why a home birth?

Let me start by saying that just because I am choosing to have a home birth, I do not in any way think that it is the "right" thing to do, or that all women should choose a home birth. Each woman is different and should be able to choose what kind of birth is best for her. My decisions are purely based on what I feel is best for me and my baby.

I had no idea that some women were choosing to give birth at home. I thought that the only time women gave birth at home was when they did not have enough time to get to the hospital. Then one day while browsing through Netflix I decided to check out The Business of Being Born by Ricki Lake. I am so happy that Ricki Lake made this documentary because without it I don't think I would have ever known I had an option to choose where and how to give birth. I won't go into details about the documentary, but I highly recommend it to anyone curious about birthing or the history of hospital and home births.

The early months of my prenatal care was with an obstetrics group. I made the switch over to midwifery care at about 4 months. Based on my personal experience with the clinic and with my midwives I can tell you that the difference is night and day. My OB visits lasted about 5 minutes. My midwife visits have never been less than an hour.

When the OB office called me to tell me my iron levels were low, the lady on the phone told me to go pick up some Slow-Fe (Iron supplements) from a pharmacy and that was that. Later on when I switched to midwifery care, we had a prenatal meeting with a huge focus on nutrition. My midwife gave me tips on how to increase my iron levels through my diet. She gave me another option for a more natural supplement as she suspected that Slow-Fe may be causing me some constipation. And she also informed me that Vitamin C increases your Iron absorption while Calcium hinders it! This is just one example of why I am in much appreciation of my midwives and the type of care they provide.

Midwives are there not just to provide care, but to educate. They hand over the reigns of power to YOU. So that you can make informed decisions about your prenatal care and birth. As I write this I'm at the point in my pregnancy where we have began having group prenatal meetings once every 2 weeks. This is part of my midwifery care. We meet with 3 other couples around the same stage of pregnancy. This group session offers a great sense of community where we are free to ask each other questions. Each mama still gets a check up and some private time with the midwife for any personal concerns.

As for the birth, I initially thought I'd prefer to give birth in a birthing center. My husband and I have moved a lot since we got married, so we don't have a real sense of a home. But turns out there are no birthing centers in San Francisco. While I was still inquiring about their services my midwife told me that no matter how "temporary" I felt our place to be, it would still feel more homey than a hospital room. Well we're moving again next month, so I'll have a month to nest the new apartment where we'll share with baby for the next year. And I don't have any hesitations about it.

At home, I get to choose how brightly lit I want the room, I get to create the exact environment that I feel will help me relax and loosen up. I know I won't have a string of nurses and attendants in and out of the room, strangers prodding me. I will have a birthing team and know and trust the people there with me. I get to have the birth that I choose.

All this said, complications arise. No doubt. And my midwives are the first ones to make sure we know all the realities of what can happen. We have our back up hospital and I have total faith in them, that if they say, we need to get you to a hospital, then off we'll go. There is no way I'll compromise the safety of my baby or me for that matter. But at least I'll know that any intervention is absolutely necessary.

I trust my body. I trust that it knows what to do when the time comes. I know that the fibers of my being inherently possess the knowledge of how to birth and mother. I look forward to this miraculous experience. It feels a bit like stepping into the dark, the unknown. Of course there's fear. But overriding that fear is the curiosity and wonder of the birth experience as well as the joyful anticipation of bringing a new being into the world.