Opps, he was born at home!
February 26, 2011
A reoccurring concern among my prenatal yoga students is having enough time to make it to the hospital for the birth. In the past decade of my teaching I have had a half a dozen students who had their babies at home, unplanned. The most recent a mama who attended my prenatal classes weekly and heard the mantra, “your body knows how to birth” was among one of those women. She sent me an email 3 weeks ago to tell me that she gave birth at home. She said, “when I realized that the contractions were regular in their coming, I remained surprisingly calm.”
Hi Cynthea. He’s here. In short, he arrived at home unexpectedly after a relatively short though intense labor. My husband, doula and I were all surprised at how quickly things progressed and at the fact that his head was crowning when we thought it may just be time to leave for Kaiser.
A former yoga mama wrote this about her unplanned home birth. Hi My name is Melanie and I birthed Sage in an unplanned home birth. I knew before I gave birth that I wanted to have a unmedicated birth because I knew my body was designed perfectly to birth a baby. During the labor,and without fear devouring my attention I was able to focus on allowing myself to accept the feelings in my body and mind. I felt my body opening for the baby to be pushed out and I thought “this is right, this is good” and my body was able to continue its job. It was also import and to me that Sage came into the world the healthiest and safest way possible. Sage was instantly alert and receptive to bonding and breast-feeding. After the birth I felt proud of myself. I felt confident and ready to hold Sage and was excited to give him good love and mothering.
I offer this as reassurance. Babies for centuries were born at home, next to warm fires, in bed, and in the fields. They have also been birthed on boats, on buses and in cars. I was told the story by a former yoga student of her friend. She and her husband were driving across the Bay Bridge, and the daddy’s worst fear, “what if you have the baby on the bridge’….well the mama did have the baby on the bridge and everything worked out fine. As an R.N. I admitted babies who were born when their mamas were strung-out on crack, and birthed them at home. These babies illuminated the powerful life force that flows through All of us….
I offer this writing as a way to assuage fears about the statement, ”I’m afraid I won’t have enough time to make it to the hospital.”
Einstein says: ”Imagination is more important than education.” Goethe says, “If you can imagine it, dream it, you can make it so.” If you could create the perfect ‘birth place’ for your baby. What would you create? What would it look like, who would be there, what sounds and aromas would surround you? I leave these questions for you.
