If you’ve been following along here on my blog or on my Instagram for a few years, you’ll know that we chose to have a home birth when we had our first son. If you want to read more about it, you can read Bastian’s birth story here. When we got pregnant this time around, we knew we wanted to do another home birth!
Home Birth vs Hospital Birth
Where and how you choose to have a baby is a super personal decision, and ultimately, one persons experience shouldn’t necessarily sway yours. If you feel really strongly that you’ll be most comfortable birthing in a traditional hospital setting, then you should! There is a lot of information out there available, so if a home birth is something you are intrigued by you can find a lot of information online! I did a Q&A on my Instagram stories and asked for all of your home birth related questions, so I’ll be answering all of those here! But before I get into that, I’d say that really, if you are interested in doing a home birth, I would do a google search for midwives in your area, and set up a consultation to talk to them. Also, finding people who have had home births to get their experience is super useful. You can always feel free to message me or leave a comment if you have a question that I wasn’t able to cover here in this post.
Did you have medical or birthing professionals with you at home?
Short answer: absolutely. I think a lot of people have a misconception that a home birth is like a primitive thing. But midwives have to go through intensive schooling and training before becoming licensed and certified, just like doctors do. Things vary from midwife to midwife. So I would suggest interviewing multiple midwives before selecting who you want to be your care provider.
How did you find your midwife/doula?
I found her through a personal recommendation. When I was pregnant with Bastian(we used the same midwife for both births), my older sister was also pregnant and was also planning on doing a home birth. So I called her midwife and asked for a recommendation for a midwife in my area. She introduced me to my midwife, Angie. I had a few questions about who specifically was my midwife. Angie is one of the main midwives at Beautiful Mountain Birth, they have an office in Draper and West Jordan. We had a wonderful experience with them. But in your area, I would again suggest just doing a google search for midwives in your area. And then set up consultations(they should be free) with a handful of them.
I have never had a dedicated doula, but my mother(who has had a bunch of home births, and is also a certified birthing coach) has always come and assisted with my birth. I think the key to picking a doula is finding someone who can really advocate for your needs, knows your birth plan, and can completely focus on you and how to make you comfortable during the birth.
Why a home birth as opposed to a hospital setting?
As I mentioned in the beginning of my post, it is purely a personal preference. My mother had almost all of her eight babies at home. My husbands mom also had almost all of her nine babies at home. So it’s what we both grew up as viewing as normal when it came to the birthing process. I know a lot of people where one half of the couple is uncomfortable with the choice to do a home birth, and it can affect your birthing experience if you have a mental block because of this! I would recommend also finding a birthing class in your area that focuses on home birth. This will help you and your partner feel more comfortable.
Was your birth all natural? Anything to help with the pain?
Yes, it was all natural! When you are birthing at home you don’t have the option of an epidural or anything like that. There are things like hypnobirthing or a hot shower/tub that can help you manage your pain naturally, though.
Did you have a water birth/do it in a tub?
I wanted to, but wasn’t able to! Earlier in the day, Bastian turned our water heater waaaayyy down. So when it came time to fill the tub, the water was cold. My labor progressed pretty quickly and so there wasn’t time to wait for the water to heat up. I’ll write more about this when I write the birth story in a few weeks!
What do you do with the placenta and everything else that comes out with the baby?
Your midwife/provider will take care of everything! There are a few different things that you can do with the placenta, like encapsulation. Personally, we’ve always had our midwife put it in a bag in the freezer, and then we plant a tree over it.
What position did you give birth in? Which room of your home?
The beauty of birthing at home is that you can birth in absolutely ANY position you want. You can walk around, you can sit in your bathtub, you can have your partner support you while you squat, etc. This time around, I ended up facing my couch with my arms on the seat cushion, kneeling on the floor in a squatting position. There wasn’t a ton of room for the midwife to catch the baby under me, but because it was the position most comfortable for me and there was just enough room for him to come out safely, that’s what I did! We had Rosen in the living room, and Bastian in the bedroom.
Is there a plan if things start going not as planned?
Always. Even though we had a home birth planned, we had a written backup birth plan in case we had to be transported to the hospital.We also had a hospital bag packed. Your midwife is trained to not only handle most emergencies, but also to know if things are heading south and you need to go to the hospital. I know a few people who have had to transport for one reason or another. Your midwife(as long as you pick a good one) will know when to do it before things get bad.
Does insurance cover it or is it all out of pocket?
This will entirely depend on your insurance as well as your midwife! So, ask your choice of midwife if they bill to insurance/accept insurance. Then call your insurance and see if they cover midwifery services. When we had Bastian, our insurance did not cover any of it, so we paid out of pocket. This time around we have different insurance, and the way that it worked out was that we paid out of pocket. But our midwife will submit a claim to our insurance for us to be reimbursed.
What did you do to prepare for your home birth?
I think the key to preparing for giving birth, whether it is a home birth or hospital, is to prepare mentally! If you’ve never had a baby, there is no way to describe how it feels or properly prepare you for what you’ll experience. So it’s hard to prepare for the unexpected. But preparing mentally is what helped me the most. I used the Simply Labor guides that Sadie Sabin created and it helped me have a peaceful and calm birth. In between contractions I felt peaceful instead of stressed and strained. She includes a list of affirmations in her guide that were SO helpful to me to have my husband tell me them as I pushed. I’ll include a link to her guides here, but 100% they are worth the investment if you are pregnant, no matter how you plan to birth!
If there’s anything I missed, please leave me a comment or send me a message and I’ll do my best to answer! At the end of the day, there is no wrong way to bring a baby into this world. And there are other options! Some hospitals have birthing centers so you can be in a hospital but still have a birth that gives you more freedoms. And same goes for birthing centers! Most midwives have a birthing center so you can have a baby there. And they are usually located super close to a hospital so they can transport quickly if needed. There are so many options, so you can really do what is best for you.