My Doctor Says He Sees Only Bad Home Births That End In Transport

This is one of my pet peeves. 

Somebody is mentioning home birth to a health care professional (EMT, paramedic, firefighter, doctor or nurse, etc.) and their first response is,

"All the home birth transfers I see are because something went wrong.... You are really lucky that your home birth was safe."

This is stated in a very serious tone.

First, there are a few things I should point out that I recognize.

I recognize that home birth has some risks that may not be present in a hospital.  I also recognize that hospital birth has some risks that may not be present in a home birth.

I believe that care providers vary a lot in their skill, intelligence, ability and ethics.  This applies not just to obstetric doctors but also to home birth midwives.  I try to choose mine carefully.

I recognize that sometimes, for the safety of mom and/or baby, a home birth must be moved and become a hospital birth.  This can be for very minor things to very serious, life threatening things.  When done at the right time, it is not a failure, just a change of plans.

I also have a deep appreciation for the fact that all of my children's births have been safe, from my hospital birth to my accidental unassisted home birth.  I am blessed, and I am deeply grateful.  

Now that I have that out of the way, I just need to point out the obvious.


If you work in a hospital or in emergency transport, the only home births that you will ever see are the ones in which something went wrong.  

The other ones, where nothing goes wrong, STAY AT HOME.


OK, now I am done.  Carry on. 

(Robbie Davis-Floyd mentions that the home birth transport rate averages around 12%.  You may want to find your own midwife's transport rate and lots of other info about her.  I highly recommend researching your midwife and have some tips here.)