So Why a Home Birth?

I have been reading frantically and praying a lot over the last couple of weeks about where I wanted to have our first child. There has always been something about Doctors and hospitals that had made me uncomfortable. It all started about 3 months ago when I began to question the drug industry in why drugs are almost always the answer to people's illness and pain. I asked myself if drugs were truly the way to a ill-free/pain-free life? I came to a conclusion that drugs are not the way for me to deal with illness and pain and I wanted to live in such a way to avoid the toxic side affects of drugs and other chemicals. An example from my own life stems from the effects I saw in taking birth control pills for almost 5 years and my story is nothing compared to others I have heard. I began to notice my emotions taking a turn towards the worst. I became numb emotionally and rarely did I ever feel happy or sad. I was an emotional zombie per se. I also noticed that my desire for sexual intimacy with my husband had faded away to nothing. This was frustrating for both he and I. I spoke with my OB/GYN about the issue and the only thing she could recommend was trying a different pill or using hormones as a way to deal with the problem. I decided against her recommendations and went off all birth control and within a month felt like a completely different person. One other thing that bothered me about the situation was I had also asked my doctor about Natural Family Planning as a way to prevent a pregnancy. The only answers she gave me were discouraging and still made me feel that some form of drug was my only option for preventing conception. So, I made the choice to take a risk and stay off the pill. After a year of being off the pill I was able to control when I wanted to conceive and became pregnant without any troubles. I have heard and read of so many couples having a hard time conceiving and I feel many of those cases result from the side effects of the chemical hormones in birth control that mess with a women's body. That brought me to wonder about medicated birth experiences. Why do women get epidurals? Is it really safe for the baby? Does it slow down labor and lead to more drugs and/or C-sections?
This raised my curiosity and through lots research and asking lots of questions of mothers who have had both hospital and home births, the info I given was eye opening! Therefore I am choosing to have the baby at home with the assistance of a midwife from Wabash IN. If I had the space to write all I have learned about hospital vs. a home birth or unmedicated vs. medicated births, I would explain everything I have learned. I encourage you to look into it yourself. I am so glad that I did because it has empowered me to feel in control and confident in my own body and I no longer fear the upcoming event of bringing this baby into the world. I have always feared being in labor and not knowing what to expect when the time came. Now that I know what I want and what to expect I feel confident and prepared. A few books I found to be very helpful are: "Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way" by Susan McCutcheon, "Gentle Birth Choices" by Babara Harper, and I am now starting to read "Husband Coached Childbirth" by Bradley. I also highly recommend that you find the dvd called "The Business of Being Born." It is a documentary by Ricki Lake who had a hospital birth for her first and a home birth for her second. Talking with my midwife last week and looking at her stats made Joe and me even more at peace with the decision. Our first appointment with her was 2 hours long and it was free! She had an 18 page Informed Consent Form that we went over together and she shared her stats and philosophy of care. I found out that each of my prenatal visits with her will last an hour because she really wants to get to know us and make us feel comfortable with her. The average time a male OB spends with his patients each visit is 7 minutes. For a Female OB it is about 10 minutes! Isn't that crazy? Midwives attend over 70% of births in Europe and Japan, but less than 8% in the U.S. The U.S. also has one of the highest maternal mortality rates than anywhere else in the world and 95% of women are giving birth in hospitals in the U.S. Hmmmmmm? In 1900, 95% of births in the U.S took place at home. By 1955, less than 1% were at home. It remains that same number today. I could go on...
After all the reading and documentaries I have watched I also learned that all of the medical technology (fetal monitors, meds, forceps, vacuums, surgery, episiotomy, etc.)that doctors use during a women's labor are most of the time unnecessary. Doctors simply don't let a women's body progress on it's own time before they decide that they need to intervene to get the baby out on their own time versus the mother and baby's time. Most doctors have never attended a natural delivery before they started their practice and most have never attended a home birth that was done completely natural without all the drugs and technology. 1 out of 4 women have c-sections and 80% have had some form of drug during labor today. Those numbers are just way too high! My philosophy now is that women were created by God to give birth in their own time and can be in complete control of their labor. I understand that having a midwife, or a home birth is not for everyone but I still encourage you to look into all of your options before you decide on where you will have you first, second or third baby. Since I haven't had the baby yet I have nothing more to go by than what I have read or heard from others. When the time comes I will be more than happy to share every detail of my experience with you. Have a wonderful day and God Bless!