Tuesday, June 8, 2010

You're Doing WHAT???

We are planning, Lord willing and if the creek don't rise, to have a home birth. :)

I am seeing a midwife who lives about an hour from me. She has attended the births of two of my friends. She has excellent stats--875 babies--never lost one. This lady knows when to transfer!!! I appreciate that kind of self-knowledge. She knows her limits.

My last birth lasted 4.5 hours start to finish. I'm hoping this one is as good. It was a good length. I had some great pre-labor pains that were irregular with Lucy that helped speed me along. Our nearest hospital has a crazy high intervention rate--60%. I am not entrusting myself to people who are more likely to cut me open than do anything else. Plus, I'm low-risk. If at any point we feel concerned, we will not hesitate to make other plans.

Some of you may be wondering if having a home birth is safe. Well, a doctor friend of ours who is involved in all kinds of research--Walt Larimore, M.D., spends his time writing and researching EVERYTHING--not excluding home birth. His blog is full of wonderful information: www.drwalt.com/blog. In a conversation with him about home delivery, he said, "The combo of a midwife and doula is (statistically) the safest way to go -- and the U.S. data on home deliveries looks pretty good."

In addition, I've done my own research and found that for low-risk women, homebirth has typically better outcomes and fewer interventions (forceps, vaccuum, induction, c-section, etc.). If you are looking for a good book to read on home birth, read Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin, the nation's leading midwife.

If you're still skeptical, here are a couple of links with some great information:

Medical News Today

Midwifery Today


British Medical Journal (yes, it's British, but the study is concerning North American homebirths. This study is frequently cited in other works, I've noticed, and it is quite recent.)

10 comments:

  1. I LOVE it! And I'll love hearing/reading your thoughts along the way. When it's my turn, that's my plan too. So you just enjoy and expect the best - you are rockstar! :)

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  2. I LOVE Ina May... I briefly considered if it would be possible for Ed and I to go to the farm with my last baby, but alas we did not. I also kinda considered a home birth... It's unfortunate that the state of Arkansas doesn't embrace midwifery like most of the rest o the country. I did have a great experience at the hospital, but I was only there 3 hours. I will be praying for your home delivery and your pregnancy. I hear that water births are awesome! I really enjoy reading your blogs also. The thought of home birth has crossed my mind with this one too... We'll have to wait and see.

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  3. have at it! i'll be looking forward to hearing the tale.

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  4. I am excited to hear about how it goes. Not sure if you know but we did our fourth naturally but at St Vincents. God truly blessed us as a nurse who was not on duty that day felt called to come into work to help out. She was a big supprter of natural delivery, understood the Bradley method and was a huge support when the other nurses just wanted to give me drugs, or told me not to push cuz' the DR was not there yet (she actually was putting on gloves to catch the baby when DR walked in). Anyway, God was faithful and provided in a wonderful way. I am sure He will take care of you all too! If we are blessed with another child I will do it naturally again!

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  5. oh I love that you want to do this! I look forward to following your journey =)

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  6. That is great news! You won't be sorry! We had our first home birth (and hopefully not our last) on Mother's Day and it was awesome! A month later I am still reveling in all the wonderfulness it was. It was totally different from any other birth! The stress of trying to get to the hospital wasn't there! I just relaxed and hung out in my bathtub and dealt with contraction after contraction as they came. When I felt like pushing I went downstairs, got in the birthing tub and had a baby! Then when it was all over I climbed in bed and snuggled with my newborn all night! My biggest advice is make sure you have a doula or the midwife has an assistant. That was so amazing to have someone caring for you lovingly and cleaning everything up! When I came downstairs the next morning it was like nothing had happened! I can't wait to hear about your journey! A few other good reads are Gentle Birth Choices and A Thinking Woman's guide to childbirth! Exciting news for sure!

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  7. Yeah, Amanda. I'm happy you have made a decision and have peace. I look forward to learning from your experience. Enjoy it.

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  8. Did I say something offensive earlier and get erased, or did stankin' blogger erase my comment??

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  9. tia sounds like her experience was amazing-so sweet :).

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  10. I all for you doin' that especially if the local docs are scalpel happy! No need to cut if it's not necessary! I have a friend that I sit for occasionally...she has 4 children...all were home deliveries. You'll do great! Can't wait to hear about your experience and thoughts after this delivery.

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