A home birth sounds so, well, homey—but it’s not necessarily green. The fact is, many home births occur in environments that are filled with the same toxic cleaners, linens, paints, furniture, and baby products that are typically found in hospitals and some birthing centers.
But a home birth is a choice that gives you complete control over the environment—so you can make it as green as you desire. A home birth can most easily become a green delivery because
• It results in the lowest level of invasive medical procedures, such as episiotomy, vacuum extraction, or cesarean section.
• A mother in labor does not have to be tethered to IV lines or monitoring machines—something that may be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on the circumstances.
• It allows the mother to enjoy the best possible nutrition after the delivery.
• The expectant couple can prepare the delivery room in ways that keep the baby away from any industrial cleaners and other products that a hospital might use.
• The mother and baby can use organic cotton bedding and clothing if they choose—without having to get special permission.
• The new parents can use diapers, lotions, cleansers, and creams that they feel are pure, nontoxic, and good for the planet.
• A home birth costs less than an uncomplicated vaginal birth in a hospital in the United States, while at the same time reducing the polluting medical waste that ends up as landfill.1
If the opportunity to create a green delivery room for your baby in your own home is appealing to you, you can be further encouraged by the fact that there is no additional mortality risk found in home births for low-risk pregnancies.
In 2005, the British Medical Journal reported the results of a study of the births of 5,418 babies born in the United States and Canada in 2000. In the research group, some parents employed a professional midwife for a planned home birth; others had planned hospital deliveries. Among a variety of findings, the best news was that for low-risk pregnancies, the maternal and infant mortality rates were equally low whether the baby was born at home or in the hospital.2
In the United States, however, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has taken a strong stand against births outside a hospital setting. “We recognize that some women have concerns that the hospital setting for childbirth leads to more interventions. However, we cannot ignore the fact that childbirth . . . has become safer for mothers and babies over the last 6 decades due to improvements in medical technology and improved access to trained providers and emergency obstetrical and neonatal care.”3
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