You might choose a planned home birth for many reasons, including:

 

• A desire to give birth in a familiar, relaxing environment surrounded by people of your choice

• A desire to wear your own clothes, take a shower or bath, eat, drink, and move around freely during labor

• A desire to control your labor position or other aspects of the birthing process

• A desire to give birth without medical interventions

• Cultural or religious norms or concerns

• A history of fast labor

• Lower cost

 

Services you will receive:

 

• Free consultation and pregnancy testing

• Midwife on call 24 hours a day throughout pregnancy and 6 weeks postpartum

• Lab work appropriate for pregnancy, birth, and postpartum

• Referrals for childbirth education classes

• Attendance at your labor with a midwife and skilled assistant

• Newborn exam

• A mother & baby check-up within 24-48 hours of your baby's birth

• A mother & baby check-up at 2 weeks postpartum

• A final six week check-up for mother & baby

• Referrals to community resources

• You will given a list of supplies for your homebirth.

• You will also receive a birth kit which contains additional supplies which are necessary and useful.

 

     There is no place more comfortable, private and relaxed than your own home. Here, you have complete control of your surroundings. When you are relaxed during labor, your labor can progress at a more normal pace. With less tension and apprehension, you will experience less discomfort. When a woman is in her own environment, making her own decisions about how to labor, she is able to follow her natural instincts. When a woman is supported and safeguarded throughout her process, she can experience the most empowering, sacred moments of her life.

 

     You can create your own intimate family atmosphere, make the decisions concerning your medical care. With partner, siblings, and loved ones there to share in these moments, homebirth becomes the ultimate birth option for many families. At home, you are in charge. Your care is personalized to your wishes. These things make a big difference in your childbirth experience and your perception of what you feel in labor. Your Midwife will give support, make suggestions, and monitor you and your baby closely during labor, resulting in the best environment for your body to give birth naturally.

 

     During your pregnancy, your Midwife will work with you to prepare you for your labor and delivery. Optimal fetal positioning, strength and toning exercises, relaxation exercises, stretching, mind-body correlation, breathing, good nutrition and supplements will be reviewed to prepare you for your labor and birth. Once you and your midwife have decided that the time is right, she will arrive at your home, to support you and your family throughout your labor and birth. She will provide comfort measures, monitor your and your baby's vital signs, assess your progress and well being, and ensure that mother and child are normal and healthy during the natural process of birth.  

 

     Your Licensed Midwife carries all the standard supplies, equipment, and medications used in the hospital, including oxygen and IV supplies, vitamin K and Erythromycin Eye ointment for your newborn. Pharmaceuticals will only be used as a last resort and only with your full and completely informed consent, as she also carries a complete homeopathy and herbal apothecary, which is her first resource.



     Once your baby has arrived in your arms, we will wait to cut the umbilical cord and provide a complete newborn physical after about an hour of skin-to-skin bonding. The newborn exam is completed right on the bed next to you, so you and your family can be a part of the event and ask as many questions as you would like. Your baby will remain with you at all times. We will assist with breastfeeding, and provide thorough immediate postpartum care. Your midwife and birth assistant will stay until mother and baby are stable and you are comfortable with her departure. As well as to answer any questions and ensure your home is just the way it was before we arrived!