Is home birth Right for me?

Many families come to me asking about not only the safety of home birth, but also what would make someone a candidate and who isn’t a candidate for home birth.

The truth is that both of these questions have a variety of answers. However, I do tell most families that in general the safest place to give birth is where you feel most comfortable. For many women, that involves the comfort of thier own home and for others it may be in a hospital with the highest level NICU available. The decision of where to give birth is for you and your family to to make. It is important to remember that other people’s experiences, even your own mother’s, sister’s or couson’s birth experiences do not define your own and they don’t get to dictate where and how you give birth. Just because your mom, grandma, and great grandma had cesearean births doesn’t mean that you will need to as well. There are so many factors that go into how you will actually end up giving birth. This is part of why it is so important to interview multiple care providers when choosing who will support you in pregnancy.

Home birth may be right for you if you are low risk, generally healthy, and want to take ownership of your pregnancy, birth, and post partum. Home birth can be a great option if you want to be involved in the important decision making throughout your care and you want to learn more about the incredible things and changes that your body is about to go through. Contrary to what you may have been told or think, you don’t need a huge house, or have to have a water birth to give birth at home. In fact in my own practice it’s about 50/50 on whether most moms acutally catch their babies in the tub or have a “land birth”. Again, these are all decisions that you get to make when you give birth at home.

If you think you might be interested in a home birth or just simply want to learn more about the option then feel free to contact me to learn more.

Happy Birthing :) Hailey