you plan on having your baby WHERE?

I'm not too shy about telling people that we're planning a home birth for this baby. I get a wide range of reactions, but for the most part people are pretty polite about it, even though it's quite obvious that they would never ever consider that approach for themselves. That's great, I don't expect everyone to agree with my point of view-- but rude people do bug me. So for those of you who think we're crazy but have still been respectful of our decision-- THANK YOU. That said, I figure it's time for me to share a little bit of the rationale behind our choice.


I've always been fascinated by pregnancy and birth and was blessed with a mother who had a firmly held belief that our bodies are beautifully designed to grow and give birth to healthy babies and that less interference in the process is generally for the best. Years of research and experience have only strengthened that belief for me.


You may be surprised to find that NO well-designed study has ever found that home births for low-risk women, attended by trained and competent caregivers is more dangerous than a hospital birth. Not a one. Yes, there are women who most certainly should not give birth at home: women with clinical (not gestational) diabetes, or heart disease, or with certain STDs, to name a few. But the majority of American women fall into the low-risk category. Equally as important as being low risk is being sure that the birth will be attended by an experienced and competent caregiver-- someone who is well trained in recognizing and resolving potential complications, as well as knowing at what point a hospital transfer needs to be made, if necessary.

In all honesty, I should note that there was a study a few years ago that on the surface seemed to show that home birth was more risky than hospital birth. A closer look, however, showed that their sample of home births included unplanned home births, unattended home births and even women who had miscarriages at home-- hardly a representative sample. When reading up on any scientific study, it's always important to take a look at the methodology. Who knew that I'd be glad I took statistics in college?!


One of the best studies out there examining the safety of home birth was published in the British Medical Journal. (find the article here) It looked at the birth outcomes of all 5418 U.S. women planning home births with certified professional midwives in 2000 and concluded that (quoting from the article):

Planned home birth for low risk women in North America using certified professional midwives was associated with lower rates of medical intervention
but similar intrapartum and neonatal mortality to that of low risk hospital
births in the United States.

Translation: My baby and I are at no greater risk of dying from our home birth than we would be from a hospital birth. Maternal and infant mortality rates are not the only measure of safety during birth, so if you're not convinced, note that only 1.3% of the home birth babies in this study had Apgar scores of less than 7 at 5 minutes postpartum-- meaning that the majority of home birthed babies not only survive their births, but do very well.


"Well, what about complications?", you might ask. Funny thing is, that complications seem to happen less frequently during home births than they do in the hospital-- I believe as a result of the overuse of medical interventions in our hospitals today. But yes, complications do still occur at home. Fortunately, most are not life-threatening and can be resolved with simple measures like patience, rest, position changes, and adequate hydration. I'm fully confident in my midwife's ability to take care of the things she can and recognize the situations that need urgent hospital attention. My midwife is current in her Neonatal Resuscitation Certification, though she rarely has to use it. (she's also a Certified Professional Midwife and licensed through our state)

I chose a home birth this time because it's important to me to give birth in an environment and with a caregiver that trusts my body's ability to give birth. I love the continuity of care that I get from my midwife. I've seen her at every prenatal appointment (all of which are scheduled for an hour so I've had plenty of time to get to know her) and know that she'll be the one to attend my birth, start to finish. I don't have to worry about which care provider in a practice is on call when I go into labor, or having to deal with nurses' shift changes and the like. I want to be able to move when and where and how I feel like and I love that my midwife will monitor the baby's heart rate wherever I am and not make me periodically move back to a bed to be strapped up to a fetal monitor (which, by the way, has not been shown to improve outcomes for babies), or even stay there for the duration of my labor. I chose home birth because I feel safe here.

My goal with this post was not to convince all the moms I know that they should have their babies at home too, but rather to help those that care about us realize that we take my safety and that of our baby very seriously and that we're not making a rash or irresponsible decision. We are thrilled with our choice to have a home birth and my hope is that you can be excited for us too. I'm happy to answer any questions and I won't be mad at you if you don't agree with me.

If you're intrigued and interested in doing a little more reading, here are some great places to get started:

Evidence-Based Maternity Care. Would you be surprised to find that the most common maternity care practices (either the practice itself or it's overuse) in America are not based on sound scientific evidence? That the United States spends more per capita on maternal care than any other nation, and yet has some of the poorest maternal and neonatal outcomes in the developed world? This is a really interesting and well-written paper that examines evidence-based maternity care in the U.S., why most women don't recieve it, and some of the consequences.

The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth, by Henci Goer. This book is chock-full of the scientific research available on birth and it's accompanying procedures. Lots of solid information to help moms (and dads) make the best decisions for their unique situations.

Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, by Ina May Gaskin. I wish every pregnant woman could read this book. The first half is full of inspiring birth stories and the second is full of wonderful information and plenty of birth wisdom. Yes, Ina May is a self-taught "hippie" midwife, but one look at her statistics would tell anyone that this lady shouldn't be written off. She's really amazing. In fact, she's the only midwife in history to have an obstetrical maneuver named after her. (in case you're wondering, it's the Gaskin maneuver and it involves getting the mother onto her hands and knees to aid the passage of a baby with shoulder dystocia-- stuck shoulders)

the final countdown

It's official: today I hit 37 weeks and our baby is considered full-term and welcome to come at any time, although experience tells me thisun'll likely come later than sooner. We've got all our birth supplies together, the baby's room decorated, and a couple of very excited big brothers. Every day Daniel gives the baby a little pep talk and Lincoln gives the belly a big hug.

The boys love our visits with "Midwife Richelle". She always gives them a chance to listen to the baby's heartbeat, or even their own heartbeats if they feel so inclined. I love my midwife too, for oh-so-many reasons, but the biggest right now is the fact that starting at 37 weeks she ends our checkups with a massage. I joked at our visit today that I hope I go a couple of weeks overdue and have a long labor if that means I get more massages. (yeah, it was that good) Nice to have something to look forward to every week, eh?

Anyone in the mood for a little wager? Because it's time to make your official guesses as to when this kid shows up and how much it'll weigh. Sorry, no prizes for the closest answer, just the satisfaction of being right.

I'm guessing March 20th and nine lbs. even.

oh La!

I discovered the wonder that is Pandora Radio a few weeks ago and figured I'd pass the joy along. Basically, Pandora magically creates stations for you based on your favorite songs and/or artists. Some of the selections are predictable-- like the fact that John Mayer and Jack Johnson both show up on each other's stations.



But some aren't so predictable, and that's where the magic begins. I set up an Edith Piaf station expecting some vintage, or at least European music, but it turns out that half of the artists that show up there sing good ol' fashioned Soul (a combination I never would have made on my own, but it makes complete sense). Which is how I was introduced to Ms. Etta James-- my new very favorite singer. You may have heard her version of "At Last". If not, go search for this on Playlist. Right now. I'm pretty sure it's one of the best songs EVER.



Anyhow, I'm totally digging Pandora for it's freshness and variety. I liked Playlist for being able to find specific songs, but got sick of listening to the same thing over and over. Solution found. Your ears will thank you.

my old school man

Joe turned 30 last Sunday, and it was a great day. First off, many of his super early morning meetings were coincidentally cancelled, so he didn't have to get up at his normal crazy hour. After church, we headed up to Brigham City for a fabulous birthday bash-- planned by the birthday boy himself. His requests were simple: a meal made up of his favorite foods (cocktail shrimp, pulled pork, garlic mashed potatoes, fruit salad, fresh rolls and honey butter, raspberry lemonade and banana cake) and an original poem from everyone in attendance. Those Hadfields happen to be a bunch of great poets. I was amazed at the sweetness and love that I read in their words. Sort of put my poem to shame.

"Roses are red, violets are blue.
Your dad's an old man, and now you are too."

Happy Valentine's Day!!

bad mommy...

My sister Kaley kindly pointed out that I did a birthday post for Lincoln and not for Daniel. (he turned three on January 19th)

"Oh, MAN!!"

Fortunately, Daniel is not a regular reader of this blog, and hasn't been offended by this terrible oversight.

I should add that we didn't forget to celebrate Daniel's 3rd birthday. It was tons-o-fun. He wanted to go swimming, so we headed on over to the Springville Pool and had a grand old time. AND they had life jackets, so he thought he was swimming all by himself. Last year, he kept getting mad at us when we wouldn't let go of him in the deep water...

Daniel is a delightful member of our family-- a huge kid with a heart of gold. He's quite the entertainer and loves to say/do things to make us laugh. Alas, most of his comedic genius is in the delivery, so a lot of the stuff we find fall-on-the-floor-funny just doesn't translate well to the blog. I guess you'll just have to visit him in person and see for yourself, eh?

We were pretty freaked out when we discovered he was going to join our family so soon after Lincoln (they're exactly 53 weeks apart), and I'm sure that many of you were freaked out on our behalf. Sure, we've had our rough patches here and there, but those are bound to happen no matter how far apart your children are spaced. Today, our boys are best friends and spend most of their time playing well together with little or no interference from Joe and I. That's an enormous blessing for this very pregnant mama and I know it'll pay off big time when the new baby comes.

Moral of the story: Sometimes our scariest surprises turn out to be our biggest blessings.

Joe, Lincoln, and three day old Daniel.

Daniel at about 5 months (ignore the time stamp on the photo-- my mom never quite figured that feature out on her camera). Can you BELIEVE what a chunk this kid was?

And Daniel today. We love you Danny Boy!

fun-in-a-box

Ok, not really in a box, but we've been reading a lot of Cat in the Hat lately, and Daniel loves to say, "fun-in-a-box" (as well as, "up, up, up with a fish").

We have found some "fun-from-the-printer" though. The Toymaker is a delightful website with a wonderful assortment of free, printable toys. We chose the color your own race car and it bought me about an hour of peace and calm. They loved it so much they were begging for more. I figured that a new paper toy once a week would be cost effective (I'm trying to stretch our cardstock supply) and keep the novelty factor going. So, the boys decided that Friday would be our paper toy day. Hmmm, what to print next...

tough lessons

Lincoln accidentally scratched our new neighbors' car. What a great first impression, eh? He felt pretty bad, and it took him a while to get up the courage to apologize, but he did it. This is what he came up with:

fluff stash

I've finally got our cloth diaper stash all put together and ready to go for this baby and couldn't resist showing off a picture. Have no idea what you're looking at? Here's a bit of an explanation:

Top left corner, pile of flat rectangles. These are newborn prefolds (24 total), which make up the majority of our stash. They're the likely the same type of diapers your mom used on you. Not much has changed there in 30 years. Prefolds are easy to wash and cheap, which is important for that newborn stage when babies grow in the blink of an eye (and poop a zillion times a day!). Ours are from Green Mountain Diapers. Those colorful T-shaped thingies on top of the prefolds are Snappis-- awesome little diaper fasteners used in place of pins. We plan on using prefolds at home during the day.

Top right corner, cute fabrics. These are wetbags. Pretty simple concept: a zippered, water-proof bag used to bring home wet/soiled diapers after diaper changes on-the-go. You throw them in the wash right along with your diapers and they come out as good as new. They also make great carriers for wet swim suits. (by the way, the zipper does work to keep smells in-- I've never had a problem with a stinky diaper bag)

Middle row, far left. These are water-proof diaper covers. Made out of vinyl-coated fabric and meant to be worn over prefolds or fitted diapers.

Middle, middle (orange and green diapers). These are Bumgenius one-sized pocket diapers, meaning that the waterproof layer is included as part of the diaper and there's a pocket where you stuff microfiber inserts to provide the absorbancy-- you can add more if you've got a super heavy wetter. My favorite part of these is that they're adjustable, so they'll fit newborns through toddlers. In fact, Daniel just barely outgrew these as his night time diaper and he weighs 39 lbs.! We've got 6 right now, and I'd like to add another 6 as we go along. We plan on using these for when we go out, babysitters, and night time.

Middle, far right. Baby washcloths we use as wipes. We used disposable wipes for a while and realized that if we're washing diapers, we might as well wash our wipes too-- beats trying to pick a disposable wipe out of a nasty diaper mess. You can make or buy special solutions to use with your wipes, but we found that plain water works just fine. I keep a tiny squirt bottle in our diaper bag in case we need it for a change-on-the-go.

Just below the wipes. Roll of Bummis disposable diaper liners. Some parents use these at every diaper change, as an easy way of managing poop. I prefer to use a diaper sprayer. I bought these suckers to protect our diapers from meconium stains in the first few days, and to protect our diapers if we ever need to use rash cream (which can damage cloth diapers).

Bottom row. Our woolens. Surprisingly, wool makes a fabulous diaper cover. It is somehow absorbant and water-resistant at the same time, antibacterial, and breathable-- which means fewer leaks and rashes. My favorite thing about wool is that it only needs to be washed every couple of weeks or so-- just when it starts to smell, and then obviously spot cleaned when it gets poop leaked on it. You'd think it would be too hot for summer use, but since it's breathable, it's actually cooler than the vinyl-coated alternatives. I knitted up a pair of leggings, a couple of covers and a kick sack, and am in the process of making a couple of kick sacks from a really really soft old sweater (the orange cabled ones).

I know lots of people who have really strong opinions in favor of and against cloth diapers. I certianly don't think they're for everyone, but I do think that lots of parents would be surprised to find out how easy and (gasp!) enjoyable they are to use. We use them to save money-- they're a costly initial investment, but much, much less expensive in the long run, and you can even turn around and sell them when you're through with them! I also feel much better about keeping a few tons of disposable diapers out of the landfill.

If you've ever wanted to try cloth diapers, but don't want to shell out a lot of cash because you're not sure whether or not you'll like it, Jillians's Drawers has a cloth diaper trial program you might be interested in. You pay a deposit, get an assortment of diapers and try them out for 3 weeks. After the trial period is over, you keep what you like and can return what you don't. If you return all the diapers, you'll get everything but $10 back. If you keep all of the diapers, you get a $10 refund! Not bad, eh? And if you're interested in a little online research, www.diaperswappers.com and www.diaperpin.com are two of my favorite sites.

***If you hate even the idea of cloth diapers, I'm cool with that. I know they're not for everyone, and I'm not out to send anyone on a guilt trip.***