For thousands of years, women have been having their babies at home. In fact, it has not been until recent centuries, especially the last hundred years or so, that it has become typical for children to be born in a hospital or in a birthing center rather than in a home. Many women are more and more turning to home birthing options. A home birth allows you to have your baby without drugs in a setting that is totally familiar, and which you can be in charge of the action going on all around you.
The first thing that you need to do to have your baby at home is talk to your health care provider. Typically, if you are interested in a homebirth, you may be using a midwife. However, if your pregnancy is high risk or if you have had complications like high blood pressure or multiple babies, your health care provider will recommend that you have a hospital birth.
If you are able to plan a home birth, you also need to plan for an emergency. You need to let the hospital know when you are around 36 weeks pregnant, so that you can be in their system in case you need to be admitted. You need to know what sort of transportation is available, and under what circumstances you would need to be transported to a hospital.
You will want to develop a detailed birth plan that indicates what sorts of things you will want to use during labor and delivery. If you want to use aromatherapy, for example, you will need to plan for those supplies. If you are going to have a water birth, you will need to make arrangements for the pool, etc. You will need to decide who is allowed to see you during labor and delivery, and during which stages.
With a good deal of planning and if you’re not high risk, you should be able to have your baby at home with little or no problems.
