The debate about the place where women should give birth is hot lately, with opinions in favor of home birth and opinions against, debate that goes on every time an event seems to prove right to one or the other.
Since Babies and more We always advocate to inform, offer data, and thus promote that each woman choose the option she considers best; and there seems to be no absolute truth in these matters: if you want security, the hospital seems to be the best option, while if you want a respected delivery, the best option seems to be home delivery (although these are generalizations that do not have what to always do).
The last to argue in favor of hospital birth (and at the same time against home delivery) has been Jackie Calleja, a gynecologist who published on January 1 a tweet explaining the emergency he had just lived, and summarized with these words: don't give birth at home.
The words of Dr. Calleja
This is the gynecologist's tweet, which soon began to be shared and that provoked an intense debate on the networks:
I just attended an obstetric haemorrhage due to uterine atony after childbirth. I have consumed a year of life in that time. 2019 has already begun for me. Please, DO NOT GIVE LIGHT AT HOME. A birth can become an emergency in minutes.
- Jackie Calleja (@dr_calleja) January 1, 2018
A while later I added another offering more information about it:
It has been in Hospital. At home that patient would not be telling him. No medication, no means, no blood bank, transfer time ... the specialized assistance of a home birth does not guarantee to solve a complication. It cannot be expected that childbirth is low risk.
- Jackie Calleja (@dr_calleja) January 1, 2018
Apparently, the woman suffered a Uterine atony, which is a rare but very dangerous complication, which happens after delivery. After the birth of the baby and the delivery of the placenta, the uterus has to regain its position prior to pregnancy, it has to return to its size, and that happens with a series of contractions that in turn compress the blood vessels avoiding bleeding. If it does not happen, if the uterus does not begin to compress, significant bleeding may occur, a hemorrhage, which is an emergency that requires immediate attention.
According to Dr. Calleja, if this happens at a home birth, the woman dies, because there is no medication, means, blood bank, nor the transfer time favors emergency care.
But not all professionals are right
Just read the tweets, and the associated comments, to see that there are many people supporting Calleja's words, both professionals and mothers and fathers, who advocate for deliveries to be in the hospital.
However, there are also voices against his arguments, including professionals who responded by saying that the evidence says other things, or that at least It is worth knowing all the options, and respecting them.
In this regard, it is worth sharing the statement that the Catalan Association of Carriers (Catalan Association of Midwives) published the following day in response to the words of Jackie Calleja, which is summarized in the following three points:
- Scientific evidence shows that home birth in low-risk women is as safe as hospital birth when certain requirements are met, including the assistance of an experienced professional midwife and proximity to a hospital that is not more than 30 minutes from home.
- Evidence has shown that the risk of postpartum uterine bleeding is higher in hospital deliveries.
- Midwives of home births are trained in obstetric emergencies and have medication to deal with and cope with postpartum hemorrhage.
In addition, they add that women have the right (recognized by the European Court of Human Rights) to give birth wherever they want and with whomever they want.
And then what is better?
Inform. Talk to professionals who offer objective evidence-based information to that each woman decides to give birth where she prefers And feel more secure. That is why in a few days we will offer you another entry talking about this topic, trying to provide evidence to get women that information that everyone should receive, without bias no advice with imperative verbs.
