[Mrs.Paradise]

just curious if anyone else has thought about doing a home birth or birthing center...

for me Im planning on a home birth... I actually have thought about it for a LONG time... and what made our minds up was watching "the business of being born", and "pregnant in America" I HIGHLY recommend them!!

[lilemma86]

I LOVE the business of being born and cannot wait to get the new "more business of being born"!! I am going to do a birth center just because it is our first and our home is a long drive to a hospital. I visited one birth center where I live and I am in LOVE! whenever we do get pregnant i will be going there and maybe if we get lucky again we will do the home birth route!

[Mrs.Paradise]

yeah Im lucky because we live maybe 5 mins tops to the hospital so just in case anything does go wrong we are good...

[Sapphera]

Definitely a hospital for me...
In the hospital that's closest to me I have the option of a water birth or "normal" one, and I can choose to have a OB or midwife .. so no point in doing a birthing center for me.

Plus, the option of drugs is a good one for me to have (I'm a wimp!)

[Coley]

We're going birthing center. They have tons of labor options, you can have as many people with you as you want, you can eat & drink AND they offer drugs if you wind up needing them!

[*Manda*]

I want to do a birth center...but there aren't any around here

I don't know if KY even does home births but I don't know that I'd be comfortable with that either...

Hospital for me

[Cait&AngelAbove]

I would love to give birth in a birthing center but like Amanda there are none around here. I mentioned a home birth to DH and I thought he was going to pass out. SO hospital birth for me!

[Mrs.Paradise]

Michelle Im a wimp too! but EVERY person I know that has had a induced labor and a medicated one and then went on to having a med free birth said that the med free one was sooooooooooooooooo much easier! Im honestly SCARED TO DEATH about the birth part! lol but its a price to pay to have a little baby!

Nikki I was contemplating a birthing center because then you dont have to worry about clean up and all of that other stuff... but I really would just like to be home!

Amanda that really sucks that you dont have a birthing center close to you... sorry you have to go to a hospital... but maybe you can find one that has the nice tubs and just have a midwife like Michelle?

Caitlin... my hubby was like that the very first time I mentioned it... and then I started watching "the business of being born" and he was watching it with me and since we watched that he is on board with a home birth! lol

[*Manda*]

When I've looked around the only hospital that has tubs is 30 minutes away. I know it's not that far but I know nothing about the hospital. The hospital I wanna deliver at is where most of everybody I know deliver(also where I was born!). Plus that I know of we only have one midwife around this town and she's in the same doctors office as my doctor

[Sapphera]

My sis in law tried to go unmedicated for both of hers, but at her last opportunity opted for drugs... all my coworkers also said "don't try to be a hero.." .. but I think I'd want to try for a water birth and you can't have the drugs for that.

Either way, I won't know until I'm in that position, but it's nice to have the option available!

[HopeTea]

I'm heavily leaning towards birthing center. I know there are a few in my area, and I'm planning to check them out once I get my BFP.

I live in Japan, and things are a lot different here. I'm terrified of giving birth in a hospital. I don't mean to generalize all Japanese hospitals or to say they're terrible, but it's just a different culture and a different set of practices. I want to make sure my birth experience is a good one, so for me there's really no other option.

The choice is made easier by the fact that even in hospitals, most women deliver unmedicated. So for all of you who worry about whether or not you can handle it, think of all the women who do it every day without question (or screaming for drugs)! Our expectations and fears about labor are very culturally-influenced. I think realizing this has made me more confident.

I'm also interested in water birth. It's something I'll have to look into when I check out the local birthing centers.

[MillerMom2b]

I'm so glad you started this post. I guess I've never really thought of anywhere except for a hospital!
But I looked it up, and of course there is no birthing center close enough!

Originally Posted by Mrs.Paradise

for me Im planning on a home birth... I actually have thought about it for a LONG time... and what made our minds up was watching "the business of being born", and "pregnant in America" I HIGHLY recommend them!!

Are these shows or movies? I've never heard of them.

[*Manda*]

They're movie and they're great! Both on netflix if you have that!

[Mrs.Paradise]

yep like Amanda said they are on netflix! they are documentaries... REALLY interesting!

[Danita79]

I will be going to a hospital as well. I'd like to give birth at home but DH said absolutely not cause what happens if there are complications. I understand his worries.. so a hospital for me

[missa3428]

I just saw that we have some birthing centers here in Las Vegas. I didn't know we had them. I think I will look into them when I am pregnant. The one hospital that I love has a big room for JUST YOU, and your family. You are aloud 10 people in the room at all times and when you are about to give birth you can have 6 people in there. It has recliner chairs, rocking chairs, and a kitchen table. My friend has had two of her babies there. I have been wanting to have my babies there always.

[jojo2bee]

Hospital for me!!!! I want easy acess to an epidural if necessary and there's a high chance that I will have to have a c section, I broke my hip in the military so that may cause issues so a hospital brith is really my only option at this poinT

[Wizza]

I'll probably be high risk so I'm pretty sure my only option would be the hospital but that's where I would want to be anyway. I just feel like it's the best place to be in case anything goes wrong. With the many births (I think it's been 12 now) I've been to they were always at hospitals and for one of the moms it may have saved her life because she needed an emergency hysterectomy when she started hemorrhaging after the birth.

[Coley]

I won't lie... there is a part of me that is absolutely terrified of labor. I used to always say I'd be in a hospital with tons of drugs. Hell, I told DH I wanted an elective C-section so I wouldn't have the pushin' pains and stuff! He shot that down immediately with an "ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

Then we passed the year TTC mark and I saw The Business of Being Born. The more I started to think about it & the older I was getting, the more I started to think about the fact that I may only get to have one child, if that!

I decided, if I only get to carry one child in my life, I want to experience all there is to experience. I want to try to have enough trust in myself and my body at that point that it will know what to do.

My DH was talking midwife before I even got there. I hadn't given it too much thought initially, so we hadn't really discussed it... but when it did come up, he was already of the mind that midwives were better because they don't feel the need to screw with the process, ya know?

I think the Home Birth idea is cool... If we had our own place, I'd probably consider it. But with us renting... I dunno. I really wanna go water birth and renting one of those big tubs and having it in the middle of our "rented" apartment...? Yeah, that might make DH's liability antennae explode!

[LWiegel]

Definitely a hospital for me! It's the hospital I'm about to graduate nursing school from and not to mention where my husband is an ob/gyn resident so he'll be delivering!!