I started Googling and reading people’s home birth stories online, and I found that their stories were nothing like the ones I’d heard before.

These stories were about the journey of making it through to meet their baby. They talked about the discovery of their own strength, the discovery of their baby, and how the experience changed the way they saw themselves. I was intrigued.

I've learned over time that we are all changed by our births. We are changed the day we become two people.

We’re one person, carrying a person inside, and then suddenly we are two people. That moment reroutes the entire trajectory of who we are, how we grow, and what we come to understand about ourselves. (Which is really what it's all about.)

Some of our Manhattan Birth families have graciously offered to share their stories—much like the ones I read many years ago—about transitioning from hospital birth to home birth, and what that meant for them, their babies, and their lives. Read more below.

From the moment I got pregnant with my first son, I wanted an unmedicated birth—a birth assisted by the least amount of intervention possible.

When I said, “I don't want an epidural, I don't want an episiotomy," he said, "but you want a baby, right?” I had never had a baby before, so what was I supposed to say? There’s only one answer to that question.

That set up a very weird dynamic, which was: either you submit to all of these medical interventions—which, by the way, I ended up having all of them: Pitocin, episiotomy, epidural—or you roll the dice and don't have a healthy baby.

For my fourth baby, something inside of me just woke up and said, “I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to have these things done to my body, that I really don't think my body needs.”

And I was very right—I didn't need any of those interventions, any of those times.

– Isabel

With my son, I had an unmedicated birth in a hospital, and overall it was a positive experience. But, as inevitably happens, there was one midwife present that I didn’t really get along with.

So when I got pregnant with my daughter, I knew I wanted to be very thoughtful about who was in the room during her birth.

Somewhat serendipitously, I was introduced to Sarah and Tanya. I did a lot of research, and felt called and compelled to have a home birth. It was honestly the best decision that I have ever made.

Hospitals are a really great and valuable tool, but when you’re pregnant, you’re not sick. To be able to welcome your child at home, and be in your space, made so much more of a difference than I ever thought possible.

— Margaret

When I became pregnant for the third time, I realized a lot of things that were introduced in the hospital during my first two births weren’t really necessary for me in my labor. I wanted to avoid those things if possible.

I also wanted to be able to fully trust my body, have confidence in my ability to give birth, and experience a truly physiological birth that I could control, where I was able to dictate how it unfolded.

Once I began to explore home birth, I realized that for many women who are low-risk and who have full-term, healthy pregnancies, home birth can actually be safer than hospital birth in many, many ways.

Perhaps most importantly, there are a lot of benefits in terms of how you can move around in labor, your recovery afterwards, and that immediate postpartum period with your newborn. You can really connect with your baby without the disturbances and testing and things that are introduced in the hospital that are routine for the hospital, but might not be necessary for you and your baby.

I had a fabulous journey and a fabulous experience, and I was able to fully experience a physiological birth in my control.

— Anonymous

Homebirth healed me. You don’t need much to care for a baby. The baby just needs you. And this applies to your birth as well.

I joined a mindful birthing class early in my first pregnancy, and while in my second trimester, I very sadly experienced loss. I was lucky to have been supported through that miscarriage by my birthing class teachers, who were both doulas.

After the trauma around my first birth, and guilt from my loss, my home birth was able to take me full circle and allow me to truly believe what I always knew: my body was made for this.

– Carly

We’d love to talk with you about your options, answer your questions, and help you envision the experience you want.