Home births are becoming more common

COLUMBUS — More parents are choosing to welcome their babies into the world outside of a hospital setting, opting instead for the comfort of being at home.

Holistic birth specialist Marina Zahran said she did a four-year program studying at the California College of Ayurveda medicine. She said she’s hearing from families that have their first birth in hospitals because they’re told that’s the safest place to have a baby.

But she said women are supposed to feel like they’re in a safe, calm environment during that experience.

“Home birth, you’re watching the birth happen, a lot of the times you’re not having people yell in your face, ‘push,’ you’re experiencing the physiology of birth move through you, and you get to just be a part of it instead of feeling like you’re not doing things right, your body’s not doing things right, and that’s why home births have really positive maternal outcomes for not just the baby but also the mom,” Zahran said.

Zahran said, to have a home birth, working with a doula or midwife is best.

“Home birth isn’t for everybody. A lot of times, there isn’t as much pain medication as there is at a hospital, so if you know you want an epidural, a home birth isn’t for you and that’s why hospitals are there,” Zahran said.

She said that she was meeting more and more families that has their first baby in the hospital and just wanted to go the natural route and do it at home.

She said this fascinated her, and she wanted to learn more about it and be able to help other women. She took her training program three times in one year to make sure she was knowledgeable about it.