What happens with other kiddos during a home birth? What if family or friends aren’t available to watch them? Here I share my experience of a homebirth with more children around the house.
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What Happens During a Homebirth
First, let’s talk about what happens in a home birth and if it is possible to manage it with older siblings around. For the most part, a home birth will be very similar to a hospital or birth center birth. You will labor at home, for as long as possible, in a homebirth instead of heading somewhere your midwife will come to you. This means for the first part of it your other children will be around regardless of whether you choose a homebirth or not. If you are wondering if you should choose a homebirth I expound on the topic in this post Choosing A Homebirth
The next part depends on your comfort level and the age of your children. For very young children you can have a family member watch them while you are in active labor or you can choose to have them alongside you. It all comes down to preference. I do not like my children in the room with me while I give birth for reference I have 5 boys 9 and under.
I have opted for a water birth the last four times I have given birth so I am in a tub for most of active labor. The tub picture above is my favorite home birthing tub you can check it out here.
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How We Managed Our Homebirth
For our fifth baby, we decide on a homebirth with a midwife. I had also decided it would be best to have the boys stay at a friend’s house when I went into active labor. What I ended up with was an unassisted birth with my children in the house. This made me realize that sending the boys to someone else’s house was not ideal for our family. Everything worked out great and we made the most of it. My husband sent the boys to their room and put the toddler in his crib where he would be safe. He then came and helped while my midwife talked him through what to do to deliver the baby. Overall, it became a wonderful family bonding experience. We had about 10 minutes just as a family to welcome our new baby and it was very special.
Have activities planned
This time around I will plan activities for them like watching a movie while giving birth. I also have two older boys who will be almost 10 and 8 by the time our sixth is born. They can manage the toddlers for a few hours and other adults will be in the house.
How it went…
So I started this article before our baby came and let’s just say our sixth baby is now four months old and between remodeling and having a newborn I am just now finishing it. This was our second homebirth but our sixth baby. This meant my labor went fast again. While my midwife made it, I did not have time to set any activities up for the boys as I had planned. However, I went into labor first thing in the morning so they slept through most of it. By the time the baby was born my midwife and her wonderful assistant were there to help and usher the boys in once it was time to meet the baby.
My oldest sons were awake and waiting but the younger ones woke a little after the birth so everything worked out wonderfully. I guess what I am trying to say is that having a home birth even if this is not your first baby is doable!
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