Homebirth: What’s It All About?
It’s About Your Baby
Babies are born conscious beings, able to see, hear, taste, and smell, and are ready to be held and loved. At home your baby will be handled with respect, and in your arms from the moment of birth.
It’s About Love
Birth is about falling in
love with your baby and welcoming
this new being into your family and our society. A woman who is
supported with love and kindness in labour has the opportunity to form
deep bonds with her baby, birth partner, and those she chooses to have
with her. These bonds of love can last a lifetime and strengthen family
and community.
It’s about Home
At home, in the comfort of your familiar surroundings, you have the privacy necessary to experience your own birth process, and true intimacy with loved ones. You are the centre of care and attention. Your midwife comes to you, and focuses on you and your baby; you do not have to travel anywhere during labour.
It’s About Value
Homebirth is an investment in your birth experience—one of the most significant events of your life. Value yourself enough to find out if home birth is right for you.
It’s About Safety
A study published in the British Medical Journal (Johnson & Daviss, 18 June 2005: BMJ 2005;330(7505):1416) of the outcomes of 5,418 planned home births concluded that homebirth is a reasonable and safe choice for healthy women. Furthermore, decades of research document that planned homebirth with a skilled attendant is as safe, if not safer than a planned hospital birth for low risk women. Midwives provide full antenatal care, skilled monitoring during labour, and comprehensive postnatal care. If a complication arises during your pregnancy, labour, birth, or postnatally your midwife will consult with you and the appropriate care providers. If you need to go to the hospital, your midwife will go with you to assist you, provide continuity of care, and act as your advocate. Midwives have special training in obstetric emergencies and carry equipment and medications to handle problems before, during and after birth, if they should occur.
It’s About Trust
- Trust in the natural process
- Trust in you to know what you need
- Trust in a woman’s mind and body to open
It’s About Time
- Time for you in antenatal and postnatal visits, usually between 30 to 60 minutes, & longer if required.
- Time for your labour to unfold at it’s own pace, without unnecessary interventions
- Time for continuous attendance by your midwife during active labor. We stay with you until you have given birth and are settled in with your baby.
- Time to find your strength and power, to give birth with loving support and attentive care.