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Home Birth, Hospital Birth or Birth Centre

Where and how you choose to give birth can either enhance this life-changing experience or diminish it.

But how do you know what to choose? Read about where people give birth, go on hospital and birthing centre open days, and above all, talk to other local families about their experiences.

HOME BIRTH

My second daughter was born at home. I had to fight like mad to get 'permission' for the birth, and even ended up writing to home birth guru Sheila Kitzinger for advice. (She wrote back and was very helpful.) I had to become an expert in home birth to counter the arguments put forward by my GP (I changed GPs) and the consultant overseeing my care. Everything ran smoothly, once I had been introduced to my midwives and my new doctor - Hannah Hedwig Striesow, a tiny, wonderful octogenarian doctor who had fled the Nazis and come to England as an émigrée in 1936.

Why go through all the battling? My first child had been born in a large consultant unit and I had felt as though I was given no say in a conveyor-belt process. Added to that, I had a precious toddler I could not bear to be parted from - in those days it was customary to stay in hospital for five days.

Midwives bring everything that is needed to your home. Although statistics show that home births are as safe or safer than hospital birth for women with low-risk pregnancies, the downside of home birth is that all this empowerment and decision making now falls upon your head. You must be willing to accept the consequences of those choices and decisions. Deciding on an active home birth means you are committed to managing your own pain - although gas and air and injected painkillers are available, an epidural is not.

I recommend a home birth because you remain in control in a fully consensual partnership with your health givers. I felt I could eat, drink, walk, change position, make noise, shower, bathe - whatever - without submitting to hospital protocols.

BIRTH CENTRES

Midwife-led birth centres are an increasingly popular option for low-risk pregnancies. You are encouraged to take responsibility for your own healthcare, with a variety of choices on birthing such as in a pool (also available at home and in some hospitals). A birthing centre provides an alternative if you are not quite comfortable with home birth, but do not want to give birth in a hospital.

If you experience complications during labour, it's likely that you'll need to be transferred to hospital.

HOSPITAL BIRTH

You may decide that you feel safest giving birth in hospital. For example, you have immediate access to emergency care should there be complications.

The downside to hospital care is that however well furnished with throw cushions and duvets, they can seem clinical and even intimidating. You have less privacy in hospital. Although you are generally past caring, it may seem as though a never-ending stream of different faces pop in to have a peek at the 'business end'.

You can feel less in control during a hospital birth, as your birth is 'medicalised' and you are more likely to have interventions in hospital such as a drip to accelerate labour, or foetal monitoring. That having been said, a vocal and well-informed set of parents can still ensure that they have an individual experience. Be prepared to be awkward if necessary: it's your birth and your baby.


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