I knew that I wanted a home birth when a
midwife guest lectured in one of my classes in college when I was 21 years old.
She taught us about the hormones involved in labor and how they can be altered
by the mother’s state of mind and environment during labor. She then explained
that once one intervention is introduced into the woman’s system, it triggers a
snowball effect that could require more interventions. A Certified Professional
Midwife (CPM) is the professional of uncomplicated natural births, which means
they recognize immediately when something is awry because it is amiss of the
process they are so familiar with. Ninety percent of births are uncomplicated
and for that ten percent that is complicated, they will know early and take
proper action before an emergency arises.
The midwife also retold stories of women giving
birth standing. For example, the woman who crossed the border of Mexico into a
clinic in Texas and shed a single tear as her baby entered the world. Then
there was the story of an indigenous Brazilian woman who squat down as she
caught her own baby and walked on. These stories were nothing like the images
of birth that I had seen in the media and heard about from people I knew who
birthed in the hospital.
The midwife showed us that the way we
experience pain is very much a cultural thing. Pain is then a perception which
means that I can I have some degree of control over how I experience it. After
that realization, I enjoyed letting my optimism get ahead of me to paint me as
that woman who would take birth standing. The experiences that she shared that
day combined with my history of traumatic sport injuries prevented me from ever
fearing the pain of labor. I was no stranger to pain and I would bend it. I am
a woman and women have babies. My friends would shake their heads and laugh as
I would demonstrate how I too would squat down and catch my baby when the day
came.
A common response to hearing that I chose a
home birth is “You’re brave!” My response to that is, I didn’t make that choice
to be brave. I chose it because it makes me feel safer actually. I want to have
the freedom of movement and the freedom to trust and listen to my body. People
also ask, “what if something goes wrong?” or “what if you want an epidural?”
These types of questions come from a fear of an emergency situation or a fear
of pain. I already discussed those issues above. It was an easy choice for me
and I chose out of love, not out of fear. I am willing to experience the
intensity of labor. I want to embrace this unique experience of bringing a
person into the world. It is the highest honor. I should feel something. I
should feel the impact of this act. It will impact the world too in some
way.
With a healthy pregnancy, a wise midwife, and
the best husband, I felt excited and eager to meet my baby at home.
Check out the South Bay Homebirth collective
at: Southbayhomebirthcollective
