Excited About Labor

I was fully expecting some close mindedness towards my desire for a home birth. I had no idea how MUCH grief I would get from the majority of people I told. After all it was only 50 some odd years ago that women actually stopped giving birth at home. So why all the fuss and shock when I say I'm staying home? The only time it's actually safer to give birth in a hospital is when you have a high risk pregnancy. Which I do not.

Why would I want to be in a cold, ugly hospital with a bunch of people staring at my crotch for hours on end, while I am the most uncomfortable I have ever been in my life, when I can be in my cozy little home, with all my books, TV, radio, my warm bed, my own bathtub, my fridge full of food, buck naked if I want to. Not to mention there will be NO other laboring women to listen to screaming, complaining, and cussing. My house on a bad day likely has about 32,115 less infection causing germs in it then a hospital. There will be no one sweeping into my room in the middle of the night to take my baby away from me to prick it with needles out of my site. And should there be, heaven forbid, an emergency then the hospital is a 10 minute car ride away. And by the time I get there Kristin will have already hooked me up to an IV, administered any drugs I need and called for the O.R. to be prepped and ready for my arrival.

It is because of all the above things that I am so NOT stressed or remotely concerned about my labor. Sure, it's going to be more painful then putting my hand in a blender but it's pain that has an definite end in sight. Pain that comes with the thrill of knowing that with every biting contraction I'll be that much closer to holding you in my arms. It's pain with a purpose. And that is the kind of pain I can deal with.

But regardless of all those reasons most people think I'm a wee bit crazy. Maybe I am but the more I read about hospitals and the millions of dollars they make off of women giving birth, and the fact that they push drugs and epidurals without word of how much they the slow labor, increase risk of cesarean, forceps and the baby not turning properly all because they get $500 PER epidural used?... makes me think I'm not really so crazy.

I will have my baby under my circumstances. I will listen to my body no matter how painful and I will look back and know I did it all on my own. This is what feels right for me. Every woman is different, with different needs and different tolerances. I think I can do this. I'm excited to do this! I can't wait! How many women planning to give birth in a hospital with drugs will tell you that they can't wait for labor?

To top it all off I just read an article that the BBC posted entitled "Home Births as Safe as Hospital". Which states of a massive study done resulting in the conclusion that a woman laboring at home is just as safe as a woman laboring in a hospital provided that she is a low risk pregnancy. And that due to these newly found statistics the UK is going to be altering their health system to support and encourage home births. Well there you have it... how crazy am I now?

If I were to blame anyone for my thought process in all of this I'd blame my father. He is the one who told me to think for myself and not to believe anything simply because someone with authority told me it was so. And that may be the best lesson he ever taught me. I plan on passing that lesson onto you my little one.