The Mindset of a Homebirth

Choosing a homebirth goes beyond location.

You are choosing to trust your body. To listen to your instincts.

You are mentally preparing to tap into that inner wisdom to birth your baby.

You are preparing to move and do what you need to in order to allow baby to pass through during your labor - without immediate access to medical intervention.

Midwives are highly trained in assisting during birth, when assistance is needed, but they do so by supporting your body. They don't typically intervene and do things FOR you (such as force dilation or numb the feeling of contractions and pressure).

The difference is night and day. It it the difference between encouraging labor by telling mom to take a walk and cuddle with her partner vs hooking her up to some pitocin. It is the difference between putting a cool rag on her head, a strong hand on her back, and telling her to breathe deeply vs putting an epidural in her back.

Both help but only one puts the power of birth fully on the woman. It is up to her to ride out the sensations of birth, to move in a way that gets baby out. To get baby out! Midwives do not perform c-sections.

Choosing homebirth purely based on location preference or appreciating the midwifery approach is not necessarily enough to have a successful homebirth. Because YOU are the main player here. The birthing woman needs the ability to tap into herself and become a mother in her own power. The location and midwife only support that and give her a safe space to make it happen.

You cannot have fear.

You cannot have doubt.

You need full trust in the process, ability to surrender to your body, ability to gather your mental and physical strength and USE IT as guided by your intuition.

Most important is that trust. Do you truly believe you can do it? Are you willing to step there knowing there is no plan B?

(As a side note: midwives are highly trained guardians of safe birth. You need to trust yourself and your body because they cannot birth for you. That is up to you - you were born to birth. Midwives know that and support the nature of birth fully. But they also come with a large arsenal of things that can help guide you along the way if needed. From herbal medicine to positioning tricks to homeopathic treatments to prescription medication and oxygen tanks. They can also see, usually well ahead of time, if more medicalized assistance is needed and can either deescalate the situation or transfer the motherbaby team to a hospital. However, hospital transfers are typically not part of a homebirth as the mother, baby, and birth team, are all aligned in the goal of keeping the birth safely at home.)