More home births due to Corona

The number of home births is increasing in the corona crisis.

Mainly because of the contact limits in the hospital, expectant mothers are looking for out-of-hospital alternatives.

Not the only obstetric consequence of the pandemic.

Agatharied -

Franziska Eham doesn't have far to go to Agatharied hospital.

Strictly speaking, there are less than 800 meters between her family's yard and the maternity ward.

Nevertheless, the 24-year-old decided to give birth to her first child at home.

“In January the number of infections was very high.

Again and again I heard that if it stays that way, the fathers are not allowed into the delivery room, ”says Eham.

“But I definitely didn't want to be alone.” Eham decided not to let himself be unsettled by the unclear development of the pandemic and the repeated measures that the cabinet decided to take to contain it - and looked for alternatives.

Home birth after 13 hours of labor

On January 24th, after 13 hours of labor, Franziska was born - in the Eham house.

"It was reassuring for me that I had the option to move the birth to the hospital if I didn't feel good anymore," says Eham.

"But that was not the case.

On the contrary, it was a wonderful experience.

We are very happy that we decided to have a home birth. "

The pandemic effect can be seen in the statistics

Eham is not the only one who gave birth at home in the pandemic: If the share of out-of-hospital births in the total number of births in Germany in the ten years before the pandemic was between 1.3 and 1.6 percent, it jumped in the Corona year 2020 to almost two percent.

This emerges from the statistics of the Society for Quality in Out-of-Hospital Obstetrics (Quag).

A trend that is also noticeable in the Miesbach district. “The women don't want to experience childbirth apart from their families,” says Kick van Walbeek - one of two midwives who accompany home births in the Miesbach district. There were a total of 48 in their area of ​​responsibility in 2020 - eleven more than in the previous year. "The pandemic effect was felt especially in January, February and March 2021," says van Walbeek. There were 15 home births during this period. Among them were three couples whose decision to give birth outside the hospital was explicitly based on the contact restrictions in the hospital. “However, the majority of couples do not opt ​​for a home birth out of fear of the clinic, but because the advantages at home outweigh the advantages,” says van Walbeek. Above all, the women valued the 1: 1 care by a midwife who they are familiar with.

No boom

Of course, there was no talk of a boom in home birth: "If you look at the percentage, it becomes clear that home birth is still a niche," says Walbeek's colleague Ute Hickman.

Nevertheless, it is fully booked until the end of the year.

Birth in the clinic

According to press spokeswoman Melanie Speicher, there were a total of 1344 births in the Agatharied hospital in the pandemic year 2020. In the previous year the clinic counted 1315 births, in 2018 it was 1372. Especially since the maternity ward in Bad Tölz was closed in 2017, the numbers in Agatharied have increased. “By expanding our premises and adding more equipment, we have adapted to the increasing numbers,” says Speicher. “And of course we have hired additional midwives, nurses and doctors for obstetrics.” 18 midwives work full-time and part-time in the five delivery rooms.

The hospital tries to keep the effects of the pandemic low: "According to the principle: There are moments in life that are more important than Corona, the obstetric process could be maintained in the usual form despite all the safety measures," says Speicher.

This includes that fathers can be present during the birth.

According to Speicher, there is an FFP2 mask requirement for women in labor as part of the hygiene regulations.

However, there are cases in which wearing the mask is not possible due to the woman's medical constitution.

No visits to the weekly ward

There is also a ban on visiting: Currently, fathers are only allowed to go to the maternity ward on the day after the birth.

Siblings are not allowed to come at all.

“There is no question that individual measures are burdensome.

We also hope that the vaccinations will take effect soon and, in the course of falling incidence values, make it possible to relax, ”says Speicher.

Shorter hospital stay for women who have recently given birth in the pandemic

Some women want to be released earlier because of the ban on visits.

“Most of them go home after two to three days.

The length of stay is thus slightly shorter than before the pandemic. "

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