I am very interested in a homebirth this time around, but will need to do more research and ask my midwife more questions before I make a final decision. Maybe you ladies that have done homebirths some more have good resources for those of us considering it?
With DS I had a natural hospital birth. I had an MD from a low-risk clinic (not an OB), which is the norm here unless you are high risk. I had a doula (and plan to have one again, haven't decided if we'll have the same doula or not yet) and a great nurse. Neither my doctor nor the hospital are intervention happy. I didn't have to get an IV (and did not have one). I did have meds for the extreme nausea, but no pain meds. I was encouraged to move around, get in the bath tub, and do what I needed to do. Anyway, I had a good experience last time.
My midwife does about 50% home and 50% hospital births. If I chose a hospital birth I can go to any hospital in the city when the time comes. I live only 10 mins from a good hospital, but it's the busier one as it has the highest level NICU in the city. As I see it, for me, the pros of a homebirth are the comfort of being in my own home, of not having to go home with my baby but of already being there, and of perhaps having a more comfortable/faster birth taking "sphinxter law" into account. The pros of a hospital birth for me is mainly the security of knowing that if something goes wrong, I am already at the hospital. The other is that at the hospital, they don't really allow visitors except your partner, siblings of the baby and grandparents. I liked that this protected our first day. In fact, I would have been happy for my parents and in-laws not to come at all!
I am on the fence, but leaning towards a home birth since DS's birth was quick, natural and complication free.
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