Would I? Not voluntarily. There are too many things that could go wrong, and my husband, as smart, caring and wonderful as he is, isn’t medically trained. I’ll stick with my birth center and midwives… and top-of-the-line hospital across the street with a neonatologist and surgeons in case anything goes wrong. Midwives have been around as long as people have been giving birth, so it’s not just me. :) To each his or her own, though, and I’m very glad she didn’t have any complications.

To each his or her own, but it’s a ridiculously stupid choice. I am happy her baby is fine, and there were no complications, but her baby could have had all sorts of problems. What if the chord was wrapped around its neck, or what if the baby flipped last minute and was breech, or what if the baby needed immediate care and monitoring, or what if its heart rate plummeted in the birthing process. There are so many risks, and it seems stupid and irresponsible to risk the safety of your child and yourself merely to I don’t know, brag about your unique experience on your blog or aggrandize your birthing experience, as if giving birth isn’t spectacular enough.

From my own experience, having two siblings who needed immediate medical attention/surgeries post-birth, it seems a risky decision. Especially, since their underdeveloped organs, were not detected while in utero.

Like the other commenters said, it wouldn’t be a choice I would have made. I’ve had a natural birth in a hospital and I can assure you that no one would do that…or have their baby without a medical professional for bragging rights on their blog. Many women just do better in a non hospital environment and without a bunch of people around.

I have followed CJane for a while, and while I don’t always agree with everything she says, I love that she lives with conviction, making intentional choices about everything she does.

I love the idea of giving birth at home, but my husband (who has delivered his fair share of babies, and would be perfectly qualified to pull a “Chup”), has seen too many births-gone-wrong to be on board with that decision. Part of me wishes we were more “innocent” in the reality of birthing, and could see the beauty of it instead of the risks…because that was perhaps the most beautiful story of birth that I have ever read. I’m sure they went in with eyes open, ready with all the knowledge they could feasibly gather and process without a full-blown medical degree…acknowledging that at times events go wrong.

To each his own, not for me ever ever ever but I think what they did was amazing. Courtney wrote that she and her husband studied and prepared for this, they didn’t fly blind or just based off their previous childbirth experiences, all the more reason to be impressed, they wanted this very much and worked for it. So cool.

Stephanie Nielson has written about her previous births as well, at least one at home, but I would hope she wouldn’t feel pressure to do so again if her body has changed from her accident to the point of it being more difficult – chick’s proved her awesomeness enough just by living well and looking good. I love reading birth stories, every birth is a miracle and a struggle and an exercise in motherly power, no matter how you go about it there’s a baby at the end and everyone in awe of you!

No way. I had a natural birth in the hospital and I was scared shitless the entire time. I must have screamed “I can’t do this!” like eighty million times. I REALLY needed the support of my husband, mom, midwife, and nurses and doctor to get through it. I needed people to cheer me on, to cheer for my baby, to hold my hand, and tell me it was all okay. I could not have done it by myself.

That said, I love reading birth stories, and this one is very sweet, and I’m glad the author had the birth experience she wanted.

my first pregnancy i had mono/di twins (my girls shraed a placenta, but had their own amniotic sacs) & i had a drug free vaginal birth with both of them. a couple of other things about my girls they were both head down, my baby B was about 1.5 lbs heavier than my baby A & they came 6 weeks early.almost predictably, my OB, quite early on, started recommending an elective c-birth (she gave me a long list of things that *might* go wrong in labour but there were no imminent medical indications for c-birth). i remember one appointment in particular where i finally told her that i was not going to have a c-birth unless something changed & i didn’t want to talk about it anymore. she immediately shifted gears & started insisting that i have an epidural.at my last appointment (the day before the girls’ birth), i agreed to the epi. i was just so tired of arguing about everything! that evening i was having mild contractions about every 5 minutes or so. i didn’t really think i was in labour, but my doctor had wanted me to go into the hospital if i was having contractions closer than 10 minutes apart, so in we went. i stayed in triage all night at 4cm with those obnoxious monitors on my belly. i was so uncomfortable.the next morning they discussed possibly sending me home, but then decided to have me stay as i was still have regular contractions. the triage nurse asked if i wanted to have a shower which i did desperately (anything to get off of those monitors!). as soon as i got back from my shower, baby A’s water broke. they hooked me back up to the monitors but after that my contractions became very intense & i just could not stand the monitors anymore, so i told the nurse i had to go to the bathroom so i could get off of them. when i came back from the bathroom, i forgot to tell the nurse, so she wouldn’t put me back on. the contractions were coming hard & strong at that point & i remember thinking boy, i’m glad i agreed to get an epidural .at that point, my husband called our doula to have her come join us at the hospital. he said he watched as the nurse came around the corner, took one look at me while i was having a contraction & her jaw hit the floor. there was an intense flurry of activity (i had no idea i was fully & already starting to grunt/push at the peak of my contractions), as they ran me down the hall to an L&D room. my doula came in as i was settling in to pushing. i remember the resident asking when i was going to get my epidural & the OB on call telling her i wasn’t, i was pushing. that made me so happy.about an hour and a half after baby A’s water broke, she was born. they immediately broke baby B’s water & she was born (with the assistance of a kiwi vacuum) 8 minutes later. i have no memory of it, but my doula assures me i was given a shot of oxytocin as baby B was being born to help manage the birth of the placenta. both girls were beautiful and, for the most part, completely healthy they spent 2 weeks in the NICU feeding & growing & have kept me on my toes ever since.i’ve learned a lot about birth since then (i now work as a birth doula myself & am training as a postpartum doula) & realize i would have done a lot of things differently if i knew then what i know now. the biggest one would have been finding a care provider who’s birth philosophy at least remotely coincided with mine. i think many of the other things that were frustrating to me during my pregnancy & birth could have been avoided with that one change. it’s so important to have a care provider you trust & connect with. that’s top of my list for any future pregnancies, although, hopefully from now on, it’ll be one at a time!