Midwives have always known how to support women through normal, healthy births. If women are allowed to trust and listen to their bodies, they will naturally seek out dark, safe, quiet places to give birth. While home birth is portrayed as a new, trendy idea, it’s actually a very old idea. Surrounded by people you love and trust, your body can release the hormones that allow your body to open up and let your baby out.
For a low-risk woman, home birth is a safe option. Laboring in the familiarity of home for some women allows for the ultimate in the production of oxytocin. I think most of us feel that way when we reach home after a long day...aahhhh. It is the place where we have learned to really let go of inhibition. Not getting in the car while contracting is a big perk!
A home birth supply list will be given to you at the onset of 3rd trimester. I will provide a home visit at 36 weeks gestation to become familiar with your home and to check over your birth supplies, as well as deliver the birth kit and a pool if you desire to labor or birth in the water. This is an exciting visit because the home visit makes it all seem really real — this baby really is coming!
The supplies I bring to your home in labor include all our usual tools and medications, oxygen, resuscitation supplies, and the same emergency birth supplies that are available at any birth center.
Once your baby is born and I have provided you both with immediate postpartum care, we pack up our supplies and leave the house as clean as it was when we arrived. We will also start the birth laundry.
Once all the work is done and the mother and baby are stable, we can all enjoy the beauty of this moment! The family is snuggled down in their own bed with their newest family member, and the midwives say goodbye and head home to their own families. This is a definite pro of home birth.
I am just a call away when questions or concerns arise and return to the home within 48 hours for continued care. Did you know that the European model of home visits during the postpartum period has been shown to reduce postpartum depression and also keep the freshest of humans out of the clinic waiting rooms?
See Postpartum for more information.