Pregnancy & Baby 

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Who wants a home birth?

Currently only 2% of British mums give birth at home but government figures show that 22% of women would like the option if it was available

The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) have long maintained that the home birth rate is significantly higher in areas of the country where women are offered a real choice. This is borne out by figures for areas such as Plymouth and Bath where 14–22 % of women give birth at home.

So if women want home births why are there so few?

According to Beverley Beech of AIMS – the Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services – there are other stumbling blocks apart from lack of choice. ‘Many women find their GPs are unwilling to support them in their desire for a home birth. Also, as NHS budgets tighten, many hospitals and Trusts are cutting back on home birth services. We are often contacted by women who want home births but need support to achieve them in the current climate.’

Talk to mothers who have had the experience of giving birth in hospital and at home and there’s generally no contest – home provides the better experience.

Read about their experiences at places like the Home Birth Reference Site and you begin to see how positive the experience of labouring and/or birthing at home can be.

Take second-time mum,
Emma Barker . . .

‘I’ve always associated home births with joss sticks, whale music and sandal wearing, and thought I was an unlikely candidate. But it was immensely reassuring to have dedicated midwives who visited me every other day in the run-up to delivery and to be able to discuss with them how labour might progress. Being a coward, I wanted to know about drugs I would be able to have at home for pain relief (pethidine and gas & air) but on the day, I found
I was more comfortable in my own surroundings and didn’t get frozen by the pain.’

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