Myth 4 – Home Birth Is Only For Second-Time (or more) Mums
People often assume that home birth is only for women who have had a baby before. Not true. With a normal, low risk pregnancy, home birth is a real choice for first time mums absolutely.
“The labour and birth of our first babies is a time of heightened awareness, and the memories become part of who we are and the women we become. Therefore is it really important to make the experience as good as possible so it becomes a pleasant memory.” – Caroline Flint, Home Birth Midwife
If you live on top of a mountain, or on a remote island and miles away from a hospital, it is probably not a good idea to have a home birth for your first child. However if you live with a hospital within easy reach, it’s perfectly reasonable to book a home birth for a first birth. Your body does not need to have “proved itself” with a previous birth for you to then have a home birth for subsequent children.
And I have had MANY couples who have chosen a home birth for a first birth after coming on my Hypnobirthing & Birth Preparation courses in York, where I explain how your birth environment can have such a huge impact your birth hormones and so your labour and birth. And none of these couples have regretted that decision, and they have felt so empowered in making the choice.
Myth 5 – If You Book a Home Birth, You Can’t Change Your Mind
When you book for a home birth, you don’t necessarily give birth at home. You can change your mind and go into hospital at any time you choose to. You may decide that you need an epidural, you may decide you feel safer there, you may get bored and think a change of scene will accelerate things. Everything is flexible.
Why Home Birth Can Be A Great Place To Birth
Home birth is fairly unusual these days, but this hasn’t always been the case. We are mammals (like cars, dogs and sheep), and like all other mammals we are surprisingly good at giving birth. Like mammals we are also very instinctive. We choose to move around in labour instinctively, we need privacy in labour (like a cat going under the bed in the attic to birth), we also need darkness to release more of the birth hormone oxytocin.
The best thing about a home birth is being in a safe and special place (your home), feeling relaxed, having all the privacy you need to help your body’s hormones and the process of labour work as effectively as possible (meaning a smoother and potentially shorter labour), having familiarity of the place (the smells and sounds, your own things around you), having all the food and snacks available too. It’s the calm and relaxing environment that allows you to birth your baby as your body was designed to. So choosing the place where you will feel this, is really important in choosing where to birth your baby. And for some women this choice absolutely might be a hospital setting, and not at home. Again – it’s all about understanding birth and making a choice.
Birth Is All About Choice
But the main thing, I feel, is choice. Choice in how to give birth and where is what matters most. And that you make the choice that is right for you and your baby. From a place of information and knowledge, not from a place of fear, myth or hearsay.
I hope that this blog post has helped you to think about what a home birth is, and perhaps explore some more about it as an option for your labour and birth. I really love sharing information like this and helping you to have the most positive and confident pregnancy and birth possible that is right for you and your baby. Do check out my other birth and pregnancy blog posts here, and to prepare fully for your birth, embrace and understand it, and to learn the brilliant hypnobirthing techniques that can help you have a calm, confident and positive birth experience do come and join me in person for my For Modern Mothers Hypnobirthing & Birth Preparation course.
Plus I also have a YouTube channel with lots of tips and techniques on too here – www.formodernmothers.video.
Originally published HERE.
Susan Bradley is the founder of For Modern Mothers, dedicated to helping you have a positive pregnancy, labour, birth and motherhood. My aim is that I simply want to help you feel better in body, heart and mind, by learning amazing skills and practical techniques which really support you on your journey to motherhood and beyond. I do this though teaching Pregnancy Yoga, Hypnobirthing & Complete Birth preparation courses, Mum & Baby Yoga, and Baby Massage classes, workshops and private lessons – in and around York, UK. You can find me online at www.formodernmothers.com and on Facebook www.facebook.com/formodernmothers
