Welcome!

Welcome to our Guide to Out-of-Hospital Birth course!

As birth doulas, we both serve families giving birth in different locations including hospitals, birth centers and home. We provide tons of information to our clients and a lot of our clients who are choosing home birth or birth center birth express that they have difficulty finding childbirth education that is specific to their birth place and the options they may have.

With folks rediscovering the benefits of out-of-hospital birth, we know that this empowering information needs to be more accessible.

You deserve to know all about out-of-hospital birth and it's our mission to improve access to this specific art and category of childbirth education.

Let's dive in together!

~Allison & Brigitte

What is out-of-hospital birth?

An out-of-hospital birth is when a low-risk pregnant person seeks the traditional birth setting of home or a birth center.

Home births increased from 1.02% to 1.03% in 2019, then jumped to 1.26% in 2020 (1).

Questions to ask yourself when considering out-of-hospital birth:

• What draws me to out-of-hospital birth? Why do I really want a home or birth center birth?
• What is my support system like? Is my birth team reliable and do I feel confident in them?
• Which hospitals are closest? If applicable, do I have a preference?
• Am I able to accept that there are no epidurals at out-of-hospital births? Is this something I am okay with?

Benefits of out-of-hospital birth:

• Physiological birth is encouraged and supported.
• Location tends to be more accessible, especially in rural areas.
• Your birth experience is more likely to be undisturbed.
• Spontaneous vaginal birth rates are higher for home & birth center births.
• Waterbirth is extremely accessible and available.
• Cesarean rates are lower for home & birth center births.
• The comfort and relaxation found at home or a center is unmatched.
• Hospitals with high cesarean birth rates are avoided.
• The pressure for and frequency of interventions is naturally less.
• VBAC rates for home birth are high -- one study showed 87% success.

We will be using inclusive language (ie. birthing person and partner) to make sure this education is accessible to surrogates, queer people and any other dynamic at play.

Now that we have our introduction complete,

let's dive in together!

Ps. This course includes a 40-page course guide. The full guide is available to download in the next 'lecture' section!