Women encouraged to give birth at home – a cut back too far?
The Government backed organisation NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) has issued guidance that it may be safer to give birth at home or in a midwifery unit if you have a low risk pregnancy. I’m not sure you can ever say a pregnancy is low risk until the baby has been delivered.
I feel duty bound to issue a word of caution – if you give birth at home or in a stand alone unit, you are potentially a long way from medical help if something does go wrong. In my experience, a few minutes can make a critical difference – any delay in getting medical help may make the difference between having a child who is healthy and a child who is seriously brain damaged.
A wise doctor once said to me that the statistical risk may be small but you are a person not a statistic. If something goes wrong it can affect you 100%
The following article appeared in The Times last week – it is well worth a read: