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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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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27 Things I Do (now that I’m a mom)
10 Ways to Feel Pretty as a SAHM
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How I Downsized My Wardrobe from Teacher to SAHM
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 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 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!
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!
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?
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