01/11/2024
๐ HOMEBIRTH AWARENESS WEEK ๐
If you havenโt considered homebirth, you might be missing out on a fully informed choice for your care.
I am not saying that homebirth is for everyoneโabsolutely not. But what I see most in my job is a lack of education around the type of care women are choosing when they become pregnant, particularly when they want a physiological birth.
This is my beautiful client, Laura. Although Laura did her research when choosing care and her OB was VBAC supportive, her hospital closed down during her pregnancy.
Laura and her OB faced challenges in the hospital they were transferred to. Her OB was genuine and told Laura that he could no longer support her in what she wanted in the new hospital and suggested she switch to the public system.
Thatโs when Laura called me at 30 weeks pregnant, tired of fighting the system she was birthing in (just like she did in her first birth due to a breech baby). She just wanted to be supported in having a VBAC.
Laura reached out to discuss having me support her in the public system as her doula. I said I would and could, but that didnโt mean it wouldnโt continue to be a fight. Hospitals do not encourage VBACs, and elective cesarean is their preference, regardless of a healthy and normal pregnancy.
What I heard most from Laura was that she was very educated and didnโt want to fight anymore. So I said to Laura, โIf you really donโt want to fight the system, would you consider leaving it and having a homebirth?โ Often, when I suggest this, Iโm met with fear due to a lack of education about homebirth. However, Laura said yes, she knew the truth about homebirth.
Within a week, we found Laura a beautiful homebirth midwife who was thrilled to support her in a VBAC at home. This midwife believed in Lauraโs ability to birth her baby on her terms and had years of experience working in the exact hospital that Laura was choosing to leave.
One of the many significant differences between home and hospital birth is that with homebirth, youโre working with a midwife who has done over 5,000 hours of midwifery in a hospital setting before becoming a homebirth midwife. She understands how that system works and has chosen to step away from it because she sees how it isnโt designed to support the women birthing in it.
Laura had an amazing homebirth and birthed her baby like a goddess in the pool, surrounded by her partner, her sister, two extensively trained midwives, and me as her doula.
Even if Laura had had a VBAC in the hospital, it would have never looked like this. She would have had wires strapped to her and wouldnโt have been able to get in the water, as the policy would not have allowed it due to some very minor risks.
She would have had to fight against vaginal exams and many routine interventions instead of having her team quietly offering love and encouragement in the dark.