Self fulfilling prophecies

So there is a revolution in the practice of birthing in North America, where births have been hospitalized and now women are taking back their births!  Not everyone is on board, but Rose and I feel like we are getting on board.  The recurring theme is that births, which are, and should be regarded as a natural and, most of the time, not risky procedures, have been medicalized.  At the same time, if there is a chance of something going wrong (and there always is!), isn't good to have access to medical services?  Of course it is!

The Business of Being Born hones in on a particular New York-area midwife (or so I recall) who specializes in home births.  A very cool woman.  We're a bit different here in Ontario where we have access to midwives as provincially-accredited caregivers who can care for pregnant women in a hospital setting as well.  

The midwife group that we've signed up with has occasional information session on home births and we will be attending one such session in a few months, at which point I will know more about this.  My impression right now is that, unless some drug needs to be administered, no doctors have to be involved in the birth, even when it is a hospital birth, as long as the midwife has privileges at the hospital.

What difference does this make?  Rose and I feel that we've already made a key decision in de-medicalizing (if that's a word) the pregnancy and birth by choosing to go with a midwife.  We think that an experienced midwife (which we're lucky to have) will probably be more tolerant and patient than a doctor (and these suspicions have been confirmed in the movies--admittedly, based in the States--that we've been seeing).

So birthing in a hospital under a midwife's care should be good, right?  Probably.  BUT, there may be some reasons to prefer trying a home birth rather than a hospital birth.

First reason, you are familiar with the surroundings and you have more control over them.  The woman can labour in any way she wants to, without having to worry about procedures, etc.  The lights can be dimmed.  And so on.

Second reason, not having access to drugs and medical interventions will make it less likely that the woman will receive them.

Third reason, a woman who decides to labour and give birth at home may have an uncomplicated birth because she chose to do it at home.  This may sound weird, but it may be true.  It may be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The question I've posed to myself is whether there is the possibility of experiencing a risk that can only be treated in a hospital when it becomes too late to make it to a hospital?  If the answer to this is 'yes', then of course we should have a hospital birth.  But the evidence that we have been exposed to appears to show that, as long as the birth is low risk, the midwife is experienced, and the hospital is less than 15 minutes away, a home birth is safe.

Home birthing is also a sensitive topic, in my case, for family members.  So let's try to avoid sharing these reflections with my mother.  You know who you are.