quick clicks

pregnancy today articles

pregnancy today q&a

message boards

research baby names

prepare a birth plan

content channels

ip channel rss feeds

read birth stories

read parenting stories

recommended books

e-newsletters

safety recalls

ip diaries

ip store

mom of the month

dad of the month

editor's letter

letters to the editor

Welcome Home Baby!

Two Moms Share Their Home Birth Stories

By Teri Brown

my own birth experience."

For Larkin, giving birth naturally with people she had personally invited was very important. She wanted to be among supportive people who share her views on birth rather than labeled her as difficult.

Her family was fairly supportive of her decision. Two of her brothers are married to Dutch women, and home births are quite common in Holland. They had no qualms about her choice to give birth at home. Her mother was another story.

"My mother was worried 'in case something would go wrong,'" says Larkin. "I asked her what she feared might go wrong and she had no idea. It was just this idea she had that hospitals were safer."

Larkin thought it was amusing that most people she spoke to thought she was brave to be having her baby at home and without drugs, but she was happy to do it. She was sure she would be able to bear the pain because women have been doing so for millennia. Larkin also felt that because most pain is born of fear, her knowledge of the birthing process would help alleviate much of that pain.

Finding a doctor was also easy for Larkin. There was only one in the area who did home births so she had little choice, but she was very careful about whom she chose to be in the room with her.

"I had two friends and two professional doulas," says Larkin. "The doctor showed up for the final hour. My daughter was with me for early labor, but not for the birth. She was 2 years old and while I would have liked for her to be there, I didn't want my nanny there and so I banished them together!"

Larkin recommends that others seriously consider the home birth option. "If a woman (or couple) understand the birth process and what a woman needs in order to give birth safely and comfortably, a home birth is the only way to go," says Larkin. "When you have your baby at home, the attendants are guests who are invited into your space, not technicians whose space you are admitted to. When you have a home birth, you have been through your birth plan with people who 'get' it. There are no shift changes to worry about when you have a home birth. When you have your baby at home, you are surrounded by your own things and there is no need to worry about forgetting to pack something important. There are no rules to follow at a home birth, except the ones you make up yourself."

Home birth as an option is becoming more and more viable as couples and childcare professionals are becoming more educated on the concept. The advice I get from mothers who have done it is simple: Read up on birth. Educate yourself on the process. Drop people from your team if you feel the slightest bit uncomfortable with them, and the best one of all, warn your neighbors a few weeks in advance that you're going to be giving birth at home – especially if you live in an apartment building!

Want to see more?

• The Birth Plan: Helpful or Troublesome?
• Birth Presentations and Delivery: A Guide for Baby's Arrival
• Cord Blood Storage: Preserving a Lifeline for the Future
• Talk about it!