Home Birth versus Hospital Birth

Home birth is the term assigned to the belief that "all parents should have a choice concerning were their children are born" (Brooks, 1976, p. 143). That choice may involve delivery in the parents' actual home or in a so-called birth center designed for the purpose, which is to be specifically distinguished from the traditional hospital clinical setting, with its myriad disruptions and institutional protocols (Stewart, 1998g).

A home birth presumes that pregnancy and childbirth are naturally occurring conditions and, moreover, that there are no known or even hinted-at obstetrical complications or abnormalities that require specialized medical care at the time of delivery (Brook, 1976). What it does not presume is that a normal pregnancy is an illness that is meant to be cured. That being so, home birth or delivery at a birthing center offers parents access -- but not subjection -- to trained staff as needed (Dick-Read, 1985). Accordingly, obstetricians are rout

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of institutions far removed from the clinic, patient preferences are overlooked, and the patients have to pay for the privilege of being overwhelmed by policy; meanwhile, whether the quality of clinical care is adequate has come increasingly in doubt over the last 30 years (Sousa, 1976). Disadvantages of home birth surface where there is significant evidence of an abnormal or at-risk pregnancy, hence a greater likelihood of a need for clinical intervention at some key stage of the process. Prenatal care should reveal breech births, bleeder births (new blood is available at hospitals but not in the home), or prolapses, in which case home birth would be contraindicated (Brew, 1976). Hospital Births, Pro and Con The ready availability of staffed expertise at a hospital is the most obvious advantage associated with childbirth in a clinical setting (Miller, 1969). Trained obstetrics staff can respond much more quickly to the unexpected than can a typical midwife, even one trained as a nurse practitioner. Some research has shown that hospitals are the best for some (i.e., at-risk) mothers and babies (Stewart, 1998g). Despite assertions by hospital advocates that hospitals are the safest childbirth option, the weight of statistical e
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Pro Con, Con Advantages, Defined Home, Risks Hospitals, Birth/Hospital Birth, Napsac Reproductions, INSCAPE Corporation, home birth, Safe Childbearing, Inc Stewart, stewart 1998g, sousa 1976, dick-read 1985, Brew JD, clinical setting, safe childbearing 4th, 4th ed, five standards, standards safe, ed marble, stewart ed, ed stewart ed, stewart ed marble, childbearing 4th ed, 4th ed stewart,
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