Where Will You Give Birth To Your Baby?

Home
>
Babies & Toddler
>
Where Will You Give Birth To Your Baby?

Where Will You Give Birth To Your Baby?

Where To Give Birth..

You have a choice where to have your baby. As long as there were no complications with your pregnancy, you can give birth at home, at a birth centre, or in hospital. You also have the choice of pain relief, no pain relief, a water birth, an active birth, and you may be able to opt for a planned caesarean.

Hospital Unless you request otherwise, your doctor will book you into a hospital for your birth. You'll be in for between 7 hours and 4 days depending on how you recover from the birth, and if there were any complications.

Whilst there you will have access to a team of expert medical staff and the full range of pain relief. You may be able to opt for a water birth or an active birth.

Some women who give birth in hospital feel the atmosphere is too impersonal and that they are part of a production line.

Home If you choose to give birth at home you will have two midwives in attendance.

You should feel more relaxed in your own surroundings - which helps the birth process. Gas and air will be available and maybe pethidine (check first with the midwife), but you won't be able to have an epidural. You can hire a birth pool if that is your chosen method.

You'll need to live within a fairly short distance from a hospital in case of emergency - 10-30 miles depending on local traffic conditions. This option will only be available if you have had a trouble-free pregnancy.

Birth Centre Staffed solely by midwives, a birth centre will offer the same facilities as a home birth: air and gas for pain relief, maybe pethidine.

The atmosphere is home-from-home and less impersonal than a hospital - although some birth centres are actually based in a hospital. A more relaxed surroundings which often leads to a more relaxed birth.

Not available if you've had complications during pregnancy.

Active Birth The idea is to stay active, move around, and give birth naturally in an upright position.

Advocates of this method claim that being upright helps the baby to travel down the birth canal and your labour will be shorter.

You will need to be fit and experience no complications.

Water Birth You spend your advanced labour and give birth in a birthing pool full of warm water.

The water encourages your body to release pain relieving hormones and it allows you to move more freely. You are less likely to need pain relief and less likely to tear.

And no, baby won't drown in the water.

If you find you do need pethidine or an epidural, you will have to come out of the pool.

Many hospitals do not have birthing pools, and those that do usually have only one - which someone else may be using when you need it. You can hire a birth pool to use at home or in hospital.

Planned Caesarean These are usually available only if there are medical reasons, such as a low placenta or if you have pre-eclampsia - unless, of course, you are willing to pay for the operation.

You will avoid the pain of labour, but will have a longer stay in hospital (about 5 days) and once you are back home you will still be feeling the effects of major surgery.

****************************************************************
Author: Katy and Tony Luck who run a site with advice on giving birth.
****************************************************************

In The News:

Yahoo! News: Top Stories

Democrats criticize Obama's proposed tax cuts (AP)

AP - President-elect Barack Obama's proposed tax cuts ran into opposition Thursday from senators in his own party who said they wouldn't do much to stimulate the economy or create jobs. Senators from both parties agreed that Congress should do something to stimulate the economy. But Democratic senators emerging from a private meeting of the Senate Finance Committee criticized business and individual tax cuts in Obama's stimulus plan.

UN Security Council calls for immediate Gaza truce (AP)

AP - The U.N. Security Council called for an "immediate" and "durable" cease-fire in Gaza in a resolution Thursday night even as fighting between Israel and Hamas raged with early morning airstrikes killing seven Palestinians and pushing the death toll to about 760 in the near two-week conflict.

Sloppy, choppy game leaves Florida as BCS champion (AP)

AP - The game defied expectations. Tim Tebow fulfilled them.

Key panel recommends impeaching Ill. governor (AP)

AP - A key panel unanimously recommended impeachment for Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday, setting up a vote that could make him the first governor to face such fate in Illinois' sordid political history. Blagojevich should lose his job for abusing power, mismanaging government and committing possible criminal acts, including federal allegations he tried to sell off a U.S. Senate seat, the special committee concluded.

Job losses stack up as recession deepens (AP)

AP - Trying to survive a deepening recession, employers are cutting their work forces to the bone, leaving more Americans unemployed and with dim prospects of finding a new job any time soon.

Oversight panel wants better answers from Treasury (AP)

AP - Less than a month after its first report, a congressional panel overseeing the Treasury Department's $700 billion financial bailout is demanding more answers.

Critics' final answer: `Slumdog' wins 5 awards (AP)

AP - The critics have spoken, and "Slumdog Millionaire" is their final answer.

Cheney: CIA did nothing illegal in interrogations (AP)

AP - Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday that he sees no reason for President George W. Bush to pre-emptively pardon anyone at the CIA involved in harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists. "I don't have any reason to believe that anybody in the agency did anything illegal," he said.

Petraeus: Afghan, Pakistan problems are really one (AP)

AP - U.S. policy to win in Afghanistan must recognize the poor nation's limitations and its neighborhood, especially its intertwined relationship with U.S. terrorism-fighting ally Pakistan, the top U.S. military commander in the region said Thursday.

Prosecutors: Madoff was ready to send out $173M (AP)

AP - Prosecutors said Thursday that investigators found 100 signed checks worth $173 million in Bernard Madoff's office desk that he was ready to send out to his closest family and friends at the time of his arrest last month in what is alleged to be largest financial fraud in history.

U.N. calls for immediate Gaza truce (Reuters)

Reuters - Israel pushed ahead with its offensive in the Gaza Strip on Friday, ignoring a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire to the 14-day-old conflict.

World waits on jobs data as recession weighs (Reuters)

Reuters - U.S. employers probably cut the most jobs in at least 34 years last month as the global economic crisis gathered pace and moves by policy makers took time to filter through to struggling companies.

Citi backs measure to help avoid foreclosures (Reuters)

Reuters - Financial giant Citigroup Inc will support a proposal in Congress to rewrite U.S. bankruptcy law to help troubled mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said on Thursday.

Panel steps up criticism of Treasury over TARP: report (Reuters)

Reuters - A report being released on Friday alleges that the U.S. Treasury has failed to reveal its strategy for stabilizing the financial system, not answered questions asked by a government watchdog, and has done nothing to help struggling homeowners, the Wall Street Journal said.

Illinois panel recommends governor's impeachment (Reuters)

Reuters - A legislative committee on Thursday recommended the impeachment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, citing widespread abuse of power including allegations he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

Obama team amending financial rescue package: report (Reuters)

Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama's economic team is urgently overhauling the $700 billion financial rescue package to broaden its scope beyond Wall Street, The Washington Post reported on Friday.

Qaeda Pakistan leader believed dead: U.S. official (Reuters)

Reuters - Al Qaeda's operations chief in Pakistan and a top aide are believed to be dead, a U.S. counterterrorism official said on Thursday, in what appeared to be the latest results of a campaign targeting the militant group's leadership.

Accused swindler Madoff "warm and charming": report (Reuters)

Reuters - Some friends of accused swindler Bernard Madoff considered him a "warm and charming" man, and one of his alleged victims praised him just before his death in 2005, Fox Business Network reported on Thursday.

Gaza toll mounts as UN Security Council urges immediate truce (AFP)

AFP - Israel carried out new deadly air raids on the Gaza Strip on Friday as the UN Security Council called for an immediate ceasefire to end the two-week-old conflict in the Palestinian territory.

Progress in resolving gas row as Russia agrees to monitors (AFP)

AFP - Hopes for a quick resumption of Russian gas supplies to Europe were rising Friday after Russia agreed on the terms for the deployment of monitors in Ukraine.

Where Will You Give Birth To Your Baby?

Babies & Toddler Babies & Toddler