Thread: Talk to me about home birth

DH and I are talking about TTC #3, and I think I would like to do a water-home birth. DH is not so thrilled with the idea. "what if something goes wrong?" Does anybody have advice on dealing with a reluctant DH? Any great articles/statistics on homebirth? TIA!

There is a great list of suggested reading in the Resources sticky on this board. The World Health Organization stands behind the midwifery model of care. Another great book is Into These Hands by Geradine Simkins - the introduction alone is worth reading, as it provides a succinct history of how obstetrics came to be a male-dominated industry, and how our society has bought into the untrue idea that hospitals are the safest place to give birth. Study after study has shown that home birth with a trained midwife is just as safe, if not safer, than hospital births where an assembly line mentality prevails and numerous unnecessary interventions are not only the norm, but actually threaten the safety of mothers and babies.

Talk to your midwife. Mine has a whole binder of studies and material for clients to take home and read through while they make their decision. The info my mw gives out has numerous reputable studies, the regulations in our country about hb candidates, lists of supplies you will need to purchase, lists of supplies the mw will bring along, and pretty much answered ever question my DH had. We also watched The Business of Being Born.

After all that, DH's main concern was about the mess and the mw assured him 1) it isn't that messy 2) they would clean everything and 3) by the time they left there would be no signs of a birth happening at all (other than a sweet new baby)

Have him watch Business of Being Born and go to the "meet the midwife" consult appointment.