Home birth
The option of a homebirth is available in Western Australia either with the Community Midwifery Program which is a government run program, or with a Privately Practising Midwife. When you plan a homebirth all of your antenatal appointments take place in your home or at a community clinic. When you go into labour, you stay home and are attended by your midwife.
As specialists in normal birth your midwife will be on the alert for anything out of the ordinary during your pregnancy and labour. She will refer you for additional tests and advice if required or, if you are in labour, a transfer to hospital for additional maternity care.
Less than 1% of WA women choose to birth at home. Up to 30% of women in parts of the UK and 34% of Dutch women choose to birth at home.
If you considering a homebirth, we recommend that you discuss this option with a midwife or doctor. Homebirth options are discussed on the "Having a Baby" Website
Check our Research page for more information about safety of homebirth.
Advantages |
Things to Consider |
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You get to work with the same small group of midwives - your primary midwife and the two backup midwives. If your primary midwife is with you for more than 14 consecutive hours, your back-up midwfe will step in and relieve your primary midwife, whether you are at home or in hospital. You have a mix of home and community clinic of antenatal care. All decisions are made in consultation with you with respect for you, your partner and your baby. CMP is delivered in partnership with WA Health. This means the service is publicly funded - i.e. FREE! If you require a transfer and go to King Edward Memorial Hospital your midwife will go with you in order to maintain the benefits of continuity-of-care. Birthing at home means that you can choose who you want at your birth as well as environment in which you labour and birth including music, fragrance, special comforts. Fathers are able to have a more active supporting role as they know the environment (where the taps are / how to keep the pool water warm, etc,). See Your midwife is an expert in normal pregnancy and labour and will know if you need additional clinical assessment or care. If your midwife is concerned, she will collaborate with and refer you to an obstetrician as needed. A home birth allows a woman to birth gently and calmly in a familiar environment. This encourages relaxation which has been proven to facilitate natural birth. You can have a water birth. See waterbirth for more information about the benefits of water for pain relief. Your chances of having a natural, drug free birth are significantly increased by being at home. At home you have greater freedom to move around and adopt whatever position feels right while you labour and birth. It is the midwives who go home after the birth - you can relax at home with your new family. Your baby's first breath and sensory awareness is of the home environment. Your midwife visits you at home for up to 4 weeks after your baby's birth. |
This is a low risk model of care and is not available for women who have had a caesarean, or those with a breech presentation or twins for example. Independent midwives are currently unable to access insurance. Independent midwifery care costs aproximately $4,000. You need to assertively set visiting hours with friends and family so you can get good rest after your baby is born. As with planning a hospital birth you will need to plan babysitting for older children if you have chosen not to have them with you at your birth. To access pharmacological pain relief you need to transfer to hospital. You need to organise backup support for cooking/cleaning/helping out with your baby, as you do after hospital births where you are discharged within 24 hours after a normal delivery. |
