It seems that things are changing with regard to childbirth care. The possibility of giving birth at home to women who wish to do so and meet certain conditions begins to be recognized more openly. This is what the first home birth assistance guide presented by the midwives of the Official College of Nursing of Barcelona.
Is a pioneer document in Spain which aims to unify criteria and establish recommendations for this practice, for some still seen as an extravagance.
The conditions established to be able to give birth at home is that the pregnancy is low risk, be only of a baby, in cephalic presentation (that the child comes from the head) and that the childbirth occurs between the 37th and 42nd week of gestation.
It is recommended that the woman has attended at least four clinical visits before delivery and should provide the analytical controls and ultrasounds that have been done.
For its part, the midwife accompanies the woman throughout the pregnancy and must visit the home of the future mother a month before delivery to confirm that she meets the necessary conditions, foster confidence and intimacy and agree who will be at home on the day of childbirth
As for the control of pain during childbirth, the midwife will help alleviate it with non-pharmacological methods, but in the case that the woman asks for pharmacological help to relieve the pain, she should be transferred to a hospital.
Home birth is a safe option when it comes to a low-risk pregnancy. The mother can give birth in the privacy of her home, with her times, without stress and surrounded by whomever she chooses.
The women who decide to give birth at home are between 25 and 35 years old, are of a medium-high sociocultural level and are women determined to exercise their right to give birth as they wish. Many are encouraged because they have accompanied a home birth or traveled to one of the countries where this practice takes place.
In other European countries such as Holland, the United Kingdom or Denmark, home birth is a much more common practice than in Spain, it is even so accepted that it is subsidized by public health.
The important thing is that the change begins to occur and a new possibility opens up for women who want to have a different birth. That a guide to childbirth assistance at home has been presented by a recognized body is a great step forward to make one more option known to women who are going to be mothers.
