If you waited until after to tell, how was the reaction?

I've been working on a list of the top ten responses I've gotten. "On purpose?" and "How horrible that you couldn't have any drugs" are currently tied for the lead. My mother was horrified, although she felt this was better than the midwife-assisted hospital birth I'd planned. My father and the in-laws thought it was great and rushed to tell everyone they know.

Actually when people find out I homebirthed my twins, they usually think it is so cool and brave. My dad still doesn't know because he hasn't asked. We don't talk much though, he is pretty self-absorbed. I guess he has not even visited their website or noticed my emails because he has never mentioned the homebirth. I am sure there are people that think I was irresponsible but I have not received any negative comments to my face. Although I have been asked if I had an epidural at home. Uh, no!

We told all of our friends and family, but most of our acquaintences didn't find out until after the fact. I got a lot of "wow, you're brave!" comments, which just annoyed me.

Although I thought I had told them, my grandparents didn't find out until after the fact, my grandma just told me she was glad she didn't know what we were planning, otherwise she would've been worried sick about me

Gosh, I wouldn't worry about it. If you can make it that long w/o telling her, you really won't care once it's over. You'll likely be in such a euphoric haze, nothing will "ding" you. Both of my kids were born at home and yes, we got tons of OMG reactions and none of it bothered us.

We told no members of our extended family we were having a hb. When I called my parents to let them know the baby was born. My mom heard my other children in the background. She asked if they were already at the hospital. I then told her we had the baby at home. She said,"I can see why you didn't tell me before hand." When I told her that my 9lb 6oz baby was born in 1 hour and 1 min from first contraction to birth. She said,"Oh you butt." Sounds rude on a post but actually she was saying she admired me and was a bit jealous. My parents have been very supportive. My Aunt who I grew up with like a sister is only 9 yrs older than me and the head RN of an OBGYN unit flipped when my mom told her stating that the CNM should have her licensed stripped. I neglected to mention I used a direct entry midwife. No one asked. I wrote my mother an email to forward to my aunt stating very clearly my reasons for hb and that I expected her to respect my decision and my aunt has never brought it up in my presence. As for my dh family they didn't even know I was pregnant until the baby was born. They were more interested in the news I had a child than the fact we had a hb! My mil just said "Oh she is just like the pioneers!"