Why Home Birth?
Hi! Great to see that the site is working and wonderful to receive your comments. I thought I had better post something again soon before you lose interest...
As most of you would know, Noah and I have chosen to have our baby at home. This has been a real journey for me, in terms of coming to this decision (Noah loves the idea and many people in our area have their babies at home with midwives, but I needed a little more convincing). Even though I knew I wanted a natural birth with as little medical intervention as possible, I was pretty much against the 'home birth' idea at first, and thought it would just be easier at the hospital - not to mention the fact that we live rurally and our house isn't finished being built yet. There's only so much milling, roofing etc that Noah can do, as well as try and finish a PhD!. A few key events have slowly changed my mind, and encouraged me to have my first baby at home. The main reason for my eventual turnaround to a home birth was starting our natural childbirth classes in February with a local midwife and nurse, Jillian. I had attended one birth class at the local hospital and found it dry, clincial and, well...boring. Watching a health department video about birth with a midwife who looked like she was reading from a really badly-prepared cue card just didn't do it for me.
At Jillian's, Noah and I immediately felt comfortable - we loved her sense of humour and practical knowledge as a nurse; the classes were in her house and part of her everyday family life; she cooked us all a healthy meal, and there was only one other couple doing the classes (incidentally, this couple just gave birth 2 weeks ago to a beautiful baby boy, at home). We also got to watch really interesting videos of local home births which Jillian had attended. These births were beautiful, and not like anything I had expected or seen. Don't get me wrong - it looked like hard work, but these women actually looked comfortable, happy, safe and empowered in their own surroundings, and had great support teams helping them through. These women could move around as they pleased, getting into any positions which assisted labour (and, hey, why not venture out onto the verandah or into the garden?). However, I was still unsure of the idea, but after weeks of the classes and knowing that Jillian didn't do hospital births, I slowly came around to the idea. And the idea of avoiding getting in a car and driving anywhere also sounds appealing. Of course, this is if all goes well - if anything does happen, then our midwife will come with us to the hospital.
A few books on natural and home birthing have also been very helpful, and empowering to read:
Erica xo
As most of you would know, Noah and I have chosen to have our baby at home. This has been a real journey for me, in terms of coming to this decision (Noah loves the idea and many people in our area have their babies at home with midwives, but I needed a little more convincing). Even though I knew I wanted a natural birth with as little medical intervention as possible, I was pretty much against the 'home birth' idea at first, and thought it would just be easier at the hospital - not to mention the fact that we live rurally and our house isn't finished being built yet. There's only so much milling, roofing etc that Noah can do, as well as try and finish a PhD!. A few key events have slowly changed my mind, and encouraged me to have my first baby at home. The main reason for my eventual turnaround to a home birth was starting our natural childbirth classes in February with a local midwife and nurse, Jillian. I had attended one birth class at the local hospital and found it dry, clincial and, well...boring. Watching a health department video about birth with a midwife who looked like she was reading from a really badly-prepared cue card just didn't do it for me.
At Jillian's, Noah and I immediately felt comfortable - we loved her sense of humour and practical knowledge as a nurse; the classes were in her house and part of her everyday family life; she cooked us all a healthy meal, and there was only one other couple doing the classes (incidentally, this couple just gave birth 2 weeks ago to a beautiful baby boy, at home). We also got to watch really interesting videos of local home births which Jillian had attended. These births were beautiful, and not like anything I had expected or seen. Don't get me wrong - it looked like hard work, but these women actually looked comfortable, happy, safe and empowered in their own surroundings, and had great support teams helping them through. These women could move around as they pleased, getting into any positions which assisted labour (and, hey, why not venture out onto the verandah or into the garden?). However, I was still unsure of the idea, but after weeks of the classes and knowing that Jillian didn't do hospital births, I slowly came around to the idea. And the idea of avoiding getting in a car and driving anywhere also sounds appealing. Of course, this is if all goes well - if anything does happen, then our midwife will come with us to the hospital.
A few books on natural and home birthing have also been very helpful, and empowering to read:
- Ina May Gaskin (2003) Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
- Sheila Kitzinger (1980) Birth at Home
- David Miller (1990) Birth at Home (Miller is a local Mullumbimby doctor who started the natural birthing centre at Mullum hospital)
Erica xo
posted by Noah and Erica | 10:45 AM
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