Stuart Fischbein on home births versus hospital births
Stuart Fischbein (Dr Stu) runs a website and podcast called Birthing Instincts.
More specifically, he is an OBGYN (Obstetrician-Gynaecologist) with over 40 years of experience who specialises in breech and twin births and supports VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Caesarean).
In other words, he has delivered a lot of babies in both hospitals and homes, promoting the latter due to it being safer and healthier.
“When you end up meddling with birth, you end up needing technology.”
– Dr Stu
Personal thoughts
Had my wife not been pregnant at the time, I wouldn’t have considered this talking point. On a road trip, she found Dr Stu’s podcast and we listened to a few episodes.
We kept nodding at what he said and I realised I needed to get him on my podcast.
It turns out that, paradoxically, this topic is rarely discussed while being the most important moment in life. Literally.
How we’re born shapes our entire life.
Think about it.
Good birth conditions, for example, mean better health and growth, physically and mentally. Bad conditions can lead to lifelong issues.
We have been taught to believe that hospital births are safer than home births. They’re not. We’ve also been taught to believe that it’s all about ‘getting the baby out’ when it’s a helluva lot more.
Read this paper called “Home Birth” with an Obstetrician: A Series of 135 Out of Hospital Births for a study of the dangers of both home births and hospital births.
If you’re too lazy to read it, the conclusion is that home births are no more dangerous than hospital births. In fact, due to the high number of medical interventions, hospital births can sometimes be more dangerous because of the increased risks.
As Dr Stu notes, the establishment has, over the last century or so, duped men and women into believing that childbirth is a medical condition needing clinical intervention. Hospitals are for treating patients when something is wrong. Is there something wrong with childbirth?
No.
Childbirth is not a medical condition.
Why rush to the hosiptal, then?
Only in the rare case of a genuine emergency. (The definition of ’emergency’ has broadened so much that almost everything is now labelled as one.) A little over a century ago, the majority of births took place at home. Today, almost all happen in hospitals.
What changed?
I strongly recommend watching the documentary The Business of Being Born. It came out in the early 2000s, but it’s more relevant than ever.
The point is, there is a lot of missing information, probably by design. My guess is that our decision-making might look different if we were more knowledgeable.
“The whole medical system is not designed for wellness. It’s designed for pathology.”
– Dr Stu
Conversation
Very importantly, Dr Stu adds that medicine absolutely has its place but that we should challenge the over-medicalisation of childbirth.
He covers a few talking points, including:
- Men discussing pregnancy and birth
- Decline in academic standards
- His journey to home births
- The etsablishment’s opposition to home births
- Too many interventions and C-sections
- Long-term effects of medical interventions
“The medical system is geared to get these women to get on the assembly line of getting delivered.”
– Dr Stu
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