The Voice of a Homebirth Mother.
Six:
Homebirth Video & Interview with Rebecca, a Homebirth Mother.
Interview
1) Was this your first homebirth?
This was my second homebirth and my third out of hospital birth. My first was a “McBirth” for lack of better description! I had so many things done to me at the hospital that I didn’t want and ended up feeling like a puffy diseased invalid rather than a beautiful new mama. That was my learning experience and I said “Never again!” My second baby was my first natural birth in a freestanding birth center which was the perfect stepping stone for me to homebirth. However, after my first homebirth with my third baby, I wished that I had done it that way with all my babies! My fourth baby was planned to be a homebirth but he threw me a curve-ball and I ended up with a necessary cesarean surgery at 33 weeks due to severe complications from complete placenta previa! After such a traumatic experience, I was so blessed to be able to return to homebirth for my fifth baby and it was a very healing experience.
2) Why did you choose to birth your baby at home?
I chose homebirth because I have come to believe, after much research, that homebirth is as safe, if not safer, than hospital birth. I also believe it to be the best choice for my family and for my babies – to be able to enter the world in such a peaceful and gentle way. I am very sensitive to my surroundings during labor and I generally do much better when I am undisturbed and in a comfortable setting. This also contributes to the safety of homebirth for me as I feel I am more likely to have complications in a hospital setting!
3) Were you ever scared? What did you do to reduce your fears?
At first I was scared because of my previous traumatic cesarean surgery. I was scared that I would have placenta previa again and end up with another emergency surgery. This was my greatest fear. After we learned that the placenta was plenty high enough and that my pregnancy was 100% perfect this time I was not scared anymore! I had so much confidence in my body and in my baby. I did everything I could to maintain very good health and a very low risk pregnancy. Taking care of myself and putting a lot of effort into eating nourishing food and staying fit always makes me very confident during pregnancy and keeps me from being scared!
6) Where did you find support after your cesarean surgery?
It is hard to find support after a cesarean! Most people don’t understand why a mama can feel so grieved after a birth, even if it is surgical. After all, I had a healthy baby right? Well, I still deeply felt the loss of a peaceful birth for myself and for my baby! I wondered what I did wrong and why this had happened to us. After my c-section I immediately sought out the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN.) I had heard of ICAN before, but knew after my surgery that I needed ICAN more than ever for support and understanding in my recovery. Later on I needed ICAN yet again for support of my hopeful VBAC! I was able to attend the 2009 ICAN conference in Atlanta which so inspired me that I joined a dear friend in starting a local ICAN chapter. Attending (and sometimes leading!) the monthly ICAN meetings did so much to help me prepare for my VBAC in every way possible. The information is wonderful and very helpful, but even better is the invaluable support and love from all the other women who shared similar experiences and understood me.
5) For women considering homebirth, what advice or words of wisdom can you offer?
You will not regret choosing homebirth! The prenatal care alone makes it an obvious choice. My prenatals were all at least an hour long, if not two! I had personalized care. I had a midwife who deeply cared about my health and nutrition and even my spiritual, emotional, and mental well-being throughout pregnancy! She was always available to me whenever I needed and by the end of pregnancy she knew better than anyone exactly what I needed and wanted from my birth. My best advice is to take care of you! If you really want a safe and wonderful homebirth, you have to want to stay very low risk which means taking care of yourself! Sometimes this takes more effort than you think, but it is so worth it to have a smooth and safe delivery at home! If you are willing to put in the work to get and stay healthy, you can have a homebirth!
Video
This video shows Rebecca giving birth to her baby at home. Please note that Rebecca has graciously opened her heart and voice to share with you in order to create understanding and awareness of homebirth. You may leave a comment below that honors Rebecca and her family as well as the gift she has given to all of us to witness her beautiful experience.
Would you like to help normalize homebirth?
The Normalizing Homebirth Project Inc has been formed in order to meet the needs of women who are choosing to birth at home and/or would like to birth at home. Our mission is to support families with one-to-one mentoring, homebirth circles for social and emotional support as well as need-based financial assistance for families who need it. Join today! It is only together, uniting our voice and hearts, that positive change can be made so that all choices in childbirth are honored and supported.
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Rebecca,
That is such a beautiful video! Even though I had seen most of the pictures before, I love the way you put it together with music. Hopefully that will inspire many other moms to have a home birth.
I love her choice of music! Such a pretty song and lovely momento for her child.
Thanks Anne! I was inspired by Helene and another featured mom (Samantha) to create my own video. I had a lot of help from my more tech-savvy better half! I'm so glad we did it though.
What a beautiful video Rebecca! You have such a sweet, sweet family! Thank you so much for sharing!
He is such an alert little one too! I bet his 4 siblings must be such a big help!
Thank you, Samantha! You most definitely inspired me. I loved your story and video so much!
You looked amazing at 9 months!
and Henry is such a gorgeous and lucky little child.
Very beautiful video Rebecca!
Thanks for Sharing, I just cried. (preggo with #3!)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, sounds nice? In Holland (Europe) we women *don't have a choice*: it is natural birth only, and at home mostly, and, finally the doctors and media have disclosed that newborn mortality is much higher in the Netherlands than in all surrounding countries.
We women have no option but to suffer immensely: painkillers? forget about them? epidural? Never heard of. Cesarean? Oh, lucky, luck you ———-? — not in Holland: you only get that after 48 hours of excruciating pain and being half dead.
This is one of the reasons I never wanted any babies. No, thank you very much.
I am for *free choice* of women how to deliver.
P.S. In case you find this post hard to believe, watch the 2010 Dutch movie "The happy housewife". I have campaigned against this cruelty against humanity almost as a Don Quichotte pretty much on my own in this so-called "civilized" country for more than 25 years and finally my efforts are paying off: some laws have been changed 2 years back and some new are in the making. EVEN LIBYA has more human child birth practices!
Thank you for your comments, Samantha and Anne! Anne, that is my hope as well. Thanks so much for checking this out!
Samantha, you were the one who inspired me!
Thank you for your comments, Samantha and Anne! Anne, that is my hope as well. Thanks so much for checking this out!
Jelly, the trailer for that movie looks scary. Women should have support and choices, like you say.
Dutch experts say the higher figures in the Netherlands might be caused by two factors: first, Dutch women are getting pregnant later in life, bringing more health risks. In addition, the number of immigrant women giving birth has gone up. In some cases, immigrants are not sufficiently informed about the health care available to them.
It is not clear what effect the practice of giving birth at home – one in three Dutch babies are born at home – has had on maternal mortality. Official figures indicate it has no effect, and indeed the percentage of home births has not changed that much. The Netherlands has a high maternal morality rate compared to many European countries, but it is almost as high as in France, where most births occur in hospital.
Beautiful video! x
[...] factor adding to the storm has been the increase in cesarean rates. This issue is an interesting one and so relevant to the health of this generation. Passing through [...]
[...] I also consulted another midwife who told me that if she were having twins, then she would trust our midwife above and beyond anyone else. Hmmm, my internal compass was starting to really lean in the direction of the home birth. [...]