My home birth experience: For all couples who want to give birth at home

October 31, 2024

The current state of home birth

While 99% of births take place in hospitals, only 1% of women and midwives choose to give birth at home.

From 2020 to 2021, home births in the United States increased by 12%, reaching the highest level since at least 1990.

Why choose a home birth?

What is the root of this trend? Why do women want to give birth at home?

According to one source, this is because pregnant women want their voices to be heard.

According to National Geographic, women's desire to control their own births also plays a role.

Both reasons were relevant to me.

My birth experience

When I tell people that I've given birth at home twice, they're often shocked or amazed, saying things like, "Wow! That's amazing!" or "Whaaat?! 😱 That's brave!", and are curious about what it was like at home.

Birth of the oldest child

A home birth was not something I chose for my first child's birth.

I gave birth in a regular hospital, but I wish I had known more about the differences between giving birth at home and in a hospital.

My memories of my oldest child's birth aren't "amazing" or "life-changing."

My first birth experience can be summed up in one word: helplessness.

Hospital birth experience

Giving birth was an experience that was not "I doing" but "it was done to me."

After my water broke, I was subject to the hospital's clinical safety protocols and had to deliver within 24 hours.

My body and baby were not ready for birth so they inflated a balloon to dilate my cervix and speed up the birth, which was incredibly painful.

None of it was natural, it all felt forced and rushed.

Finally, they pushed the baby out with a suction cup, which was also very painful.

Second Pregnancy and Choosing a Home Birth

When I was pregnant with my second child, I definitely did not want to go through this.

So I decided to give birth at a local midwifery clinic that a friend had recommended.

I spoke with Hiromi Goldman, a midwife who has specialized in home births for 10 years, and she told me that any woman can give birth on her own.

I was intrigued by her story but couldn't make up my mind.

Home birth session

So I asked local midwife Yuko Negishi to help me organize a meeting to discuss home birth.

She invited some of her past clients to join her for the session, where mothers shared their birth experiences and what was special about giving birth.

I loved the stories they shared and really grew to like them as people.

They were sincere and kind people.

I agreed and gave birth to my second child at home, and later my third.

The power of home birth

Unlike giving birth in a hospital, giving birth at home was a very powerful and sacred experience.

I connected deeply with my body, connected with being human, felt like a warrior woman, and embraced the ancestors of all the women who gave birth this way.

It was incredibly powerful and absolutely amazing.

I was amazed at what my body could do completely on its own. I felt powerful and strong!

In my case, the birth was quick and I didn't have any injuries. I recovered quickly after giving birth.

Mother's Surprise

My mother, who used to be a midwife at a large national hospital in Shikoku, was also surprised.

In my mother's experience, babies born in hospital wards are covered in amniotic fluid immediately after birth, which has passed through the mother's vaginal walls and is not very clean.

During the home birth, I had less amniotic fluid, and when my baby was born he had little body fat and was beautiful, and I didn't lose much bleeding.

Yuko explained that this is quite normal for a home birth.

Reasons not to choose a home birth

I began to wonder why so many women were not choosing the empowering experience of home birth.

I had the freedom to choose the position I wanted to give birth in, I wasn't surrounded by nurses I didn't know, and I was in the comfort of my own home.

In my experience, giving birth at an obstetrics clinic was a very practical, functional medical environment.

Although safe, the environment was cold, clinical and mechanical.

It's useful for emergency surgery, but I don't think it translates to embracing motherhood.

The importance of access to information

Every woman can choose what she feels suits her best, but sometimes she feels like she has too little access to the information she needs to make an informed choice in the first place.

My hope is that by sharing my story it will inspire interested women and empower them to make their own choices and feel more confident.

Mufaume Natalie