The Husband's feelings on a homebirth

I've been reading up on this a lot. Not nearly as much as Cait, of course, but still a fair amount. And I've gone from trusting Cait to make the right decision to believing for myself that for a low-risk pregnancy like Cait, a homebirth is a great option, perhaps even a better option, depending on the disposition of the mother. I think for Cait it is perfect. Of course it all comes down to what is best for the mother. There are women out there who need the sterile and controlled environment of the hospital to feel safe and secure. And there are plenty of great OBGYNs out there who will help them to have a great birth. But all things being equal, I would avoid a hospital. The most compelling argument for a home birth is:

There's nothing wrong with a pregnant woman.

Doctors are used to working with people with something wrong with them and for a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Doctors are trained to diagnose illness and disease and get rid of it, neither of which accompany a majority of births. Doctors are there to deal with emergencies or serious problems, for normal births a well-trained midwife is the way to go, in my opinion. No matter how liberal a hospital is, they are going to have guidelines about how long a woman can labor, when to induce and when to go for a c-section. And for a hospital concerned about lawsuits, like every hospital is, those standards are going to be enforced way more strictly than is necessary. There are vested interests in taking the control of the pregnancy away from the woman, where it belongs. A birth should be an empowering, miraculous experience, and hospitals tend to get in the way of that. There are plenty of exceptions of course, but I believe every effort should be made to take the control out of the hands of the doctors and put it in the hands of a woman, with a trusty and experienced midwife at her side.

I won't go on too much longer, because Cait has written plenty about this, but I'm sure one or two people out there are wondering how I feel about things.

Here's a funny video to sum up: