I’m very pleased to announce that I will be contributing to writing a chapter on homebirth for a book that is being published on normal birth! The book is aimed at educating health care professionals on normal (physiological) birth, so this is very exciting for me to be a part of! The homebirth chapter will present research and experiences to promote homebirth as an excellent choice for supporting physiological (normal, natural, healthy, and safe) birth, and will be an important resource to convince health care practitioners about the validity of homebirth.
My part of the chapter will present the women’s and families point of view on homebirth, and I would like to present not just my experiences but represent a collection of experiences from women, across Canada and worldwide if possible. The book will be published in the U.K. by Fresh Heart Publishing and distributed in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K., so it’s a broad audience with different maternity care systems.
So, please, send me your comments on homebirth, either in the comments section after this post or in an email to mothersofchange (at) gmail (dot) com
If you have had a homebirth (dads can answer this too!):
- Why did you choose homebirth, in what country did the birth take place, and what country do you live in?
- What would you say to health care practitioners (midwives, doctors, nurses) to help them understand your choice and what the experience was like for you?
- What would you say to health care practitioners to help them understand why homebirth is an excellent choice for supporting physiological (natural, normal, healthy, safe) birth?
- Can I use your real name or would you prefer to be anonymous if I quote you?
If you have given birth but not at home (dads can answer this too!):
- Why didn’t you choose a homebirth, and where did your birth take place (country & hospital/birth center)?
- What was your birth experience like? (include your satisfaction level as well as interventions like induction, someone breaking your water, drugs for pain medication and whether these were offered to you or you asked for them, the kind of support from other people you had during your labour, whether you had a vaginal delivery or a c-section, any other complications during your labour, the actual birth, or after the baby was born.)
- If you could go back in time, would you make the same birthplace choices for that particular birth again? Why or why not?
- Can I use your real name or would you prefer to be anonymous if I quote you?
I’m looking forward to hearing from you, and using our experiences to educate health care practitioners about homebirth!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Allow me to be the first =)
If you have given birth but not at home (dads can answer this too!):
Why didn't you choose a homebirth, and where did your birth take place (country & hospital/birth center)?
Canada, in one of our biggest hospitals in the area (Surrey Memorial).
I chose to birth in hospital because that was where I felt safest. I knew homebirth was a wonderful option, and had discussed with my midwives the option of having a homebirth as my Plan B: if Surrey Memorial's maternity ward was full and on diversion, or if I simply felt in the midst of labour that I didn't want to relocate, I would give birth at home. My midwives carried all of the supplies needed for homebirth in their vehicles just in case, for every client, so this was an option we were all comfortable with.
I had not successfully given birth vaginally before. Because of this, I was almost entirely focused on a successful VBAC and less so on geography of birth. And, because of this, I felt 1% more comfortable in the hospital than at home. I had good midwifery care and knew that my hospital birth would be less disturbed than the average one because my midwives had both asked to be at my birth, and would stay with me and be my primary caregivers throughout the process. No hospital staff entered my room until after my son was born.
What was your birth experience like? (include your satisfaction level as well as interventions like induction, someone breaking your water, drugs for pain medication and whether these were offered to you or you asked for them, the kind of support from other people you had during your labour, whether you had a vaginal delivery or a c-section, any other complications during your labour, the actual birth, or after the baby was born.)
Very positive. LIghts dim, support people present, tons of positive encouragement, tons of ideas for effective pushing positions after I ran out of ideas 60 minutes into the second stage of labour. Quiet, undisturbed. My goal was a VBAC, and I was overjoyed to successfully give birth to all 10 lbs 2 oz of my third boy. The birth was unmedicated and I had no interventions, no one broke my water or suggested it, and I had only 2 vaginal exams, at the respectful request of my midwife, for legitimate reasons (first one: to see if I was 'early' or 'active'–this was while still at home, and the second one: to see if I was fully dilated before pushing). I had no need to know how dilated I was at any point, I didn't follow the clock or keep track of any sort of quantifiable progress. I followed my body and was allowed to do so, and was supported one hundred percent.
After he was born, however, two major things happened that I was not happy about. My son needed resuscitation and during the process, the nurse in charge called out, "Heart rate under 100, start compressions." He was born unconscious, needing some help to start breathing, but his heart rate was NOT low enough to need CPR. I knew this, because I have medical training including infant CPR, and I tried to tell the nurses working on my son that they had made a mistake: either the nurse said the wrong heart rate, or they were doing compressions when it was not necessary. Nobody listened to me, and I gave up. It was frustrating that a mistake was made, but I knew it was unlikely to cause him harm, and that it is better to err on over rather than under intervention when resuscitating.
The other thing that happened that I was unhappy about was that my midwife gave me a shot of pitocin without asking me, after my son was born, but before I delivered the placenta. This is routine in my area at births where the baby is large, but not consistent with the informed consent style of practice I was used to with my midwives. Had I been asked, I would have preferred to wait for signs of bleeding or spongy uterus before getting a shot of pitocin. Pitocin interferes with the natural oxytocin and other hormone bodily interactions during and after birth, and I wanted to follow nature's physiological process unless there was a problem.
I would conjecture, from the look on her face, that my midwife was distracted by her concern for my son during his resuscitation and that is why she did not consult me before giving me the pitocin. In the end, a few minutes of resuscitation, and my son woke up, breathed alone, cried well, and was totally healthy. The umbilical cord was compressed behind his shoulder blade for a little over 1 minute during the very last phase of delivery, which was unanticipated, and had not resulted in any alteration in his heart rate during the entire second stage of delivery. There was a one minute delay between delivery of his head and delivery of his shoulders, and probably that was when the cord was compressed against my pelvic bone.
The resuscitation was unavoidable, and I felt scared but confident that he would be okay. But the unnecessary compressions and the pitocin without consent were negative experiences.
After my son was back in my arms, I didn't let him go for hours. And the hospital staff left us undisturbed again after I was stitched up and assessed. My son was not sent to the NICU for observation, which I was grateful for. I did not feel he needed the NICU, and I had a very good support team to watch for anomolies. I was grateful for the hands off approach of the hospital staff during this time, and happy with my care.
If you could go back in time, would you make the same birthplace choices for that particular birth again? Why or why not?
This question is a complex one to answer. If I went back and chose again, knowing that I can successfully give birth vaginally, then yes, I would give birth at home. If I went back in time without that knowledge, then I would still have felt more comfortable in the hospital. Particularly given that midwives in my province have hospital privileges and deliver babies in hospital OR at home. If I had the choice between home with a midwife and hospital with a physician, I would have chosen a home birth. The unique environment of collaborative care and openness of hospitals to midwifery attended birth in my province allowed me a hospital birth that was well supported and largely undisturbed. Without these in place, I would have chosen to deliver at home.
And any subsequent births I have, I will chose to deliver at home, confident that my body can do what it is designed to.
Can I use your real name or would you prefer to be anonymous if I quote you?
Yes, you can use my real name.
(I will answer regarding Ayden's birth later).