WHERE
TO HAVE
YOUR
BABY
By Jolyon Ford
T
he model of care and the location of care are obviously closely related. As can be seen, some providers offer home birth services, others are based in a hospital.
According to US data, nearly 100% of births were outside hospitals in 1900, 44% in 1940 and 1% by 1969. Since then 9899% of births have been in a hospital. The same pattern is seen in most developed countries. After the Second World War, the ability to manage infection with antibiotics and haemorrhage with new drugs, surgery, anaesthesia and blood transfusion resulted in a significant drop in maternal death rates. In addition, standards of maternity care improved. Hospitals gained the reputation as the safest place to have your baby, although this may have been due to improvements in practice rather than the location of the birth. 88
Peninsula Kids – Summer 2020/21
Home birth has continued in small numbers in most developed countries, accounting for around 0.5-2% of births in Australia, the US and the UK, 3-4% in New Zealand but as high as 20% in the Netherlands. The recent empowering of women to make informed choice about their care has resulted in an increase in homebirth numbers in the last decade. Sitting somewhere between a home and a hospital birth is a birth centre. These are freestanding or connected with a nearby hospital and provide a low intervention service for low risk women. Most national organisations acknowledge the right of women to make an informed choice about their location of birth but also advise that consideration is given to the individual circumstances and that those who are considered higher risk should have their birth in a hospital. Speak to your practitioner or do some investigating to find what services are available for you locally. There is no harm in arranging an appointment with a practitioner to discuss your options before you commit. continued next page...