Home Birth Preparations

For any who are interested, I thought I would do a short post on doing a home birth.  If all goes well, this will be my third home birth, although only the second that I have actually planned.

I know that the idea of a home birth is such a weird concept for most people.  I personally like it for a few reasons: I prefer to birth "naturally" (bottom line for me: no drugs, and no needles in my back), I don't have to worry about decisions being made because of a doctor's or nurse's schedule, I really like never having to leave the house and wondering when is the best time to get to the hospital (too soon and your on the clock, too late and you get an Alyssa birth), and I prefer to recover in my own space - nobody poking or prodding me right when I've finally fallen asleep, nobody trying to take the baby away at 1 am for a test, and being in my own bed - so much more comfy than a hospital bed.

There are lots of things to have on hand when getting ready for a birth such as "Chux" pads, sterilized gloves, umbilical cord clamps, and so on.  This time around I had some things left over from the last birth, so getting my supplies together didn't entail much.  Here they are ready to go:

This time, I decided I would really like a birth tub.  I do not plan to give birth in the water (explaining that would have to be an additional post), but bathing is so relaxing and soothing during labor especially when you have the right kind of tub. So the tub is all set up in my room (it belongs to my midwife) and I tested it out.  I almost fell asleep in it. 

Lastly, but really most importantly in my mind, you must have a good midwife.  I have to say I am especially blessed in this area.  Not only do I have a midwife who is highly skilled and caring, she loves the Lord, too, and seeks to minister to women through her work.  It has been such a blessing to pray with her during visits and to rely on the Lord together when difficult decisions need to be made.  I have to admit that I went for an "appointment" with her two weeks ago. The routine checks were done in about 20 minutes, but I ended up staying at her house for 2 1/2 hours visiting.