Why Homebirth?

Why Homebirth?

Why a home birth instead of birth center birth? 

A birth center birth can be a lovely experience of giving birth in someone else’s house. Some folks feel better about going to a birth center to give birth, I suspect sometimes, because it feels more like going to the hospital, which is the norm in our culture and thus feels safer. The truth is that there is very little difference in a home birth or a birth center birth other than that we both get in the car to meet up there, instead of just me when I head to your house. If you live somewhere remote and far from a hospital, that is different; I can understand a strong preference for a birth center birth in that situation. However, having a home birth is lovely in every other way. I had 4 home births attended by my midwife, so it’s obviously a love of mine. So why homebirth?

After your baby comes and a couple of hours pass, we ensure that you meet the criteria for “discharge,” and we leave. That criteria includes baby nursing, completing the newborn exam, ensuring that both you and baby are stable, making sure that you have emptied your bladder, completing a repair of your perineum if necessary (yes, I numb with lidocaine if it is necessary to do some stitches), making sure that you eat to replenish your body after the hard work of labor and birth and often doing a soothing herbal bath for you and your baby if you desire. Then, usually within 4 hours of birth, we tuck you into bed with your partner and your baby, and we leave. I am available continuously for you, of course, if you need me, but something is so special about not having to get in the car after giving birth, just tucking into bed instead. 

When you give birth at home, there is no chance of someone coming in without an invite; your space is protected. Those you invite are the people you choose, and that is important to your state of mind, to have a space with only those you wish to be present. I bring the same equipment, supplies, and medications that I would at a birth center birth, and we prepare ahead of time so that the supplies your birth team needs to clean up afterward are all readily available. 

When I leave a home birth, I like for things to seem almost like a birth didn’t just happen there. If you borrow a birth pool to use, we pack it up and take it with us, we clean up and put trash in the trash bin, and start a load of wash. My birth assistants and I are experts at getting blood out of fabrics, so if there is any mess, we take care of it (not exactly a marketable skill, but hey, it’s true!)