Are you considering a homebirth but have TONS of questions? Here are five steps to get you started on your amazing journey of homebirth.
1. Find support and join your local homebirth community. Check out the events calendar on the Birth Connections Community Center site. Attend a Friends of Missouri Midwives meeting. Call your local La Leche League chapter. Join the Attachment Parenting International St Louis group on FaceBook. Contact local prenatal yoga instructors, independent childbirth educators, doulas, or birth blogs for community resources. Visit maternity and baby friendly retailers for connections. Or simply just ask around!
2. Interview and choose a maternity care provider. Find at least three Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) candidates and interview thoroughly. Ask the right questions. Then go with your gut. Midwives are a bit easier to find these days in St Louis but it still helps to get a referral. A great resource for names of Midwives is Friends of Missouri Midwives. Ask around for referrals from other home birthers. Local doulas and childbirth educators will give names but typically not endorsements.
3. Take an independent childbirth class geared for natural birth. This is crucial to your home birth success. Knowing ALL your options will empower you through your entire birth process. Again, ask the homebirth community for referrals. Figure out what style of birthing appeals to your values, such as: BirthWorks, Brio Birth, Bradley Method, Birthing from Within, etc. Google search local childbirth educators. Interview several and, again, go with your gut!
4. Choose your birth team. It can be as large or small as you want, just be sure that they 100% support your choice to birth at home. Then assign each person a designated task during the labor, delivery, and post partum processes. This is the key to controlled chaos.
5. Prepare your home for the birth. Discuss with you Midwife any sanitary recommendations and birth kit options. Have your birth tub on the premises and possibly even blown up, if space allows. Be sure to have plenty of black trash bags (so the trash man doesn’t think there was a murder!), rags, hydrogen peroxide (to clean up any blood stains), disposable underpads (to protect your bed and furniture), and plastic coverings for your floors (again, to protect from any body fluids).
Enjoy your homebirth process. It is sure to be an experience of a lifetime!
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