It surprised me to see a DVD copy of the documentary “The Business of Being Born” available at one of my local county libraries. I put it on hold for 25 cents (have I mentioned how I think the public library is one of the best inventions ever?!), picked it up a few days later, and finally got to watch it with my husband the other night. The movie completely spoke to my disappointing experiences with hospital births and my very satisfying home birth. I wish everyone — pregnant or not, male or female — would watch the movie! The …read more

This rather shocking quote affirms everything I have always felt about breastfeeding. You can’t replace breastfeeding with formula, or even breast milk with formula; they simply aren’t equivalent. That doesn’t make formula “bad” nor should it make formula-feeding mothers feel guilty. It acknowledges that breastfeeding is part of an intimate relationship between mother and child.
To reduce breastfeeding to milk is like reducing sex to semen.
– Rachel Myr, Lactnet list facilitator, named “Midwife of the Year 2008″ in Norway, as quoted in Lactnet

One study published in the Journal of Nurse Midwifery found:
The average uncomplicated vaginal birth costs 68% less in a home than in a hospital, and births initiated in the home offer a lower combined rate of intrapartum and neonatal mortality and a lower incidence of cesarean delivery.
“The Cost-Effectiveness of Home Birth.” J Nurse Midwifery. 1999 Jan-Feb;44(1):30-5. Gee, what a novel concept — care that costs less but has a better outcome!
I did an informal survey of sources online to determine that the average hospital birth costs around $8,000 in the United States, depending on exactly where the mother lives. That …read more

My three-year-old and I recently spent an entire morning playing the “midwife” game. This involves variations of going for a check up (she calls it a “check out”), having the baby (laundry basket as birth tub, naked child, teddy bear as newborn) and getting married. She insists on getting married before having the baby, but I’m pretty sure the baby was conceived out of wedlock.

Please do not take this list of advantages of a home birth to mean that I think every woman ought to give birth at home. Each woman should choose as she pleases and as is appropriate for her situation, and I know there are advantages to a birth center birth or a hospital birth (room service comes to mind!) These are just some advantages of a home birth that I appreciated.
1. Never having to get in the car during labor or soon after the birth.
2. Getting to (being encouraged to!) eat and drink during labor.
3. Being able to open the …read more

Hard to believe I reach 30 weeks of pregnancy tomorrow! As part of planning for the birth, I have been reading Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth (my one-sentence rave review: this is the one birth book I wish I could press into the hands of every pregnant woman I encounter). It’s got me thinking a lot about the type of birth I hope to have (at home, with as few interventions as possible), and it makes the most recent poll results all that much more interesting. Of the 150 voters, 73% said they last gave birth in a hospital setting. …read more