Natural Home Childbirth: Amazing!

My wife and I just gave birth to our first child in the comfort of our home and participated in one of the great miracles of life. The benefits of doing this at home was there were no alarming strangers in hospital garb telling us what to do, no blazing color codes coming over the PA system, no push or rush to have nature's process sped up, my wife was not confined to one bed in one position, no hospital food and no one pushed the drugs to increase contractions or epidurals to manage the pain. It was an amazing drug-free and stress-free experience that allowed my wife and me to be actively involved in the birthing process, not just patients along for the ride.

When we first confirmed that we were pregnant our doctor, Paul Crane, asked, "What hospital have you chosen to have your baby delivered?" I responded by saying, "Why would I bring my wife to a hospital? She is not sick, she's pregnant. We are going to have this baby at our home where we are comfortable and I am going to convince you to come there to assist in the delivery." It was my belief that our home would be a better place to deliver the baby because my home is a place where we create our lives everyday and are the most comfortable. Anyone that is comfortable in a hospital is spending far too much time in them and probably should not be having a baby.

Without doing any research I knew that for centuries people had delivered babies outside of hospitals, even without doctors (surgeons) but had no clue of the real statistics. I found out that in the early 1900's, 95% of all babies were delivered naturally and at home, some in the fields. In the US today, only 1% of all deliveries are done at home. The AMA obviously did a great sales job of convincing the US population away from natural childbirth an into the hospital. Research today shows that the US has the highest percentage of babies delivered in hospitals and the highest mortality rate among all industrialized nations!

With a home birth the focus is to deliver naturally, on nature's schedule. Hospitals and doctors (surgeons) have schedules and shifts, are confined to insurance codes and regulations, are worried about litigation and spend 24 hours a day handling trauma, emergencies and using drugs and surgeries as the tools of their trade. We wanted to bring a child into the world and believed that we could do so without drugs and without a scalpel. Did you know that almost 24% of all births in American hospitals end up in a cesarean where the mother's belly is cut open, organs pulled aside, rested on the mother's belly while the baby's first major task in life (birth) is intervened on and interrupted.

I know there are risk and complications with pregnancies that are better served by being at the hospital but my wife was not a high-risk situation. But why bring a healthy pregnant woman and a healthy baby into a place that handles sick people and then be pushed or prodded to deliver on someone's else schedule if it is not necessary. My wife and I were also not interested in introducing the baby to drugs while she got introduced to the world.

Drugs are introduced to most of us before we can walk, talk or have even taken our first breath (while we are still in our mother's womb). Interesting how many people then later in life use drugs and medications to solve there every difficulty and discomfort. My mother told me she doesn't remember any pain associated with delivering my twin brother and me, (15.6 lbs combined). She didn't have any pain because all three of us were drugged at the moment or birth. No wonder they were slapping our butts years ago, they had to bring us out of our coma!

My wife's labor was 22 hours and she delivered without even an Advil. Admittedly, the fact that we didn't have drugs available is the only reason she didn't use them to handle her pain. It was painful as the husband watching my wife in pain and had we been at the hospital I would have encouraged her to take the drugs to speed up the process and reduce her pain.

Because we didn't have the "candy" it forced me to get more involved to make my wife comfortable. Between contractions I moved her from room to room, gave her a shower, took her to the Jacuzzi, swam with her in the pool, brought her to the babies room to remind her of the goal, fed her pop sickles, kept ice cold rags on her forehead and basically did anything and everything to make my brave wife more comfortable. Not only did we bring a child into the world without drugs but by doing this at home allowed us the experience and opportunity to work together as a team in one of our baby's first great challenges -- birth. We were actively involved in the birth rather than patients and it allowed us to grow together as a couple at an even deeper level.

Certainly home birth would not be right for any high risk pregnancy but if you aren't a high risk situation and want to have control over the process, be involved with the birth, not a facility where sick people congregate, don't want to hear color coded warnings between and during contractions, don't believe you need to rush nature's process and hate the idea of being cut open or drugged, consider natural home birth it was an incredible experience for us.

Grant Cardone is an author and international sales expert.

Follow Grant Cardone on Twitter: www.twitter.com/grantcardone

Comments

[Elizabeth Allemann]

As a family physician who's been attending births at home and in birth centers for over 20 years, I applaud your efforts. You gave your baby a gentle start--the kind of start that evolution prepared for her to experience. She got to participate in the timing of her birth, waiting until she had cleared her lungs of 2/3 of the fluid they carried up until just 48 hours before her labor started, until her gut was ready to process food, her liver ready to process bilirubin and other chemicals, her kidneys were ready to work on their own, she had enough fat to keep her body warm, etc. She got to experience labor and birth, what she was designed to experience prior to taking her first breath, learning to nurse, etc. The hormonal cocktail that she created with your wife's body was just what she needed to journey into post-womb life. And then, full of bliss and arousal hormones, she was treated with gentleness and connection to her parents. Our great teachers of peace were born gently, surrounded by animals.

If you want to learn more about the incidence of interventions in maternity care in the US, I'd recommend the "Listening to Mothers" survey.

Thank you for sharing your story.

Elizabeth Allemann, MD
Columbia, MO, USA

[Beckaneenie]

I am first of all glad to say that this is one of the beautiful aspects of living in America. We are able to freely express our views regardless of what others may think or feel. I am glad you're able to express yours in your article. However, I do have concerns regarding your comment "Anyone that is comfortable in a hospital is spending far too much time in them and probably should not be having a baby." I am a mom of soon to be 4 within a few weeks. I have 3 beautiful, healthy children ages 6, 3 and 2. I am due in about 7 weeks for our 4th child. I have NEVER regretted having a hospital birth-ever. I know that everyone has their own opinions, have the choice to choose what they want and what's best for them and their family. I truly believe that not everyone has the luxury of being able to have a home birth nor, feel comfortable with it nonetheless.

[Grant Cardone - Huffpost Blogger]

becky what i am saying is that anyone that has become comfortable in hospitals must be spending too much time in them. They are not the most comfortable places to be... rooms are small, food is bad, they keep them cold and they are for most of us not familiar environments.

[Laura Fields]

Good for you! I wish I'd been smart enough to have my first at home. Though I managed to avoid an epidural with her in the hospital, it would have been a much more enjoyable experience at home. My second was born at home and it really is amazing, a totally different experience. Anyone who thinks homebirth isn't safe needs to do more research. The research all says the exact same thing: equal outcomes, less morbidity, far fewer interventions.

[TheBlackCat]

Congradulations on your new arrival! I think giving birth is a very personal experience and every woman has the right to do it how she wants.

My husband and I plan to adopt and probably won't have our own, especially as getting pregnant would be more difficult for me due to a medical condition. But if I do, I definitely want to go with a midwife, I've heard such wonderful things about them.

However, from my own experience, I am not doing a home birth. My mother was a young, health woman with a normal pregnancy, but when I was born, I wasn't breathing and my blood pressure was extremely low, and I needed emergency services, or I would have died. I just would not want to have a baby in a situation where if something catastrophic happened, life saving technologies were not immediately available to me. But that's just me, and I recognize the risk of that happening is a miniscule one, and life shouldn't necessarily be lived based upon worst case scenarios. I'm also an anthropologist who has lived all over the world and met women who had all their babies on the dirt floor of their home with no problems at all for either them or their children. So, to each his own!

[TrustYourBody]

To the contrary, homebirth IS safe! Homebirth midwives are trained to deal with all complications of labor and delivery and to transfer you to the hospital should that be necessary. There is a reason homebirth midwives have a MUCH better maternal mortality/morbidity rate and a MUCH better infant mortality/morbidity rate. Women can only birth at home if they are deemed low-risk enough to do so and if their babies are low-risk too! Your homebirth midwife can let you know if you are a good candidate to birth at home. Homebirth midwives and birth assistants are trained in postpartum hemorrhage treatment, neonatal resuscitation and CPR for adults. They also carry meds and oxygen that are needed to treat in these very rare events. And they know how to call 9-1-1 and transport in the very rare emergency that needs this. Most of those who transfer from a homebirth do so in their own car and not in an ambulance - in other words, it isn't a critical situation. Usually it is related to mother or baby risking out of homebirth or a mom wanting an epidural which cannot be administered at home.

[TrustYourBody]

A really good homebirth midwife has a low transfer rate around 5% and a cesarean rate of 3.5% and has never lost a baby or a mother in childbirth. Ask your OB or even MW hospital practice what their cesarean rate is and if they can say they've never had a mother or baby die in their hospital. And, yes, you are right, if life was lived based on worst case scenarios (which by the way is how many lawsuit-fearing doctors practice) then we would all be shuffled into the hospital and cut open abdominally before spontaneous labor because doctors always say "if I did a cesarean, I did all that I could". :(

Good books to read: Creating Your Birth Plan by Dr. Marsden Wagner, Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin. A good DVD to rent is Business of Being Born. A good childbirth class to take is something like Bradley - www.BradleyBirth.com - so that you are fully prepared for your home, hospital or birth center birth!

[TheBlackCat]

One of the thing that attracts me to midwives so much is that they view child birth as natural and not some abnormal medical procedure. Also the fact that they are so much more reluctant to do cesareans (as they should be!) is a big draw for me. That's why I definitely want to use a midwife. I live in a big city and am a health care worker, and I know that there are many hospitals in my area which have midwives on staff for your pre natal care and birth.

I realize that a home birth isn't really dangerous, and that my fears are more based on horror stories from my parents than on actual risk. But I still want to have a birth that is as stress free as possible for me. The other big factor is that I definitely want the option of an epidural to be available to me.

A birthing center though is one option I had not considered, probably just because I don't know anyone else who has used them. But that actually might be a better fit for me than a hospital. I will definitely look into that and the books you recommended- thanks for the suggestion!

[Laura Fields]

Did your mom have an epidural or narcotics during labor? That's the most common cause for a drop in BP (moms & baby's) and of course, those aren't given at home so the risks associated with them are eliminated.

[TheBlackCat]

Actually no, my Mom didn't use an epidural, which she regretted. She said she didn't want one, then changed her mind, but by that time it was too late to get it. She used it with my sister without any problems.

Another reason that I want a hospital birth is that I do want to get an epidural. All but two women I know (my mom and a friend) had epidurals with no problem, and the two I do know who DIDN'T get it regretted not doing so, and then did use it with later pregnancies.

To all you ladies who can go drug free, I give you nothing but respect. But I'm a 4'11" woman who weighs 100 pounds, and my husband is 6'2" and was eleven pounds when he was born. I want the drugs.

[unnecesarean]

Congrats on your new edition!

The cesarean rate hasn't been 24 percent in the U.S. for years. It's risen for the eleventh straight year and is now 31.8 percent. Of the 4,317,119 babies born in 2007, 1,372,844 were delivered by cesarean section.

[Grant Cardone - Huffpost Blogger]

I thought is was closer to 30% but couldn't find the data to support it. I would love to know what percentage of all births use some type of drug....if you know.

[NWMidwife]

Congratulations, Grant. What a lovely story about your sweet birth. I'm a home birth midwife and get to have these experiences over and over (and having done it twice at home with my daughters myself).
The Big Push for Midwives is trying to get Certified Professional Midwives included in the health care bill that is coming so that more mothers, babies and their fathers can have the best possible start as families.

[Grant Cardone - Huffpost Blogger]

They will never do it----health care bill will only support those that have the biggest lobbyist..­.
midwives are an alternative to the hospital which doesn't support the ama or big pharma

[sunnybunny]

They might support home birth or birth centers becaue of the economic savings. The NHS and oth Eurpean countries do. I had my youngest at a birth center in 1995
and medicaid paid most of the bill. But,I had to choose the "no frills" plan which meant that many diagnostic tests (like my sonogram) I had to pay for out of pocket and they wouldn't pay for the midwife to come to the house, we had to go to the birth center. It would make sense for them to include it as 90% of all american women are low risk enough to deliver at home or at a birth center and not only does it save a lot of money on delivery but the natural care and gentle methods used put women at a MUCH lower risk for future "female problems" (many of which are caused by injuries during childbirth resulting from hospital interventions)