apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I had my first baby at home 19 months ago, and am now pregnant with my second. We're using the same homebirth midwife for this second birth. Wouldn't change a thing.

Sure did, almost 24 years ago! It was fabulous. Although it was during an ice storm and there was a very small moment that I thought the midwife might not make it in time. My husband had the most horrified look on his face at the prospect of not having her there that I burst out laughing in the middle of a contraction. I would only ever do it at home (if I wasn't old enough to (nearly) be a grandmother at this point). No unnecessary fiddling by staff that are bored with you or in hurry to speed things up. My four year old daughter was there and read her favorite book to her brand new brother. Besides it has given my son the opportunity when asked where he was born to write "floor".

Btw, I live in Brooklyn, and my midwife was just telling me that all the homebirth midwives around here are totally booked and swamped with phone calls. It's no wonder.... they are competent, highly trained and skilled and oh so friendly and awesome.

I am not a mom myself, but when I was 3 my mother delivered my brother at home (this was in 1983). I spent the actual birth with my grandparents. I remember my parents telling me what was going to happen, and being excited about having a sibling. My mom, who gave birth to me in a hospital, said that the home birth was the best experience of her life, and although it was painful, she really loved it. We have some beautiful pictures of my parents walking in the backyard when my mom had just started having contrations - they were holding hands and picking lilacs :)

Oh and just in case you were wondering, we're not a "hippie family"! Not that I think there's anything wrong with hippies, either!

When we first found out we were expecting, my husband and I assumed that we would birth in a hospital, though we wanted to labor naturally, and did have some acquaintances who had birthed at non-hospital birthing centers and at home. After the first (and last) visit with an OB/GYN, where I was told that the doctor's wishes would override my own, we began to do research, and found that western nations whose birthing is based primarily on a midwife model have far better maternal and infant mortality rates, and saved a great deal of money, to boot. We were convinced. We signed up for Bradley courses, and were excited for our home birth. We had the food and celebratory drinks all lined up. We bought the birth kit and got the house ready to receive our son.

Then my water brooke, and 24 hours later not terribly much had happened. My labor would fizzle in and out, despite all valiant efforts to get it to progress... so I wound up having to go to the hospital. We had a back-up hospital that had a midwife program, and they would have permitted me to continue to labor "naturally," bearing in mind that I had to be given Pitocin to get labor kick-started. Unfortunately, my son's heart rate crashed shortly after I was given the Pitocin, and I was whisked away to an emergency Cesarean. In some ways, I still consider myself a successful home birth: part of the home birth model is knowing when to take advantage of the strength of the hospital birth model (namely, surgical intervention). It is not legal to have a VBAC home birth in our state, but if I had a successful hospital VBAC birth after this, I would consider a subsequent home birth should the laws change.

(Interesting side note: as it was Superbowl Sunday, pretty much all the staff in the hospital, including not just nurses but also midwives and surgeons, were women. So in a weird sort of way, I still had the old school "surrounded by women" type birth I had envisioned.)

When they made The Business of Being Born, the future for New York birthing centers/midwives didn't look so bright. It seemed a lot of folks were choosing elective c-sections whenever it was convenient -- "designer birth." What an amazing turn around.

The movie helped me, too. I wanted an unmedicated, low intervention birth in a non-hospital setting, but I wasn't quite ready to let loose on my tulip table. So I chose a birthing center instead: Austin Area Birthing Center

For the past nine months, their team of midwives have done all my prenatal appointments. They've impressed my doctor with some of their medical catches. And for the big event, they have rooms with a big bed, a tub, a shower, birth balls, birth chairs, etc. It's like giving birth in a bed and breakfast...not quite my style of decor but super cozy. :) And I don't have to clean up!

But I'm due tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

Good luck hellowest! Have an easy and productive labor!

Yes, hellowest -- best wishes!

Re: "...we began to do research, and found that western nations whose birthing is based primarily on a midwife model have far better maternal and infant mortality rates...We signed up for Bradley courses, and were excited for our home birth."

I'm a policy analyst by trade, and the health file is one of my areas, and so this statement set me off on a research hunt. I checked into infant mortality stats, midwifery rates, and where such a claim may have come, and this is what has surfaced.

The H.O.M.E. website, a midwifery and home birth advocacy group makes the following claim:

"22 countries where out of hospital birth and midwives are the norm and that have lower infant mortality rates than the US: Japen, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Netherlands, France, Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Scotland, Australia, Northern Ireland, Spain, England, and Wales, Belgium, Austria, Italy."

This claim is FALSE. In the vast majority of those countries, home births are NOT the norm, and although it is common in many of the countries for midwives to oversee births (e.g., the U.K, the Netherlands) in hospitals or birthing centers; in many of these countries, the use of midwives is not common or widespread (e.g., Canada, Switzerland).

Here are the infant mortality rankings (from highest to lowest) as estimated for 2007 in the CIA fact book (just scanning the list off the bat, I can tell you that the Czech Republic, which has 10th lowest infant mortality rate, does NOT use midwives).

http://www.umsl.edu/services/govdocs/wofact2007/rankorder/2091rank.html

So, be careful of such claims. For example, midwifery organizations often point out statistics that would seem to indicate hospital births are more dangerous than home births, but it should be remembered that the women who have planned home births tend to have low-risk pregnancies, and that hospitals by their nature see the more complicated births, so sited statistics need to be carefully analysed for such issues.

All this said, I am a big supporter of using midwives as part of a comprehensive health care approach to birth. They provide excellent thorough care, and should be used for low-risk births, leaving the ob/gyns to handle the high-risk cases. This would be an effective way to manage health care resources. As to home versus hospital, in my pregnancies, previous medical conditions precluded any choice for me. However, if it had not been so, I would have chosen a birth center. In the vast majority of cases, births go well, but when the go bad, they can do so quickly, and it is a risk I would not be comfortable with.

I had my son at home with a midwife 4 months ago and even though we encountered multiple complications everyone was safe and healthy and I would do it again. I felt safe knowing I had a skilled and trained midwife and doula attending to me. Nothing is more empowering than giving birth in the peace of your own home without medical intervention. The female body was made to give birth and knows what to do. (Granted there are occasions where medical intervention is needed.)

You can read our story here: http://we3liebs.blogspot.com/2008/07/judes-homebirth-story.html

I am so torn on this issue. I agree with the majority of comments here about how wonderful home births can be and the advantages of being in your own home without unnecessary medical intervention. I strongly support the midwifery profession and approach to childbirth. It sounds like the ideal environment for labor and delivery of a child. However, I work in a neonatal intensive care unit and have seen so many situations where immediate intervention (medicine, machines, surgery etc) was the only possibility of survival for the baby. I am talking about full term infants whose mothers had prenatal care and still something went wrong. I have seen a completely normal pregnancy and labor and then at birth an emergency situation occurs. I know in the majority of cases, a homebirth is perfectly safe, but I am terrified at the thought of ever having one, simply because of the what ifs. I am equally terrified at the thought of a birth where I am not in control and decisions are made based on the doctors convenience. I think the best solution (for me) would be a birthing center near or with immediate access to a hospital.

We always tell people that we birthed our second child at home because we hit and killed a deer on the way to the hospital while in labour with our first! That wasn't the only reason, but it sure was nice to be able to stay put.

About a month ago my almost four year old son came up to me and said " Mommy, I like to cuddle in your bed. Your bed is so cozy."

I told him "Did you know that you were born right there in Mommy and Daddy's bed?"

He eyes lit up and he said breathlessly "And then we had our first cuddle?!".

How perfect is that?

I know hospitals are not a warm and cuddly place to give birth, but I had a great experience, especially my first time. My (male) resident was super -- he kept me company while we waited for the surgeon (I went into labour during the season premiere of E.R., and we had a lot of laughs about it), and when my doctor showed up, well, he was great! He had a wonderful sense of humour, and he put me right at ease.

He helped me through my second pregnancy too (a difficult one), and my eldest was nuts about him, insisting she too had a baby in her tummy he was going to help bring out (we bought a tiny anatomically-correct doll for the purpose).

And the story of her birth, down to the lunch we ate that day, is a bedtime story she has memorized. She may not have been born in our bed, but she loves her birth story nonetheless.

Really, hospital births and male ob/gyns can be great too!

Se7en babies. Se7en home births. I really can't face anything medical, the smell of a doctor's office sends me reeling. The only way for me to have kids was a home birth in our own environment. The best thing, for me, about home birth is a bath with my baby after the birth and then hopping into my own bed, with my own clean sheets and a heap of little siblings to enjoy meeting our new baby - perfect!

Good luck, hellowest! My second child "chose" to come on her due date--it can happen!

I hope to have a home birth someday. I recently (5 weeks ago!) delivered my second child VBAC. I went into labor and stayed at home with my husband and a doula while labor progressed, then drove to the hospital and pushed her out an hour later...the result of my compromise with my husband, who didn't feel comfortable with a home birth for my first VBAC.

I was very happy with my experience, although looking back on it, we might as well had stayed at home with a midwife, since that's where most of the action took place--not to mention that a car ride during transition is not fun--and I think it would have been safer, since midwives are trained to monitor babies and moms in labor while doulas are not. Then again, I do like the "extra-safe" feeling of the hospital. But I was at the hospital just long enough to get the monitors on, IV in, paperwork signed, and then the baby came.

I really wish that more hospital OB units followed a birth center model in terms of atmosphere. (Birth centers in Northern Virginia, where I live, do not accept VBACs, or I would have considered going to one.) The environment is really what makes laboring in a hospital not very fun. Laboring on my own queen-sized bed in my own PJs was so much more comfortable than laboring in a little room on one of those hideous adjustable birthing beds (which I did during my first labor).

Sorry for the long comment but it's fresh in my mind, obviously. :) My hope for all moms is that they have _access_ to the birthing experience they desire, whether it be at home or in a medical setting. Of course you can't plan your birth, at all. But choices are still important...and feeling that you have a voice and that your care provider listens is so empowering in pregnancy and labor.

Eloquacious, I suggest finding your local ICAN chapter (ican-online.org) if you haven't already. Mine gave me the resources and encouragement I needed for a successful VBAC.

By the way, I love the story of the commenter whose child asked, "And then we had our first cuddle?" So sweet.

After much research, my husband and I are planning our first home birth in February. We're lucky to live within short distance of several excellent hospitals, so if something does happen at home we should be in the emergency room in only a few minutes. We were able to find a CNM with wonderful staff and a lovely doula, so I'm confident that we'll feel comfortable staying at home. We've also rented a birthing pool, which we'll be setting up in front of the fireplace in our den. I think being at home is ideal for many families and is something worth attempting if the mother is low-risk and a hospital is nearby. The rates of interventions are so much lower for home births (for both obvious and non-obvious reasons) that it seems like a wise choice.

I am six months pregnant and having a home birth in my apartment in ny. Our midwifery team is amazing, each visit takes place in my apartment and lasts about an hour! The average amount of time that an obgyn spends with a mom at a prenatal visit is six minutes!!

"The average amount of time that an obgyn spends with a mom at a prenatal visit is six minutes!!"

Err, where does that statistic come from?

It sure wasn't my experience.

I had a different ob/gyn for each pregnancy, but both spent about 20 to 30 minutes with me, and then I had another 10 --15 minutes with the nurse.

Speaking as one of those people whose birth went horribly wrong despite being apparently low risk, I am incredibly glad I chose a hospital birth. I have met only two other women who faced similar situations. One was at home, and didn't make it to the hospital in time, and her daughter was stillborn. The other was at a birthing center, and made it there faster (~5 minutes), and her son is permanently deaf from the trauma, but otherwise fine. And my son is perfectly healthy despite a terrifying no-time-to-spare emergency c-section. I wanted the same happy peaceful birth everyone else wants, but you don't always get to choose how things happen.

I am seeing a midwife for this pregnancy and she will be there at the birth, but it will be at the hospital. Losing a baby isn't something you can take back because you realize you made a mistake later. The systematic reviews of research (one published at Cochrane) on birth say that the hospital is safer, when you compare similar populations, because bad things sometimes happen. It is fine if people want to give birth at home knowing the odds but it makes me crazy that anyone advocates for this as though it were as safe or safer, instead of just more pleasant but higher risk. But I suppose it's the kind of thing that doesn't seem real until it happens to you.

This is great information but what is even better are the comments I've seen so far. We're planning on starting our family next year and as such, I've been reading about pregnancy and various birthing methods. I have to say that it's a bit confusing with so much information available so it's quite helpful to hear about real life experiences. Of course I'm still not sure which is the best method for me, but I'm getting there.
Tabitha @ http://www.fromsingletomarried.com

Wow, congratulations to ALL the posters here for being balanced and rational. So often this conversation can polarize people into making extreme and radical statements in support of either birthing option.

I have had two home births and, yes, they were incredible, sweet, empowering, and productively painful. My first was born in 3.5 hours from start to finish, and I feel certain this is because I was safe, comfortable, and didn't have to interrupt labor with a car ride and hospital protocol. I know most first births are 4 or 5 times that long.

I mainly decided on this method because although you can REQUEST a natural birth at a hospital, I didn't want to have to fend off the medical interferences that would be offered, pushed, or forced on myself and my newborn. Someone said above that they were told that "the doctor's wishes would override my own" and I've seen every one of my friends who had natural birth plans at the hospital be forced, manipulated, or cajoled into pitocin, epidurals, internal fetal monitors, refused food and drink during hellishly long labors (just in case of C-section), and not allowed to be ambulatory. Somehow for nearly ALL of my girlfriends these interventions snowballed into the eventual "need" for non-emergency C-sections. Meaning they were performed, not because of complications, but because of failure to progress. Obviously these are my own anecdotal observations, but I think I am far from alone in noticing this phenomenon.

The truth is, we shouldn't have to choose between "calm and happy" at home or "safe but full of interference" at the hospital. The medical community needs to change it's approach to every single birth as being a medical event if they want more women to view the hospital as a positive, empowering choice for their labors.

I had a pregnancy full of research and questions about this very subject. I have a good friend who is a home-birth midwife and (of course) wanted me to use her services.) I had 3 problems with this 1. We don't have a good set up at home for this, including no tub and the bathroom and bedroom are not on the same floor 2. my husband was uncomfortable with the idea since it was our first 3. my insurance is excellent and would cover everything for a hospital birth and nothing for home so it would have cost WAY more to have it at home.
I found the very best alternative was a CNM at a hospital 10 minutes from our house. I took control of my pregnancy from the very beginning, never had a vaginal exam or ultrasound at my own request (one nurse tried to say the ultrasound is "necessary" but it's not true and every single CNM agreed with me, there were 8 in the practice) so don't listen to the nurses no matter what!! Just let them take your vitals and ignore everything else they say. If your CNM follows the true midwifery model of care they will respect your wishes if you are having a normal preg.
I labored at home for a very long time, I knew a lot of unnecessary interventions happen when women arrive too early and then the hospital just induces etc. I arrived at the hospital 6cm and fully effaced. There was a tub which I used for an hour to get from 6cm to 9cm. They had a birthing ball etc. let me get into any position I wanted, used the shower...did not restrict food and drink and did not force an IV on me. These were all things I discussed with them ahead of time and advocated for myself all along. If they are good CNMs they will work with you, if not, find another!
In the end, I had the natural chidlbirth I wanted but to a large degree I made that happen for myself. I can see how someone with less education and self confidence can easily be swept away on someone else's agenda.
Another point, may seem minor, but my friend who had a home birth had a wonderful experience but when it was all over she said "there I was with a new baby, completely exhausted and a pile of bloody sheets." It can overwhelming to try and deal with the mess. It was nice to have everything taken care of at the hospital and leave the mess behind. I also took advantage of the nurses help because I knew when I went home I would have none. So I did let the baby go to the nursery occasionally so I could get some rest. Some people forget that afterwards can be just as hard as the labor itself, just in other ways. Just my experience and I thought I would throw it out there.
I do respect every woman's choice to either go natural, have an epi or spinal, get a c-section whatever as long as it's done with her consent and full participation. We need to take back control of our experience, whatever that may be.

I had a pain-free, fully medicated, vaginal birth in the hospital, which resulted in a healthy child with perfect Apgar scores, who breastfeeds beautifully, and I suffered no vaginal tears. I decided I didn't want or need to suffer the pains of childbirth. Last I checked, there are no gold medals awarded in the delivery room, and I had nothing to prove. How wonderful that today's American women have the tools to make fully-informed birth choices. In the final analysis, a "good" birth is one where you have a living, healthy baby and mama felt respected.

I didn't have home births, but had three natural births. We used Bradley method, and because of this I labored at home, swam during labor, relaxed and read aloud with my husband. I had long slow buildups during labor, lasting 12-36 hours. Yet we only went to the hospital for the last 23 minutes with the first, 45 with our second child. We had a male ob/gyn the first time, who only made it for the last 10 minutes or so of pushing.

Having a midwife makes such a difference! Our CNM was with us the whole time, and kept hospital nurses and staff from interferring/complicating our birth. The last son was born a the new birthing center in Indianapolis. We used a hot tub for birth, which was nice and make pushing more relaxed for me. No mess on the bed! It was very private, since we were the only ones birthing that day. It was the only time I could actually sleep after birthing, since I trusted the staff and knew them so well.

The best "homebirth" story I've heard, is the one mentioned in Silent Knife. The couple had a c-section the first time, and wanted a home birth to avoid the complications, but felt they needed the safety of the hospital in case of emergencies. They outfitted a van with all the "homebirth" essentials. When in active labor, they were driven to the emergency room parking lot of their local hospital. The birth went well, no medical help was needed, so they drove back home! Sounded like a cool compromise to me. I have several friends who have had homebirths, without complications. One was a friend who had a c-section the first time, then had five v-backs. The last two were at home.

There are a lot of options out there, but the most important thing is to take charge of your own experience and do what's needed to feel satisfied with your own decisions. When I was 3 months pregnant I began to look into what the typical hospital experience was going to be like for us, and then began to look at other options when some things didn't sit right with me (cesarean rate at the hospital, number of inductions, etc.). I never thought I would have looked into homebirth, but at 5 months along I found a homebirth midwife that we really liked (rosannadavis.com) and we decided to go that direction. I had the most amazing birth experience and have zero regrets. Our midwife and her team were fantastic...and the postnatal care was amazing (and there was no mess left for us). Our daughter was born fast and furiously, and perfectly healthy, and before we knew it we were tucked into bed with our new baby girl, able to be home and enjoying each other immediately. I had help with nursing and was visited by our midwife twice more within two weeks - I never had to leave the house!

Needless to say, I'm sold on homebirth. I never would have thought I would have my child at home, yet would do it again in an instant - and plan to for sure when we have another baby someday. If you like, our daughter's birth story is here: http://devonindustry.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html

devon
www.devonindustry.com

the possibility of last minute complications is too great and real to me to consider a home birth. I had a great experience in the hospital with attentive, personable nurses and staff and obstetrician. It was a comfort to know that when the baby experienced some life-threatening complications (albeit common ones) when I was 8 cm, that there were plenty of skilled people on hand prepared to get him here safely--by emergency c-section (which I really didn't want) if necessary. A home birth sounds nice for mom, but in the end, my baby's safety and well-being were on the line and couldn't have been preserved during a home birth. I never felt rushed or unimportant, but found friends in the nursing staff who were patient in coaching me to breastfeed--which isn't always natural and easy--and even stayed with me post-delivery when my hubby had to be away. My recovery was quick and uncomplicated, and our baby is now a pistol of a 2 year old.

SO this article really hit home with me as i have had three homebirths...one who was 10 pounds and one who was 10 pounds 15 ounces...yep almost 11 pounds. Yes, completely natural, at home. And yes, the largest baby my midwife has delivered. And I LOVED IT!
No it wasn't the funnest day of my life, especially since i am only 5'3", but definitely one of the BEST days of my life!! Childbirth is not easy or comfortable, but the pain can be manageable and midwives know many of the secrets...including how to ward off those after birth, uterine contraction pains...ugh! I firmly believe many hospital nurses and doctors have set agendas and look at childbirth from a medical perspective rather than a natural process that womens' bodies are physically designed to experience. I could go on and on as this topic as i am passionate about it, however i will end with the statement that i hope many women will educate themselves on the benefits of natural childbirth (be it homebirthed or not) vs. medically invasive childbirth.
just keep an open mind to trying natural childbirth...you never know what your pain tolerance level is, and delivering a child naturally is very empowering.

natural births are awesome, but please do your research and have a back up plan. my aunt had this natural, no medicine, la-dee-dah birth which was awesome. she felt empowered, she kept in touch with her regular doctor through the pregnancy and had a few regular check ups that didn't involve any of that fancy ultrasound stuff. she kept it as natural as possible while being safe. she bought the birth kit, went into labor on her due date, was in labor for a few hours, and at the last minute, something went wrong. and she didn't even realize it. she felt like the birth was going fine, she was in pain and all, but she felt fine. but my uncle was just pacing, anxious, and insisted upon going to a hospital. he even threatened divorce at her, he felt so wrong. that's how he described it later. something was wrong. so they had an ambulance come and pick my aunt up and went to the hospital and the baby wasn't doing well and honestly guys, this was a few years ago and i wasn't around and only heard the story secondhand, but basically the end result was my cousin would have died and my aunt could have too. my uncle had some super sense. and the hospital wasn't that close and it's a miracle they got there.

moral of the story: have a back up plan. be at home, do it natural, but be ready to go if you need to.

Hi! I think this post has probably run its course, but I didn't want to leave a cliffhanger.

Chalk up another positive story of birth at a birthing center. My son arrived, healthy and wonderful, two weeks late. I had him at the birthing center, in their tub, resting in their bed, then going home to my snug (clean) home.

And I agree with aweekinparis. How wonderful that we can talk about this so calmly. I didn't have a lot of hope for us, given the nastiness that can flare up over Keep Calm prints and chalkboard paint on the walls. :)