Caroline-

LOL, check out my other posts under “homebirth”… we did end up doing it at home after all

I would research a bit further. It sounds like you have been exposed to a rather conservative midwife. I wonder if she even attends homebirths? If not her philosophies are going to be very hospital and hospital rule leaning.

I have had two home births, both babies over 10lbs. There are almost never problems because a labor goes too fast. If there is a problem, it naturally slows down, giving you ample time to get to a hospital.

Here is a graphic but realistic comparison of home vs hospital birth. Having a baby in a hospital is about as easy and comfortable as having a bowel movement on a table, with assistance from multiple strangers and “experts”, compared to using your own bathroom in the privacy of your home. The biggest relief being the lack of fear of whatever interventions the rules or whims of medicine may bring when you are there. The next biggest thing would be that eating whenever you like tends to have a very positive effect on pain tolerance. It is just so much better in so many ways I can’t describe.

Babies born with problems often seem to have had difficulty arriving, (very long labors). Frankly I suspect that is how God intends it to be. Some babies that are saved in hospitals wouldn’t survive a normal delivery and perhaps were not supposed to. Having had a home miscarriage as well, I am glad the Lord had it all under control.

Hi Kendra,

Sorry to hear you can’t have the homebirth you were hoping for. I had my son in September with a midwife in a hospital 20mins away. In the end there were complications and I tore horribly.. I was glad to be in a hospital. My midwife handled everything with grace and calmness, she was fantastic. It was obvious the hospital staff respected her and for the majority of the time it was just her, my husband and me in the labour room. In the end they discharged me after 10 hours of giving birth. It would have been earlier but I was enjoying my sleep! My midwives work as a team and one of them lives 10 houses away. She came to my house at all hours to help me breast feed successfully. I hope your midwife experience was as good as mine. I can’t wait to have another one with them!

I forgot to mention my oldest was planned to be a homebirth – and of all of my nieces and nephews (by families – 12 + 2 + 4 + 1) – only that final one was a planned hospital birth and another C-section. Every one of the others were planned homebirths. My mom is now training to be a midwife assistant, and helped deliver 6 of her grandchildren and 2 of my best friends babies – one of which would have been a C-section if she had gone to the hospital because he was 10lbs and had / has a BIG head.

We are now preparing for my 3rd homebirth – all VBACs. We are 15 minutes from the small hospital that doesn’t do babies – and 35 minutes from the one that does. I’ll be 42 this time. After the hospital experience 14 years ago which caused the C-Section in the first place, I have had 1 rough birth almost 12 years ago and my son was born almost 4 years ago and it was nearly perfect. We are expecting again late September/early October. After long and extensive research while pregnant with my son – I’m convinced homebirths are, for healthy normal pregnancies and even for most low risk moms, far safer than a hospital birth. Of course that is just my opinion. There is an article on mercola.com about the safety of homebirths – his search feature should pull it right up.

Hi Kendra!

You look great in the picture.

I have 4 kids and have given birth to all of them at home with midwives. I can’t tell you in appropriate words what wonderful spiritual experiences they turn out to be.:) You really come to find out what your body is capable of when you allow for it to do what it was created to do.

Once, I was in the middle of delivering my son and my body stopped because it just knew something was wrong. I told the midwife to check because there was something wrong. Sure enough the cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck. She flipped the cord over his head and then, WHOOSH! Out he came with no harm done. He’s a healthy and lively 6 year old today.

People have often wondered how is it that a woman can have great health and be able to get up and walk around aftering deliverying a baby. I tell them you prepare for the birth as soon as you find out you’re expecting. I would be sure to drink plenty of distilled water or some kind of filtered water each day. I drank red raspberry leaf tea 2 or 3 times a day. I took a natural form of calcium supplement and vitamins and mineralers and at least one iron tablet a day. Eat right! Eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies help tremendously to regulate your blood. Avoid sodas like the plague as well as a lot of sugary treats. I don’t see a problem with an occasional treat, but if over done it can harm you and your baby’s health. Plus, since I have a problem at birthing with my cervex swelling during labor, I would apply wheat germ oil on the cervex. But not after you’re 7 months pregnant. After all that, my labors are short and deliveries very fast. I actually look forward to births.:)

God bless you sweetie! You’re about to welcome a presious child of God into the world. Giving birth really is a labor of love. And as I would always say,”A new born baby is God’s opinion that the world must go on.”

I’m sure you’ll do fine. Listen to your body and not doctors. You’ll know what to do.

Siska