Like me, you might be curious about giving birth at home. It’s an option my husband and I have considered before. Our deliveries at the local birth center do offer a “home-like setting,” but it’s still not the same as bringing a baby into the world at your own house. I decided to interview my dear friend and neighbor who has lots of experience under her belt. You might wonder “who is a good candidate for home birth?” The general recommendations are:
- A mother with a healthy, low-risk pregnancy
- A mother who is diligent about becoming informed and finding an experienced midwife or doctor
- A mother who has reasonably easy access to emergency care, should a situation arise that the home birth practitioner deems is beyond her scope of expertise.
And now….let’s see what my friend has to share about her experiences!
How many home births have you had so far? Five home births.
How do you choose the midwife that will assist you at the delivery? Someone who I am comfortable with, has the experience I want and is willing to at least consider doing stuff out of the ordinary (breech, etc…), but also is cautious. I usually find them online and then call them and talk to them, eventually doing an in-person interview.
Was home birth something that you and your husband knew right off you wanted, or was there a lot of research and discussion involved? Lots of research and discussion. We had heard of it, but it wasn’t until we grew frustrated with the hospital policies (in spite of having a great pro-life doctor) that we really felt pushed that way.
Is everything provided by the midwife, or are there certain things the family needs to buy for the delivery? A little bit of stuff is needed, like setting up your bed/floor so you don’t ruin it, and also a relatively inexpensive birth kit with cord clamps and the like in it [note from Anne: Everything Birth sells both customized and pre-packaged birth kits, as well as postpartum care supplies like peribottles, Glad Rags, Peri Compresses, lanolin and soothing herbals).
What kind of prenatal care did you have leading up to the birth? It’s basically the same as the doctor’s office; but not the ultrasounds (unless I requested one), and not the constant blood work (she still checks urine and blood iron levels). There is more that is left open to the patient to choose. For instance, they will do glucose testing, but don’t require it.
What types of medication and/or interventions does the midwife have at her disposal? Anti-hemmorage medication and oxygen for baby (it depends on the midwife). Most stuff they deal with naturally: for instance, there are only a few medical emergencies and they are trained how to deal with them until they can get you to a hospital. This would be a question you would ask each midwife individually because they differ. There are lots of natural alternatives to medication. For instance, Pitocin you can only get in the hospital, but if you break the water and use a breast pump it can also trigger labor (this worked for me!). They use a lot of herbs and stuff and I have found them to work wonderfully for increasing iron levels, etc…
How do your other children respond to the home birth experience? They love it! Each child has gotten to cut a cord of a younger sibling and they all talk about it. I’ve had to kick them out of the room, actually, for my own sanity during transition. Usually I just don’t let them come in unless they are old enough to be quiet because I have no tolerance for the noise in labor; I’m pretty snippy during contractions. LOL! After baby is born they all come in and it’s so sweet and joyous. Even the youngest ones are fine with it, even those who are in the room during labor.
How long does the midwife usually stay after the baby comes? A couple of hours. Usually she checks baby over fully, measures, cleans him up a little, cleans you up, checks you to make sure bleeding is slowing down, cleans up quite a bit and helps you shower off. Then she comes back in a day or two to check on you and baby again, and is in touch with you daily to see how things are going.
Who cleans up everything? Midwife does the initial cleaning, and then there is laundry to deal with that usually my husband does.
What are your favorite things about giving birth at home? How laid back it is. It’s so peaceful. You are not bugged constantly, you can rest and your kids can enjoy your baby. Basically you can do what you want when you want, labor how you want, etc… you don’t have to work within any odd constraints put in place by sue-happy people. LOL! And the starkest thing is afterwards; baby can nurse and then sleep for a while and so can you. Kids can enjoy baby and there is no waiting to be released! It’s such an awesome time of rest and having hubby off of work. Love it! And one of the biggest things is that your baby’s care is not micromanaged. None of the unnecessary worries that the hospitals always have. You have parental rights over your children, not the hospital. And it’s WAY cheaper to boot! Your midwife is sensitive and you don’t run into evil nurses (most are great, of course, but you get to avoid the power hungry ones. LOL). Much more of a focus on educating yourself and eating healthy, living healthy, etc… I’ve learned a lot from home birthing!
Are there any drawbacks to home birth that mothers might want to be aware of? Not for me personally. A lot depends on the midwife and her experience, of course. You do have to educate yourself so you are prepared to make educated decisions. On the other hand, it’s no different than the doctors; after doing some research on a “top” doctor at the hospital I was amazed at things he was doing (like pulling the placenta immediately!). So I think it’s good to be educated, period.
What is the most common response you get from others about your decision to give birth at home? That I’m “brave” and that they would not be able to do it. Or that they can’t believe I want to be home, that the hospital is a break for them. LOL! I think they are nuts. (wink)
Are there any books you recommend about home birth? Emergency Childbirth: A Manual (aff) is critical to read (you can find it free in some places online) so you can educate yourself about what CAN go wrong. You realize that it’s just a couple of things and know what is to be expected of you.
How does home birth typically compare cost-wise to the hospital? Before insurance, a hospital stay averages about $10,000; home birth is $3,000 tops (many are lower). Hospital with insurance was about $3,000 for us; we paid about $1,000 for home birth, but this time around our insurance actually agreed to pay up front for the entire home birth.
If you have any more questions about home birth, ask them here and I’ll try to get you the answers!
I think people have a HUGE HUGE Misunderstanding about Home birth. The phrase “home birth” brings to mind a back water image of what is actually called “free BIrthing” of you alnoe in your home with out medical assitance. I know I wasnt aware of the fact that home birthing was not unassisted until I read an artical about “free birthing” and I am a very active memer of the natural parenting onbline community. I wish I had known that I didnt have to be forced into a second C-section, I am still very violated and upset about it. I know that I wont have to have one next time but because I dont plan on waiting 5 years or more before our next baby I know that I will choose hospitalization to avoid complications from my previous sections. I wont be forced to undergo sugery again unless I get into a serious bind. I wish I could have a homebirth but honestly I feel my body has been compromised from unnecessary intervention. I think My Mother suffed the same fate in the 80’s and My Cousin was deffinatly given a Cesarean for no reason with her first child. I was pre-Eclasmsic with my first child and I believe if I were better educated at 21 I would have had the knowledge to help my bp and over all health and avoided the initial surgery. I have also learned that my physicians group has a section rate of 38% and they get paid a high amount to to do a surgery! The more you know right!
Hi Jessica! There is definitely a lot of misunderstanding out there regarding home births. And I know the feeling of regretting a c-section; I look back and realize my first (and only) section could probably have been avoided. Fortunately, I’ve had all VBAC’s since then. Thanks for the reminder of how important it is to be informed and educated! ~Anne
The only reason why I didn’t have a home birth with my second was because my husband couldn’t deal with clean up and I wasn’t about to do it. We did have a wonderful birthing center birth that was an amazing experience. And we were home within 4 hours of giving birth. Love hearing about your experience.
We’ve enjoyed our local birthing center a lot, too, Danielle. I am still considering a home birth for the next one, but hesitate because the nearest hospital is 20 miles away…~Anne
This is so incredibly informative! Thank you for this, Anne. For me, as I’m sure for many, it seems overwhelming or daunting to give birth at home. This answers SO many of my questions and concerns when it comes to the “how does it work?”
Thank you for sharing 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it! Glad I have a neighbor close by who can help satisfy my curiosity. ~Anne
How incredible, brave and heart warming! I wish I did natural birth for my children. I think I could have done it with more knowledge and prep. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for stopping by, Christie! ~Anne
I was pretty interested in a homebirth, but didn’t think my husband would consider it. Also I thought I would end up needing an epidural. But I was barely to the hospital in time otherwise we might have actually had a car baby 🙂 he was my first and only so far, and pushed him out in under 30 minutes with no meds. After the fact I was feeling pretty great as compared to others I’d heard having an epidural and he was so alert. Now I know my hubby is a bit interested in more natural options and even bragged about me. Lol I just don’t think he will want to do the after birth laundry or clean up!
Shana, my husband’s view on home birth has also been a factor in keeping this option on the back shelf. We both love our birth center midwife and sort of feel at this point “if it ain’t broke, why fix it?” I wish SHE offered home births! ~Anne
I hate the hospital stay and would love to have a home birth and just be able to be at home right away afterward. There are certain aspects about it that appeal to me and others that don’t. I don’t think I would be a great candidate for home birth tho as both my pregnancies had problems. My first was preterm labor at 32 weeks and born 3 weeks early. Luckily he was a healthy baby. My second was born at 38.5 weeks but she would not breath and had to have assistance breathing for 3 hours. She spent quiet a bit of time in the NICU after being born before being able to come back to our room. She gave us a good scare and I don’t think i would have dealt with that well if we were at home. I envy those who have home births tho. I had the epidural with my first but went natural with my second b/c she came so fast and the recovery with the second was unbelievably fast compared to my first! We luckily do love the doctor who delivered both my sweet babies and had a positive experience overall with both of them. Even tho my sweet girl had a bit of a traumatic entrance into this world
Julie, I know what you mean. Some things about home birth are right up my alley (more private, more relaxing) but my issue is with the hospital being 20 minutes away. I’m glad that, even though you were hoping for a certain kind of birth outcome, you are happy with your doctor and feel the experience was overall positive. Thanks for your comment! ~Anne