Home Birth Program at Mercy Hospital for Women

For GP Newsletter Q1 2025

Mercy Hospital for Women is excited to announce the start of our Home Birth Program.

This program works alongside our Maternity Group Practice (MGP) Program. As with MGP, the women will have a dedicated midwife from a small team of six midwives. During their pregnancy, all antenatal appointments are with their dedicated midwife. When in labour, this same midwife will assist during birth and will make home visits up to 14 days after birth to check on mum and baby.

The Home Birth Program has had twelve successful homebirths since its implementation in October 2024, with one successful transfer to the hospital. Our overall success rate, from interest at booking to successful vaginal birth at home, is 72%.

The Home Birth Program is a maternity program for women with a low-risk pregnancy. After joining the MGP program, eligible women can be selected for the Home Birth Program.

Women who are considered for the Home Birth Program will have the following inclusion criteria:

• Low risk pregnancy, as determined by Mercy Hospital for Women
• Living within a 30-minute drive from Mercy Hospital for Women (this is measured by Waze at 12pm on a weekday)
• Maternal age at delivery < 42 years
• Body mass index (BMI) < 35, or maternal weight lower than 100 kg at booking or weight gain less than 20 kg over the course of the pregnancy

The Home Birth Program will exclude the following women with the following medical history:

• Any clinically significant medical condition likely to negatively affect the birth outcome
• Alcohol or medication/substance misuse
• Female genital cutting > Type 2B i.e. where there is restriction to the vaginal opening

Past Obstetric exclusion criteria:

• Caesarean section
• PPH in excess of one (1) litre
• Shoulder dystocia
• Neonate requiring intensive care, for an unexplained reason
• Neonate requiring hospital care for a cause likely to re-occur in subsequent pregnancies
• Perinatal death

Current pregnancy exclusion criteria:

• Antepartum haemorrhage
• Antibiotics 18 hours after 37+0 weeks gestation without labour, irrespective of Group B Streptococcus status
• Positive Group B Streptococcus (antibiotics cannot be administered in the home)
• Post-term pregnancy ≥41.6 weeks gestation
• Failure to attend scheduled appointments (including post-dates monitoring in the 41st week)
• Non-completion of essential tests and investigations (i.e. morphology ultrasound, diabetes screening tests GTT, FBE)
• Any other risk factor requiring continuous intrapartum fetal surveillance, as per fetal surveillance
• Any unsuitability identified, as assessed using the Homebirth Safety Assessment form
• The woman discloses that she will not transfer to the hospital if recommended

When discussing the antenatal options at Mercy Hospital for Women with your patient, we hope you consider the amazing opportunity to discuss the Home Birth Program as an option, as well as our MGP, Team Care, Shared Care and regular antenatal clinic programs. See our website for an overview of all our maternity services offered.

You can refer your patient to Mercy Hospital for Women for our maternity service via HealthLink eReferrals. Please select Maternity Group Practice as the preferred antenatal service and write in the comment section that a home birth is the patient’s preferred option.