As the host of a birth stories podcast, I have many mothers come on the show to share their birth stories of all types but some of my favorites (and I may be biased having had two of them myself) are homebirth stories. Of the 25 homebirth stories I've recorded so far, here are some of my favorite images and the stories to go along with them!
via Coeur de La Photography
When giving birth at home, women have so many different places where they can labor, including the comfort of their own bedrooms. This mother was in labor for 19 hours at home and she needed to utilize a lot of different positions during that time. She enjoyed being completely alone at times to concentrate on getting through her contractions, something that is rarely possible at a hospital.
via Alison Eden Photography
This mother has been laboring at home with a support team of midwives and is now ready to push—although she is in a typical hospital birthing position of being on her back, she is able to wear whatever she wants and isn't hooked up to any monitors with cords inhibiting her. Prior to pushing, she was doing lunges around her home.
via Merari Photography
A mother who just had a surprise vaginal breech birth at home is able to pull her baby immediately to her chest and her husband is right there to welcome the baby as well. Although no one expected a breech baby, the midwives were fully competent to deliver her and no one even acted alarmed.
via Birth Song Midwifery
This family admires their new baby in the comfort of their own home after welcoming their daughter who had such a speedy birth that she was born before the midwives arrived. This mother felt so well prepared to handle delivering her own baby since she had already had two homebirths with her older children.
via Shannon Mae Photography
One really special aspect of homebirth is that siblings can be involved as much or as little as possible. Here, my daughter meets her baby brother just a few hours after he was born. He was born rather quickly in the middle of the night and she slept through the whole thing! If she had been awake though, I would have been happy to have her there in the room while he was born. There is so much value to children being exposed to what a normal birth looks like versus the sensationalized images we see in the media.
Photos via Bryn Huntpalmer
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Bryn Huntpalmer is a mother of two young children living in Austin, Texas, where she currently works as an Editor for Modernize. In addition to regularly contributing to Home Remodeling and Design websites around the web, she hosts a birth stories podcast called The Birth Hour.
