A free birth is when a woman chooses to have a baby, usually at home, without a registered midwife or doctor in attendance. It’s much riskier than a planned home birth.
Women favour seeing the same health provider throughout pregnancy, in labour and after they have their baby – whether that’s via midwifery group practice, a private midwife or a private obstetrician.
The pandemic will affect types of care and social beliefs about reproduction in the longer term.
A pregnant woman walks past a street mural in Hong Kong on March 23, 2020. With the coronavirus pandemic moving quickly, pregnant women are facing a changing health care system.
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During a pandemic, a home birth starts looking better every second. Midwives with their specialized skills in low-risk normal birth can be of great service.
Birth centres are a good option for women with low-risk pregnancies, but availability is limited.
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Compared to women who give birth in a birth centre, those who give birth in hospitals are much more likely to have interventions – from epidurals, to labour augmentation and caesarean deliveries.
Demand for midwifery services across Canada is now much greater than midwives can currently provide.
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The benefits of midwifery for women and babies globally are clear. In Canada, innovations in midwifery centres and services are tempered by low pay and high rates of burnout.
What are the differences between planned assisted childbirth with midwife at home versus delivery with obstetrician at a hospital?
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Evidence suggests that microbes play a vital role in health. But what microbes we get depends whether we were born in a hospital versus at home. That could impact our health decades later.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, arrives for her baby shower at the Mark Hotel on Feb. 19, 2019, in New York. She was rumoured to want to deliver her baby at home rather than in hospital.
(AP Photo/Kevin Hagen)
Are we overscheduling our children even from the moment of their birth? We live in an on-demand world. Movies are shown on request, food is delivered on call and drivers arrive when beckoned. As an economist…
Medical support is one of the things that makes birth safer.
Baby by Shutterstock
The ongoing and sometimes emotive debate about risks and rewards of giving birth in hospital or at home is nothing new. What is new is the attention being given to the legal rights and responsibilities…
The recall of hired home-birthing pools after a baby contracted Legionnaires’ disease will inevitably lead some women to worry about having a water birth at home. While the incidence is rare, it is worth…
The study revealed that low-risk women who gave birth at home had a much higher rate of vaginal birth than the national average.
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Women who give birth at home as part of a publicly funded home birth program have an overall low risk of problems such as stillbirth, postpartum hemorrhaging and emergency cesarean section, a new study…
In response to a recent South Australian coroner’s finding that three babies died from preventable causes, Health Minister Tanya Plibersek has said she will close a loophole in national health laws that…