The FIRST time you ever thought about homebirth

[laohaire]

What did you think?

Edit: #$#@ I was trying to post a poll but now it won't let me.

But I was wondering - did you immediately think, YES!!! I want that!!

Or Hmm, that's interesting, I want to learn more.

Or I don't think so!

Or No how, no way!

Or something else?

[frontierpsych]

i thought "I wish I had the guts to try that!" (I had always planned on NCB, and never really thought it dangerous to have a baby at home if you knew what you were doing) Lo and behold, I'm planning a UC! Now I could not see myself comfortable giving birth in a hospital or even a birthing center. I'd even be a little iffy just having a midwife there. I'm very comfortable with the choice I've made, and I made it fairly early in my pregnancy, so in any case, knowledge is power! I'm learning all I can to be as safe AND comfortable as possible.

[newmainer]

when i was in college a couple of midwives had their office just down the street from us. i biked by it twice a day. i thought... wow, i want to do that. it just fit with my lifestyle and preferences for organic, natural living.

one of them helped deliever dd about 4 or 5 years later

[Spark]

The woman I babysat for had her last 2 out of 3 kids born at home. I was confused by it & a little grossed out when I went into the room they were born in.

All three of my kids were born at home. I wonder if I gross out my babysitter!!?!?!

[boscopup]

Mine was Hmmm interesting - want to learn more.

I was reading on the Internet about child birth before getting preg, and read about natural birth, which sounded like what I wanted. Then I read the differences between homebirth and hospital birth and decided that I really wanted to homebirth! End up with a hospital birth which wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but hopefully this one will be out-of-hospital, if he/she decides to stay in there long enough to get to term.

[Mama Poot]

Shortly after we concieved our first child, I purchased a new queen size bed. Its a beautiful pine with a large headboard and footboard that have braids and flowers carved into it. I remember laying on the bed and telling DH that this would be my birthing bed. ( of course this was all before the stupid doctors got into my head and made me feel like I had to go to the hospital ).

There is an old legend that an oath sworn over a garnet is all but impossible to break. My birthstone is a garnet and I have a large purple rhodolite garnet that my father gave me for my 16th birthday. It was likely I was wearing that ring when I said it would be my birthing bed because I was recalling the other day what I had said. After everything we went through at the hospital, and the months of depression I endured because I did not have the birth I felt my son and I deserved, I knew that I needed to start being honest about what I wanted. And I wanted to have my babies at home, in my own bed.

Every time I am in our bedroom, I look at our bed and imagine that I am looking at myself giving birth to our upcoming and all of our future children. The next six weeks cannot go by fast enough. I cannot begin to describe how excited I am about having a home birth!!!

[WinterBaby]

I first thought about homebirth in high school, and thought that's definately how I'd want to do things! But I also thought that no one does that anymore, no one would attend you at home, and it just might be illegal. So I shelved any birth thoughts as something I never really wanted to do anyhow, lol. It was always a lurking opinion though, however impossible an option I concluded it to be. Later, in college, midwives from a local birth center spoke to a class of mine and I was excited to learn of the possibility of out-of-hospital birth. I asked them about home birth... and they said it wasn't legal, while explaining how their birth center met many of the same needs. Which wasn't entirely accurate, as they meant it wasn't legal for *them* to attend homebirth, not me to have one. But I didn't know that then, so I was sold on the birth center concept. Fastforward a decade to late in pregnancy where I'm growing increasingly unhappy with my care providers and threaten to all my family that I'm just going to stay home. They can't *force* me to go and participate in their plan when labor comes, lol. My research talented sister came up with actual names of actual midwives who would attend homebirths, and I excitedly proceeded from there

[Nora'sMama]

I hope it is OK to post on here even though I did not have a homebirth...but I am hoping for a HB with my next child. I would have had a HB w/ Nora if we could have afforded it...but when faced with the choice between finding $4000 that we did not have and having the entire pregnancy and delivery covered by Kaiser for a $250 copay, we chose the latter.

Anyhoo -

I think that I first heard of homebirth about 3 years ago when I was starting to research pregnancy, childbirth and parenting. I had a job as an administrative assistant and on the days when I had to cover the switchboard from 5 to 6 I would spend all my time online, following links and reading about whatever topics came up. I started being so intrigued by this whole world of homebirthing, attachment parenting, etc...I don't think I had ever heard of homebirthing before this; it just was not on my radar. Everyone I had ever known had their babies in the hospital.

And then out of the blue an old college friend got back in touch; she was pregnant and planning a homebirth! I couldn't believe it. She sent me the pics and his birthstory and it was so incredibly beautiful. I decided I wanted one of those! Unfortunately I had a very skewed idea of what it would cost and did not plan ahead...my friend's HB was about $2K and I thought that with monthly payments we could do that, but in our area we couldn't find anyone who would do a HB for less than $4K and there was no payment schedule that we could do. Next time we will be better prepared, I hope - although our hospital birth was a good experience and went very smoothly with minimal interventions.

Another friend of mine just had a HB 6 weeks ago - like my college friend, this was her first child - and I must confess I was a bit jealous!

[midwifetx]

My brother was born at home when I was nearly 7yrs old, so I grew up thinking "of course I'll have my babies at home"

[hibana]

A friend in high school was born unassisted. I believe her mother had planned UCs with all 3 children. My friend showed me pictures of her birth- nifty!

[rad]

I actually had a friend in elementary school whose baby brother was born at home. So it was always a thought. It wasn't until I started thinking about TTC #1 that I read about hospital births and their interventions/policies and figured there has got to be a better way to have a baby. Then I picked up a copy of "Immaculate Deception II" and opened up the homebirthing thought again.

[ZeldasMom]

I took a women's studies class in college called Women and Their Bodies in Health and Disease. When we studied childbirth I was horrified by all the medical procedures that I learned about that were often done despite lack of evidence that they were necessary or wanted. We had a panel of speakers one day that included a homebirth midwife. I thought what she had to say sounded pretty good.

[MamaTaraX]

"YES! I want that!"
I thought about having babies athome when I was little even.

Namaste, Tara

[Blue Dragonfly]

I saw a video in a Women's Studies class in university. Before I saw this video, I had always been terrified of birth. I grew up on a farm and saw lots of births, and saw how hard it could be on animals (without socialisation issues) and thought - I NEVER want to do that.

But when I saw the homebirthing video, I thought "I could maybe do that." Then over the couple of years before I got pregnant I read a local magazine dedicated to birthing choices (mostly HB). After reading the wonderful stories, I knew that I would only have a HB. And I did (it was great) and number 2 will also be born at home. (I unpacked the pool today )

[laohaire]

I'm the OP putting in her 2 cents. I never thought about birthing until I was 20 (I wasn't the sort to play "wedding" or "house" or even just dolls either). I have a friend who had decided she was interested in becoming a doula, and she had a few books. I used to visit her on weekends and it would be very laid back and often I'd read her books while she did her own thing, and one day I picked up her books about birth. They talked about hospital interventions, etc., and I knew right then that this wasn't acceptable to me.

Eight years later when I was TTC I knew what I wanted, and I had it So, I guess for me, my reaction was YES!!!!!!

[ColoradoMama]

This question is kind of funny because when I first saw it I thought about when I was 20 and read "Gentle Birth Choices" and thought it was great. But then I remember that was NOT my first introduction to homebirth. When I was a freshman in high school, my roommate was the daughter of a homebirth midwife. She told me lots of stories, and honestly, I thought the girl was a little weird. Loved her to death, she was great, but her stories about homebirth were too much for me! I remember saying that I WOULD NEVER DO THAT! I really wish I could find her!

[Kidzaplenty]

When I was 12 we had some friends that had a very large family. They had a "his, mine, and ours" family that included a total of 19 children. They had almost all of them at home. But the mother had five of them in the hospital for various reasons. However, while in the hospital for each birth, she had tramatic experiences with included almost dieing, a broken hip, a broken shoulder, and I am not sure what else but many other things "happen" to her. At that moment I decided that I was NEVER going to a hospital.

I have had seven children now and one more on the way, and I have NEVER been addmitted to the hospital for ANY reason!

[DJG]

Not a mama yet, but I just wanted to add my 2 cents if that's ok. I can honestly say I can't remember the first time I thought about homebirth because my dad (as well as all of his 7 brothers and sisters) were born at home (he was also bf, not circ'd, not vaxed. Go grandma! lol), so it was always in the back of my mind as a possibility. The first time I actually put serious thought into it was in high school when I had to do a report for health class on pregnancy and birth. After reading all the horror stories of what could happen in a hospital, and knowing there was an alternative, there was no doubt in my mind that any baby I had would be home birthed.

[huggerwocky]

I thought: am I brave enough to handle the pain? I don't want to go into a hospital!

[RiaMomma]

I hope i can do this, I am thinking of a home birth if i can afford it. I will need a midwife or something cause i dont have a partner at the moment. This is my fourth birth the other three were in the hospital and i hated every moment of it. Since I have concieved this one I am really really wanting to do this. I am even thinking of the tub or kiddy pool since i do have fibromyalgia and it would be better for me to labor in water.
WISH me luck finding someone i can afford! OR a friend who will be willing to deliever it with me unassistedly.
Ria