More Babies Prefer Home Birth

Two months after giving birth to her son Benjamin the supermodel, who had a home birth in a bathtub says giving birth “didn’t hurt in the slightest.”

The model gave birth in her home in Boston with her husband Tom Brady, her mom, and a midwife by her side. “My delivery was in a bath tub, in water,” said the 29-year-old. “I wanted to have a home birth. I wanted to be very aware and present during the birth… I didn’t want to be drugged up.”

Soft glowing candles and gentle music and the same downy pillows that you always use are just a few reasons why my wife and I are in favor of home birth. Our first experience with hospital birth had my wife strapped down and hooked up to little gray machines that chirp and beep and go ping, with nurses in colorful uniforms buzzing around telling us to just take some drugs so we could stay in time with the busy doctor’s schedule. And through their standard procedures, my wife came down with a infection that subdued our joy of our firstborn son. When it came time for our second child my wife started looking around for alternatives to the hospital experience. We found a midwife who found out how we wanted our birth to go and did everything she could to help us experience it. When our second baby we were able to have a relaxing environment were my wife was able to walk around, take a hot shower, lean against the wall and have her back rubbed, then we were able to move to a small inflatable pool that we heated with a few waterbed heaters and had our baby girl. We’ve been able to have all types of births; we had one in the hospital, then one water birth. The next one had a tighter fit at over 10 pounds and we transported to the hospital. Our fourth was an unassisted birth which I caught myself, while the next two were both attended by a midwife. We’ve experienced a lot of different kinds and they are always very special.

Our families’, I think, were the first ones to think that we were crazy, then followed by the people I worked with. They would ask why we wouldn’t go to the hospital or even see a OB/GYN. Most people also think that we are weird because we have six kids. Every time we would get pregnant and start telling our friends and family, we always get the eye roll and then they’ll say something like,“Don’t you know how to use a condom,” or, “Don’t you know what causes that?”

As a result it makes us feel as though we don’t know what we’re doing and that our family isn’t something to be celebrated, but to be hidden. We usually don’t mention anything about a new pregnancy and just let the older kids spill the beans after we tell them. But we always make sure that each child feels special and loved. And its always fun after the birth to wake up all the big brothers and sister so they can all come and greet the newest sibling right from the start. After the first couple of home births our families’ have come to terms with the idea of having a baby at home. My wife’s sister even did it with two of her kids. I do still get weird looks from the people I work with though. It’s still the number of children that we have that gets the most negative response.

~Bekah Sealey, editor of MBPH

We at More Babies Prefer Home Birth have always invited our guests to stop awhile and share their own stories.  Why should we share our stories?  Beyond statistics and research, lists of pros and cons, stories have staying power.  We may not always remember all the details, but having heard or read a personal experience remains in our memories.

Thirteen years ago, when I was pregnant with my first child, I knew nothing of pregnancy, birth or options beyond the typical medical childbearing experience.  It’s not surprising, then, that I experienced the usual American childbirth, with monitors and tubes, interventions and drugs, resulting in the not uncommon postpartum infection.  After mulling over how this happened the next few months, I recalled reading a home birth story in, of all places, one of the American Baby-esque magazines culled from the doctor’s office.  At the time,  I wondered why anyone would possibly choose to do such a crazy thing.  A year later, I was eagerly searching any information I could find on the subject.  Since then, we have planned 5 home births: one water birth, one (unfortunate, but healthy) transport during birth, and one unassisted birth.

I wish I remembered who had written that article, or even what magazine it had been.  She gave me options, I’d otherwise never have known existed.  I’d like to thank her for changing my life.

{If you’d like to share your own home birth story, please use the form at right to submit it.}

Well, I’ve read a few of the other stories posted here and I’m afraid that I’m not as eloquent a writer as the others, but I will attempt to summarize my experience. I’m a mother of 2 beautiful children, son almost 5 and daughter almost 2, both homebirthed with midwives in two different states.

When I was pregnant with our son, I was working full-time and my boss had just had a baby the year before. She of course had an epidural and was then subsequently “forced” into a c-section because of fetal distress. From the moment that I knew that I was pregnant, I didn’t want to end up with her type of experience, especially being forced down a path of intervention that the mother has no control over. She of course was happy with her experience and even ended up with a second child a few years later with a planned c-section. But I knew that it was not the right plan for me. I was not aware of the options and stressing over it once day when my dearest friend and second mother told me that a home birth was possible with the midwife that her daughter-in-law had. I was instantly intrigued and had to learn more.

I did some research and contacted the midwife. I met her at her office which was more like a home inside. It was softly lit with furniture (futon) and pillows instead of an exam table. I was instantly hooked. She explained more of herself and what she does and assured me that I could think about it more and get back to her if I chose her. I told her immediately that I didn’t need to think about it more, I would never chose a hospital birth over her in a million years!

Well, that’s how it began. All throughout the pregnancy, the midwife was wonderful. The birth was more painful that I had anticipated, but I chose to surround myself with girlfriends that loved me to massage my lower back through contractions. My husband was behind me also, although reluctant to participate, he was gently encouraged by everyone there to share a role. (He was afraid of blood and all things womanly, which is quite funny coming from such a strong manly man). Our son was born perfect in a most awesome way. I will never forget the women that were a part of my most momentous life changing time.

The pregnancy and birth of our daughter occurred 3 years later in a new state and home 2,000 miles away from where we had our established life. After having such a wonderful homebirth, I could never think of doing anything but that again. Since I didn’t know anyone that had a midwife here, I searched online the website for the Wisconsin Guild of Midwives. From there, I picked a few that I intended on contacting.

But then, I got a call from an old friend that was pregnant with her second and didn’t want a hospital birth again. So I gave the names of the midwives that I was thinking of for myself to her. She found a midwife that wonderful. I met her also and so began another chapter in my life.

This pregnancy was different, yet in some ways better since I was not quite so unsure of everything. When things happened, I wasn’t so surprised. This time, I was not working full-time and was better able to get more rest and take care of myself, even though I had an active and energetic toddler that demanded attention.

We napped together and went to the bathroom to pee together, (he was potty-trained that summer, since I had to pee a lot, it was only natural to remind him to go too). The birth was different from the first, yet had similarities. I had back labor again and relied on the massaging hands of my sister. I wanted our son to be part of the birth, but our daughter chose to be born around midnight and I felt it was more important for our son to get to sleep a full night.

Our daughter was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, just like our son was also. But that didn’t affect them. Both nursed within a hour of birth and continued nursing for over 14 months.

I breastfed because I knew that it was the best thing to do. It was the way our Creator designed us to do, why would I purposely go against it? I didn’t pre-determine the length of time that I was going to nurse them. I took one day at a time. With both, I had cracked and bleeding nipples followed by mastitis, one form with the first and the other form with the second.

I wouldn’t trade it with formula for any reason. I just kept going, knowing that I was going to get better and it did. Then breastfeeding became the best time that I had with my babies.

We are not currently planning on a third child, but if that happens, I would without question, have a homebirth, for my health and my baby’s.