My Planned Home Birth FAQs

I have one friend who has given birth at home. When she first did that, I thought she was crazy!! Now that I'm planning a home birth, I have been doing a lot of research about birthing at home. When I mention it to my friends, family or strangers, I often get a lot of funny looks and questions.

Here are a few of them:

1. Are you going to give birth in your bed?
I will give birth wherever is comfortable, but I haven't ruled out giving birth in or next to the bed.
2. Are you going to labor or birth in your tub?
Again, I'm not sure where I'll end up giving birth, but I do plan to use the bathtub at some point. We have a large claw-foot tub in the middle of our bathroom, so it should work out well.
3. Who is going to clean up?
My midwife and her assistant stay around for a few hours afterward to clean up, keep an eye on the baby and me and take care of any final things they need to do.
4. How did you pick your midwife?
I did a ton of research, but starting at 12 weeks pregnant looking for a midwife, I kind of wanted to get it done. I e-mailed a few CPMs, but we decided to go with a CNM because of the nursing background. I interviewed a birthing center in the area, but we thought that felt more like just going to some hotel to deliver--plus they kick you and the baby out a few hours after birth. So we met with the midwife we chose and really liked her. She had a lot of helpful insights and treated us well.
5. Are you going to have any pain medication?
No, I will be using relaxation methods, water, etc. to help deal with my pain. Plus I plan to focus on Scripture and pray a lot!! Doing a home birth pretty much ensures that you're going to go natural.
6. What happens if there is an emergency?
My midwife brings along a lot of supplies in case there is a minor problem. If there is something major, we can transport to one of the local (close) hospitals. We can either go in the car or call an ambulance if needed. We do not anticipate a problem, but if one arises, we will be prepared and follow the advice of our midwife.
7. When will your midwife come over?
She will be here while I am in active labor. She will come over when we call and tell her that my contractions are 5 minutes apart and lasting about 60 seconds for an hour. When I am "working with" them, breathing through them and focusing.
8. Will she have an assistant?
She will have a birthing assistant with her. Plus my mom and husband will be there!
9. Does she bring everything you need?
She gave me a list of supplies I need at home like towels, diapers, a birthing kit that I ordered online, a heating pad, thermometer, etc. She brings the other necessary supplies including oxygen, IVs and other supplies that she will need (whatever those might be)! Pretty much anything that is available at the birthing center she will bring with her. These are also items that are available at the hospital.
10. What made you decide to do this?
My other blog post here explains pretty well.
11. Were your other babies born naturally?
My other two were born in a hospital with epidurals. This will be my first unmedicated birth!
12. What is going to happen with your 2 other children while you give birth?
Someone will take care of them if it is during the day. If it is night, they will be sleeping. They will not be participating in the birth!
13. Are you crazy?
Nope. I just want to protect my baby and myself as much as possible now that I have read a lot more about birth and what I want it to be like that I don't think I can achieve in a hospital setting.

What other questions do YOU have?

Other Finished Projects

I have been trying to finish up a few projects recently before our baby arrives. Here are a few of them: Our son's Name Blessing cross stitch
Time Out Spots for the boys using my embroidery machine.

Planning D's 3rd Construction Birthday Party

Preschool Activities

Here are some activities we have taken from other sources that I've done with the boys to give them a little structure and learning throughout the day. (I don't have the sites that I used, so I'm sorry for not giving them credit.)


We made an I-spy jar out of an old peanut butter jar, rice and some little items we found around the house.

We painted an egg carton to look like a caterpillar. Well, that was the idea. They scribbled on it about 10 times and then tore them to shreds.


We painted on a paper. #2 hated his smock!

This little sick guy did a good job of putting magnets on a paper over the letters of names.

(See, we really do wear clothes!) He used his Little Speller to write words.

#2 laced up some pictures.

#1 moved marbles from a bowl to a cup using a spoon.

He practiced cutting up old magazines and really liked doing this!

He strung beads on a pipe cleaner to make "snakes."

We made homemade play dough and cut shapes out of it. It has lasted a long time!!

We made a gel pouch with a Ziploc, hair gel, glitter and food coloring. It was fun until the bag popped.

We washed our toy cars with scrub brushes and a little tub of water and bubbles. This was fun!

This was not a favorite activity in the end. Mom cut out letters from a magazine and then wrote the letters on a paper. #1 then glued the correct letter from the magazine on the paper. This was a struggle after about 3 minutes, but we finished it!

We wrote on our dry erase board with markers. He even made a D!

We played Sequence for Kids.

We taped his name on a finger paint paper and then painted over it. Then we realized we really should have used painters tape instead of duct tape when we went to peel it off and half of the paper came up with it!

We used our Bingo and Do-A-Dot stampers to color in some pictures that we printed off the Internet.

Bible Lesson Plans Week 1

This week I decided to take some of the stuff I've been learning at my Bible study and make little lesson plans for my little guys (21 months and 3 years old). It didn't take that long to plan and I'm sad I didn't start them earlier! Better late than never. Here is what we did this week:

On Monday, we talked about God is Good. This was before I came up with a lesson plan. So the boys used their stampers and stickers to decorate a paper that said, "God is Good" with a smiley face.
Then I found a lesson plan template for the next lesson. On Wednesday, we talked about "God Made Everything" from Genesis 1:1. We watched a DVD that went along with our Bible that talked about creation and had little song called "God Made Everything." Then we talked about how God made colors and read a book called God Must Really Love Colors. That evening, we went on a walk and took a paper sack to collect things that God made. They had so much fun doing this--sticks, rocks, flowers, leaves, etc. When we got home, my husband drew (I have no artistic abilities) an acorn on the paper (because I had seen it elsewhere, but any shape would work or no shape at all) and the boys glued their items to the paper. At the top I wrote "God Made Everything Gen. 1:1." It is now hanging on #1's door. It was a fun activity and they seemed to really love it!


I had three lessons planned for this week, but we didn't get to the third. Guess it will carry over to next week!

Here is the lesson plan that I used (designed for toddlers):

Story/Verse, Song/Rhyme/DVD, Learning Activity, Craft, P.E., Special Activity

We didn't do all of the activities with each lesson, but that will be the future goal in a relaxed setting. If you're interested in specifics about any of the books, DVDs, etc., please leave me a comment and I'll get back to you. We did use the Read 'n' See DVD Bible.

Finished Projects

This is my 100th post! It has been a little while since I've posted anything on this blog, but I've been working...on a lot of things! 39 weeks pregnant this week, I finished up a few projects that needed to be done.

I was able to make a nursing cover for my sister-in-law who is due at the start of November and one for myself. I make them bigger than most--27"x37"! I also like to make them reversible.
I also was able to finish the quilt I made for my nephew and I like it a lot. I will give it to him when he is born!
Linked up to Finish It Up Friday.