Home Birth Questions ............Answered.=)

Psalm 127:3 Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

 If you have ever had a home birth I am sure you have noticed you get a lot of questions or am I alone here....lol?  I am not an expert by any means this was only our second home birth but these are the answers that worked with our family. Please note: Every mom, baby and birth is different so I do not think there is any one definite answer for any question regarding birth.

 Question #1 What if something goes wrong?
A very valid question indeed, if something goes wrong we would go to the hospital or call 911. I believe God has given us enough discernment as mothers that we can sense if something is off like the movement of the baby or if we start to feel sickly. This question can go both ways though; lots of things can go wrong in the hospital too....which is why 1 out of every 3 women in the state of Va end up on the operating table with baby being cut out! I am not against dr.'s or medicine they have their role for emergencies....but I am sorry having a baby is not an emergency for 1 out of 3 women. We are fearfully and wonderfully made and not every labor that doesn't look like the medical text book is  a reason for intervention.

Question #2 Who is going to catch the baby? 

Daddy of course for us! Daddies have nice big baby catching hands as you can see Moses'  whole body is not much bigger than one of Chris' hands....Many mothers catch their own babies though =)

Question #3 What were your other kids doing?

Our children were at my sisters house having a smoothie slumber party with their cousins!

Question #4 What do you do for Pain relief?

During contractions walking around and changing positions is enough pain relief for me. It's really not that bad I have had stomach flu bug cramps that were worse than labor pains. Calcium magnesium is great for afterbirth pains. A sweet friend from church also brought me some afterbirth tincture! Part of pain relief would also be to make sure you are very well nourished with food and supplements to prevent from becoming ill and excessive bleeding.

Question #5 What did you do with the placenta and cord?

We kept our placenta attached for 5 hours in a ziploc bag to get some more nourishment for baby. Chris clamped the cord with a clamp that came with our home birth kit and cut the cord with sterilized scissors. Some mom's choose to leave the cord intact with the placenta until if falls off on its own.

Question #6 Do you take the baby to a pediatrician?

We choose not to since the baby has already been checked over well by an experienced midwife or in our most recent case a very very knowledgeable friend who has all the same tools a dr.'s office would have =) 

Question #7 How do you get a birth certificate/social security card?

You fill out a form and mail it in. If more proof is needed you can take your baby for a dr.'s visit to get verification that you had a baby!

Does anyone else have anymore questions? I would gladly answer them as best I know how =) If you have ever had a homebirth what are some of your favorite questions you get asked?