Where we doing this?

Home birth.  Hospital birth.

They both work. Both are amazing places to meet your child.  

I’ve been at this gig for some years now.  I’ve seen a lot of kiddos meet their parents in both settings.  The biggest question that someone needs to ask is, “Where will I feel most comfortable?”  You aren’t going to find the answer on IG, or in a book, or even in this blog.  It will probably come at about 3 am when the world is sleeping, but you and your baby are awake…in one body.  

Families choose hospital birth because it makes sense.  They are comforted knowing the tools are right there.  Minutes away.  It isn’t about having candles; the fake ones will do.  It’s about feeling safe.  People also know there is a good chance they may want the option of pain management.  Doing this wildly massive thing with options and choices in the definition of Empowerment.

That brings me to homebirth.  More options and choices.  Different options.  Different choices.  There is a deep sense of familiarity and comfort in being in your own home.  Homebirth midwives have tools and medications and oxygen and charts and syringes and hands and sutures and catheters and IVS. AND, if we need more tools, we go to the place where we can get them.  We are professional, organized, and safe.  We think ahead, we anticipate, we look for reasons to stay, and we don’t deny the clues that point towards… time to go.  Then we roll with it.  We dig as deep as we all can dig,  and find the courage and flexibility, and trust to pivot. 

As a person who has attended births in both of these settings, I can firmly say….both are brilliant.  

Courage will always be the antidote to fear.  Sometimes knowing how to listen to our inner 3am voice is the bravest thing we can do to be true to ourselves and our stories.