Home birth

I am! This will be my second home birth ☺️

@Justine id love to hear about your experience I’m currently still debating

After 2 hospital births I decided for my 3rd I wanted a different experience. It was in 2021 so everything going on during COVID definitely influenced my decision. I didn’t want all of the unnecessary medical interventions or anyone pushing anything on me so I found a midwife and decided on a home birth. Thankfully I’ve always had low risk pregnancies and am in great health so I never felt like it was a risk. I prefer to be in my own environment when I’m going through something, sick or hurt… and then not to mention I can’t sleep anywhere that’s not my own bed. So a 2 day hospital stay always starts me off exhausted and out of it.

I knew baby was coming that day, so I was trying to do last minute prep. Around 5 my contractions were more regular so I went to the park and did some curb walking. By that time my contractions were 4 min apart and quite strong. So I went home, called my midwife and gave her a heads up. Ate dinner with my family, watched tv and lounged around until I couldn’t anymore and the contractions were too intense and I needed to focus. This was around 8 or 9 and I was in transition. My midwife headed over and then my water broke. I got in the shower to clean up and seriously thought I might have her in there lol but they helped me get to my bed and I ended up pushing for like 10 minutes and there she flopped out on my bed. 😂 I picked her up, found out she was a girl and then my placenta just came out 😝 it was crazy. Then my midwives helped me get settled and I got to be in my comfy bed that night without constant check ins from nurses.

It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it was an amazing experience and obviously I would do it all over again. I had wanted to do a water birth, or at least use the birthing pool to labor in but things just moved too fast we didn’t get to fill it up. This time I’m hoping to be more prepared but we’ll see 😆

@Justine oh my gosh!!! Do you think it’s possible for a FTM? I have severe anxiety especially around hospital settings and have a private midwife and would just love to do it at home. We live in an upper apartment tho 🫣 so my husband is on the fence about getting a birthing pool in here.

I’m sorry I wrote you a whole book 🫣 I think a ftm can definitely do it! Either way you have to go through the birth experience, whether that is in a hospital setting or home… so might as well control what you can and make it the environment you feel the most comfortable in. Which in turn will make your experience that much smoother. To mentally prepare I would watch some positive home birth experience videos to get an idea of what it can be like, that way you know what to expect. Also as for the birthing pool, it’s pretty easy to set up and take down. They have mini ones that dont take up a lot of room, and then when it’s time to empty it usually the midwife has a sump pump which sucks the water out and drains it where you choose. So you could drain it to your shower or toilet.

@Justine do you know where I can get a mini one!? I saw a few on Amazon even ones that aren’t specifically for birth for around 45.00 that I feel like it would work tbh

FTM & doing a birth center birth since I felt like a home birth may be too much for me to handle stress-wise. It feels like a good middle ground for the first time, and will consider a home birth in the future if we decide to and/or are able to have more kids.

Both of my midwives have provided them for me, I just have to buy the liner that goes inside to keep it sanitary. You could ask your midwife if she has one or can get one for you. (There’s usually a whole network of them in your city and they assist each other) and if not you could go the route of trying one that’s not specifically for birthing. Some people birth in their bathtubs so I don’t see why that would be a problem.

I am! This will be by 3rd baby and 3rd home birth. I also have a lot of friends and family members who have home births as well including my mom and sisters. First time moms can totally do it!