There is a change coming to the Stahler home.
There is a little baby joining us in September!
We are beyond excited to have another little precious soul to love. We can't wait to start from square one and experience babyhood all over again! There is one thing we are doing differently though. One very important change.
We are not planning to bring our child into the world in a hospital! Gasp!
We are planning on having our baby at home. Double Gasp!
Now, I know there are some people out there who think I am crazy. And I'm sure those of you have a list of reasons why you feel that way.
To be honest, if you would have talked to me a few years ago, I would be right along with you. The words coming out of my mouth would have been somewhere along the lines of, "That lady is out of her mind!"
But, I'm not. In fact, the thought of going back to a hospital this time sounds way more crazy to me.
I have been asked a lot of questions regarding my decision to home birth so let me try and clarify a few myths and concerns in regards to having a baby at home. In my own words and opinion, of course.
1. I am in no way anti-hospital. I think hospitals are absolutely wonderful. But, ONLY in cases where there is an actual medical problem or concern. Doctors fix things. They are there to save lives in emergencies, to cure people when they have an illness, to diagnose ailments of the body and help people maintain the physical lifestyle they desire. As a pregnant woman, I am not sick. There is absolutely nothing wrong with me (physically :D). There is nothing to fix. I am a healthy, low risk woman who is having a baby. It's a natural process. So please tell me why I need to go to a hospital to have my baby? The answer to this question is: I don't.
If my pregnancy goes without complication there is no medical need for me to be in a hospital. Not one.
2. So now you are probably thinking, what about in the case of an emergency? I am not having my baby by myself. Nor am I having a baby in the backwoods of nowhere land, USA, where the local medicine woman is going to help me give birth by concocting a potion to help with the pain. I have a CN midwife who has had a formal education in prenatal, birth and labor and postpartum health care. She will be there to guide me and make sure my birth is going safely. The last thing she would ever do would let my safety or my baby's safety be compromised. If for some reason, I need emergency medical assistance that can only be offered in a hospital, then I will gladly transport to the hospital.
3. Having a homebirth is unsafe and being in a hospital reduces the risk of complication. This is false. My birth with my son is the perfect example how complications are just as likely on a hospital, if not more likely, especially in cases where the mother is experiencing a completely normal birth process. Those of you who know me well, know how that birth went. For those of you who are unfamiliar, it went something like this. I go into labor, husband drives me to hospital 45 minutes away, I am admitted, after two hours my labor begins to slow slightly, doctor comes and says, "you need pitocin or you need to go home" she obviously didn't want me to waste her time, I make the DUMB decision to get connected to a pitosin drip out of fear, embarrassment and guilt; could not take the unnatural pain of my contractions and had an epidural, I dilate in record time and begin pushing, I push and push and push, then I push some more, at around 3 hours of pushing, cocky and cold doctor comes in and tells me to stop pushing with my face and that if I can't get this baby out we need to talk options (doesn't she sound so sweet?), I continue to push then spike a fever of 104, doctor comes in tells me its too late, 30 plus people from NICU arrive in my room, doctor gives me an awesome episiotomy and uses a vacuum on my son's head to deliver him, he comes out limp and is not crying, I am crying and asking everyone, "Is my baby ok?", no one answers, they finally get him to let out a little cry and whisk him away from me for 5 hours.
Sounds like a really great time right?
4. Well aren't you glad you were in a hospital so they could fix the problem with your birth?
Ummmm, here is the number one problem with the world we live in today. People have stopped educating themselves and blindly believe anything they are told. I am just as guilty as the next person. I didn't even realize the pitfalls of my birth until I went to the first day of my doula course. And I read constantly during my birth, I felt like I knew almost everything there was to know. I was wrong.
My birth was a prime example of medicine getting in the way and causing a problem that never existed, then having to go clean up the mess they created, all while getting a big pat on the back for saving the day!
The facts are this: a normal birth consists of contractions that ebb and flow, especially when the laboring woman is moved out of her environment.
I didn't need pitocin. I should have gone home.
Pitocin is completely unnatural and causes your body to dilate in a way that it may not be ready for.
The use of pitocin almost always ends up with the use of an epidural.
Epidurals make you so numb you cannot feel how to properly push out your baby.
Epidurals also, have a 45% chance of causing a high fever.
Because I spiked a fever, the hospital had to put my baby in NICU because of the risk of infection.
5. Here is the way I see it: having a baby is one of the most emotional events, a woman will ever experience. It will affect you in ways you can't even wrap your mind around. I chose to be in my home for that event. I want an experience void of hospital gowns, hospital food, complete strangers, wires, needles, bright lights, restrictions, and yes, even drugs.
What I am looking forward to: the ability to take a nap in my bed during the early labor stage without the fear that I won't make it in time to the hospital, being able to eat and drink as I so choose, the ability to control who is present at my birth, the absolute confidence that I will not be pressured into doing anything I don't want to, privacy, the ability to keep my dignity, holding my husband's hand while he coaches me through contractions in my birth pool, looking out my windows and feeling peace as I bring my baby into the one place in the world I feel the safest, and knowing full and well that I am giving my body and most importantly my baby, the gift of a natural birth, the way nature designed.
