From Midwife, to Homebirth, & Beyond! « Back to Group Discussions

[ally2010]

First off I'd like to say thank you upfront to each of you who will read this thread & respond. This topic is something I hold very close to me, and a decision making process that has been in the making for some time & carefully considered with lots of prayer, background research, and now personal testimonies or advice. I am currently just over 21 weeks pregnant, and since 8 weeks seen a renowned physician in my area. Though the concept of a midwife/homebirth has been a constant tugging on my heart. Currently, I work out on average 6 out of 7 days of the week most of those workouts are up to 4 hours long consisting of yoga, aerobics, lyrical, classical ballet, and even Pointe. I eat nearly every meal preservative free, and focus heavily on pregnancy power foods (as learned about in 'what to expect when expecting'). And of course all this is paired with nearly 10-12 hours of sleep a night, prenatal pills, & omega/fish oil. After informing my present Doctor of all the natural remedies I planned to uphold throughout the pregnancy, I quickly saw our differences. Instead of natural solutions, I was prescribed pills to induce sleep, hunger, etc... Which later learned ran its course till it was no longer a issue. None the less after getting the approval to seek other birthing plans, and assuring my pregnancy risks were obsolete; Along with the huge financial cut, this has brought me to consider a home birth. However, I'd love to hear from all of you about your take in the matter. Success stories, concerns, questions, etc... Everything will be helpful in attending our first consultation this coming Wednesday. Thank you for your time!!

[Kara9080]

Umm, not sure what response you're looking for - to support you in homebirth?? I think you'll find plenty of support here at MDC :)

I'm overweight, don't exercise, don't eat like I should, I'm on medication for various health issues but my team of Drs would support me in a homebirth if I wanted, I just choose not to because of price and I have double insurance so birth center it is for me! I've given birth naturally twice before with next to no problems so I'm a homebirth candidate.

If one Dr didn’t' support you in your desire to homebirth, then I'd fire your Dr and seek our another! Good luck!

[miss_nikki]

If you trust yourself, your body, your baby, and your midwife (should you choose to use one) and you believe that homebirth is the best choice for you, then I say go for it. 
 

[MommyRuth]

I used this list to choose some of the questions to ask the midwives we interviewed. http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1295310/questions-to-ask-a-midwife 

I had a natural hospital birth with my first pregnancy and realized in hindsight that I lucked out having a natural birth in the hospital. This time we are having a homebirth with a midwife. The difference has been obvious for me from the beginning. I feel as though *I* am in charge of my health and well being and not at the mercy of some "expert." I feel that my midwives trust me to let them know if there is an issue. I felt like the doctor was always LOOKING for an issue. It sounds like you're quite healthy, which will probably help. I say trust your gut! Your intuition knows what's best.

[KateHNM]

I have been planning on having a home birth from the start.  I haven't had very good experiences with doctors, specifically OB/GYNs so when I watched a documentary on childbirth in America and started researching, I realized the midwife style of care was what I wanted.  Unfortunately while there are some fantastic doctors, our healthcare system is far from perfect and hospitals in general are more concerned with protecting themselves from lawsuits and making money than they are with the well being of a mother and her child.  

I feel like I'm being treated like an intelligent person who is going through a natural part of life rather than a walking problem waiting to happen.  My midwives take their time with me and answer all my questions and allow me to see all the information they have on me including all lab work, ultrasounds etc via a secure website so I know everything they know about my pregnancy.  I really like being able to see all the reports and researching anything I don't understand rather than having a doctor dumb everything down or leave out what I consider important information assuming I'm not smart enough to care.  I don't know if any of you had doctors like mine but when I went to a OB/GYN (and I went to three different offices over the past few years) I felt like the doctor was always in a rush and barely had time to dismiss any concerns I had with a "everything is fine" before rushing out the door.

With my midwives I feel like I don't need to be afraid of every little symptom or even to worry about childbirth as much.  They are really calm and down to earth but seem very knowledgeable.  They seem pretty confident that they can help me through a natural water birth without any medication and say that there are natural ways to deal with the pain and minor issues of childbirth without all the interventions of hospitals.  At first my husband wasn't sure about my choice but after endless research and discussion he fully supports me.  And for the record I'm not the type of person to be interested in spiritual things or anything like that but in this case the natural way feels very much like the right way.

If at any point it seems like I shouldn't have a home birth my midwives will be the first to let me know but I'm young and healthy so there is no reason thus far for me to have to do this in a hospital setting.  These women have many years of experience in assisting with births and I trust them far more than any of the doctors I have seen.  It is a tough decision to make and you may face quite a bit of resistance when discussing the issue with family and friends.  My husband's mother is a nurse and is furious with us for doing this, as is my own father.  My co-workers think I'm a bit crazy to consider it also but are at least respectful.  The bottom line is it's your child, it's your labor and your body and therefore it should be YOUR choice.  Do what you know deep down is right for you.  And research a lot.  Read other home birth stories and statistics from both sides of the argument.  

Really sorry for the length of this post.  I feel quite strongly about the topic!