Is Home Birth Right for You?

Are you a healthy woman experiencing a normal pregnancy? Do you desire to be an active participant in your prenatal care and birth? Do you choose a non-medical approach when it is a safe option? Do you want to be supported by your birth team in your desire for a natural birth? My clients choose home birth for many reasons. The overall themes they discuss are:

• Safety
• Comfort
• Support
• Family
• Empowerment

Safety

• I want my baby to be exposed to as few chemicals and germs as possible.
• If my baby and I are healthy, I want to wait for labor to start on its own.
• If my labor fails to progress, I want to try natural means of stimulating labor.
• I want my provider to work very hard to help me not tear.  I definitely don't want a provider who would cut an unnecessary episiotomy just to hurry things up.  
• I want a vaginal birth.  I don't want to worry that a c-section will be done just because my labor is progressing slowly.
• I want interventions to be used only as needed, not due to "protocol."

Comfort

• I want to move freely in labor.  When my baby needs to be monitored, I want the monitor to come to me rather than me being sent to bed.
• I want to eat and drink in labor--my own food, from my own fridge.
• I want to be able to consider a water birth.
• I don't want to travel while in labor.
• I want to be loud if I need to be loud, naked if I need to be naked, and to cry if I need to cry.
• I might just want to sit alone...or never be left alone.
• I don't feel comfortable, or empowered, in a hospital gown.
• I want a fire in the fireplace, my music on, and my dog lying at the foot of my bed.
• After my difficult and triumphant labor I want to be resting at home in my own bed.

Support

• I want my prenatal appointments to include a lot of face-to-face time with my provider.
• I want to be supported in breastfeeding, even if it's tough.
• I want my provider to be invested in me holistically--not just interested in my medical concerns, but my emotional and spiritual concerns as well.
• When I call to say "I'm in labor," I want my provider to know who I am and remember me from our prenatal visits.
• I want to be taken care of by someone who knows me and my birth plan, someone who respects and cares personally about me and my partner.  
• I want my provider to be with me for much of my labor, not just the birth of the baby.
• I don't want my birth team to change shifts in the middle of my birth.  
• I want to know that my midwife is focused only on me and my labor.
• I want a provider who believes in me and believes in birth, and knows how to help me believe.

Family

• I want my baby to stay with me from the moment she is born.
• I want all those newborn procedures (weighing, medicines, exam, footprints) to wait until after the most important and precious part: nursing and bonding with my new baby while he is still alert after birth. 
• I want my family to be included in my prenatal care and birth--as many or as few as I choose.
• I want my baby to have this peaceful, reverent and joyful welcome.

Empowerment

• I don't want to be treated like I'm sick just because I'm pregnant.
• I don't want to be told what position to give birth in.  I want to see what is working well for me.
• I want to be able to ask questions, and even to question the advice of my provider.
• I want to understand why different procedures and tests are being offered and have the ability to decline them if they are not best for me and my baby.
• I know I can do this.  But if I start to forget, I want you to be there to remind me.