![Home Birth: a Safe & Beautiful Option](https://www.westonaprice.org/wp-content/uploads/birth.jpg)
Is a homebirth a viable option for mothers-to-be? Is it safe? What happens if complications arise? Katelyn Fusco answers these questions and more on today’s show. Katelyn is the host and creator of the “Happy Homebirth” podcast. She studied as a student midwife and is a home birth mother herself. She explains how home births have been, historically, a wise tradition. She talks about the shift to hospital births and what’s been lost in the process. She offers insights on C-section statistics, the risks and benefits of giving birth at home, the training midwives receive, and even how to manage a more “natural” birth at a hospital. Katelyn showcases giving birth at home as a beautiful and safe option for low-risk pregnancy moms.
Notes:
Highlights from the conversation include:
- Katelyn’s training as a student midwife
- The history of homebirth
- How high-risk pregnancies are only 10% of the population
- The C-section rate contrast: 5.2% of home births compared to 31% of hospital births
- The why behind these statistics
- The cascade of interventions in hospital births
- How choosing delayed cord-clamping, skin to skin contact, & laboring in the position of your choice are “standard of care” with midwives in homebirths
- Why the shift from homebirth to hospital births and how the trend is reversing
- How home birth feels safe & familiar to the baby because of bacteria in the home
- The positive results that follow in the weeks after birth
- The training midwives undergo that is quite extensive
- Two stories of homebirth: one that was smooth and one that was less so
- Why ACOG (American College of Obstetricians & Gynecology) is skeptical of homebirths
- How the U.S. has one of the worst maternal outcomes of all developed countries
- How midwives might be the missing piece to turn that statistic around
Resources:
Katelyn’s website – https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com
Katelyn’s Instagram – @happyhomebirthpodcast
Documentary: “The business of being born”
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