Natural and home birth and un natural hospital births

[sparks19]

Originally Posted by ihartgonzo

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

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]

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]

It's not really the same kinds of germs being brought back from daycare or school though, they tend to be more serious:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/...ons/57079514/1

I'm not saying nobody should give birth in a hospital, I plan on giving birth in a hospital. However, hospitals do have some downsides, and many of them don't have their maturity wards in separate buildings.

[Romy]

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]

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]

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]

Originally Posted by zoe08

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.

[stardogs]

After all, life is 100% fatal LOL (seemed like we needed a little levity)

[HayleyMarie]

man, I had a great time reading this. Thanks for all the replies, all very interesting. And Erin, thanks for all the links

[Greenmagick]

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