More Babies Prefer Home Birth

If you are not familiar with our history we had a few obstacles to overcome before this birth became possible. 1993 - My first baby was born via induced vaginal delivery at 9 days past my due date. A week of prodomal labor, 12 hours active/hard labor and 30 minutes of pushing. She was posterior, but born vaginally. 1997 - Second baby was born via c-section for posterior brow presentation after induced labor (18 hours of hard labor, at least of an hour of pushing and the sOB trying to turn her head during contractions) at 6 days past my due date. I had not gone into labor on my own, but had been leaking amnio fluid for 2-3 days and had a low-grade fever. 2000 - Third baby was born via scheduled repeat c-section (4 days before my due date) for breech position that turned transverse upon the opening of my uterus which required an Inverted T incision by the doctor because the baby got stuck.

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I read Natural Birth After Cesarean by Karis Crawford, PhD and Johanne C. Walters, BSN, RN.  Karis herself had an inverted T incision and went on to have 2 VBACs.  In the midst of this research I decided to find a homebirth midwife or at least a midwife that was not working for a hospital/OB group.

To read the rest of Thalea’s Birth Story, please visit A New Baby

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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.