How Different They Are...

Yesterday, I ran across this article, which details the story of a UK mother with a history of precipitous labor (labor lasting less than 3 hours), who chose a homebirth (which nearly became an unassisted birth) with her last child to avoid giving birth en route to the hospital.


She and I share commonality in that both my labors were also precipitous. My first was born in 3 hours and my second in a mere 45 minutes.


As I read further, I was struck by a seemingly small detail, but one that truly crystallizes the differences between the US and UK maternity systems:

"After Charlotte was born doctors had recommended that Hazel have a home birth if she ever fell pregnant again..."

Ummm, did I read that correctly?


In the US, homebirth would never be suggested as the solution to precipitous labor. I can personally attest to the one-and-only US answer: "medically necessary" induction.


In my case, this would mean inducing between 36-37 weeks, as both my children were also born before 38 weeks.


So, despite the fact that precipitous labor at term is typically moving so quickly because it is completely uncomplicated, because everything is going right, I would be forced, not only to undergo a decidedly unnecessary induction with all the added risks it entails, but also at the additional risk of delivering a pre-term infant, and all in the name of "preventing complications".


This is a perfect example of how overmedicalized the US system is: instead of letting labor progress normally on its own, the desire for a false sense of control makes modern obstetricians believe they must save me from myself, that only by their aggressive intervention could I be saved from the risk of birthing in my own time, in my own home.


In all probability, my next birth will be unassisted, not as an active choice, but due to the lack of one.



My choices are:


1. Plan a hospital birth

This means accepting an induction and all its ancillary interventions between 36-37 weeks. There are no birth centers in my state, so that is not an option, although even in a birth center, induction would be my only option. I have interviewed all the insurance-covered OBs in my area and this is the consensus, take it or leave it.

2. Plan a midwife-assisted homebirth

Due to the lack of support for midwifery care from the medical maternity model, the nearest midwife to my home is still over an hour away. Were my next birth to go as quickly as my second, it's highly unlikely she would arrive before the baby did. Even if we called from the very first contraction, I doubt there would be enough time for her to get to our house.

So, what to do? Most likely, I will choose a midwife, paying four times as much for her care (since my insurance won't cover midwifery care), all the while knowing she probably won't be present for the birth.



While many would baulk at the thought of an unassisted birth, I accept that, whether I want it or not, this may well be the reality of birthing again. As such, I don't spend time worrying about this fact; rather, I can focus on preparing everything needed to birth as safely as possible at home.


If modern obstetrics truly cared about making birth as safe as possible, then their focus would be on practicing evidence-based medicine and recognizing when intervention was truly necessary. Thus, the midwifery model of care would be the standard, so that women such as I could birth safely with a skilled attendant present no matter what place of birth was chosen.