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Makings of a Home Birth
Having a home birth is the Rolls Royce of birthing options - says my Midwife. Though I am sure that is a controversial statement, I have to agree with her. Mostly because you dont' have to go anywhere, but get to stay in the comfort of your own home, have only people there who you want to have there, and get to do what you want to, when you want to. When I tell people I am giving birth at home, they usually think that I am really brave, or really crazy or both.
To tell you the truth, after my first home birth with my daughter Hannah, I didn't think I would ever do it again. However, when I got pregnant with Lindsey, I couldn't bring myself to go the OBGYN route in a hospital, and decided to try a home birth again. My second birth at home couldn't have been a better experience. It went so smoothly, I was so relaxed, and just remember it being an almost spiritual event.
So, with my third, Tanner, I didn't even think twice. When I finally went into labor early morning on the 10th, I wondered how I could have forgotten how difficult labor is. There was deffinately a point - at about 5 am - with still two hours to go - when I told my husband Jon that I really wanted an epidural. In other words, I was being pushed to my limits and wanted the pain to stop! I was struggling to relax through contractions, and as a result, was experiencing more pain than I had during my last labor.
My midwife reminded me that every birth is different - though not very comforting - very true. And so, I will look back at Tanner's birth and remember how challenging it was, and how birth doesn't necessarily get easier with each child.
I have never been to a hospital birth, as I imagine most people have never been to a home birth. So I wanted to share these two videos of the time immediately after birth to give you an idea of what it is like.
In both of these videos, Tanner is still attached to the umbilical cord. The first video is right after he came through the birth canal - seconds really. Though I was in the tub and out of the tub, on the bed and off the bed, Tanner was born in my bathroom on a birthing stood - a low to the ground seat shaped like a horse shoe. I chose this position, because it uses gravity and shortens the path the baby has to travel. In the second video, I am resting on my bed, with labor technically not quite over because he is still attached to the cord and I have not delivered the placenta yet.
