Home Birth
To many women the notion of giving birth at home seems terrifying and foreign. They picture going into labor alone and not having enough time to get to the hospital. But for many other women, the concept of delivering in the privacy and comfort of their home seems as natural as waking up and pouring themselves a cup of coffee. For some, the choice is made out of a simple fear of hospitals, for most it is a conscious choice to birth where they are most comfortable, thus enabling their bodies to relax during labor and more easily do what it was designed for… giving birth.
| Far too many doctors treat pregnancy and childbirth as a medical condition to be managed and treated; as if God created woman somehow deficient in the area of producing life. Women have been conditioned to listen to a complete stranger before listening to their own body. This situation causes tension, self-doubt and anxiety which can prolong labor, intensify pain, and generally make natural delivery more difficult. It steals a woman's inate ability to trust in her own body, her own instincts, and turns childbirth from a natural biological process into nothing more than a medical procedure. |  |
There are many advantages and options when it comes to birthing at home. Being able to eat and drink when the mom desires to, moving around as much or little as is comfortable, being able to chose what position you labor and ultimately deliver in are just a few of the benefits. Most hospitals will allow the mother to walk around until they progress so far, then they are ordered to bed to lie on their back or side until they ultimately deliver. Many women who have delivered in hospitals then gone on to deliver at home say this is the one of the most defining reasons for their choice. The found when they were ordered into bed, their pain increased, their progression slowed and they lost their sense of control over their own body. At home, a woman is free to move around as long as they want to, change positions to further their progression (such as squatting or kneeling). They are able to take a nice warm bath or shower much further into their labor than a hospital would allow. They are able to feel more in control of the entire process which allows them to relax and in turn allows their body to do what it was meant to, progression isn’t impeded and the recovery process is often days shorter than a hospital delivery.
 | Perhaps the best analogy I’ve found of how birthing at home eases the delivery process was a story one woman told her husband (I cannot find the source of original quote). |
There are various ways to deliver a baby at home. Some women prefer to give birth in a nice warm tub of water. Water birth is thought to relax the mother through the contractions, making it easier for her body to progress. It alleviates some of the gravity which can make contractions less painful and more effective. The baby also goes from a warm water environment to a warm water environment, lessening the stress for your little one.
| In the past few years, many hospitals have moved away from birthing tubs due to concerns over communicable diseases such as hepatitis; those who still use the tubs will only allow women to use it until her water breaks. |  |
Many women choose to deliver out of the water, some squat, some kneel. There are some who deliver while laying on their side or on their hands and knees, on a birthing stool or leaning back against their spouse/doula/coach. Other women will find a comfortable position that allows them to catch their own infant; essentially delivering their own children much as our ancestors might have, without doctors or nurses or anyone else. Just themselves and their infant.
Whatever your decision is, do your homework. Ensure you know how to react to various presentations (head first, butt first, foot first, etc), what constitutes a trip to the hospital, how to care for your new born (umbilical care) and what you will need in order to receive a birth certificate. Make sure your spouse/doula/midwife knows as well. You don’t want to find yourself in a difficult position and panic (not to mention, its having the backup to remind you that you’re doing well).
 | Make sure you have all the tools and supplies you will need at least a month before your due date as it is quite normal to deliver 3 weeks before to up to 3 weeks after your “due” date. You don’t want to be caught with your proverbial pants down when your little one decides they want to arrive before the date you were expecting them. |
More Information
- Hip Chick Pregnancy Guide Natural Childbirth Information
- Birthing Peace
- Bornfree
Choice
There are two primary choices in life; to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.
~Denis Waitley
Melissa
Melissa is a 35 year old Army wife to her deployed husband, and the mother of three girls. Two are toddlers and the third is a teen, lending to her bouts of insanty. Melissa and her husband Tom are still deciding whether or not they will have "one more" while Melissa tries to figure out how to convince Tom that homebirth is a good thing.
