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Call me crazy, call me a hippie, I don’t care. I have wanted to use a midwife and have a home birth since we started having kids. My husband just needed some convincing.
Well, I showed him. He figures since I have had two natural hospital births with little to no intervention that I can handle having a kid at home. Told you, honey.
He is still a bit uneasy about it, but I have assured him the care level will be the same (if not better), and the experience will be out of this world.
Before I tell you why I will give you a rundown of my pregnancy so far.
Pregnancy with Baby #3: What it’s Been Like
Much like my previous pregnancies, the absence of morning sickness has been wonderful. There are always a few days of nausea or extreme hunger or gut ache from lack of eating that usually alert me the status of my body. Pregnant again!
I am currently about 5 months along, due at the end of February.
After we had our first two children a year apart, we were not so shocked to find out Baby #3 will be arriving approximately 1 year and 3 months after our second child. It has been challenging but fun to have our children so close together.
We also haven’t really officially announced it to the world, but you get to find out! Word travels fast around where we live, so I imagine a lot more people know than we think.
Physical Ailments
While I’m not falling apart yet, it seems this pregnancy has been a lot harder on my body than the first two. I have stiff, sore feet at the end of each day, muscles and joints hurt more than they have before, and my tiredness seems to have skyrocketed.
I am not teaching like I was with the first two, so there are many different circumstances at this point.
- I’m not on my feet all day, so my activity level is down
- I am chasing after kids instead of teaching teenagers for 50 minutes and passing them on
- My daily activities consist of meal making, diaper changing, and laundry. Lot’s of laundry haha!
- However, my diet has improved considerably and I can eat exactly when I need to instead of waiting for a break in the day
Home Birth Pros and Cons
Let’s discuss a little bit about why I made the decision to have a baby at home instead of in a hospital or at a birthing center. Before you freak out, birth is not scary! It’s not meant to be nor should it be! It’s simply a naturally painful process to bring a life into the world. The more we get that straight the better attitude we can have about the process.
Pros – My point of view
- No pesky IV stuck in me…this has seriously been a point of stress for me with the births of my children
- The comfort of home
- Eating my own food and not the hospitals
- My own bed to sleep in at night
- The freedom to get up and move around without cords and IV on me
- Birth in the best position for me, not for the doctor and nurses
- Potentially catch my own baby. Wow!
- Freedom from protocol and signing papers and being uncomfortable about immediate decisions I have to make. (there are still some decisions like that, but most are discussed with your midwife before the birth!)
- Not as expensive as I originally thought
Cons – My Point of View
- No extra care from nurses for as long as we decide to stay in the hospital
- My meals aren’t automatically made for me–I do love that service!
- Relief and rest away from the other children if need be
- Further away from emergency service if something were to go wrong during birth
- Lack of health insurance assistance (some midwives take insurance, most don’t. Ours accepts certain kinds of group insurance, but we are not currently in that kind of situation)
So, as you can see, the pros are definitely outweighing the cons at this point. Starting my appointments has only furthered the reasons to hire a midwife. You will see them below!
5 Reasons we are Choosing a Midwife
This choice was not super easy to make, but it was made easier by the fact that my previous OBGYN doctor had decided to quit servicing the clinic we use for our children. She told me I could let her know if I needed her again for a birth, but I felt bad about doing that. Plus, I have always wanted to at least try a home birth.
So far, the experience has been great. Here are some of the reasons that it has been so wonderful this time around.
#1: Personalized care
I couldn’t believe it when the midwives I interviewed told me their appointments run almost an hour! Compare that to the hour I sometimes spend in the clinic waiting area, the 15 minutes of waiting after the nurse to see the doctor, and an actual appointment that lasts about 10 minutes, it was amazing value!
Plus, I get to choose where to have my baby, in what birthing position, and with the care and support from my midwife.
It helps so much to have trust in a person specializing in births and women’s pregnancy health, where you can get quality feedback about what to do and what not do during pregnancy.
That leads me to…
#2: Enhanced education
The amount of new information I have learned about pregnancy, my body, and babies, in general, has been crazy!
Never before have I been told to also take DHA along with my prenatal vitamin, to eat the things that I am craving because my body might need something specific, to test for Vitamin D because low levels can affect your mood and many other things.
What?
Why don’t we get told these things in clinics? Is it because I never asked? Or that there isn’t enough time to even deal with that stuff?
Maybe I don’t do enough searching on my own, but I’d rather be told by a professional than look on the Internet to see what I’m supposed to be doing.
Having a midwife definitely increases the amount of good educational materials I am receiving.
#3: Real relationship
My midwife genuinely cares how I am doing, not just physically. She asks about my mental and emotional health almost every appointment as well. It’s a bit harder opening up about those things (mostly because I’m not used to a caregiver asking about that stuff!), but it’s nice to know that she cares about my whole person.
She may not be able to make a treatment suggestion if I am uncharacteristically weepy, but she will sympathize and tell me it’s really okay to feel that way.
Either way, it’s fantastic to know that the relationship we have goes beyond physical ailments and treatments.
#4: Natural approaches
Obviously, one of the main reasons people choose home births is because they don’t want interventions (or hopefully don’t need any!)
The idea that I can do this on my own without an epidural, without drugs in my system, without ice chips (heaven forbid I get to eat food and drink real water during labor) is amazing. And almost empowering!
Don’t get me wrong, I hate pain. I will still be using birthing balls, massage, aromatherapy, breathing techniques, special drinks and snacks, and anything else that might ease discomfort and pain. I still really want it to FEEL easy. Naturally.
#5: Ultimate comfort
Since I am allowed to use all the crazy natural approaches to birth I want, I ultimately get to decide what makes me the most comfortable. I have done a bit of research on how to use your body and environmental factors in order to create the best situation for you and your baby.
With a home birth, I can do just that. My own home, my own bed, familiar and warm surroundings, soft lighting, music playing, you name it.
I am so excited to meet our baby in a few months from the comfort of my home!
Related Articles:
How I Work At Home With 2 Under 2
Pregnancy: How It Affects My Marriage
Advice I Received As A First-Time Mom (that I still use)
27 Things I Do (now that I’m a mom)
10 Ways to Feel Pretty as a SAHM
Top 3 Favorite Parenting Experts
How I Downsized My Wardrobe from Teacher to SAHM
Before Choosing a Midwife: Educate Yourself!
How do you go about choosing a midwife? You might already know some in your area if you have researched the topic at all. If not, go to this site and search for midwives in your area.
Or, just do a Google search “find a midwife” or “midwives near me” or something of that nature. Even living in a rural part of the country, I was able to find a few that interested me.
Also, shop around. Don’t just settle on one right away. Most of them are willing to let you come and “interview” them for free before you decide who will fit your family and personality best.
There are also a few great online resources to check out!
Ina May
Ina May Gaskin has done some great books, talks, and videos on how we should not be afraid to birth a child without interventions!
I have also learned some coping techniques from her, like how to keep your jaw relaxed during contractions. This helps your cervix relax as well, decreasing the pain and also increasing the speed of labor.
Mama Natural
Mama Natural is a fantastic website from which I have learned a lot; she has great articles on all things about pregnancy and natural birthing.
She also has this awesome crazy birth video — she had her baby before her midwife got there, and it was absolutely perfect! You will learn a few pain coping techniques in this video, too!
Aviva Romm
My midwife introduced me to her and she has some great articles and resources for modern and clean medicine for women! And info about children’s health and all kinds of great topics that people search for every day on Google!
Home Birth Can Be An Option
If you are a low-risk pregnancy or have been in the past, you may be the perfect candidate for a midwife and a completely natural birth.
I looked at the options and decided with clarity that this was something I wanted to try. If I hate it, I can always go back to a hospital birth next time, right?
Don’t worry. If something goes wrong or something is unexpected, I will be taken to the nearest hospital for help. It is not an “end all, be all” when it comes to home birth.
Hope this makes you think a bit…
If you were to choose a home birth, what is the one thing that scares you the most?
Midwife Interview Questions
Do you know what you should be asking during a midwife interview? You do now. This packet will give you the necessary questions and things you need to know before making a decision about how to birth your baby.
