Why I Chose a Home Birth
I have been asked by special request to share my home birth experience, so here you go. I suppose growing up I always planned to have a natural childbirth in the hospital because that's the way my mom did it when she had all 4 of us. And if my mom can handle it, so can I, right?
I recall the first time I really heard of a midwife was on the plane on the way to Paraguay for a mission trip. There was a simply-dressed girl with a bun and she was attending midwifery school in Kentucky. I think I pretended like I knew exactly what she was talking about (I was finished with my junior year of college, after all). And I had to think in my head about the spelling of "midwifery", because it is pronounced with a short 'i' sound as opposed to the long 'i' in midwife.
Shortly after that trip to Paraguay, I got engaged to my sweet husband, Philip. My soon-to-be sister-in-law became pregnant with her first child around that same time. I was still in my senior year at Asbury and I was totally oblivious about childbirth and rearing children. However, Philip's mom, Felicia and I would talk on the phone alot during this time, because she lived in Texas and I lived in Kentucky. (Funny, that's reversed now, 7 yrs later.) So Felicia told me all about the pregnancy, and how my sister-in-law had a midwife and how she was planning to have the baby at home. I had truly never even heard of a modern person planning to give birth at home up to that point in my life, and I listened with interest to Felicia's telling of her experience.
The midwife's office was in her home and a peaceful, calm childbirth was a central theme to the homebirth I heard about. Also, Felicia told me that after the baby is born, the new mother gets to bathe him in a relaxing herbal bath. That is one of the main things that sticks out in my memory that was very appealing to me about home birth.
So, when Philip and I were ready to get pregnant, I read two books called "Homebirth," one by Sheila Kitzinger and another that I can't find on Amazon. Both were very intriguing to me and presented many advantages to homebirth and of course, since they were promoting homebirth, many disadvantages to hospital birth. A prevalent theme in many of the homebirth books is that when you allow a woman's body to proceed naturally with something it was created by God to do, 99% (my statistic, although my midwife's experiences back it up) of the time, no medical intervention is necessary. Many of the arguments against hospital birth in these books present research and anecdotal evidence that one hospital intervention leads to another and that is where birthing emergencies occur.
I got pregnant with Abraham right away and chose a midwife because I had confidence that I could have a natural childbirth with God's help, and that rather than fight against doctor and hospital interventions while I'm trying to have a baby, I would just have the baby at home with a midwife. Having a hospital within 3 minutes driving time gives us confidence that if some emergency were to occur at home, we could be there by the time they could admit me anyway.
The midwife I chose online from reading profiles on the Association of Texas Midwives website happened to be the same one my sis-in-law used. When I met her for our hiring interview, I was sure she was the one because she is the embodiment of God's peace. My midwife has delivered thousands of babies, and has only had to have medical intervention a few times. That was a pretty good record in my mind. Also, during the many appointments leading up to the birth, if anything appears to be irregular, they won't deliver at home. So all of these factors led me to choose a home birth for both of my children. In my next post, I'll tell you about the experience of delivering my children at home in my bedroom.
I recall the first time I really heard of a midwife was on the plane on the way to Paraguay for a mission trip. There was a simply-dressed girl with a bun and she was attending midwifery school in Kentucky. I think I pretended like I knew exactly what she was talking about (I was finished with my junior year of college, after all). And I had to think in my head about the spelling of "midwifery", because it is pronounced with a short 'i' sound as opposed to the long 'i' in midwife.
Shortly after that trip to Paraguay, I got engaged to my sweet husband, Philip. My soon-to-be sister-in-law became pregnant with her first child around that same time. I was still in my senior year at Asbury and I was totally oblivious about childbirth and rearing children. However, Philip's mom, Felicia and I would talk on the phone alot during this time, because she lived in Texas and I lived in Kentucky. (Funny, that's reversed now, 7 yrs later.) So Felicia told me all about the pregnancy, and how my sister-in-law had a midwife and how she was planning to have the baby at home. I had truly never even heard of a modern person planning to give birth at home up to that point in my life, and I listened with interest to Felicia's telling of her experience.
The midwife's office was in her home and a peaceful, calm childbirth was a central theme to the homebirth I heard about. Also, Felicia told me that after the baby is born, the new mother gets to bathe him in a relaxing herbal bath. That is one of the main things that sticks out in my memory that was very appealing to me about home birth.
So, when Philip and I were ready to get pregnant, I read two books called "Homebirth," one by Sheila Kitzinger and another that I can't find on Amazon. Both were very intriguing to me and presented many advantages to homebirth and of course, since they were promoting homebirth, many disadvantages to hospital birth. A prevalent theme in many of the homebirth books is that when you allow a woman's body to proceed naturally with something it was created by God to do, 99% (my statistic, although my midwife's experiences back it up) of the time, no medical intervention is necessary. Many of the arguments against hospital birth in these books present research and anecdotal evidence that one hospital intervention leads to another and that is where birthing emergencies occur.
I got pregnant with Abraham right away and chose a midwife because I had confidence that I could have a natural childbirth with God's help, and that rather than fight against doctor and hospital interventions while I'm trying to have a baby, I would just have the baby at home with a midwife. Having a hospital within 3 minutes driving time gives us confidence that if some emergency were to occur at home, we could be there by the time they could admit me anyway.
The midwife I chose online from reading profiles on the Association of Texas Midwives website happened to be the same one my sis-in-law used. When I met her for our hiring interview, I was sure she was the one because she is the embodiment of God's peace. My midwife has delivered thousands of babies, and has only had to have medical intervention a few times. That was a pretty good record in my mind. Also, during the many appointments leading up to the birth, if anything appears to be irregular, they won't deliver at home. So all of these factors led me to choose a home birth for both of my children. In my next post, I'll tell you about the experience of delivering my children at home in my bedroom.
posted by Holly Putnam | 7:14 PM
4 Comments:
Thanks, Holly! Can't wait to read your next post. My friend Wendy and I have found the only hospital we could have a birth with a midwife in Athens is at Athens Regional. But you're not allowed to pick what midwife you want to use. So we have been rather discouraged about that. I am been contemplating moving to MN so I can use Dawn's WONDERFUL midwife!
Holly,
A question...In Georgia, regular midwives can't deliver in a hospital, so if you want to use a midwife in a hospital, you have to use a certified nurse midwife. Is it the same in Texas?
So if, like you said, you realize early on that something is irregular, would you have just gone to a dr. at a hospital for your regular visits and then the actual birth?
Does that make sense?
My midwife is a CNM. She is wonderful, but the integration of midwifery into clinic/hospital practice does have its drawbacks. For instance, there are still steps one needs to take, I think, to avoid having unnecessary interventions recommended to you once you get to the hospital. Also, though I've seen Georgeanne throughout my pregnancy I can't choose which midwife will actually be on duty when I deliver. I'm comfortable with that reality because I know the other midwives share the same philosophy and are supportive of the individual woman's preferences. Plus I'm really happy with the particular hospital where I'll deliver (very midwife friendly, etc.). However I can definitely see major advantages to a homebirth and wouldn't be surprised if we choose that route the next time around. We'll see how this ones goes. :-)
-dawn
Holly,
I saw a few posts on your facebook that made me think you might have had homebirths, so I clicked on the link to your blog and found this. We also had both of our babies at home, and I always enjoy learning about other who did. I love seeing pictures of your family - you seem like an amazing mom!
Peace,
Candace (Nisbett) McCallister
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