Alright i'll never complain about anything my neighbors do ever again
Hey yeah so unfun fact I did go through this process and I know my experience is one among many, BUT,
my birth was in a CONTROLLED MEDICAL SETTING agreed upon with me, my OBGYN and additional medical staff. I'm so thankful I did this vs the trendy home birth stuff because hey guess what?
my birth, specifically, took 36 HOURS TOTAL to get my baby out. That was WITH an epidural, WITH pitocin, and finally WITH an emergency c-section. It was HELL but I am so glad I get to see my happy healthy baby now and not have to go through the exhausting effort of living through third trimester. But here's another fun fact: some labor can last even LONGER, especially if there's complications like mine where baby is too big for the birth canal, labor isn't progressing because of a multitude of things, or just y'know the DOZENS of other complications that could arise that could put baby and the one giving birth in CRITICAL MEDICAL DANGER. Especially if this is your first baby, you have no idea what your body is able to do and not do. And especially especially if you have gestational diabetes or are deemed a high risk pregnancy. Don't fucking do it. Go to a hospital or accredited birthing center bare minimum.
This shit is no joke people. Many have died in the past due to childbirth or complications associated with it. Hospitals cannot deny you care if you are legitimately actively in labor. And if you're there and they have a L&D team to take care of you you can kick anyone out of the room that you don't feel comfortable with, no questions asked.
Please be mindful of this and remember to do safe shit.
Stop fucking fearmongering about birth you dumbass. Home births are completely safe if you get a midwife, 9/10 times birth is not a medical emergency.
Ok, so I may have let my own birth experience reflect in my first response, and I shouldn't have painted all out-of-hospital births as a reckless trend. I've only really seen pressure put onto it via social media trends so that was my experience with it. The 'cascade of interventions' you mentioned is a recognized concept in obstetrics, and I agree that for healthy, low-risk individuals, a planned home birth with a Certified Nurse-Midwife can be a safe choice.
However, I know it's an unpredictable event where things can go sideways in the blink of an eye. ACOG is very specific about who can actually attempt this safely. A home birth ceases to be safe the moment there are contraindications like prior C-sections, fetal malpresentation, multiples, gestational complications (like preeclampsia or the gestational diabetes I mentioned).
"9/10 times the body can do it alone." The clinical reality for first-time mothers is that 23% to 37% of them actually require a hospital transfer mid-labor due to exhaustion or failure to progress (which was my case as well).
So, I'm sorry if I demonized home birth, but it's definitely exclusive to certain individuals. My point remains that without those strict safety nets, bypassing a hospital becomes a massive gamble on life
