Home Birth For Dads

Early Labor Tips for Dads

2011-04-24T19:27:00Z

When the big day arrives and all signs point to early stages of labor, it might seem like there's not much for a dad to help with. Contractions are still fairly far apart and lack intensity. Mom may appear to be going about things as she would normally. As with any stage of labor, there's plenty you can do to help in this stage by providing service to a laboring mom. Be sure to be helpful and not annoying in your approach to helping with early labor, but in talking to several birth professionals, here are some of the top recommended early labor tips for dads.

]]> Walk with her. A number of studies and observations by birth professionals indicate walking reduces the length of labor and often reduces the physical pain that goes with later stages of labor. Walking alongside the mother of your child allows the two of you to share the birth day and keeps you on hand if any other needs arise.

Offer liquids frequently Staying hydrated throughout labor is important. Dads have the opportunity to be helpful here in refilling a glass or offering different beverage options.

Provide back rub and massage services Women vary greatly in their sensitivity during labor, so be sure to ask before initiating a back rub or massaging shoulders or legs, but in many cases massage is a great way to relax during early labor. Your hands can provide comfort and relaxation through the early stages of labor.

Encourage her to change positions When mom-to-be is finding it more comfortable to relax through the early stages of labor, encourage her to change her position, for sitting, to reclining, to kneeling, to standing, or from one side to the other, so that she's not remaining in one position for longer than 30 minutes. This change of position will help with labor progression.

What is a Doula?

2011-04-21T22:01:54Z

If you go looking for answers about what a doula is, you usually run across several variations that talk about a doula coming from ancient Greek meaning either slave or a woman who serves. Some places like to steer clear of the slave moniker, because over the obviously tainted connotations that go along with it, but the second definition doesn't quite go far enough in explaining the role of a doula either.

So what is a doula? In the context of home birth, a doula is someone, typically a woman, who is available to provide phyisical, intellectual, and emotional support to a mother during preganancy and child birth. There are also doulas who specialize in postpartum support for mothers, but that's a topic for another day.

While the midwife's role at birth is largely focused on making sure the baby arrives safely into the world, a doula is there to be a person the expectant mother can rely on for support in all capacities. Piror to birth, a doula is someone the mother can rely on as a resource to answer questions about how her body is feeling and can help you and the future mother of your child put together a birth plan.

During birth, the doula does everything from rubbing the birthing mom's back to helping reassure her that her laboring process is normal to providing support during particularly strong contractions. An experienced doula sees many births over the course of the year, allowing her to be more aware of what's normal in the birth process. If there's ever a time when complications arise, the doula is someone who can help advocate for your wishes in the event of a transfer to a hospital or other unforseen events.

While some of the emotional and physical support provided by a doula sounds like it might supplant your role as dad in the birth process, that's definitely not the case. With everyone's role fairly clearly definied going into the day of birth, it's a huge relief to know there are other people to depend on, because even though you as dad aren't doing any of the laboring to bring the baby into the world, the experience is emotionally overwhelming and at times physically exhausting. The birth day may arrive and find you more overwhelmed than you expected, which is totally normal. Having a doula there to assist eliminates many of the stresses you may be feeling as well as the stresses that may arise between you and mom.

We did not have a doula at my daughter's birth, but we did have plenty of support. My mother-in-law was on hand to provide assistance, and our midwife had two midwives in training. While any assistance a midwife brings with her is typically counted on to assist the midwife, in our case, there was definitely overlapping of duties where the midwives in training were fulfilling some of the role typically associated with a doula.

Will Insurance Cover Home Birth?

2010-09-07T22:03:08Z

As a future dad there were many times it felt like I wasn't contributing much to the pregnancy and birth process. One area I could easily help with was figuring out if our insurance plan covers home birth. This is a place where every prospective dad can be a hero. Talking to your health insurance company on the phone is never an exciting time, but having your wife talk to the insurance company, when there's a possibility she won't get the answer she wants, is a recipe for an unhappy house. Instead, I highly recommend taking charge of investigating the insurance options you have available and reporting your findings to the expectant mother of the house.

]]> Call Your Insurance Provider to Verify Coverage
The easiest way to find out whether your insurance will cover home birth is to call and ask. Most insurance plans will cover home birth, but you might have to jump through some hoops to get all the answers you need. If you're super proactive, the best approach would be to make sure you have the insurance coverage you want before pregnancy occurs, but for most of us that's more planning than is likely.

Compile a List of Approved Midwives and Birth Centers
Once you verify the extent of your home birth insurance coverage, get a list of approved midwives and birth centers. In some cases your insurance will only cover a birth center birth, which is kind of a middle ground between hospital and home, since birth centers tend to be more private than a hospital and still work directly with midwives. Once you have this list, share it with your pregnant partner so that she can start interviewing midwives to find the right fit. This is good to do as early in the process as possible, because the last thing you want to have happen is for your wife to find the perfect midwife only to discover your insurance plan won't cover the services.

Find out the Cost without Insurance
Another option is to inquire with the midwife or birth professional you intend to use about the cost of having the birth without insurance. Some birth professionals offer discounted services for people who don't have adequate insurance to cover the birth.

Supplemental Maternity Insurance
A newer option in insurance for home birth and traditional hospital maternity needs is something called supplemental maternity insurance. This is a separate insurance you get in addition to your regular health insurance and is intended to pick up the gaps in coverage between your regular insurance and the actual cost of maternity services. From what I can tell most of the supplemental maternity insurance services require you to have added coverage prior to conception. Be particularly careful if you seek out this type of insurance because there seems to be a great deal of deception online with regard to this type of plan.

Is Home Birth Safe?

2010-09-07T20:44:52Z

One of the most common questions I was asked during my wife's pregnancy was which hospital we were going to have the baby in. When I replied that we were planning to have the baby at home, this invariably led to the is home birth safe question. I have to admit, it never crossed my own mind that home birth was anything but safe. Prior to ever meeting Robin, she had already had a successful home birth with our son. Neither he nor my wife had any complications. I'm kind of a stats guy, so I know one birth isn't a large enough sample size to prove anything, but I also knew she wasn't the only person giving birth at home.

]]> I'm not a trained birth professional or a doctor, which makes me completely unqualified to make an assessment about the safety of birth. On the other hand, I have done a ton of reading, so I'll share the conclusions drawn by people who are experts in this area. Home birth is widely considered safe given the following factors:

The mother and pregnancy are in the low risk category.
The home birth is planned in advance.
A trained birth attendant is present at the birth.
And there is a medical facility within a reasonable distance of the home should complications arise.

Since you're reading this, the chances are you are planning your home birth at least a little in advance. If you haven't already tracked down a licensed midwife or other professional birth attendant, make that a priority. To give you an idea of what might be considered reasonable for distance to a hospital - it's approximately 45 minutes to the nearest hospital from my house and multiple sources suggested that we were close enough. That leaves pregnancy risk as the other factor.

What makes a pregnancy high risk?

A woman with a history of high blood pressure is typically considered high risk. A premature delivery is typically considered high risk, so even if you plan for a home birth, if the baby decides it's coming out prior to 36 weeks, a trip to the hospital will likely be necessary. Having previously had a C-section can also be considered a higher risk pregnancy, but there seems to be a great deal of debate about that particular issue.

There can be other health factors that impact your wife's ability to have a home birth, but those will be specific to her own health risks or those determined via various prenatal screenings that are part of mother and baby care.

Anecdotally, our midwife did walk me through the scenario of what if the baby starts to come before she and her team get to the house. That discussion was the only time in the entire home birth planning process where I wondered what I might be getting myself into. I'm not sure if obstetricians give a similar talk to expectant fathers or not, but the details of that conversation are forever burned into my brain. Even now that I have one birth under my belt, there's no way I'd want to deliver a baby without trained professionals actively participating. There was no cause for alarm in our case as we notified the midwife very early in Robin's labor and there were many hours of waiting with everyone on hand. Still, I'm pretty sure I had a deer-in-the-headlights look about me as it was explained to me how to properly cradle the baby close to one of my wife's thighs as it made it's way out of the womb.