11/22/2022
I will be forever grateful that my husband asked me what my birth plan was before we were even married or had kids. I had NO idea that we could chose where we had our babies. I thought everyone had babies in the hospital. Flash forward a year or 2 later, I get pregnant and I immediately start researching Home birth. Well it didn’t take me long to decide I was doing it at home, especially after watching The Business of Being Born and learning about the hospital birth statistics in America. I knew this is how I wanted to bring my baby into the world…in a warm tub while I breathed in lavender essential oils. I wish! Two home births later, that’s not how they turned out but at least I had the option to plan it that way. My first birth was very long but I never once feared that things were going wrong, thanks to my amazing midwifery team. I laborer for almost 48 hours before my daughter came out on a birth stool while listening to 50 Cent. Her heart rate never dropped during the entire time and there was no concern for transfer. Turns out she had a very short cord, making it hard for her to make her way into the world, she ran out of rope. I hemorrhaged a bit but again, my team took amazing care of me and I never once feared anything was going wrong. Second baby was quite different, 12 hour, standard labor but he did come out in the tub! The postpartum visits from my midwife was what made me chose home birth the second time around. I found that to be the best thing about home birth, the amazing care you receive after giving birth and you never have to leave your home!
We paid $5000-$6000 per birth and it was worth every single penny. Insurance didn’t cover a thing and I am honestly not surprised by that at all.
I believe in the mission because everyone should have a right to birth a child at home and money shouldn’t be a restriction. I also think that the organization will naturally open peoples minds to the idea of home birth where they might have never heard of it before, like me.
Whether you chose a home birth or hospital birth, make sure you do your own research and know that you can have a birth plan with the expectation that it might not go as planned. But at least you can feel empowered along the way!
Thank you for sharing your story with us Tina Gauthier!
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