HOMEBIRTH? WUT. SOUNDS SKETCH AF.
A homebirth wasn’t on my radar when we decided to start a family. I thought they sounded super cool but it seemed “safer” in a hospital. I knew nothing about birth, other than what I saw on TV. A woman’s water breaks. They rush frantically and instantly to the hospital. She immediately gets an epidural to stop the pain. Doctors rushing around, a woman screaming, laying in her back while people yell “push!” and then some medical “emergency” which causes panic and fear and then doctors save the mama and the baby and all is well.
Ummmmm terrifying. No wonder we are taught to be scared of birth and that it’s a medical emergency, right?!
Before I had Grey, I watched the movie “The Business of Being Born” - it was kind of mind blowing. I learned so much about birth in the US and how it’s very different (not in a good way) from the rest of the world. (Know what the cascade of interventions are and how that affects the outcome of your birth. Be informed. The US ranks dead LAST in the case of maternal health and infant/maternal deaths out of all developed countries. (Click here to read.)
That is horrifying.😭)
Wanna hear something bananas? In the world of hospital births, many practitioners have never seen an entire birth fully from start to finish, and some have never seen any births without monitors or medication.
We decided to use a Midwife for Grey, but in a hospital. I didn’t want an epidural. Not because I was against it (I believe every mama should have the birth SHE wants, whether that is med-free, at home, in a hospital, by yourself, or a c-section. Whatevs. You do you mama! This is YOUR birth ❤️❤️) but because I didn’t want a c-section. Surgery scares me. I was terrified of that possibility. And I knew that once you start with ANY interventions (being in a hospital is where it starts, having an IV, constant fetal monitoring, pitocin, epidural.. look up the term “cascade of interventions”) your chance of c-section increases dramatically. I decided to go med-free. I took hypnobrithing classes. I read books. I learned what my body was supposed to do. How our mind and our thoughts GREATLY influence our bodies. How it all works. We had Grey in six hours from when my water broke to when he was in my arms. It was amazing.
When we got pregnant with Mila, I thought I would do a birth center, or go back to the hospital for another natural birth. But then my friend Logan Randazzo planned to have a homebirth. (And I was like “YOU GO GIRL. I’m not doing that. But GO GUUURL” 😂😂) She had her sweet baby girl, Aspen, in her bathtub. And when she told me all about it it sounded freaking magical. So calm. So relaxing. So chill. So well taken care of, and comfy, in your own home.
I started reading up on homebirth and we decided to do it. A home birth will very likely be attended by a midwife, an advanced assistant or apprentice midwife and a new student or apprentice. There is a lot midwives learn from study and books but some things can only be learned by attending actual births and they rack up hundreds to thousands.
Guys. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever done. I had NO IDEA birth could be so calm. Having Mila in our home, being loved on and cared for afterwards by my husband and Mom and a tribe of women, helping me bathe, and then tucking me in my bed and handing me a hot cup of coffee, and telling me to snuggle my baby. Grey watched his baby sister be born. It was so blissful. I documented it on my blog, and Mila’s birth photos and her video there too.
More GORG homebirth photos here!
Side note:
I am so crazy thankful for OBs and doctors and modern medicine IF birth becomes medical. Which for some women, it absolutely does, and for those doctors we are grateful!
Watch: The Business of Being Born
Then read. My faves:
The Kind Mama
Mama Natural
Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
