Home Birth Without Fear: Muneeza’s Birth Series Part 3

Have you always been curious about a home birth but have fear about uncertainties?

I’m here to tell you not to be afraid.

As an experienced HypnoBirthing practitioner and mother of three beautiful daughters, the third born at home, I can tell you that home birth is not only possible but, in many ways, the most natural way to give birth.

We have been trained to believe that a hospital is the ONLY safe place to give birth, but we have forgotten that before the 1940s, most women did not travel to a hospital for birth.

Home birth that is well-prepared and supported by experienced caregivers and family is safe, intimate, and, in many ways, easier than birth in the hospital.

Keep reading for all the reasons why there’s no need to fear home birth and for the story of the birth of my third daughter, which took place at home.

Interested in how to have a healthy AND natural pregnancy and birth experience?

Click here to download my FREE guide, The 3 Ps of a Health and Natural Childbirth for everything I learned in birthing my three daughters naturally!

HOME BIRTH: SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT

Recently on social media, I posted someone else’s birth story, which discussed a young sibling being present for a home birth. I received a comment saying, “Why would you let a seven-year-old watch a birth?”

I responded by saying that my kids had been watching births since they were toddlers!

There is no reason to hide birth from children. It’s a natural part of life. Why should we feel ashamed or worried about exposing our children to how each of us enters the world?

There is nothing to fear about any aspect of our bodies, and sharing experiences like birth with our children helps to open their minds to how beautiful they can be so that shame does not come into the picture.

If you’re exploring a home birth, bringing your family into the conversation is important. Home birth requires different preparation than hospital birth.

My husband and I watched several videos to prepare for our home birth, and we found terrific resources for him to watch, specifically for husbands and fathers.

This builds trust within the family so that nothing is hidden, contributing to a woman’s ability to feel safe and supported during birth.

Feeling safe is the most critical aspect for a woman during birth.

I discuss this in-depth in part two of this blog series on birth, Techniques for Easy Birth.

Did you know that healthy adrenal glands are CRUCIAL for a successful birth? 

One of the most important steps you can take during pregnancy is to care for and restore your adrenals to prepare your body for birth.

Learn more about how to properly care for your adrenals in my masterclass, Adrenals Are the Energy Powerhouse.

NORMALIZING WHAT WORKS

While the medical establishment has convinced us that hospitals are the only safe space for birth, lived experience teaches us otherwise.

In part two of this blog series, I discuss the work of Ina May Gaskin, known as “the mother of authentic midwifery” and a leading founder of The Farm, a birthing center in the United States.

Births at The Farm require hospital interventions just 5% of the time and require cesarean birth just 2% of the time.

Compare this with 32.1% of hospital births requiring a cesarean birth, and this myth of hospitals as our only viable, safe space begins to dissolve.

A few other stats from The Farm: since The Farm began operating in 1970, not a single mother has died during labor, a total of four infants died between 1970 and 2010, .37% of births required the use of forceps, and less than 20% of women experienced minor tearing and less than .5% experienced serious tearing,

These statistics reflect an improvement over the general statistics. For example, this article describes a standard rate of 53-79% for tearing during birth. Up to three times more than The Farm reported for their births!

These numbers reflect both home births that took place at The Farm as well as women who received prenatal care at The Farm before giving birth in a local hospital.

In general, new mothers are directed to visit a pediatrician two days after giving birth, which no new mother ever wants to do.

Working with midwives who can come to the home before, during, and after birth allows for a more intimate experience for a mother and her baby.

Home is a conscious and subconscious safe space for all of us. When properly supported by experienced practitioners like midwives and by partners or other family, giving birth at home can become the ultimate opportunity for a woman to feel safe.

As I said, feeling safe is the key to a pain-free, easy, fulfilling birth experience.

Read more in part one of this blog series, Pain-Free Birth.

My midwife team and I with Hanaan and newborn Malaika

BIRTH STORY NUMBER THREE: MY HOME BIRTH

For our third daughter, we planned a home birth.

I was working with a midwife who was into raw food and natural products, which was my world, and I was thrilled.

At this point, I had been a HypnoBirthing practitioner for almost four years, helping other women achieve as much ease as possible during birth, so I was confident in the effectiveness of holistic birthing techniques.

I had also recently become a client of Anthony William, the Medical Medium, who was supporting me with my pregnancy.

It was a beautiful time working with Anthony and my midwife, who aligned with my perspectives on food and holistic health.

I was grateful we could avoid much of the standard invasive testing performed during pregnancy. Instead of drinking chemicals to test my blood sugar, I drank pure organic grape juice.

Glucola, the standard drink for glucose tests to gauge a woman’s risk for gestational diabetes, is packed with ingredients I avoid – brominated vegetable oil (a flame retardant!), modified food starch (one of the terms used to hide MSG, read more on my blog), natural flavors, dextrose from GMO corn, and food dyes.

This drink is a health disaster for anyone, let alone a woman creating a baby!

Midwife, MD, and herbalist, Aviva Romm, has a great blog about the problems with Glucola linked here. Know that alternatives are available to you, as I found in my case!

A far better option is The Fresh Test, which is approved by the FDA and accepted by doctors as an alternative to Glucola.

While The Fresh Test may contain organic corn and small amounts of citric acid (both of which I avoid in general), it is a FAR better option than Glucola as it is free from GMOs, dyes, flavors, BPA plastic, and other horrible ingredients.

So we were excited about our home birth with baby number three, and we had everything we needed to welcome our new baby girl into the world.

I’ve created a powerful EIGHT-WEEK program to educate and empower women on every stage of their life cycle. 

Click here to learn more about REVIVAL: AN 8-WEEK PROGRAM TO SUPPORT WOMEN FROM FERTILITY TO POSTPARTUM & BEYOND

A SLOW START

When my third daughter was ready to come, labor began, and we started to prepare the birthing tub. My husband was on his way to his final meeting for work, and I called him to tell him to come back!

I also called the midwives, who arrived shortly, but after about an hour, everything came to a halt.

I didn’t want to go past 41 weeks of carrying my daughter because I didn’t want to lose our opportunity for a home birth which can happen.

I used many techniques to move the labor along – walking, moving, sex – but ended up going to a reproductive specialist in acupuncture for extra support the following day.

Typically, I don’t recommend acupuncture as a healing methodology, partly due to the adrenaline released when metal pins pierce the skin. Still, in some instances, it can be helpful. It certainly was in my case!

After my afternoon acupuncture appointment, I could feel that labor was close. That evening, a massive birth surge led to deep labor very quickly.

I had been cleaning and preparing, and suddenly I had to stop, which is when I knew it was time. My husband began filling the birth tub, which was already set up from the day before.

The surges I experienced were moderately intense, and I used the three breathing techniques taught in HynoBirthing and helpful forms of movement to pass through each surge.

Before my midwives arrived, I could feel myself going into a more active stage of labor where the baby was ready to move down the vaginal canal, so I moved into the birthing tub.

The moment I got into the water, it felt as though my surges were calmer, and the intensity seemed to subside in a really powerful way.

ARRIVING ON HER TERMS

I was moving around in the water, and my husband and I shared deeply intimate time as a couple and as parents.

The midwives arrived as we moved closer to birth. This being my third birth, I knew what to expect and how birthing felt in my body. I could tell that my daughter was still about an inch from crowning, and the midwife agreed.

During the next birth surge, I felt as though I was no longer in my body or even in my home, and the surge after that, the baby’s head was fully out! She never crowned, which is when a baby’s head emerges and awaits the final birth surges.

My daughter skipped a whole step in the birthing process!

I immediately thought, “She is so headstrong!” It was a clear reflection of who she would become.

Thankfully, her quick emergence was still gentle on my body. There was no tearing, no injury, and no bleeding.

In our first blog in this series, I shared that birth doesn’t have to be full of pain and difficulty. If you look at video footage of elephant mothers or giraffe mothers giving birth, they are not forcing birth in the way we’ve been trained is normal for human birth.

I found this truth to be so evident in my third birth. My daughter came quickly at the end, but I wasn’t forcing her out.

So, three hours after entering the birthing tub, my daughter, Malaika, was born at home.

Our older two daughters were at home and aware of the birth. Our middle child, Rayyaan, woke up during the birth, and my husband had to leave to check on her.

Our eldest, Hanaan, walked in just minutes after Malaika was born. We have a photo of the moment she saw her new baby sister, capturing the precious look on her face.

Little Hanaan looking at her newly-born sister for the first time

Neither knew what was happening, neither was afraid, and I was so glad I had demystified birth for them from an early age so they could be present for these first beautiful moments.

Curious about how to build healthy recipes into your family’s routine?

Download my free Flourish Kids Recipe Book for inspiration!

BACK TO OUR ROOTS

As a woman, mother, and health practitioner, I believe that our bodies possess an innate knowledge of how to thrive, heal, and carry us through life.

Trusting our body as our compass serves us powerfully in birth. God has designed a woman’s body to bring life into being and has not left anything out that a hospital must replace.

Home birth ought to become the norm again. This requires a remembring of our knowledge of how to give birth naturally with the proper support.

Hospitals are wonderful support in extraordinary cases where intervention is required. Modern medicine has incredible tools to offer when necessary.

But there is no reason to fear home birth, just as there is no reason to fear any aspect of what is built into us by Nature’s design.

My three beautiful girls

I pray that we will continue to remember the wisdom of our ancestors, who trusted the Earthly Mother to provide for them, trusted their elders in all things, and knew that trust in intuition and the body were powerful tools to thrive.

To your health and peace,

Muneeza

Are you facing chronic symptoms and don’t know where to start on your healing path?

I’ve created a free seven-day course to get you started. Click here to sign up and get started today.