How to Make Your Home Birth Safer Than It Already Is

Contrary to what many have been led to believe, mostly by the media and the medical industry, home birth is generally safer than hospital birth. The good news is, there are a few practical steps you can take to make home birth safer still.

Before we get to that, let’s talk a little about the safety of home births compared to hospital births.

Is Home Birth Safer?

One very detailed study explored home birth safety and found that home births have:

• Fewer obstetric interventions
• Fewer negative outcomes like perineal tears
• Fewer newborns needing resuscitation
• Fewer newborns experiencing meconium aspiration
• Fewer newborns having to be admitted or re-admitted to a hospital

And there’s a lot more where that came from. See this post for more home birth statistics, plus other comparisons between home birth and hospital births.

The point is, with a clear exception for high risk pregnancies in which case hospital births are recommended, you and your baby are likely to be more safe in a home birth. It probably still seems hard to believe, but that’s simply because we have all been raised with basically only one picture of how a birth is ‘supposed’ to look.

The reality is, the woman’s body is designed to give birth, and for the vast majority of women, home birth will be safer, or at least as safe as, a hospital birth. Women have given birth in cars, parking lots, by the side of the road, in hallways, and all sorts of other fun locations. Of course, those places aren’t desirable, but the point is, it happens, and it usually works out just fine for everyone.

7 Ways to Make Home Birth Safer

As safe as home birth is, you can make it even safer by taking a few practical steps. Some of these take a little planning. But that’s not new to anyone getting close to giving birth! Let’s get started:

1. Use a Midwife

This really should go without saying. Doing a home birth without a midwife does increase the chances of something going wrong. Why? Because midwives rock!

They are super smart and very tuned in to what’s happening at every point of the labor and delivery process. They can tell when the baby is out of position and have techniques for ‘righting the ship.’ They can identify problems and solve them in the moment, no medication or C-sections required.

With a home birth, you are far less likely to be told you need a C-section. And that’s a good thing, and one reason why home births are safer. A midwife will know if and when it makes sense to switch to a hospital. Her expertise is your best guide for how to remain as safe as possible throughout your labor and delivery.

A midwife will dramatically increase the safety of your home birth. If you do just one thing on this list, make it this one.

2. Include Scenarios in Your Birth Plan

First, you need to have a birth plan. And by the way, this is one of the big advantages of home birth over a hospital birth. Doctors in hospital have been known to ignore birth plans entirely. But your midwife will adhere to it in a home birth. So have a plan.

But in your plan, be sure to include directions for what to do in certain situations.

Think through scenarios that might mean you want to be transferred to a hospital. Your midwife can help you come up with these.

For example, what if labor goes on for what you feel is ‘too long’? What if you’re not dilating fast enough? What if the baby is still turned the wrong way after several hours of labor?

You can discuss these and other situations in advance with your midwife, partner, and others close to you, and work up a plan. Now, in the moment, you might decide that YOU don’t want to hold to that plan. For instance, maybe you specify in your plan to switch to a hospital if labor goes past 30 hours. But, maybe after you get to that point, you’re almost fully dilated and your midwife believes the baby will come at any time. So, you might decide to not stick with your plan.

But that will be your choice in the moment.

3. Prepare a Go Bag

If you do need to switch to a hospital, there are certain items you will want to take with you. Things like snacks, baby clothes, stress relief toys.

A go bag keeps you safe because if your midwife recommends moving to a hospital, you don’t want to delay. You want to be able to just pick up and go immediately. If there is some sort of emergency, time is the biggest variable. A go bag minimizes lost time.

4. Hire a Doula

Having a midwife is essential to a home birth, as far as Royal Birth Tubs is concerned. We used one for both of our births, so we speak from experience.

We also used a doula both times, and wouldn’t do a home birth without one. Doulas provide a number of benefits, in addition to simply having someone there to help keep you as comfortable and sane as you can while you push through the experience.

Doulas provide the midwife with an extra set of hands, and they bring a different set of expertise. Sometimes, scenarios come up where the birthing mother needs to reposition herself so the baby remains properly positioned within her.

As you can imagine, moving around while going through labor isn’t easy, and it’s easier when you have help from two sets of skilled hands rather than one. Experienced doulas will have several tricks up their sleeves for situations like this, and they will help keep your home birth safer than it would otherwise be.

5. Gather the Right Supplies

This is something your midwife should take care of. She will know what to bring and what you should have available in your home. This could include certain types of food, blood pressure monitors, and all sorts of other equipment that, if things go well, never needs to get used.

But with the midwife’s supply bag nearby, you will be able to work through most of the common complications that arise during delivery.

Another aspect of having the right supplies is removing the ones you don’t want. Birthing at home usually means some walking around. The last thing you want is to trip on toys or slip on a rug. Make sure the areas you’ll be using are free and clear of obstacles.

6. Make Sure Transportation Is Ready

Like the go bag, if your midwife determines you should switch to the hospital, then it’s time to go. You don’t want your car parked ten blocks away, or buried in a parking garage three floors down. You definitely don’t want to rely on an Uber or a taxi or (gasp) public transportation. Not now.

In some cases, the midwife may just call an ambulance. But if you can handle the car and want to save the money, have your own ready to go.

You want a car, full of gas, as close to your door as possible, with the engine running. Okay, not the engine running. You also need a designated driver. This will not be your midwife. It certainly won’t be the birthing mother.

Someone needs to know they will be the driver if the situation calls for it. And you should have a backup driver too in case the first one has been sent away on a different task.

In our first birth, we had a huge problem with this, in part because we were at a birth center instead of our home. The dad was sent home to go pick up some nausea medication. But when he went outside, he discovered that his car was blocked in by other parked cars! When we arrived at the birth center, it was early in the morning and there were no cars. But by the middle of the day, it was packed, and he could not get his car out!

So, he had to borrow the doula’s car.

You don’t want to be in that sort of situation if your midwife recommends a hospital transfer.

7. Be Within 30 Minutes of a Hospital – and Notify Them

This is yet another task that a midwife should perform, especially the notification part. She will call the hospital before you leave to expect a new arrival soon.

But it’s also important to be close enough to a hospital so the trip doesn’t take too long. If you live far from a city or way out in a suburb, this can be problematic, especially when you factor in rush hour traffic. If the hospital transfer needs to happen at 5pm, you might be in trouble.

So don’t just plan which hospital you’ll go to. Plan out several routes to get there depending on traffic.

If your home is just too far from a hospital, you can either try it at a relative’s house or perhaps a close friend. In that case, if you’re using a heated birth tub, you would need to have the tub at the other house, and already set up so when labor begins, you can head over and begin your home birth process there.

Make Your Home Birth Comfortable, not Just Safe

Safety is of course priority one. But when it comes to home birth, comfort is a close second. Without pain medication, nothing on earth will make you more comfortable than basking in a spacious, heated birth tub, surrounded by warm water.

But that’s not all. There are actually seven ways to make your home birth the most comfortable it can possibly be.

And we’ve spelled them all out in our free guide.

Get all 7 secrets and have your best possible home birth experience!