I'm not sure if I've posted about wanting a home water birth. I've told most of my family members my intentions, and I've gotten the whole spectrum of reactions from my mom's "Go for it!" to my Uncle's "I will keep my opinion to myself unless it's asked for." I knew I would get reactions like that though. You may be one of the extreme reactions I received, or maybe you're somewhere in between. I have many reasons for wanting to labor and give birth at home. Most of them are reasons others have for doing the same thing; then there are the very personal reasons.
1. It's a better transition for the baby to go from a water environment in the womb to a water environment outside the womb.
2. The water helps to ease the pain of labor considerably.
3. Being in warm water helps the perineum to stretch and there's less chance of tearing during the birth.
4. I would like to give birth in a calm environment. I don't want doctors or nurses running around yelling for instruments, yelling at me to push/not push/count/how to push/etc., or telling me what I am or am not allowed to do while I wait for the birth of my child. I would like to give birth in a quiet room, with the lights dimmed, candles lit, relaxing music in the background, and the ability to eat or drink whatever and whenever I want.
5. I know that women have been giving birth naturally without the aid of drugs or medication for centuries. I know God made my body to know what to do when the time comes.
6. I want my husband to be able to bring our child into the world. Fathers are never allowed to catch their baby as it is born while in a hospital setting. My husband will be catching our first child (and hopefully subsequent children) as it is born. And I must say, he is SUPER excited to have such a big part in the birth!
7. Lastly, and most importantly, I wanted to give full control of this pregnancy and birth to the ultimate caregiver! It took me a long time in my personal life to give control of my happiness to God. I was convinced that I wouldn't be happy unless I had a job, a house, and a baby. As long as those were my thoughts, I remained unhappy and utterly depressed. I finally realized, after a couple years, that God would never bless me with what I wanted unless I would be happy with the life he had blessed me with at that moment. I had to learn to be content with my life, which was no easy task and took close to a year. When I had honestly reevaluated my life and was able to honestly be content with where I was in life, things started to change. My husband and I were able to buy a house less than 2 blocks from the church where my husband works. We felt so blessed! I was so happy with life. Then I started to think if only we had a baby. That's when we found out we were pregnant and had a miscarriage all in one week. It shook us to the core, especially me. I began to reevaluate my thoughts and life again and tried to get back on track. On a side note, my little sister has had problems conceiving as well and I knew that if I got pregnant first, it would affect her terribly. I was finally able to be content with my life again that I secretly prayed she would get pregnant first. I truly meant it too. Not long after, we found out we were expecting again. I decided that the only way I would be able to trust God with 100% of my life was to give 100% of the control with the pregnancy and birth over to him. I am trying to live out my faith by trusting him with my life as well as the life of my unborn child. And even though at times it's a little unnerving, I know that whatever happens will be God's Will. I feel relieved to know that he has control and not me or some doctor. Especially since he has also blessed me with a job! Shortly after we found out we were expecting, I was contacted by a woman who wanted to hire me as a full-time homeschool teacher for her three kids! Both my husband and I trusted that, if God were to bless us with a baby, he would also bless us with the means to provide for that baby. How's that for proof that there is a God and he will bless you if you put your full trust in him!
I know I will still be getting strange reactions to my decision to birth at home in the water, and I'm sure I will have some try to talk me out of it. However, I feel I have the ultimate answer to their concerns: I put my trust in God to handle every aspect of my pregnancy and birth. Who better could I find than the ultimate caregiver?
