Considering Home Birth ~ Part 1: Common Questions About Homebirth
What’s on your mind when you consider having a home birth?
Questions?
Here are some of our most frequently asked questions!
We serve Salem and the surrounding areas including Dallas, Stayton, Silverton, Monmouth, Independence, Corvallis, Keizer, Woodburn, Newburg, Dayton, Aurora, and McMinneville.
We see clients at our office in South Salem.
Yes! We can bill your private insurance and Medicaid. We can discuss this in detail at your consultation.
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
Yes! Maybe not all at once, but we do encourage you to involve your support network in your care to your comfort level. Please remember that we often talk about intimate things and occasionally do physical examinations, so you’d want to consider that if you’re inviting others to your appointment.
Yes! You know your children best, so if they can attend your visit while also allowing you to have your attention on the conversation in the visit, then they are welcome. Please remember that the exam room is relatively small, and there aren’t very many extra places to sit, so bear that in mind when you’re inviting people to your appointments. Plan to speak with your care team if you are considering having older children attend the birth.
You will need a birth kit, and if you desire a water birth, you will need to source the tub and the accessories for this. The care team will help you if you are planning a waterbirth. Please see this article for more information.
For your safety and comfort, two to three members of the team attend your birth. Everyone who attends the birth has training for the typical events in a birth and how we will handle emergencies. The midwives do not attend birth alone and the presence of these team members at the birth is non-negotiable.
Yes! We can run all the typically offered tests and can get ultrasounds for you as well.
No. We support normal, physiological birth without medications. We do offer nonpharmacologic methods that can help you to cope with the sensations of labor such as laboring in a deep tub of water, movement, eating and drinking during labor, and being surrounded by people you know and trust. For more information, see this article.
There might be a lot of reasons to want a midwife for your pregnancy and birth, but not want to give birth in your home. If this is your situation, please do talk with the midwives.
Our team is skilled, trained, equipped, and ready to handle most things that occur during birth including too much bleeding, a stuck baby, a baby that needs help to breathe at the start, and suturing if needed. Every client will additionally have an emergency care plan that we review at your home visit, in the event we need to transfer to the hospital for additional care. More here. In the event of a hospital transfer, we stay with you to continue to provide continuity of care, and offer postpartum care when you are released from the hospital.
What’s on your mind when you consider having a home birth?
What if something goes wrong?
“What do you need for a homebirth” is a common question asked by families considering this option. If you have a place that you live that is reasonably clean, has
What about the pain? Whether you’re expecting your first baby or your fourth, it’s normal to be worried about labor pain. I recall being about seven months pregnant with my