Hospital birth can end in tragedy, too.

Despite our supposedly excellent healthcare system, our infant mortality rate is far higher than it should be; indeed, many countries boast of a much lower IMR than we have. Our stillbirth rate is still 1%, meaning that 1 in 100 babies will be born dead. Considering homebirth only accounts for 1% of all births, and an estimated 90-95% of homebirths have great outcomes, most bad birth outcomes are taking place in hospitals.

Nevertheless, to discredit homebirth, some focus on only the bad outcomes of homebirths, completely ignoring the hospital births that go wrong. When a homebirth fails, it is the mother's fault, the midwife's fault, and it's a tribute to the dangers of homebirth. When a hospital birth fails, it was no one's fault. Or, if it was the doctor's fault or the result of a staff mistake, well, you can't use that to make a general statement about the safety of hospital birth.

Are you rolling your eyes yet?

Those who birth at home or in the hospital usually photograph the event. Most of the time, the pictures show a beautiful and happy experience. Another writer recently stated that what she would like to see, however, are pictures of a homebirth that ended in tragedy. Why on Earth would anyone like to see that? Only a bitter and cruel person would take joy in the misery of others. It makes me cringe.

Hospital birth ends in tragedy as well. I don't like to see photos of tragedy; I don't take pleasure in anyone's pain. Nevertheless, if pictures of a homebirth tragedy would discredit homebirth in general, would not pictures of a hospital birth tragedy discredit hospital birth in general? I don't think pictures of either says much at all about the safety of either birth option in generally. If I did, though, and was attempting to discredit hospital birth, here's the photo essay I would create:

A photograph of the mother trying hard to deal with the intense contractions caused by Cytotec induction.

A picture of the doctor's face when the mother is bleeding profusely from her vagina, her blood pressure and pulse falling, and the baby's heartrate rapidly decreasing.

The mother's expression of shock and horror when she's told her uterus has ruptured, though she's not high risk as she's never had a C-section before.

A shot of the mother once she has become unconscious, bleeding to death, being wheeled to the OR.

The collection of doctors and nurses gathered around the woman, now under general anesthesia, with the doctor making the incision.

A picture of the father's face as he paces the waiting room, hoping, praying.

The doctor's hands inside the mother's uterus, then emerging holding a floppy baby with very poor color.

Desperate attempts to resuscitate the baby.

The look on the parents' face when she's told that the baby had already sustained too much neurological damage by the time he was born and resuscitated.

Shots of the infant in the NICU and a groggy mother holding her baby, covered in wires, 3 days after the birth, with tears in her eyes.

An infant-sized casket being lowered into the ground as black-clad, crying family members hold each other.

Yes, in the hospital, most of the time intervention comes in the nick of time. The baby lives and is healthy is the usual outcome. Sometimes, the baby has brain damage--as happened at a hospital near me recently--and/or is diagnosed later with cerebral palsy as a result. Unfortunately, babies do sustain damage severe enough to result in death even in the hospital.

As we've already established, 1% of babies are born dead, and homebirth only accounts for 1% of all births total with 90-95% of them being safe, most of these stillbirths do occur in the hospital. As many studies indicate a lower IMR for homebirth than the average hospital IMR, it seems this outcome is more likely to occur after a hospital birth.

Is homebirth always safe? Is it always the safest choice for every mother? No. It is the same with hospital birth. Hospital birth doesn't guarantee a great birth outcome, nor is it always the safest location for a baby to be born.