Yesterday on my Tell Us About You diary the subject of home births came up and I thought it might be a good idea to continue the discussion in a separate diary.
I had two home births, one at age 37 and the last at age 39.  Having 3 previous births in the hospital I was absolutely determined to have these two at home.  I had tried to have a home birth for my third child and couldn’t locate a midwife, so I reluctantly went to the hospital.  That turned out to be my worst delivery ever, my husband was shut out of the delivery room by a Nurse Cratchett type, but I was told he did not want to be there.  He was told I did not want him there.  He was so angry and couldn’t understand why I shut him out, that he left the hospital and waited in the parking lot, not returning until long after I had given birth.
For my part, I felt very let down that he was not at the birth and then even more so that he was not there after.    You want to talk about being depressed.  When we finally got together and compared stories I was plenty mad at the hospital and the nurse and raised a stink.  But it was too late for us to have those beautiful memories, that we really wanted.  
We were even among the first groups to go to natural childbirth classes and were fully prepared to both participate.
Problem was the staff of the hospital had not caught up with the trend of the times (70’s) and just didn’t like men in the birthing room.  That is something I could never understand.  Hey we made the baby together, we should be together when it was born, to give just one of the many reasons.
So when I became pregnant with my fourth child, you can imagine there would be no way I would take a chance on my husband not being there and luckily I found a midwife who then delivered by 5th child as well.
I am sure that you all have your stories as well, so lets talk about this and us older folks can share the path we tread so that you younger ones could have things we did not, such as men in the delivery room.  The establishment was very much against such a thing, but women prevailed…..
So, what’s your story…
Also there are many issues to discuss around this subject, such as what is the status of home birthing in states.  I think it is harder now to have a home birth in California, anyone have info on that?

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