THE PLOWBOY INTERVIEW

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PLOWBOY: Were you ever at all nervous about delivering at home?

TOMPSON: Oh, no. I'd had all my babies naturally, so giving birth wasn't a horrible or frightening experience to me. In addition, being on her home turf — like, say, the local football team — gives a mother a real advantage. She can make the decisions about who's there. She's more comfortable, more relaxed, and less apprehensive . . . so it's likely that the birth will go easily.

I believe there are many elements that science doesn't know how to measure which contribute to the fact that most home births — for people who want them — are safer than those in a hospital. Unless you've done it, though, you can't really understand what it means to give birth to a baby in your own bed, surrounded only by people who love and care about you, and to be in a position to celebrate a birth rather than just endure it. The effects of those unmeasurables shouldn't be underestimated.

PLOWBOY: I imagine that having a new sibling born at home was a positive experience for your other children as well.

TOMPSON: Absolutely. They've never been in the room for the birth itself, but they've always rushed in within a few seconds to see the baby . . . and then out again to tie an appropriately colored blanket to the lamppost outside our house in order to spread the news. The older children have always been part of each experience . . . I've never deserted them.

In contrast, Dr. Herbert Ratner makes this analogy: Suppose a woman's husband goes of for a while and then comes home with this other woman and says, "Honey, I really love you, but I love her, too. She's going to live here now, and because she's new and doesn't understand things very well yet, I'm going to have to spend a lot more time with her than with you." Now the wife wouldn't want to share that man . . . and a child feels the same way about sharing his or her parents. But by not going away for her delivery, a mother can help prevent some of that sibling jealousy . . . and the children can get a very positive picture of birth itself. It becomes a normal and healthy event in their minds, not a frightening one.

PLOWBOY: Let's talk a little bit more about hospital deliveries. Why do institutions produce — for some people — less-than-optimal experiences?

TOMPSON: I suppose one of the biggest reasons is that many hospitals seem to have a talent for turning normal, natural births into crisis situations. Now it's not that the doctors and other hospital staff want that sort of thing to happen. A lot of the drawbacks simply reflect the very nature of going into an unfamiliar environment and getting surrounded by strange people at a time when the mother really needs nurturing and support.

In fact, for a great many women, labor slows or stops as soon as they arrive at the hospital! To speed or restart contractions, a medical attendant is then likely to administer oxytocin, a stimulant that causes the uterus to tighten. However, this creates contractions that are much stronger — and closer together — than normal. As a result, the woman gets worn out very quickly.

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