Dear [partner, mother, father, sister, friend],
I understand you have some concerns about my plans / wishes to plan a home birth, and have asked for some resources to educate yourself on the topic.
You can find a LOT Of information about the research on home birth safety in the article “The Science Behind Home Birth Safety“. Reading the summary and following all of the links will lead you to full papers, etc that show how PLANNED home births have either reduced or comparable risks to both mother and baby compared to planned hospital births.
You may also be interested in:
- Home Birth – recent Globe and Mail article discussing research
- the College Of Midwives of BC Home Birth Handbook.
- Choice of Birthplace (resource prepared by one of our local midwifery clinics)
On another note, two good videos are:
- TED talk by a local midwife
- The importance of natural home birth by a UK midwife
In order to provide a well-rounded perspective, I’m also sending along some papers that argue against home birth can be found below. Below are two of the most recent / popular ones. Both of these studies have been highly critiqued by researchers, and as someone who truly believes in the advantages of home birth for healthy women having healthy pregnancies, I can’t send them along to you without also providing you with links to reviews of the paper that point out where they are flawed.
- Apgar Score Related to Birth Setting (Also See: Analysis / critique of Study)
- The Wax Study (Also See: Analysis / critique of Study)
You are definitely not the first [partner, mother, father, sister, friend] to be initially concerned about home birth safety. I’m glad you are keeping an open mind and doing some research to inform yourself about it! I appreciate your being supportive of me and my right to choose where I will birth!
Sincerely,
Home-birther
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