Are you at home with birth?

Ask any women planning a home birth and they will tell you that there seems to be a universal response “You must be Crazy!” I was asked to speak at the Manchester Home Birth Conference recently where we found out that having a planned Home birth means the midwives come to you when you are in labour, they stay and support you and carry everything that is needed for a safe birth!

We heard from speakers about the hormones of labour and how having a home birth helps enormously with the process of birth. The “love hormone” is the hormone that women release in labour and for birth, to progress normally without intervention we need to create the right conditions for this hormone to flow and you guessed it Home Birth provides these Conditions!

·         You feel uninhibited

·         You feel safe

·         You know and trust those with you

·         Relaxing music is playing.

·         Dim lighting or in the dark

·         A lot of caressing

·         You are being encouraged

You feel safe in your own surroundings so staying put and having your baby at home actually improves the flow of “love hormone” so keeping birth normal. It’s such good news!

On line forums are often quick to criticise those of you who choose to have a home birth as putting your wishes before the safety of your baby and label you as selfish for choosing a home birth!

What is selfish about choosing?

·         A natural birth shielding your baby from Narcotics.

·         Preventing your baby from being rushed or hurried by promoting a physiological birth.

·         Delayed cord clamping a natural transition to life outside the womb for your baby.

·         Undisturbed birth with skin to skin and dim lighting for your baby to bond with you

 Now add the support of a midwife who is solely concentrating on you and your baby’s well being, a Midwife who won’t leave you and you have already got to know. This puts you and your baby in the hands of a dedicated midwife who is not being distracted by the needs of others, as may be the case in Hospital.

On a personal note, I have been supporting women for 25 years and have observed that  women have great outcomes when they choose to give birth at home with the support of a midwife who is comfortable with this setting.