Natural and home birth and un natural hospital births

sparks19

I'd rather be at Disney
Joined
Jul 7, 2005
Messages
28,563
Likes
3
Points
38
Age
42
Location
Lancaster, PA
As far as hospitals being germy... the world is germy!!! Hospitals are very conscious about sterilizing everything in sight, washing with high power soaps, and preventing the spread of germs. I'm sure my house is germier, even though I clean often, I don't go around sterilizing everything. And I cannot imagine cleaning up after a birth at home. Not that I doubt that people who are dedicated to having home births are all about keeping everything sanitary. I just don't trust myself as much as I trust hospitals. Mine is really awesome, state of the art, and conscious about cleanliness! They give people with colds masks to wear even!

The maternity ward where I'm giving birth is completely separate from the rest of the hospital. A separate building, with a separate cafeteria. There will not be any lepers roaming around my delivery room. :)
Exactly. My house is probably just as germy as most places. We have dogs, we wear our shoes in the house and we have a kid runnig around who is always bringing germs home daily. We aren't fanatical about washing hands after touching every little thing. We even use public restrooms :eek:

Hannahs illness at birth came from within me not from the hospital. As for the NICU anyone entering had to scrub their hands with individually wrapped scrub brushes filled with soap for five minutes before they could touch anything or get near any babies.

Not overly concerned about the germy aspect. Germs are everywhere
 

zoe08

New Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
5,160
Likes
0
Points
0
Age
37
Location
Texas
Also as far as germs go, many people have older kids going to school or daycare everyday, more likely to bring home an illness than time spent in the maternity ward.
 

sillysally

Obey the Toad.
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
5,074
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
A hole in the bottom of the sea.

Romy

Taxiderpy
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Messages
10,233
Likes
1
Points
38
Location
Olympia, WA
The cleanliness and layout of hospitals varies from building to building. For the most part a good hospital will have a totally separate maternity area.

Vaccination protocol in the US is for newborn babies to get a hepatitis vaccine at birth, at the same time as their vitamin K shots. When I asked why, the doctors and nurses always told me that it's because they are at a hospital and sick people are there. My daughter's pediatrician told me it wasn't needed at birth for her because she was born in a birth center and wasn't going into daycare at 6 weeks.

And while people's homes do have germs in them, they're germs that mom is exposed to daily and has plenty of antibodies built up for, and plenty of antibodies to pass on to the baby after its born. It's not like people randomly have people with MRSA sores on their bodies roll all over their living room furniture (like might happen in a hospital lobby).

Sooo... if there's practically zero chance of contracting a serious illness by virtue of being born in a hospital, why do they vaccinate at that age?
 

sparks19

I'd rather be at Disney
Joined
Jul 7, 2005
Messages
28,563
Likes
3
Points
38
Age
42
Location
Lancaster, PA
Well luckily we had No one waiting in the lobby to see the baby lol

Seriously though. I wouldn't say hospitals are clean places. No where is a clean place. Hubbys ex boss had a lot of recurring issues with MRSA. Made me nervous from time to time but seriously, what could I do about it? Germs are everywhere. I would bet a shopping cart could compete with aome of te germs at a hospital.
 

zoe08

New Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
5,160
Likes
0
Points
0
Age
37
Location
Texas
I never said there wasn't ANY chance of getting sick in a hospital, just that hospitals do take pre-cautions, and we can't ever be 100% germ free (and I am a germaphobe, so believe me I would be wherever that place was if it existed!)

The maternity floor is probably much less likely to have germs in the lobbies, because those lobby seats are for people waiting to meet a baby, not waiting to be seen in the ER because they are sick.

Just that germs being in a hospital is not exactly a reason to avoid giving birth in a hospital. I certainly believe that the benefits of the medical technology in case of an emergency far outweighs the possibility of germs.
 

Romy

Taxiderpy
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Messages
10,233
Likes
1
Points
38
Location
Olympia, WA
Just that germs being in a hospital is not exactly a reason to avoid giving birth in a hospital. I certainly believe that the benefits of the medical technology in case of an emergency far outweighs the possibility of germs.
Oh I totally agree on that. Just wanted people to be aware that there is some risk. There's risk in everything because it's life.
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2011
Messages
3,199
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
St. Louis, MO
Yes, germs exist and I am probably about as far from a germaphobe as one can get but hospitals do have much scarier germs than the vast majority of homes

There are pros and cons to both hospital and home births. Just be empowered to your options and choose what YOU feel is best for you and your baby, what you feel the best about, and know the risks of the options you have
 

Paige

Let it be
Joined
Jan 13, 2007
Messages
7,359
Likes
0
Points
0
There are pros and cons to both hospital and home births. Just be empowered to your options and choose what YOU feel is best for you and your baby, what you feel the best about, and know the risks of the options you have
Amen! Birth is a beautiful and empowering experience. Or it can be. I want every woman to walk away from it proud of what she has accomplished regardless of how she birthed because it's the journey into parenthood. Having unmedicated births means a lot to me personally, but I would never want to make a mama feel less than because she had her little one different. She is a different person and should birth the way she sees fit.
 
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
Messages
3
Likes
0
Points
0
It all depends on the situation. Like for instance, my wife wanted to give birth naturally, but unfortunately, it didn't happen. The reason is that she is already in labor for more than 24 hours and the doctors and the nurses are worried that our baby might get stressed and have it's first poo(which is also called meconium) inside the womb and that is very dangerous for the baby. So me and wife decided to go for c-section. We don't really have a choice at that time, but who cares, as long as my wife and my baby is safe.
 

Members online

No members online now.
Top