Homebirth hooray!

As we all know I am fast becoming the biggest ever advocate for a good old fashioned homebirth. So am totally stoked to report that 2 friends Lucy and Jen both in the last 2 weeks have delivered babies safely in their own homes with the assistance of some very staggered and amazed NHS midwives.

Both second babies, following after fairly traumatic first births. One with vast intervention ending up with an episiotomy and the other after a Cesarean.

Thankfully the two beautiful ladies defied the system and said NO we will stay at home when the midwives had been dismissive of their requests for a homebirth. Lucy in fact even delivered her new offspring in the birthing pool I never got into so ecstatic to know it has had some use.

Both ladies used the hypnobirthing cds and books and enrolled their husbands Matt and Rhodri into the terminology and calming ways of being around labouring women. I have come to realise that this is somewhat the key to a successful calm birth - a panicking daddy or birth partner in the room is just not conducive to stress free births. It is our choice as women how we give birth but the support of the key partners in the process are very much needed to maintain a calm state of mind for the birthing mother.

There is as much a chance for something going wrong with the mother or baby at home as there is in hospital, midwives have to have all necessary equipment on them for all eventualities, they carry all the drugs needed for an incident - the only thing you can't have at home is an epidural.

Babies are designed for our bodies, they are tailored to perfection to come through our birth canals and enter the world. Sometimes something happens to stop this process - a breech baby, pre eclampsia and other medical conditions but the larger majority of women have normal(no problem)pregnancies. Pregnancies that should not need to end in anything other then safe, natural delivery. 9 months of carrying a baby prepares you for the labour and the delivery. Media hype, bad birth stories that get misconstrued further over the generations, lack of personally and socially developed health professionals, uninformed care providers that have made it seem a scary and totally disempowering experience.

If you do go to hospital make sure you stay strong, stand strong and whatever you do don't lie down on a bed!! George a good friend, young and possibly quite radical midwife that I know can not believe sometimes what she sees... women coming straight in to the ward lieing down and being strapped to monitors, checking the notes and seeing that to that point absolutely nothing is wrong - so why lie down! come on think about it, gravity ain't going to help.

Anyway onwards and upwards for the education of women and most importantly men into safe natural homebirths!

lets go girls... lets stay at home as long as we possibly can.

O the only other thing to mention... when we get these little nippers out why don't we deck them in some cool gear... ha ha check it http://www.cheekyfunky.com