Childbirth Preparation

Planning a Homebirth

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Author: Nicky Pilkington

Once upon a time, women’s only childbirth option was to give birth at home. As medicine evolved, doctors’ offices and hospitals became the norm for labor and delivery which created an entire industry but not necessarily to the benefit of women and children.

Rural communities remained isolated from modern facilities and midwives took their place by the mother-to-be side at the time to give birth arrived. Today, midwives are professional health care providers, qualified and accredited by medical boards.

This is the result of an increasingly common trend: giving birth at home. Whatever the reason, many women prefer to stay at home often attended by a midwife.

There is no place like home, and that saying takes the right place when pregnancy comes to end. The comfort of your home will reduce the tension of labor, thus facilitating delivery if you are a pregnant woman in good health and without previous miscarriages or pregnancy complications.

Hospitals are committed to bringing you the ultimate technology experience, and their services are useful if your gynecologist has determined that you will need medical assistance during the childbirth process, but the cold atmosphere of a hospital room can never be compared with your bedroom.

Any expectant mother has the right to decide where she wants to give birth and if you are generally healthy and have had an uneventful pregnancy with no special conditions, then there is no reason in the world that you could not choose to birth in the privacy of your own home.

The first step is to choose your birth attendant. Although not set in stone, you will often find that a lay midwife will assist you in your home while a CNM (certified nurse midwife) will work in a hospital setting along side of an obstetrician. Please do not be fooled by a CNM and try to have a “natural birth” in a hospital setting. It does not happen and they will inevitably do horrible interventions to you and your baby to “speed things along”. If you want a natural birth, you have to deliver at home, period.

Take some time to check the attendant background and qualifications, then schedule an interview and ask all what you need to know, including number of births attended and the names of a few persons you can talk with for references. It is vital that you question the time they allow you to labor (if they will do potentially dangerous and unnecessary things like give you pitocin, episiotomies or yank on the umbilical cord to “speed things up”). Most lay midwives have the brains to avoid cutting the cord until it is done pulsing. This is one of the best reasons to have a home birth.

One of the most important preparations you can make for a successful home birth is to consider any eventual complication. Make sure that the person who will attend you is familiar to emergency procedures and has the appropriate equipment in case of postpartum hemorrhage, the need to resuscitate a newborn, or any other unexpected medical event. If you are planning an unassisted homebirth you should know infant CPR yourself and have transportation to the hospital lined up should you start bleeding or have some other complication.

Your midwife may also have oxygen and masks on hand as well as some other basic birthing supplies. Lastly, remember to check your insurance coverage, because many plans will not cover home birthing. If everything goes okay, you can give birth in your own home, that of your parents, your best friend, or in a home close to a hospital or the physician who keeps your medical history records.

About the author:
For more information about home birthing and childbirth information you can check out childbirth.me.uk

The Homebirth Advantage
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