How to Plan a Home Birth

If you had asked me ten years ago if I would ever consider giving birth at home, the answer would have been a hard no.

I am a safety freak.
I research everything.
Plus, I am a worry wart.

Then, my best friend in Toronto was pregnant and had midwives. She told me she was planning to give birth at home, and one afternoon, she shared her birth story with me (over 2 hours) with every single detail and how empowering the experience was.

As I sat on the 19th floor of her condo in downtown Toronto I thought - you actually gave birth RIGHT HERE in your living room!

As I gazed over at her newborn daughter, I thought: wow, what a peaceful and powerful way to come into the world.

When I became pregnant in 2015 with my first, I went the route of midwives (HIGHLY RECOMMEND).

Midwives are such an incredible resource, and THEY GIVE YOU THE TIME that doctors don’t have on your prenatal visits.

At six months pregnant, my husband and I took a “babymoon” to Italy for four weeks. When we got back to Toronto, we decided to move back to Kelowna, BC (on the West Coast), where all of our family lived (both sets of parents, my brothers, my husband’s brothers, my aunts, cousins, etc.).

So we sold everything we owned and moved back out west. I was lucky to be able to transfer care to midwives. 

This began a long-lasting relationship with the midwives of Malachite Midwives (I later taught prenatal yoga in their space) and have one of their midwives (Ashley Courtney) in my BirthPrep Yoga on Demand series (I filmed her at 31 weeks pregnant with her second son, and she talks about positioning of the baby in the pelvis HERE!

This midwife center has a birthing suite which you can rent, but I eventually decided to give birth at home. Both of my home births were incredible experiences.

Preparation is KEY for birth. (Whether you give birth in a hospital, at home or in a birthing center/suite.)

The doctors and nurses, doulas and midwives, whoever your birthing team is, is not the one birthing.

You are. And you need to prepare your mind and body for this powerful experience. And knowledge is power.

Read the books and ask ALL the questions.

Here are my HOME BIRTH MUST-HAVES if you are planning a homebirth yourself:

1. Have an EXTREMELY clean house - women do better in a spotless, tidy and organized space. 

2. Have all your comfort items ready - Birth is painful and intense. If you are planning an unmedicated birth experience, comfort items are a must! (Mine were: A Tens Machine (highly recommend), a birthing pool (I LOVE water - both of my daughters were born in the water), a birthing ball, yoga mat, dryer balls or a bigger comb is great to hold and squeeze so your brain focuses on that sensation instead of the intensity in your low back. The heating pad is FABULOUS. Also, I have a birthing video you can do IN LABOR! WATCH HERE! (I have been told by this video is fantastic to do when you are in labor by many of my students)

3. If you rent a birthing pool, you need a thermometer (the water temperature has to be exact for your baby to be born into).

4. A booklet or poster, banner, artwork, etc., to read your positive birth affirmations - Positive Birth Affirmations were KEY, absolutely vital for working with my body and staying in a positive mindset. Think of a finish line at a marathon with your name on it: “You can do it!”

5. Practicing laboring positions (google a bunch - I have a handout in my course, too, to download), like leaning on the countertops in your house (or leaning on your partner). I loved my kitchen island countertop and the bathroom countertop to lean on

6. Have a music playlist. When I switched to Spotify, I lost my 8-hour playlist, but you can check out the list I started HERE.

7. Have excellent snacks + hydration available (look up a recipe for labor-aid, I LOVE coconut water, but not everyone is a fan. Maple water is fantastic too).

8. Have an old sheet on your bed and lots of towels you don’t mind getting ruined (I got a bunch at the dollar store and used them again for my second home birth).

9. Have a large pee pad (like a puppy pee pad) on your bed for after the baby is here. You will ruin the sheet that you lay on after.

10. Have a big bowl for your placenta after (I liked looking at it and put it in the freezer to do something with after. I ended up buying each of my girls a tree for our yard. In the spring, I put the placenta at the bottom of each different tree hole and said: “that’s your tree!” (some moms do placenta encapsulation - that’s not my cup of tea, but for some moms, it’s excellent).

11. Hire a doula (extra points if they can snap a few photos of your birth on their phones). I know a doula costs between $1,000 - $2,000, but it is sooo worth it! Choose a doula that you are ok with them seeing you naked and barfing (maybe at the same time).

12. Buy a 10-pack of adult diapers (the meshie underwear is excellent too!) See what the home birth kit has in it that your midwives may supply you with. Mine had the pee pad + meshie underwear. 

ASK ALL THE QUESTIONS TO YOUR MIDWIVES.
(Knowledge is power)

Examples include:

1. What type of equipment do you have available with you (my two midwives hauled in tons of equipment - the same as what a level 1 hospital has available). Ask them about this equipment and what it’s for.

2. Ask how long a hospital transfer would take

3. Ask them if they work closely with your local hospital

4. Ask them if your baby ends up being breech; can they deliver a breech baby

5. Ask them what fetal monitoring equipment they use

6. Ask, ask, ask ANY & ALL QUESTIONS that are on your brain - it’s extremely important. 

IMPORTANT TO NOTE:

My midwives would never have let me deliver at home if I didn’t check all the health and safety requirement boxes. I also knew how long it would take to transfer to the hospital and had a hospital bag packed.

Also, have your “Birth Plan” written out on ONE SHEET of paper in case you transition to the hospital and your birth partner or doula is advocating for you on what is important.

When you are in labor, your brain can’t think straight. It’s in laborland, so have everything ready so birth can flow from home to hospital with your wishes.

AFTER YOUR BIRTH, MOMENTS WILL COME BACK TO YOU IN PIECES. HERE ARE MY DISTINCT MEMORIES FROM MY HOME BIRTHS:

1st homebirth:

I remember when the 2nd midwife arrived, it just started to snow, and I remember the outside world covered in bright snow lit by the full moon - it was pretty spectacular (and I had a warm fire on the inside - a gas fireplace) with great music playing—such a cozy space to be born into. 

When my daughter's head was born, I was leaning back and squatting in a birthing pool. I remember looking down and seeing a full head of black hair swishing back & forth in the water - she looked like a mermaid.

I remember drinking coconut water from a straw, but I didn’t want to eat with my first home birth at all (except cold watermelon pieces). 

I remember the kind words of my midwives, husband, and doula as I pushed (pushing felt quick, but it was almost 3 hours!) I needed their encouragement.

My positive birth affirmation: “I trust my baby. I trust my body.”

2nd homebirth:

I ordered pizza delivery with my second home birth and ate FOUR PIECES of pizza. It was glorious.

I watched the extended edition of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King while sitting on my birthing ball and did hip circles for hours.

I went for a night walk with my husband, it was cold (January), and the moon was out. I remember leaning on a tree in our front yard and thinking: “I am grounded like this tree; nature gives me strength!”

My water broke sitting on the toilet, and I hopped into the birthing pool right after. Twelve minutes later, my second daughter was born. The midwives were incredible, and so was my doula.

My positive birth affirmation for my 2nd daughter: “Every contraction brings my baby closer to me.”

Every birth experience is so different. Every baby has a story. If homebirth is what your heart desires, research and ask all the questions so you and your baby are safe & supported. 

Leave no questions unasked.

Xo Hannah

PS. My signature 6-week series is PERFECT for an unmedicated birth experience (whether at home or the hospital). For more details, visit BirthPrep Yoga™ On Demand.