When you come into our care your hopes for a natural birth at home are on the forefront of your mind. Maybe it’s something you’ve wanted since before you were even pregnant or maybe you didn’t even know about home births until you were into your second trimester. At Portland Natural Birth, we work really hard to provide you and your baby the best, comprehensive but holistic care possible. We spend an hour at each prenatal appointment going over your physical and emotional health, all while making sure you continue to be low risk and safe for a homebirth.
At interviews, transport questions are always asked by either the birthing person or their partner. Rarely, I’m the one to bring up the “what ifs”. But, we always talk about what we do in an emergency, what kind of equipment and training we have, what it would be like to transport to the hospital, what we as the midwives do during the transport, and what clients can do to best prepare themselves for any possibility. Then, as your pregnancy progresses, we bring up the transport discussion again. At the 36 week home visit we fill out a hospital transport plan which includes what hospital clients prefer to go to and which one is the closest in an emergency. We also talk about any fears the family may have surrounding emergencies or hospitals or just about the birth itself. And we are always open to having some or all of this discussion before and after this 36 week visit. Some clients need to talk about it more than others to process the “what ifs” while others feel ok with just the planned discussion. Either way is entirely ok and that’s why we provide individualized care- every person needs something a little different to feel comfortable!
So, what does a transport from a homebirth look like? Well, it depends on the reason for transport. Most hospital transports from home are for non-emergent reasons. The most likely scenario is when a laboring mom asks for additional tools that we don’t have at home. She may have been in labor for multiple days, exhausted and possibly dehydrated and desires and epidural or maybe needs a little pitocin to meet her baby. While no one goes into a homebirth with this desire, sometimes families get there… and that’s ok! We have a lot of resources, tools and tricks as experienced midwives to encourage babies to be born at home but sometimes they have different plans.
If we transport for maternal request in this non-emergency then we go by our own cars. I always call the preferred hospital and A) make sure they have room and will accept our transport and B) give them all the pertinent information so they can best help us. Then, after a bag is packed and mom is ready we caravan over to the hospital. At least one of the midwives always stays with our clients in the hospital. Especially if we have been there for a long time, we may rotate through the birth team so we can also get little sleep so we can come back and provide the best support… but always one midwife is with the mom! We become ah-mazing doulas in the hospital! We are no longer your medical care provider but help you navigate through the new surroundings and requests of the hospital. Also, we know most of the Portland area hospital providers so we seamlessly work with them to continue providing our clients great care that they can still feel like they made their own decisions, even though the place of birth was different. We stay with you until baby is born and help with the initial breastfeeding session. And of course, we continue all of our normal postpartum care visits- we’ll come to you 3 times in the first w
eek, wherever you are!
Very rarely but it does happen, a transport is for an emergency. And then we go by ambulance. I still call ahead to the closest hospital to let them know we are coming and we continue all our supportive care like we do in a non-emergency situation. It can be scary when we move fast but we always communicate to our clients as to what is going on and what we think needs to happen.
Sometimes, I get the question/comment: but if we transport to the hospital then we are stuck with both midwifery bill and the hospital bill and don’t get our homebirth. Yes, unfortunately birth costs do go up if we end up at the hospital from a homebirth. But, the care we continue to provide is unmatched and our clients feel that. Providing midwifery care through pregnancy is a different experience to begin with- one that you are met with caring providers who take the time to listen to you and help problem solve as any issues come up. Midwives provide a safe and nurturing environment that empowers our families into taking the next step to becoming first time parents or seasoned parents. We are able to walk beside you and gently guide you through harder decisions if a homebirth transport becomes desired or necessary. To still be able to make your own decisions and come out feeling empowered from a birth that didn’t go exactly how you thought is pretty remarkable and worth every penny!
We want to help all our clients have beautiful homebirths but sometimes that’s not in the cards and that’s ok. That’s why we continue putting all our energy into our clients’ care, regardless of where they end up giving birth and how they give birth. Though it can be a hard transition and hard to acknowledge that birth doesn’t always go according to plan, we do work with clients so they feel supported and empowered through their pregnancy, birth, and postpartum and I think we do a pretty darn good job at that!