Waterbirth/Homebirth

• Our role during labor and birth are to monitor the well-being of mother and baby.
• We do thisby monitoring your vitals, listening to baby and keeping you fed and hydrated.
• We are there to give information, answer questions, suggest different positions, fill the birth tub, rub backs and shoulders, offer food and water, remind you to pee, listen to baby’s heartbeat, take walks with you, hold you while you squat, put a cool cloth on your forehead,and offer kind supportive words.
• We also read and knit inconspicuously in the corner as you and your baby navigate the throes of labor.
• We carry herbal, homeopathic, and allopathic medicines along with emergency equipment (including anti-hemorrhagic drugs, oxygen, suturing materials, and IVs).
• After you, your partner, or we catch your baby, he/she is placed on your chest and we can check the sweet babe out while he/she is in your arms.
• You and your family have time to bond and snuggle together while the midwife team discreetly checks on mama and baby, brings/prepares a meal, cleans up and starts a load of laundry.
• We then do a complete head-to-toe newborn exam which also includes weight and length. We help you get started with breastfeeding and then tuck the new family into bed.

• Your own space, environment, things, germs.
• Less intervention.
• Freedom to move around and choose positions that come naturally.
• No routine IVs or external fetal monitors to be strapped to.
• Freedom to eat and drink to maintain energy for the hard work of labor.
• Choice of who is with you—your family, friends, caregivers.
• Continuity of care—you know who will be at your birth. There are no shift-changes.
• Labor is allowed to progress at its own unique pace.
• Choice of water birth.
• Baby is not separated from mama.
• Cord is not clamped until after the birth of the placenta.
• Family togetherness-siblings can be present.
• Safety from interventions and separation of mama and baby.
• Breastfeeding is supported.
• Postpartum visits for mama and baby are done in your home for the first two weeks.

Right at Home Midwifery can provide water birth as a wonderful option for many families. We have found laboring in the warm water to be a valuable tool for pain relief. A water birth tub can be loaned to you free of charge, and is available for laboring giving birth , or both.

• Water allows the mother freedom of movement and the ability to change positions easily.
• You are 10 % your bodyweight in water allowing relaxation of muscles.
• Hot water is a natural form of pain relief and reduces the need for drugs and interventions.
• Water lowers blood pressure.
• Water often speeds up labor.
• Water gives the mother a private safe space.
• Water reduces perineal trauma and tears and eliminates episiotomies.
• Water birth encourages an easier birth for mothers and a calming welcome for the baby.