What made it amazing?

[alton]

This is a question for those of you who had wonderful home birth experiences - what was it that made it so wonderful for you?

[jenfl]

Being able to roll over and take a nap in my own bed with my husband and new daughter.

[*MamaJen*]

It was so calm and gentle and peaceful -- music playing softly, water lapping against the side of the tub, everyone whispering and respecting the birth space. It really helped me to get in the zone and have a very easy birth with almost no real pain.
That's one of the things that made it such a beautiful experience emotionally. Of course, I had many more pragmatic concerns like avoiding hospital interventions, yada yada.

[JorgieGirl]

Simply being at home. It was an empowering family moment for me. And it was more special because there were no 'unnecessaries', like a car ride, or nurses, or forms to fill out.

It was just life continuing in the great circle right in my own livingroom.

[erin_brycesmom]

Giving in to my body and watching the beauty unfold without messing with it. Getting in tune with myself, trusting myself and following my instincts. Never having anyone else's hands inside me or touching my vagina. Never knowing numbers for how dilated my cervix was and instead knowing that my body would push when it was ready. Never doubting the miracle. Just me, my body and my baby and the heightened sense of feeling exactly what was going on but without a lot of pain. Instinctively reaching down and applying pressure where needed and feeling my baby's head descend into the palm of my own hand and then being born into my own hand with no one else's hands around. There is no other feeling in the world like that. Feeling my body change positions without any control of my own and just going with it. Reaching down and pulling my baby from the water and holding him against my chest as he takes his first breath. Me and him. Him and me. Staring into each other's eyes. Never being separated until we were ready. Staying connected for over an hour. Staying in the birth pool for over an hour, nice and warm. Spending our first hours, night and days together as a family without any strangers coming and going. Being pampered by the ones that love me, friends and family. The normalcy of it all.

The fast recovery and the fact that I didn't tear despite all odds was a nice bonus as well.

[autumnday]

being the one in charge of my birth, not having strange people walking in and out of my birth environment, and not having to travel while in labor nor after the birth. we loved our homebirth and midwife so much, we did it again the second time around!

[ColwynsMommy]

Having the opportunity to trust my body, and having it work perfectly.

The normality of the birth - there was some chaos as it was a precipitous unplanned UC (our midwife arrived 5 minutes after the birth) - but it happened in my own home like we planned, without any outside help, and life just continued right around us.

I love being able to joke with Fiona, saying, "Now, being born in the bathroom does not give you unlimited access.. sometimes Mommy wants to pee by herself!" and it just sounds totally normal.

[NamastePlatypus]

EVERYTHING! It was our birth, our home, our invited people ONLY. No scary smells or sounds, no pressure, no fear, no needles, just me, my son, dh, sister like midwife, and my dogs in my room and the tub. I got to jam out to panic with the midwife and have fresh roast as soon as I was done and strawberries from the garden. I love how whenever I take a shower or give the boys a bath in my room I have that memory. It is wonderful to have that. It will be the only reason it will be hard to leave this house when we move.

[ShwarmaQueen]

Reaching inside and feeling the top of his head as he was descending through the birth canal. Totally amazing.

[crittersmom]

being able to get in my normal sized bed, hospital beds are always too short.Not being bugged about bathing and shots and vitality checks and keeping a nursing log.Things were focused on me rather than a timeline and a monitor that kept moving because the baby was coming so fast.My labors are fast so it was nice not having to deal with getting in and out of the car and filling out still more forms and trying to convince them that yes I am in labor.My kids were able to come in and see the baby right away, something that I'm sure wouldn't be allowed nowadays.I could eat as soon as I wanted to and exactly what I wanted rather than hoping that someone would respond to the call button and the kitchen should be open.The peace.

[moonglowmama]

Being able to be loud, naked, comfortable. The herbal bath following birth was really nice, and then my midwife took time to carefully dry me off so I wouldn't have to bend, etc. Having only the people we knew and loved with us, having time to do what I wanted, without pressure from anyone, being able to figure things out and surrender to the process in my time, crying, and really getting to a place of understanding in my core that I could do it, I was made for this.

[S.Elise]

SO many things were great about it, but I was surprised that this mattered to me: not having to take a car ride, or even think about how far along my labor was in order to plan that car ride, was amazing. I never kept track of my contractions, which helped the time go by so much faster. I just kept calling my doula, who made judgments about when to call the miwife herself, without involving me in the whole timing thing. Th lack of pressure to perform was great.

[birdword]

Everything really, but especially:

-No car-ride, everyone came to me
-Feeling in control
-Knowing where everything was; food, blankets etc.
-Comfortable . . . well as comfortable as labor can be!
-Gave birth where I wanted to, turned out it was in a kiddy pool on my porch

I wouldn't give up the opportunity to give birth at home for anything!

[zonapellucida]

Quiet and the no rush feeling. Birthing in the tub. Being able to crawl into my own bed and be waited on. Noone coming in to wash the floor or empty garbage pails.

[cheeqz]

Wow, what a question.

Everything.

And this is from someone who never thought I would consider a home birth.

Some of the highlights:

- going for a walk in my neighborhood with my mom, a midwife student, husband and dog to work through contractions
- being able to keep my energy up with juice, fruit, honey, and sublingual B vitamins
- when I was having trouble getting anywhere, it was recommended I push on the toilet...if I had been anywhere other than home, I would have been obsessing about being on someone else's toilet
- when it was over, being able to get in my own cozy bed and fall asleep with my husband and baby...no drive home, no scratchy hospital sheets
- knowing that my body was able to do something so incredible without drugs or much assistance, so empowering

My active labor was 26 hours long, so being that I hate being in a hospital if I don't have to be, I think I would have gone nuts if I had been there that long.

[J's Mama]

Amazing to me was how normal it felt. I just loved that it was *our* space, our terms. We never had to go anywhere. I felt "tended to" by my wonderful midwife and her student at the time. It was magical.

[nikirj]

Being able to turn my brain off 100% because I didn't need to worry about where I was in labor or what anyone else was going to do or any other of the 100 things I worried about in the hospital.

[njsummer01]

Thanks for this beautiful thread! I'm planning a homebirth in April and all your wonderful comments are really inspiring! Keep them coming!

[wbg]

My daughter! and her gentle arrival under water and into her daddys arms!
Sharing the moment with her 3 older siblings and not missing them for one moment in the next few days.
Having my own comfort food!
Not missing DH who did not have to split his time between home and the hospy.

[SheBear]

Nothing. *Nothing* made it amazing! ;-)

I smiled when I read this thread title, because it reminded me of something I wrote shortly after my first homebirth:

"The most astonishing thing about this whole homebirth experience is that it feels so normal. When people comment on "how brave" or "how strong" I must be to have had a homebirth, I am surprised and embarrassed, because I don't feel brave or strong. I don't feel deserving of such accolades. To be honest, I thought I would deserve it--I thought I was in for a life-altering, paradigm-shifting event! Of course, motherhood itself is life-changing, but I expected to be somehow fundamentally changed through homebirth. I guess I thought that I would feel different from other mothers, with their "ordinary" hospital births. Instead, I've come to realize that birth is ordinary. It's not scary or risky or technical. It is certainly not a medical event. It is just a simple part of life, unspectacular and ordinary. But--and this is the secret, I think, to homebirth--realizing that it is ordinary is exactly what makes it sublime."