Case Notes Radio 4 at 4.30 pm today

[Ineedsomesleep]

They will be talking about Women's choices on the place they give birth.

If you miss it, it should be on the bbc iplayer later.

I listened.

According to the obstetrician they interviewed at the end there are no proven benefits to homebirth. None. Women 'might' be more likely to labour well at home, but there isn't any proof.

He also said that he would support women who chose to have a VBAC at home. Was a bit at that one too.

I'm a bit aghast at him saying there are no 'proven' benefits to hb. Even my local hospital's literature on choices on place of birth flags up the lower rates of cs and assisted delivery for mums who book homebirth compared to those who book into the MLU. And all the midwifery literature I have seen on this issue is pretty consistent - homebirths have higher rates of maternal satisfaction, lower rates of PND, higher rates of breastfeeding, reduced likelyhood of low apgar scores etc etc.

I expect that the 'evidence' that some scientists would like to see to verify these benefits will never be produced, because it's impossible to produce randomised studies into benefits associated with place of birth, and very challenging to match homebirthing mums with a suitable control group.