ARE YOU CURIOUS ABOUT THE INS AND OUTS OF HOMEBIRTH? 

WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT'S REALLY LIKE TO HAVE A BABY AT HOME WITH THE GUIDANCE OF A SKILLED AND EXPERIENCED MIDWIFE? 

I was a hospital mom with my first, but with my care from the midwives at Waccamaw Hospital, I decided to go the home birth route for my second. Of course, when I told my husband I was considering a home birth, he was not exactly on board. We brought in a midwife to interview and he was able to express his concerns and ask any questions he had. After our appointment with her, we discussed everything we talked about and while he was still a bit nervous about home birth, he was more accepting to the idea. 

In this exclusive interview, we sit down with home birth midwife, Angela Springer, owner of Natural Birth at Home of Conway, to learn all the ins and outs of home birth and some misconceptions around it.

So grab a cup of coffee and get ready to be wowed by the empowering and transformative world of home birth!

How long have you been a midwife and how did you get into midwifery?

I have been a midwife for 3.5 years. A part of it was just due to my own birth experiences and things that lead me to learn more about birth. I first started off as a lactation peer counselor. Then I became a postpartum and birth doula which eventually led me to become a midwife. It was a long journey to get here, but really what made me want to do midwifery was a friend of mine that was a midwife. She invited me to come to a home birth. I had never actually been to a home birth before even though I had been a doula for a long time. It was just the most magical thing I had ever seen in my life. In that moment, I was like, yep, this is it. This is what I want to do. 

I had never experienced that personally. As a doula, I have found this is what so many of my clients want, but no one ever gets. It was always discouraging as a doula to know what someone really wants and to see then to see that they never really get quite what they want. To see this this mom not having to fight her providers or not having to advocate for herself or defend what she wanted was everything. She was just peacefully doing her thing, with people around her supporting her. I had never seen anything like it. 

What would you say to someone with a concern or fear about giving birth at home?

It’s is not for everybody. You have to really trust in birth, yourself and your body. You have to be willing to accept that things are going to happen the way they are meant to happen, for instance if you go way past your due date. There is no one there to rescue you from that and induce you. Labor is hard and there is no epidural to rescue you from that. You really have to be willing to experience birth in its raw, natural state. But if that is what you are willing to do, it’s well worth it! I think what most people are worry about, after getting over the pain part, is worrying about emergencies. That's what midwives are trained to do. We are trained to handle emergencies. People think that emergencies can only be handled in a hospital setting and that is not really true. Most emergencies can be handled safely at home. There are very few things that can not be handled at home. And obviously, if those things happen, we go to the hospital. It's not like we can't go if we need to and that's what we will do. We go if we need to. 

How would you help a family prepare for the possibility of transferring to the hospital? 

So we talk about that in prenatal childbirth classes and at our home visit. We make a plan, like what hospital you would go to if we needed to go in. We talk about what that would look like in terms if like calling ahead, records, and transports. Most of the time, transports are non-emergent. So, we have time to talk things through and make a plan. If it was truly an emergency, then obviously we would call 9-1-1 and get an ambulance. But , those are very, very rare. Yes, we talk about it ahead of time, what that would look like and what kind of things would necessitate going to the hospital. I am big fan of sooner rather than later. If something is wrong, I am not trying to wait around for an emergency. If something is not right, we are going to head in earlier. 

How do you incorporate evidence based care into your practice and what resources do you use to stay current to stay current on the latest research?

All licensed midwives have to do a minimum of 30 continuing education hours every two years to keep their license. So, we are always learning, taking classes and workshops. I also keep up to date with things like evidence based birth (website). There are good online resources for providers like “Up to Date”, which is a website that keeps you up to date on all of the current research. Also, there are podcasts and blogs that are geared toward midwives and pregnancy. I always want to keep up to date with the best practice. 

What are some common misconceptions about birth that you would like to address?

Yeah, there are a lot of misconceptions. I always joke that people feel like we beat drums and light candles. But, I keep saying, that's not how we work. We are medically trained. We are accessing the health of mom and baby at all times, listening to fetal heart tones, tracking blood pressure and things like that. We are all fully trained in CPR and Neonatal resuscitation. We carry oxygen. We carry medicines for postpartum hemorrhage. I just don't think people realize all of the resources we have right at our fingertips. I like to tell people basically we bring a birth center to your house. Because honestly everything they have a birth center, I bring in my car. It is not primitive midwifery. We have a lot of resources and tools at our disposal. 

Can you share any examples of how you have supported families who have had previous traumatic brith experience but were able to have a positive homebirth experience?

Yeah, those are some of my favorite and I always feel kind of bad that they had to have that traumatic experience before they came to me. I always wish we could go back and undo all of that. But yeah, that definitely does happen. There are a lot of people who choose home birth because they had a traumatic hospital birth. Often times, it wasn't even so much what happened, but how they felt about it. So feeling like they weren't listened to or like they had no control over the situation. Sometimes even feeling like they were being made fun of or punished maybe for something they wanted or didn't want. So we just really focus a lot on listening and helping people to process their trauma. Making them feel safe, heard and letting them know that ultimately they are in control. I am really big on informed consent. Ultimately, it is your body and it's your baby. You get to make the decision. I am here to give you good information and to give you guidance, but ultimately, you get to make the decision. I think that once people feel empowered like that, they take it very seriously. They want to learn and they want to know the information. I think the empowerment takes away a lot of the trauma.

There you have it! So much good information. I hope you enjoyed learning about the world of home birth and the possibilities it holds. It's a unique and empowering experience that can be a reality with the right support. Don't be afraid to dream big, and trust your gut when making decisions about your birth. And remember, with a home birth, you'll have a midwife who's not only knowledgeable but also fun, making your birth experience safe and memorable. 

Thank you Angela for participating in this interview!

.

.

Connect with Natural Birth at Home on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok. 

naturalbirthathome.com

If you have an opportunity to take one of her classes, DO IT! I learn something new at every class I attend. She offers: Pregnancy 101 (learning about nutrition, exercise, and knowing your options during pregnancy), child birth classes (both hospital and home birth specific) and a breastfeeding class. You can sign up for classes through her Facebook page or email.

Angela shows such compassion with all of the families she works with. It is truly an honor to work alongside her at a birth. 

Thank you again for all that you do for our community!