More Babies Prefer Home Birth

Finally ! At 42 completed weeks of pregnancy, and after a week of prodromal labour, I was OVERJOYED to have contractions for which I actually needed to lean on the table and breathe through (they were immediately regular, too - every two to three minutes right from the get-go). They began at about 10:45 pm, Saturday night.  I sent out the “IT’S ON !” e-mail to close friends and family in between two hard contractions, shortly after mum took this picture of me (because I said to her “Quick ! please take one last pic of my pregnant self !”). I also phoned Sinclair (my primary midwife) at this time, and believe it or not, told her she might even be able to go back to sleep for a bit… !?!? Yes, days of pre-labour will do this to you, ie., cause you to be in complete denial when it actually does happen, and even when everyone else around you knows it’s the real deal.

Please visit Chloë’s Birth Story to read the rest.

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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.