Home Birth and Unassisted Birth are Nothing New

Pregnancy brings with it numerous decisions that need to be made. Six months pregnant I’ve been facing up to all of them. Lately all sorts of opinions and comments have come forth on a trend that has been developing amongst women in the United States. More and More women are opting out of the conventional hospital birth and instead just staying at home to have their babies. This growing trend towards home birth has everybody taking a position. In my explorations through the vast realms of the Internet I’ve seen numerous reactions to the subject of home birth verses hospital birth. From the majority who view it as dangerous and taking unnecessary risks all the way to the women who fire their midwives, send their husbands out of the room and delivery the baby all alone. And after all the research, to be completely honest, I’m having trouble understanding what the controversy is about. Is home birth and unassisted birth really that shocking?

Prior to World War II hospital births were a very rare occurrence in the United States. Most women had home births. The hospital was only considered as an option in high-risk situations. So why is it treated as taboo and irresponsible amongst Americans today? Furthermore, prior to the 1800’s births were attended to by midwives. To have a man in the room while a woman gave birth was seen as shameful. It is interesting how quickly society in the USA has adapted to viewing hospital birth as the norm and home birth as some sort of strange, life threatening fad engaged in by liberals and hippies.