In the state of Montana about 2 of every 100 births is said to take place at home with a midwife. Nationally the number has risen 30% from 2004 – 2009. The reasons for this are as plentiful as reasons to have a hospital birth. With it becoming more and more known that in a healthy pregnancy birthing at home can be as safe as a hospital says a study from Canada more women are spreading the word.
Thankfully it is legal in Montana to have midwife assisted in child birth. This is not the case in all states.
Practising as a direct-entry midwife is still (as of May 2006) illegal under certain circumstances in Washington, D.C. and the following states: Alabama, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Dakota andWyoming.[44] However, Certified Nurse Midwives can legally practise in these areas. Source
Sadly yours truly does not live in Montana at the moment.
Callie Bailey and her family however do and they are expecting a third child. This baby will be different than her first two however in that this one will be a home birth. “I want to share this with just my husband, us together, sharing this is a huge thing,” says Bailey. When speaking about her hospital births she commented that “I felt way out of control of the situation, I felt like I was an inconvenience, like they didn’t care I was there, they were just doing their job. It wasn’t a pleasant experience by any means for me,” says Bailey.
I can relate very much to what she said. My first 4 births there in the hospital and my last two home births. It was like night and day. My natural birth in the hospital was made to feel like some kind of emergency with them holding me down for an IV while I was pushing. It was out of control to say the least and the chaos and fear felt because of it was traumatic. My home births where nothing like that and I suffer no trauma and no regrets and have two healthy babies from it.
I am wishing the Bailey family in Billings Montana the best of luck and a smooth, peaceful, healthy, home birth! Sharing her story with the news is very brave and a blessing to all women in my opinion.
Personally I would not give birth at home. Too much can go wrong. The pain can be managed at a hospital if needed. (IT IS!) not to mention it’s messy.
I have given birth at home twice, with midwives, studies show that in a normal pregnancy it is just as safe as a hospital birth as well. Having given birth in a hospital 4 times before my home births I can tell you the risks and side effects of that “pain management” are higher than a home birth and not worth it, not to me any. As for the mess, the midwives cleaned everything up, even did dishes and house work while my husband and kids got to bond with baby and relax.
Thank you for this article. I have never done a home birth just because of fear. My two sister in laws had complications and could have died if they weren’t at the hospital. However, my birth with my first child went really well at the hospital and I didn’t have any pain medicines. Thankfully, my labor & delivery nurses were so nice that it was a good experience. But the 2 day stay in the hospital was not! It is nice to hear about how helpful your midwife was and how you had such a good experience.
okay now this is a tricky one. I have also had 2 home births and as much as I like them I don’t think it is for everyone. The last time I have lucky that I had a doctor take care of me and not a midwife. My husband freaked me out and it is possible that because of that we saved the babies life and mine. I don’t really want to get into what happened but let’s just say that a home birth is fine but if you want to easing labor pains but if you don’t have a doctor there could be some problematic situations that you will need to go to the hospital.