Why I Chose To Do A Hospital Birth

Yes, I have heard all of the scary stories about giving birth in a hospital. I've read why home births are better than hospital births. However, I believe most of the articles I have read are biased. I wanted to have a home birth but I thought about the pain from the contractions and told myself it would be best if I gave birth in the hospital. So I did, and I had a great hospital birth, it didn't go as planned but it didn't go horribly wrong either. When you give birth to your baby, you want it to be well planned out. You either want the epidural or you don't. You either want them to cut the umbilical cord immediately or let it stay attached to the baby until it's done pulsating. Here's the thing though, just because you plan your birth does not mean it will go as planned. Anything can happen, and since this was my first child and I've never felt real contractions before I wanted to be near that epidural!! I also didn't want to be transferred to the hospital and then have to pay for my midwife and the obstetrician. Also, some people say when you give birth at home there's a least likely chance that something will go wrong, but that's mainly because midwives do not take high risk patients. I wasn't a high risk patient but I still felt the need to deliver at the hospital.

There are many reasons why I chose a hospital birth. I wanted the medicine to be accessible when I could no longer take the pain. Desired the birth to be an enjoyable and memorable experience instead of being in pain the whole time. I also wanted my baby to be secure, just in case something did happen I thought it would be necessary to be around professionals that work with pregnant women and babies daily. When it came time to have my baby I knew that there would be an experienced medical doctor on staff. Being at a hospital you're always connected to an IV, the IV gives your body fluids that it needs to function right, without them fluids I would have passed out and lost a lot of blood. The service was excellent! They took great care of me and Adora during our stay. I had help with cleaning myself after the delivery, three delicious meals daily(surprising, I know), and they always checked on my uterus to make sure it was going down. They also checked on my stitches to make sure they were okay. I could send Adora to the nursery whenever I needed some time to myself. The nurses had a protocol to follow when taking babies back and forth from the nursery to the parents. We all had wrist labels(Adora had a wrist and ankle label) that matched up and had to be scanned before they gave our daughter back to us. Just incase some crazy person wanted to try and take our baby, Adora's label would sound off the security system. 

So I personally believe the hospital was the best place to give birth at. I'm not saying you should choose a hospital birth over a home birth. I'm also not trying to make derogatory statements about home births, each to their own. I'm simply sharing my experience with anyone else who is considering a hospital birth. Everyone's experience will be different from mine. I'm sure when you're pregnant with your first child you will make the decision on whether or not a hospital birth is best for you and your child. Thanks for reading!