Why Homebirth?

[*Lindsey*]

I'd love to hear everyone's reasons for choosing a homebirth. :

I had 2 great natural births in the hospital, so why mess with a "good" thing? I HATE riding in the car when I'm in labor. I HATE sleeping in a hospital bed. I HATE being bugged all the time by the nurses. I disagree with a lot of the "necessary" policies/practices....etc.

I want to be in my own home, in my own bed, with my family and things around me. I want for us all to snuggle up on our bed with our new baby. I want it to be relaxed and peaceful with NO flourescent lights!

You?

[Pandora114]

all the reasons you mentioned.

[kathan12904]

All those reasons too. Also, political stance against the terrible treatment of pregnant moms and newborn babies in this country. A lot of anger and sadness about an unneccesary, manipulated c/s with #1 as well as knowing that in my city staying at home is about the only way to avoid the same with #2. Hatred of being treated like just because I have a child in me means that I should be treated like a child as well. Frustration over nosy nurses putting in their two cents whenever the baby is born and I'm caring for it. Strange, unexplained requirement that your baby be taken away from you to the nursery at least once a day regardless of how healthy they are. The vast amount of dangerous, drug-resistant diseases swimming around every inch of a hospital and those who work there. The fact that signing the paper to check yourself into the hospital automatically releases hospital staff to do whatever they "deem necessary" including painful, useless, episiotomy without permission or explaination. The god complex that many doctors exhibit. The lithotomy position.

[alegna]

All of the above, PLUS:

birth is not a medical issue. I am not sick.

Hospitals are NASTY places

At home you GREATLY reduce the chance of being harmed by medical mistake

-Angela

[babycatcher01]

Why home birth? turn the question, why hospital birth?

[Peony]

All of the above. I just want to be left alone, I want to labor how I want to, I don't want someone bothering me, the call lights going off, people coming in and waking me up when I just finally got to sleep, the nurses pestering me about needing to take my baby to the nursery, the list goes on and on. DD1 was born in the hopsital, it was a fine birth, it was probably a great birth as far as hospital births go.

DD2 was born at home, it was absolutely beautiful. No one telling me to get out of the water so they could check me, I was left alone to wander through my house laboring exactly how I pleased. I climbed in my tub when I felt like it, I never had to say "I feel like pushing", I did everything how I wanted to not how someone was telling me to. I caught dd2 myself, got to find out she was a girl, put her to breast right there in the tub while I was waiting for the placenta to come out, the MW never touched me or my baby during all of that, that was beautiful. I got out when I felt like it, my MW helped me clean up, we ate lunch, and she went home. We had to the rest of the day to ourselves, it was wonderful. My not so homebirth DH was raving about it, he had to call his bro and tell them they had to have a HB for their baby.

[Patchfire]

Originally Posted by babycatcher01

Why home birth? turn the question, why hospital birth?

:

The hospital is an artificial environment for a natural process.

[saratchka]

1. Last time my instincts told me to stay home. I didn't because we'd not done any planning for a homebirth, but I haven't forgotten that intense need to stay in "my place" to birth.
2. I want to experience this birth, and more importantly, my first few days with my new child, in a comfortable environment without constant interference by hospital staff.
3. I am not sick. I am healthy and my body has proven its ability to birth a child without any significant intervention. If I find that the baby or I need medical attention beyond what my MW can provide, I will go to the hospital. Otherwise, we just don't need to be there.

[aniT]

All of the above, plus we have no medical insurance. $2,000 vrs $10,000 plus is a huge difference.

And yea.. telling me I have to lay on my back while in labor, nurses giving me stupid parenting advice even though hello, I have other children. Being woke up in the middle of the night for blood pressure checks or just to ask me my name. : OH and visitors coming and going when THEY feel like it. The stupid phone ringing when I am sleeping. Sharing a room with someone else... Argg....

DS is due today.. but it doesn't look like he will be showing up. I hope it is soon, then I can share the difference between three hospital births and a home birth.

[*Lindsey*]

Being woke up in the middle of the night for blood pressure checks or just to ask me my name. OH and visitors coming and going when THEY feel like it. The stupid phone ringing when I am sleeping.

I totally agree with that!

I'm loving this! And the "why hospital" is an excellent question.

We also have no health insurance so the $1800 is a lot more feasable for us.

[phoebemommy]

All of the above, plus -- I REALLY hate people telling me what's good for me. About anything. They can't know. And I didn't want to have people all up in my business about breastfeeding. I wanted to do it on my own, and seek help if and when I needed it. And finally, I'm really disturbed that the medical institution has claimed so much power in how we parent. I reject the hospital as my pregancy/birthing/parenting authority, and by doing so, I think I take away some of its power.

[Isaac'sMa]

All of the above, plus it's safer for mama and baby at home!

[bamamom]

Being able to lay in your own bed afterward with your dh, and gaze at your baby, while the doula keeps the ringers off and the house dark and quiet.

No one even knew our ds was born for about 4 hours...only me, my husband, the doula and midwife.

The midwife had to run to another birth(Ds was UA, but she came to check us out afterward) and the doula stayed.

She was a homebirthing mom herself, and knew exactly what to do. She cooked up a freaking storm, and turned all the ringers off and kept the house perfectly peaceful. She helped us with our herbal bath...ahhh i'm rambling!!

Homebirth is the way to Go. I am afraid of hospitals, and to be honest, I'd be a TERRIBLE patient, because I wouldnt do a darn thing they said!

[DoomaYula]

Well I haven't had a homebirth yet, but I'll tell you why I'm going to have one (someday, in a few years or so)

I don't like being bugged while I'm in labor. I don't want to have to move -- by car, by elevator, by anything. I want to KNOW my provider, not just get some random nurse and some random doc who are on-call. Plus hospitals are gross. Seriously, I put my doula clothes in a bag, wash it on hot, and scrub myself down whenever I return from a hospital birth.

[ABand3]

all of the above, plus not worrying about the hospital pretending to own your baby.

[wildthing]

Everything above, which seem more to be more tangible aspects to me. But there is something else.........Birth is such an intimate time. There are a few times in your life when you are completely vulnerable. Birth is one of those times. I feel a need, a drive that I can't explain, to not leave my home to have my baby. When feeling vulnerable, I need to be where I feel safe and protected to balance that. I can't release and let myself BE as open as I need to in birth, if I am in a hospital. I have had 3 hospital births, all vaginal, 2 unmedicated.....but there was something about those births that was not right.

Just as any other mammal will have emotional disruption when disturbed during birth, so will humans. The difference is, humans have the ability to reason, and to convince themselves that the hospital is not only and okay place to birth, but somehow superior.

[bamamom]

This is true. I always sought out the tightest smallest corner to wedge my huge round self into when i was having a baby. In the birth center where I had dd, I set up the birth stool in a tiny nook between the bed, wall, and nightstand. My big ole dh could barely fit next to me in the floor, and the midwife literally lay in the floor and looked from a distance.

I need that privacy...and being UA was absolutely it for us. Just me and dh, i didnt have to feel weird being around him.

[Mrs_Hos]

ditto ditto ditto...

Add to that that when I read the 'contract' for the birth center at our military hospital I read things like 'You MUST have a heplock, NO CHILDREN allowed, NO video taping or photos of procedures'
Um...no thank you...my birth, my way!

Also--I HATE the idea of someone attending me that I've never met before--even if the nurses or Dr are 'good' it is still annoying to not even know them or know where they are coming from ya know??

[lolar2]

Avoiding ICKY germs!

[mama_at_home]

Ditto to everyone. I want to labor and birth in the comfort of my own home with the freedom to do what I want and need. After birth, I don't want anyone touching my babies and telling me what I should do with them. Plus hospitals are full of sick people and germs, why would I want my healthy newborns around that?