[whodatmama]

Since I have yet to meet with my *trumpets sounding* new midwife, I have more questions.

Does your midwife provide all the stuff you need, or will you buy a birth kit?

Will your midwife help to clean up the mess afterwards? ( I hear some even cook after you give birth)

Does your midwife come to your home for prenatal checkups?

How are you handling the 20 week u/s?

Are you required to have an OB back-up?

Does your midwife preform the glucose test?

Okay, that's all I can think of right now.

[inyourhonor]

Does your midwife provide all the stuff you need, or will you buy a birth kit? We have to buy our own birth kid. She has a tub if we want a water birth but we have to purchase the liner.

Will your midwife help to clean up the mess afterwards? ( I hear some even cook after you give birth) I am not sure, we never got there. She said she normally says 2-3 hours after birth.

Does your midwife come to your home for prenatal checkups? We go to her home office for our prenatal. She'll come to our house when I'm 36 weeks to familiarize herself with our house and such.

How are you handling the 20 week u/s? She sent me to a family doctor she works with. They will handle my 20 week scan.

Are you required to have an OB back-up? Nope

Does your midwife preform the glucose test? I'm not sure, I was planning on asking this tomorrow haha. I can let you know after my appointment!

[ItalySarah]

I have no idea, but I am super excited for you!

[whodatmama]

Thank you. We are so super excited too. I am in full on research mode, reading every homebirth forum I can find and trying to find the negative side too so as to prepare myself for that as well. One negative is that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is against homebirth because they say there has not been enough studies done to prove it's safety. However, the British Journal of Medicine studied 5500 women in Britain and 5500 women in the USA and their findings were very encouraging. One cool thing I have learned is that when a baby is born in a hospital and is not breathing, they immediately cut the cord then preform cpr. A midwife at a homebirth will leave the cord attached to the placenta and preform cpr. The placenta provides much needed oxygen to the baby. I read one woman's birth story about her baby that didn't breath for 8 minutes! She believes the cord being left intact saved her baby from brain damage and possibly death. Really cool stuff I never even thought about!

I have been shocked at the positive response I have received when telling people we are planning a homebirth. I thought everyone would be negative and I would have to quote tons of sources in favor of this method. Surprisingly, everyone has thought it is an awesome way to go. Even my husband's grandfolks haven't had much to say. Maybe they have just learned to embrace our alternative views on the world?

[laisydaisymama]

if you're going back to his grandparents, then even though they had their babies in a hospital, they themselves were probably born at home.

[whodatmama]

hmm...I may have to ask them that!

[TylerJ1029]

Does your midwife provide all the stuff you need, or will you buy a birth kit? My MW provides about 80% of the stuff. I do have to buy a pre-packaged birth kit off the net. Its about $50. It has latex gloves, those lovely panties, peri bottle, gauze, bulb syringe. Pretty much stuff that will be just for me and cannot be sterilized and reused. I also have to buy some stuff at the grocery store like black garbage bags, paper towels, oil, gallon zip lock bags.

Will your midwife help to clean up the mess afterwards? ( I hear some even cook after you give birth)-I'm not really sure. When I was at my friends birth her husband and I (although it was mostly her DH) helped to clean up most of everything while the midwives attended to mom and baby. I'm sure if we needed them they would have helped. I dont really expect them to help my clean up at my birth since at least my mom and DH will be there and maybe other people.

Does your midwife come to your home for prenatal checkups? In the beginning I go to their office. Then toward the end they come to my house twice to do a home inspection, make sure I have everything in order and to find where I am. They do the postnatal checks at my house though.

How are you handling the 20 week u/s? They just give me a script for it and the hospital will charge my insurance like they normally do.

Are you required to have an OB back-up? no

Does your midwife preform the glucose test?They will order and/or do whatever tests I want to have. I'm choosing not to have this one so they are going to watch me for signs of GD and if they think I need the test then I will take it.

[whodatmama]

Thanks for all the great advice ladies! I have already been looking into birth kits. Seems kinda fun to buy all this stuff for our birth, and if the midwife doesn't make it, then we have all of it here!