Where: Hospital Births

So to start, I wanted to take a look at the main option women are given in regards to their birth experiences.

Hospital births are the most prevalent birth options women pursue. There are many pros and cons to hospital births.

Some of the advantages to hospital births are:

- If you are in need of any pain relief during or after delivery, hospitals have many different options. Not only are they the only setting that can give you an epidural if you chose, they are also the only one that can provide emergency c-sections if necessary.
- They have many very advanced technologies, and trained personnel if you are your newborn need any medical care during or after delivery.
-You are surrounded by nurses and doctors that know exactly what to do if any complications were to arise. Because of this many women feel much safer in hospital settings.

Some disadvantages of hospital births are:

- They can feel like very uncomfortable areas to give birth, and often make women feel more scared than safe. This fear can in turn slow down the birth process.
- They can sometimes feel very impersonal and intimidating.
- You are not given very much privacy. Because nurses must monitor your vital signs routinely meaning that it can be hard to get rest and be alone.
- Because of routine screenings, mother and baby are often separated immediately after birth.

Another disadvantage is the great possibility of being convinced to pursue a birthing experience you did not intend or even want to have. It is a possibility at hospitals to be induced due to slow laboring processes. When a woman's labor is induced she is often given pitocin to speed up the contractions, but because these new contractions are not natural, they are a lot more intense and cause most women to ask for an epidural. This in turn slows down the birth process, which warrants for more pitocin on and on and on until the baby has become distressed due to all of the different medications being put into the body, leading to a cesarean delivery. This has lead to a sharp increase in cesarean deliveries, now in America over thirty percent of all birth are by c-section.

Cesarean deliveries can be a very great option when babies are too large for natural delivery or if the baby is positioned breech, but they are not always necessary. In many cases where labors have been induced, the only thing the mother needed was more time to let her body go through the labor process.

Overall hospital births are a very prevalent birth choice for very good reasons, and prove to be very great options for many women. But there are also many other options out there for women that they should know about before making their decision.

Sources:
-http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancylabor-and-delivery/delivery-options/delivering-in-a-hospital.aspx
-http://www.babycentre.co.uk/a1046223/giving-birth-in-hospital
-http://www.today.com/id/17796664/ns/today-today_health/t/why-so-many-women-have-c-sections/#.UyoZTf07rwI