I have 7 kids. My first 5 were hospital inductions with epidurals. I always dreamed of a natural birth but knew I’d struggle to have one with the option of epidural. For my 6th baby in 2020 I decided at 35 weeks to have a home birth! I didn’t want to deal with the hospital and their Covid restrictions. I also knew it would force me to forego the epidural like I wanted. I was nervous, I had never gone into labor on my own before. It was a new experience despite my 5 previous deliveries. It was the best decision!! I went on to have baby #7 in the hospital with midwives and no epidural. I can’t rave about the experience. I had wonderful care but I was not relaxed like at home. I dreaded going to the hospital. It hurt so much more. We are all different and definitely need to choose what we are comfortable with. I do have fears surrounding home birth even though I had one, I think that’s normal. If we have baby 8 in the future, I’ll definitely be hiring a home birth midwife again. With that said, I am thankful we have a nice local hospital who respects moms wishes if for some reason I could not have a home birth!
I have 7 kids. My first 5 were hospital inductions with epidurals. I always dreamed of a natural birth but knew I’d struggle to have one with the option of epidural. For my 6th baby in 2020 I decided at 35 weeks to have a home birth! I didn’t want to deal with the hospital and their Covid restrictions. I also knew it would force me to forego the epidural like I wanted. I was nervous, I had never gone into labor on my own before. It was a new experience despite my 5 previous deliveries. It was the best decision!!
I went on to have baby #7 in the hospital with midwives and no epidural. I can’t rave about the experience. I had wonderful care but I was not relaxed like at home. I dreaded going to the hospital. It hurt so much more. We are all different and definitely need to choose what we are comfortable with. I do have fears surrounding home birth even though I had one, I think that’s normal. If we have baby 8 in the future, I’ll definitely be hiring a home birth midwife again. With that said, I am thankful we have a nice local hospital who respects moms wishes if for some reason I could not have a home birth!