Description: Research has shown again and again that a planned home birth with trained midwives results in equal or better perinatal morbidity and mortality rates as low-risk births taking place in the hospital. Moreover, the excellent outcomes of home birth midwives are achieved with far fewer interventions, no anesthesia, lower economic cost, and much greater satisfaction on the part of home-birthing mothers and their partners.In 2005, the British Medical Journal published a study evaluating the safety of home births in North America involving certified professional midwives. The authors concluded:Planned home births for low-risk women in North America using certified professional midwives was associated with lower rates of medical intervention but similar intrapartum and neonatal mortality to that of low-risk hospital births in the United States....Mothers' satisfaction with care was high, with over 97% reporting that they were extremely or very satisfied. [Johnson, K.C., Daviss, B. (2005). Outcomes of planned home births with certified professional midwives: large prospective study in North America. British Medical Journal, 330 (7507): 1416, June 18, 2005.]We are available around the clock for attending births. We come to the home whenever the family is ready for our support during labor. Most births occur naturally within a wide range of normal. This range of normal includes many complications that we are trained and equipped to handle. We carry extensive amounts of equipment including oxygen tanks and resuscitation equipment, multiple hemorrhage control medications, IV supplies, newborn preventive medications, dopplers for fetal monitoring, materials to run lab work if needed, herbs and homeopathics, and so on. After the baby is born, we stay until mother and baby are stable, breastfeeding is established, the house is restored to its original state, and everyone is tucked in bed. Among other tasks, we do a complete newborn assessment, and suture if there is a tear.
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