The Home Birth Decision...

As my husband and I researched our childbirth options in our area we came to realize we had two to choose from. We could have our child in the hospital with an obstetrician, or at home with a midwife. As we explored these two extremely different approaches to childbirth we found ourselves making the home birth decision.

We began our first pregnancy by going to an OB/GYN practice that included four doctors. My first visit was in March '98 during my ninth week of pregnancy. April and May went by before we were able to ask about our childbirth options. We had been reading lots of materials those two months trying to inform ourselves of the methods of childbirth in which we felt most comfortable with. We wanted to be able to make informed decisions concerning our options. As we discussed our preferences with the doctors in June and July, we left feeling very troubled.

Some of the topics we discussed were fetal monitors, medications, I.V.'s, mobility, lack of progress, episiotomies, pushing positions, and much more. It seemed that they felt very uncomfortable with our approach to childbirth. They were very technical with their answers to our questions. Giving birth was a medical event, not a natural one.

It was the last of June, in my 25th week, when we started to seriously look beyond our practice for other options for our birth. We came across a midwife on the internet that did home deliveries in our area. We contacted her and set up an appointment to ask her a few questions. We were searching for a doctor who was "natural childbirth friendly", so to speak, and we thought she would be able to refer us to some. We also wanted some names and numbers of PLA's (Personal Labor Assistant's) in the area to help us achieve the birth experience we wanted in the hospital.

After receiving discouraging reviews of local doctors and hospitals (this not just coming from the midwife who we knew would be biased) we found out, much to our disappointment, that the closest birthing center run by midwives was over two hours away. A birthing center was our idea of the ideal setting for birth once we grew wary of our local doctor and hospital choices. Once we knew that a birthing center was not an option we found that as the conversation went on we were asking more and more questions about her work and home birth (but still thought it "not for us"), not exactly what we intended. It all sounded so right and natural to us. So, even though home birth made sense to us, we still had to settle the voices in our head (and of our family) about the safety of a home birth.

July was a time for many hours of reading, praying, and discussing home birth. As we made this journey we found that home birth just made sense. All of the questions we had had realistic answers. The safety issue soon dissolved, so before our August appointment with our OB practice we found ourselves making the home birth decision. We started seeing the midwife in my 31st week of pregnancy in August. Our feelings were always positive when we finished an appointment with her. No longer did we have that awful urge to run from our chosen attendant.

We have had no regrets choosing to give birth at home with a midwife. We have had five healthy babies born at home. Our first in October '98, our second in December of '00, our third in October of '03, our fourth in May of '06, and our fifth in January of '10. We also chose to work our way through a miscarriage at home in December of '02 (I was nine weeks pregnant at the time). Each experience was unique and well worth the extra time and energy we invested into preparing ourselves and our home for the birth, or miscarriage. I can only hope that all of my childbearing adventures begin and end at home.

Note: To find out what resources I've found most helpful in choosing my ideal birth environment please visit my Childbirth page.