Ever wonder how Dad might feel about a home birth?

Here is one Dad's experience with a hospital birth and a home birth. A great big thanks to Chalan Derry who wrote this post for us! He is currently living in the South Texas area.

-Carrie

"My name is Chalan Derry, and I am the father of 6 kids, 5 rowdy boys, and 1 precious little girl. The 2 oldest boys were part of the package deal when I married my wife (Liz). I will tell you about the birth experiences of the other four.

"Joey was born in February of 2001. He was born at the Hospital in Uvalde. This being my first birth experience I was rather nervous. The pregnancy was normal, so I will simply describe the birth. Joey was about 2 weeks over due, It was a long, stressful 2 weeks. The day he was born was the only of the entire month I had plans to do anything else. I had committed to decorating the church hall for a valentines day party. When Liz called me and told me it was time I dropped what I was doing and rushed her to the Hospital. Once there the nurses rushed us into a room, hooked Liz up to all sorts of machines and monitors and left. It was exciting, but also boring. For the next 3 or 4 hours I spent standing next to my wife trying to help her relax, and listening to all sorts of beeps and noises from the monitors. Periodically a nurse would come in and "check" liz and leave again. Eventually the doctor came in and assessed the situation. He informed Liz that he should break her water to help things move along. Liz said she would rather wait a little longer. The doctor returned 45 minutes to an hour later to see how things were moving along, and again informed us he should break the water. Liz still wanted to wait, at which point he said something along the lines of "well I am the doctor". So we consented. After he did things did begin to move rather rapidly. Within 90 minutes Joey was born! It was and still is one of the greatest moments of my life. But It was exhausting. I feel like a jerk saying I was exhausted after my wife gave birth, but I was. I had spent 6 hours mostly standing, no one telling me anything, and worried the entire time. After the birth I didn’t know what to do. I went to the lobby to call friends and relatives about the good news. The Hospital brought in a roll away bed for me to sleep on in my wife’s room. I did enjoy spending this time with my wife, and new son, but I felt very confined to this small hospital room, unfamiliar bed, and lousy hospital food.

"Fast forward about 18 months to the birth of our next son Benny birth. Liz had discussed the possibility of a home birth with me several times, but it wasn’t until she was pregnant without any insurance and the realization that we would be paying for this birth out of pocket, that I finally consented. The birth experience was a lot different. When Liz went into labor, we simply called our midwife (Holly). Liz would inform Holly every couple of hours to let her know how she was doing, and how things were progressing. During this time life kept going on as normal around our house. I fed and prepared our other children for their bedtime. I would of course check on Liz and spend a few moments talking with her. She was much more free to move about and labor in different positions. When the midwife and her assistant arrived and began checking Liz, I was able to slip out of the room, and call relatives and inform them of the situation. In fact I remember sitting at the kitchen table balancing the check book while Liz and the midwives were in the bedroom for much of the labor. When it was time I came in and assisted by holding Liz as she squatted at the foot of the bed to deliver the baby. After the delivery the midwives stayed and cleaned up, checked on Liz and Benny, and other such things. I was not nearly as "exhausted" as I was with Joey’s birth. I was able to sleep next to Liz and Benny in my own bed, and in the morning got up helped the other children get up and going.

"The experiences with our last two were very much the same, except that with our daughter (Reagan) both Liz’s and My mothers were in attendance. It was a very special time for both of them to be able to attend and participate in the birth of their granddaughter.

"After experiencing both a hospital and home birth, I would highly recommend to everyone that they consider a home birth. My experiences with home birth have been very good, and I believe it is a more peaceful, and happy experience overall. "


-Chalan Derry