Home Birth - Is it Right for You?

Are you thinking about having a home birth? There are a lot of factors that will play into your decision and I'm sharing why home birth was the right choice for me and my family.

All photos courtesy of Peace Love Babies | Twin Cities, St. Cloud birth, newborn, family photography

When my husband and I got pregnant with our first child, I did a lot of research and decided that I'd like to have a home birth. Specifically, I wanted to have a water birth with candles and soft music and an incredibly relaxing environment to bring our baby into the world. I got most of those things, though the soft music may have been traded for me swearing under my breath. 😉

When I first started considering home birth, I had a few personal feelings about why I thought it would be right for us. I want to share those with you, along with a few other reasons home birth may be a great option for you!

Home Birth - Is it Right for You?

Comfort. For my body to work properly, I need to be completely comfortable. I've never been at ease in hospitals, and I'm definitely not a fan of being monitored or bothered constantly. It's not a great comparison, but when I'm sick with the stomach flu, my body will refuse to give me any relief (or let me throw up) until I'm at home. I was fairly sure that if I was in labor, I'd be the lady who would go into the hospital and have my labor completely stall, requiring some sort of intervention to get the process moving again. This point brings me to...

Intervention. I don't think most women go into the hospital expecting or planning for interventions. However, in the vulnerability of labor, it can be easy to get talked into interventions even if your birth plan didn't include any. Synthetic inductions like pitocin and cytotec may be offered to speed along labor, or breaking of waters to get things moving. Epidurals are offered and begin to sound extremely tempting even to mothers who want a natural birth. C-section rates are around 30% in the United States, and there is some question to whether they're all necessary. Now, this isn't to say that some interventions aren't necessary; I believe they are ALL valuable and ALL have their place. However, I think that for people like myself, even though I planned and wanted a natural birth, I'd probably fairly easily be talked into things like breaking my water and the epidural if I were in labor at the hospital, and would potentially regret it later.

Belief in my body. I truly believe that my body was made to grow and birth babies, and that I can do it in the comfort of my own home (in fact, I know it can--I've done it twice!). If you believe the same, home birth may be for you.

No car ride. This may seem trivial, but for me it was a huge factor in deciding on a home birth. The closest hospital is about 30 minutes away from us, and the thought of making that drive while in labor was NOT something I was interested in. Now, you may be thinking "what if something went wrong and she had to drive 30 minutes to get to the hospital!?" Valid question. We chose our midwives because we trusted them to know if we would need a transfer before it became an emergency, and that if there was an emergency, they had the tools and equipment to keep me and the baby safe while they transported us to the hospital. It never came to that, but I also never feared during either of my births that it would be an issue. I was completely comfortable in the care of my midwives.

Midwifery care. I don't know about you, but I've seen quite a few doctors in my life. Some have been incredible, some have been not-so-great, but I've never been as close to any doctor as I am with my midwives. (I should clarify, we had a midwife for our first baby and she moved 3 hours away prior to our second home birth, so we had a different midwife the next time around) Our midwives were incredible. They would spend between a half hour to an hour per appointment, answering any questions, checking out me and the baby. Once baby got a little bigger, they would feel my stomach and tell me about their position, and let me listen to their heartbeat. I always felt like my concerns were addressed, and even when my blood pressure began to creep up in my last pregnancy, my midwife was able to offer me suggestions to keep it at a safe level so I could try to avoid pre-eclampsia. My midwives were also available to me 24/7, so even if I woke up in the middle of the night with a concern, they were happy to take my call or text. They also came out to my house for my postpartum checks around days 2, 5, and 7, so I didn't have to leave my house during the incredibly important week following each baby's birth.

Comfort. Yes, I've already said this, but I thought I'd bring it back around to the first point because it's relevant at the end, too! After I had each of my babies (in birthing pools in my dining room), I was able to cuddle up on our pull-out couch with them and my husband and bond while our midwives cleaned up any post-birth mess. We did their height and weight checks at arms length on the bed after having skin-to-skin time, and immediately got to start our breastfeeding journey without any interruption. After coming down from the amazing birth-high, we got to curl up and get a good night's (or early morning!) sleep without anyone bothering us.

What it truly comes down to is how you feel about it! If any of these points resonated with you, maybe a home birth (or more than one) is in your future! The documentaries Pregnant in America (watch part one here) and The Business of Being Born (watch here) are two films that I watched that got me to consider home birth in the first place, and might be a great place for you to start if you're considering it. Home birth isn't necessarily for everyone, but I do think that it was the best choice for my family and it could be for yours too.

Have you had a home birth before?
Sound off in the comments about why home birth was right for you.

Disclaimer: This information, including text, images, and links are for information purposes only and is based on my (Amber) personal experience. This post is NOT intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment of any kind. Always seek the advice of your physician or health care provider with any questions you may have regarding your healthcare, diagnosis, interventions, or treatments. I am not a medical professional and I was under the direct care of wonderful midwives for both of my pregnancies. They monitored me to make sure I did not become high-risk and that home birth was a safe option for me.