I'd do a home birth if my home was any good.

I guess for most of my life I assumed that everyone was born in a hospital, unless you didn't have access to health care.  Turns out a lot of people give birth at home.  Worldwide I mean, we do everything different in the US. 

My niece was born at home in a birthing tub and she turned out fine.  But Brent has made it clear that he thinks the hospital is best.  Actually, although I love the idea of being at home and relaxed and having a totally natural birth, I am really scared that something will go wrong.  So I have chosen to have a birth with a midwife in a hospital.  The hospital I've chosen also offers water births, which have made sense to me for years. 

I also want to do this unmedicated.  Really, how painful can it be?  I feel like I've been through a lot of pain in my life, birth lasts about a day, I can handle a day of pain.  I've had ovarian cysts and migraines.  And nothing can be worse than the seven weeks of non-stop nausea I'm just getting over. 

So when I was only 6 weeks pregnant, we toured our future birthing place.  You meet in the lobby of the hospital and the midwife tells you how unpregnant you look.  We toured the center with a very tall couple who were about 3 months farther along than us, but still not showing.  "They will have gigantic kids," was all I could think when looking at them.  Then we went up to the birthing center.  I must admit, this place is better than my home.  The birthing rooms are about as big as our bedroom and living room combined.  We live in just over 900 square feet of upstairs duplex with plastic flooring and plastic doors and no central air. 

I don't want to give birth in my home, my home sucks. 

I guess I'm willing to give up a little flexibility for a big room dedicated to labor, delivery, and recovery.   Plus the majority of my family has had unmedicated hospital births; it is possible; and our particular birthing place has one of the lowest C-section rates in the nation. 

Birth can't possibly be worse than going through surgery on your uterus and having to recover from that.  That sounds worse to me than pushing an 8 pound baby out of my cooter.  Also, I have yet to hear a positive epidural story.  My aunt, who is a big cheese at a hospital, says you don't want one of those.  I haven't heard the details of her reasoning, but I trust her. 

Maybe for my second child, after seeing how birth goes on the first, and possibly having a better home, I will try a home birth, though I will have to deal with a protesting husband, mother, father, grandparents, friends, and just about anyone I tell my plan to.