Afraid of homebirth?

[Ish'smom]

My husband has agreed that with the next one we can have a homebirth so that is what I'm planning(not PG yet) I will be asking alot of questions once I am! It looks like we wont be able to have a midwife though so for right now I have a few questions.

1 How many of you labored without any medical assistance?

2 Were you scared and how much?

3 What sort of relaxation and/or laboring methods did you use?(What do you think of the Bradley Technique?)

Thanks all!

[SublimeBirthGirl]

My 1st was a hospital birth and I labored for about 15 hours before going in, though I went in WAY too early and wasn't really in active labor yet.

My 2nd was an unassisted homebirth, so I did the whole thing without medical assistance. Having done it both ways I can definitely say that for me, medical personnel were definitely a hindrance and not a help when it came to labor.

I wasn't scared at all. I had moments of anxiety off and on throughout the pregnancy, but dealt with things as they arose. I controlled what I could (by taking good care of myself, and tuning in to my intuition) and let go of what I couldn't.

I used Bradley with my first (and later taught it), Hypnobabies home study with my 2nd, and I teach a class I created with two other teachers called Intuitive Birth. So my preparation consisted of 3 years of immersion in childbirth and many different programs.

I could have had a midwife, and had a UC by choice. I'm very glad I did. One book about unassisted birth that I really enjoyed is The Power of Pleasurable Childbirth by Laurie Morgan.