, including water, baths and showers, massage, acupuncture and acupressure. Different positions can make a big difference. Stairs and banisters that you don’t have access to in the hospital can facilitate the progress of labour as well as decreasing pain. We offer home births only to women who are low-risk. High-risk would include women with a high blood pressure disorder, carrying twins or with other complications. It’s not for everybody.’’ 

ELIZABETH BRANDEIS, registered midwife, Toronto

“I teach HypnoBirthing. If you can bring yourself to a relaxed state and remove your fears, you can have a beautiful, peaceful birth. When it’s time for that baby to come to this world, the baby knows the way out and what to do. Birth has become medicalized. When women start trusting their bodies, they will want home births. The woman should be in dimmed light, to be able to go inside and connect with her baby. If we believe we are created in God’s perfection, then the birth is also an act of perfection.”

ILONA FRITSCH, HypnoBirthing practitioner, Rosemere, Quebec

“A woman has a right to choose her birthing place, provided she’s given all the information. If you have a normal childbirth at home, the risk should be very low. However, no woman is risk-free. We know that 10 to 15 per cent of women will develop serious risks during labour and delivery. The problem is, we can’t determine who will have problems beforehand. Fifty per cent or more of the risks develop during labour in normal women. Let’s say there’s sleet or snow. How long is it going to take to get to hospital? In England and Holland, where home birth was championed, the number is going down. We are working hard to ensure no hospital refuses privileges to midwives.”

ANDRE LALONDE, vice president, Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, Ottawa

“The ability to have an altar or your fireplace lit with some candles on top and be in your familiar surroundings can be vitally important. When mothers are stressed, their bodies tense up and their cervixes take longer to open. The body of a calm mom will open up, and she’ll be able to give birth faster. Giving birth is a deeply intimate process, so if you can do it with midwives with whom you’ve established a rapport instead of with nurses you’ve just met, it can more relaxing.”

NIKIAH SEEDS, owner, Mama Goddess Birth Shop, retired doula, Vancouver

“I did a study comparing home births attended by midwives in Ontario with hospital births attended by the same practitioners. We looked at neonatal and perinatal mortality in infants and serious morbidity in the two groups. We had no difference between the groups. The rates of mothers having interventions was lower in home births; fewer cases of episiotomy and fewer requiring pain relief. The women who choose to be at home are probably motivated. But it could be explained by the birth environment as well. Approximately 80 per cent of women who plan to deliver at home actually will.’’

EILEEN HUTTON, director, midwifery education program, McMaster University, Hamilton