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I chose a home/waterbirth for my breech twins 2.5 years ago. I researched and researched and talked to many Dr's, OB/GYN's, and midwives. I did not like what I was told by the Dr's and OB/GYN's. I also didn't like the fact that I had 5 minutes to ask the miriad of questions that I had for my first pregnancy when I was seeing the Dr's and OB/GYN's. Where as I had a free meet and greet appointment and all further appointments were an hour long, constant 24/7 access to my midwives.

What ultimtely decided the fate between a homebirth and a hospital birth was when a perinatologist told me I would labor in an Operating Room, have to have an epidural, and would be placed in a bed not allowed to walk and move as needed. To be told that I couldn't be in a suite within the L&D wing really was a blow to me. It was a statement that my labor was no longer something natural but something to be feared.

I am glad that I followed what my research showed as it very likely saved my daughters life. She was born as a footling posterior breech. If I had been in the hospital for her birth I would have had a c-birth she would have been brain damaged or dead due to how she would have been held during the extraction. She was born with a ping pong dent in her head on the vein that takes the oxygen into the brain. Due to the location of the dent if there was any pressure on it she would have been brain damaged or dead.

The choice of where and how you deliver your child is one worthy of thinking and reasearching. Homebirth is not for everyone. I had to do a lot of soul searching especially when realizing that I could lose one of my twins if the worst happened.

I honestly wish the US would adopt a program similar to what the Netherlands has.  Every pregnant woman has access to a midwife and only sees an OB/GYN if there is a risk factor that requires special handling and care. I wish a woman wouldn't be told or have to endure what I was told could happen if I birthed in a hospital. I do not believe that twins, breeches, and vbac's are not automatic reasons to shove a woman into an Operating Room as soon as she walks in.

posted 1 year, 10 months ago
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