Homebirth

Home births are optimal for healthy women with low-risk pregnancies. The safest home birth takes place with an experienced birth attendant who honors the baby with a gentle birth. An atmosphere of faith, peace and love is the foundation for a baby’s physical and emotional well-being.

How safe is homebirth? In 2005, researchers conducted a large North American study of planned home births with certified professional midwives. Researchers found planned homebirths to be as safe for the baby as planned hospital births. Homebirths also had fewer maternal complications than hospital births. The study can be found on the British Medical Journal website (click here or view archive).

We urge you to get all the information you need to make this very important decision. A good place to start is with the Citizens for Midwifery’s “Safety of Homebirth Fact Sheet.” We also encourage you to go to your library, research online and find other homebirthers (parents who’ve given birth at home) to talk with about safety issues, family concerns, and homebirth myths versus realities. A good resource to find other women who’ve given birth at home is the Mothering.com Online Community.

You have to give birth in the way you feel most comfortable and we are there to help in any way you need. It is our goal to assist you in achieving your hopes and desires for your birth, so we will discuss at length what your preferences are.

A month before your baby is due, we will make our first visit to your home. During this visit we will finalize all your birth plans and make sure you have everything you need for your homebirth. This is also a good time to meet anyone you are planning on having present for your special day. They can ask us any questions they like, and we can all spend some time getting comfortable and ease any concerns they might have about the safe delivery of your newborn at home.

 

Birth Day

During your labor we have you eat, drink, move and rest as needed to help your labor progress smoothly. We offer these suggestions to better facilitate your baby’s alignment and passage through the pelvis. We will monitor your baby’s heart rate periodically to make sure Baby is tolerating labor well.

We aim to have the fewest interventions possible and be there to support you and your spouse as you work together through the labor process. This is a special event in your lives and an opportunity for great bonding. We want mommy and daddy to be the first to touch and talk to baby, after all, you are the two people who made him/her!

After Delivery

After your baby is born we do not cut the cord until it has stopped pulsing, to allow the vital and beneficial oxygen, iron, stem cells and cancer-fighting T-cells to continue being transferred to baby as God intended. We won’t reveal the gender, we let you tell us! Following the birth, we try to leave you, daddy and baby alone as much as possible for the first hour to initiate bonding and breastfeeding.

We will help you get to the shower, then into bed for a much needed rest period. At this time we will do an evaluation and examination of your newborn while you rest next to them. We will stay with you for a minimum of two hours following the birth. We return to your home for postpartum care at one day, three days, have follow-up phone calls at one and two weeks and we’ll see you back in our office at six weeks.