Where will you give birth? And who will be in attendance? These may not even be questions you knew could be asked! In the Atlanta area you have the option of hospital or home (there are no birth centers).
Yes, home birth is an option. Home birth is not illegal in Georgia! No one can legislate where you must be when your baby comes out of your body! You can give birth where ever you want to. You have choices in all things concerning your birth. You are in charge!
Typically, women will consider weather to use an obstetrician or a midwife at a hospital birth. Even that choice is increasingly fading in Atlanta, e.g., the firing of all midwives practicing at Crawford Long hospital in August 2007. There are many home birth midwives practicing in Georgia. Legally, they cannot obtain a license to practice in Georgia, which has been the case since 1969. There is a group of midwives working hard to secure licensing for home birth practice, but it’s a slow, uphill climb stalled by unfortunately poor political decions. It is not illegal for a couple to hire a midwife to attend their planned home birth. Please see Georgia Friends of Midwives to learn more and give your support.
Every study that has compared midwives and obstetricians has found better outcomes for midwives for same-risk patients. In some studies, midwives actually served higher risk populations than the physicians and still obtained lower mortalities and morbidities. The superiority and safety of midwifery for most women no longer needs to be proven. It has been well established. (Madrona, Lewis & Morgaine, The Future of Midwifery in the United States, NAPSAC News, Fall-Winter 1993, pp. 30).
|
|
HOME |
HOSPITAL |
|
Electronic Fetal Monitoring* |
9.6% |
84.3% |
|
Episiotomy |
2.1% |
33.0% |
|
Cesarean Section |
3.7% |
19.0% |
|
Vacuum Extraction |
0.6% |
5.5% |
|
Maternal Death |
0.0% |
0.0% |
|
Infant Death** |
1.7% |
2.0% |
*Studies on EFM have found a significantly increased risk of cesarean section but no improvement in outcomes for mothers or babies.
**Infant mortality in the United States overall is 6.5 babies per thousand. We rank 24th in the world. Countries that follow the midwifery model of care and have much higher rates of homebirth rank higher than the United States.
In the U.S. the national infant mortality rate was 8.9 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1991. The worst state was Delaware at 11.8, with the District of Columbia even worse with 21.0. The best state was Vermont, with only 5.8. Vermont also has one of the highest rates of home birth in the country, as well as a larger portion of midwife-attended births than most states. (Stewart, David, International Infant Mortality Rates – U.S. in 22nd Place, NAPSAC News, Fall-Winter 1993, pp. 36).
In the five European countries with the lowest infant mortality rates, midwives preside at more than 70% of all births. More than half of all Dutch babies are born at home with midwives in attendance, and Holland’s maternal and infant mortality rates are far lower than in the United States. (“Midwives Still Hassled by Medical Establishment,” CarolineHall Otis, Utne Reader, Nov/Dec 1990, pp. 32-34).
Mothering Magazine has calculated that using midwifery care for 75% of the births in the U.S. would save an estimated $8.5 billion per year. (Madrona, Lewis & Morgaine, The Future of Midwifery in the United States, NAPSAC News, Fall-Winter 1993, pp. 15.)
Recommended Home Birth Midwives (CPM’s – Certified Professional Midwives)
Terri Anthony Reider of South Georgia Midwifery (attends births in the Atlanta area and beyond)
Debbie Pulley, CPM of GA Midwife
Hospitals that Employ Midwives (CNM’s – Certified Nurse Midwives)
North Fulton Regional Hospital
Piedmont Hospital
Northside Hospital
