Having both a midwife and a doula in a homebirth is nice. My midwife mentor and one of the column writers for Midwifery Today, Marion Toepke McLean, cautioned us early on that when midwives do too much labor support, our judgment of what is going on may be clouded. Sometimes labor is very long but very normal. If you have been providing labor support the whole time, you might have the tendency to transport too soon.

A doula can be very helpful in splitting the load and can also assist the midwife as an extra pair of hands. I would caution doulas against taking over the father’s role as one of labor support, however. He needs to bond to the mom and his baby. We are in and out of clients’ lives and need to leave strong seeds of support planted. We must also be careful not to usurp the mom’s power. This is her birth.


Jan Tritten

Methicillin resistant staph aureus (MRSA) is another good reason to have your baby at home. It is rampant in hospitals. Our local newspaper reported recently that 90,000 Americans are sickened by this infection each year and almost 19,000 are killed by it. This is more people than are killed by AIDS in the US each year. Overall approximately 1.7 million Americans get other infections while hospitalized, with almost 100,000 dying. These are staggering statistics. The moral of the story is only go to the hospital if you have to--birth is not in itself a medical event. Complicated birth can be, but it should still be treated like the miracle that it is. Weigh the benefits against the risks and stay home. Hospitals have many more risks than just infection. Motherbaby are accustomed to their own germs within their household. This is just one benefit of homebirth.