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36 Weeks Pregnant: I think I want a home birth!

Maman Loup's Den 36 Week Pregnancy Journal

If you’ve been keeping score (and I forgive you if you haven’t been), I’ve been planning on giving birth to Little Miss Cub in a Birthing Centre under a midwife’s care since even before conception. So it’s a huge turnaround for me to suddenly be saying: “I think I want a home birth!” (That was actually the subject of my e-mail to my midwife.)

See, in Quebec, Birthing Centres are paid for by the government, no different than a hospital. When midwives aren’t present, birth assistants are there to ensure care of the mother and baby.



Because Calgary’s Arbor Birthing Centre is privately run, you can only stay as long as your midwives are present. This means that once Little Miss Cub is born, assuming all is well and I don’t need hospitalization, we would be packing up and leaving in 2-3 hours. This fact somehow eluded me when we visited the Centre, but my midwife brought it up at my 36 week appointment. While I don’t doubt that my midwife’s care would have me capable of leaving, packing up and hopping in a car two-hours postpartum is NOT part of my birth plan. I want to curl up in bed and enjoy my baby with my husband, introduce her to Cub and eat lots and lots of food. It seems like the only way I’m going to get that wish (since a hospital bed doesn’t count) is if we birth at home!

The biggest reason I didn’t consider home birth when we were in Montreal was because our place was teeny tiny and not a place I could envision relaxing enough to give birth. We take possession of our new townhouse, twice the size, on Friday, and if baby were to come before then we’d have to go to the hospital any way since I’d still be 36 weeks. While the tub isn’t generous, I’d rather birth in a small tub and not have to vacate the premises than have the spacious Birth Centre tub and a 2-hour eviction notice!

On Thursday I have my 37-week appointment with my midwife, and we’ll discuss my new home birth dream in depth. On Monday, I also have a consultation with an ObGyn who is supposed to clear me for an out-of-hospital birth given that I take a 60 mg dose of Paroxetine (a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor, aka, an anti-anxiety drug). I took the same dose with Cub and neither he nor I experienced any side effects, but I delivered in a hospital. I am very, truly hopeful that she gives me the green light for an out-of-hospital birth!

At my last appointment, my belly was measuring one week behind, and my midwife recommended that I increase my protein intake. I greatly improved my diet, which has left me feeling significantly better, AND my belly is measuring perfectly again!

Did you birth at home, or make a last-minute change to where you wanted to give birth?





11 responses to “36 Weeks Pregnant: I think I want a home birth!”

  1. Megan Moir

    My plan is to birth at home, provided our house is structurally accessible in the event of an emergency. I am measuring a few weeks behind as well, but my last kiddo was 6lbs 11.2oz at 38.5 so I make smaller babies. I’m nervous about home birth but didn’t enjoy my hospital experience and provided everything else goes as planned, we’ll do it here. Good luck mama!

    1. Lindsay Gallimore

      Ooh! Structural accessibility! I bet I have to discuss this with my midwife!

  2. hayley s

    I plan on delivering at the same hospital as I did with my last baby! I had such an awesome experience there with my midwife and the support all around was awesome! I actually now work there as a Labor and Delivery nurse, so it will be awesome to actually really know the nurses well that I am getting all my labor and delivery care from! I’m 35 weeks now, and had been hearing some horror stories about the midwife I had been seeing, so I am switching my midwife!

  3. Tanya

    I think a home birth sounds like a great idea! I’m doing a VBA2C with a midwife through the Collective too and might have the chance to labour for a bit at the Arbor Birth Centre but then off to the hospital for me. If I were in your shoes, I’d go for it 🙂

  4. Dawne

    I wish I could have had a home birth, but I have a bleeding problem, and a tearing problem. 🙁

  5. A homebirth sounds great for you! I had two and was extremely happy with both. I would make the same decision in the future again.

  6. Megz G.

    I would have loved a home birth if we had lived in a house; but like your apartment in Montreal our apartment in Brantford is super small and NOT relaxing, especially with two big dogs, a cat and (at the time) a rabbit! That being said, I am SUPER glad we gave birth in the hospital, because I, too, had a bleeding and a tearing problem, and I also needed to be induced.

  7. Mea

    Ha! Funny and very similar 🙂

    I’m 36 weeks and 5 days. At 30 weeks after discussing my birthing preferences with my then OBGYN I decided to switch to Midwife. The OBGYN was not on board with using a tub, she wanted to control most aspects of the birth, and desired that I be monitored the entire time. So much for natural hospital birthing options… so I found a lovely Midwife who will let my body work first then intervene medically if necessary.

  8. Chelsea Maguire

    I had a home birth in a teeny tiny apartment. It was wonderful! I had a birthing tub in the living room and spent all of active labor and delivery in it. I will definitely have future babies at home.

  9. megan

    I would give anything to have a home birth, unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a midwife (you got lucky, in the Edmonton area they are virtually impossible to get, I applied at 3.5 weeks and still couldn’t get a spot) 🙁

  10. Sandra Caballero

    I never home birthed. I couldn’t anyway because I have high blood pressure. With my first daughter I had to deliver her at 34 weeks due to preclasmpsia. How did your home birth go?

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My name is Lindsay and I am a 40-year-old mama of four trying to live an eco-friendly, budget-friendly life! I am a substitute teacher and Child Passenger Safety technician in Calgary, Alberta. Join me on my adventures!

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