Have you thought about homebirth?

Often, when I talk to CNY moms who are outside of the Holistic Moms Network or the Syracuse AP yahoo group, they don't realize that birthing their baby in their home is an option for them. I've even been asked if homebirth is legal. I would like to point out today that, here in Syracuse and the surrounding area, homebirth is an option for families.

When birthing at home, the caregiver women use is a midwife. A midwife is a provider who is a specialist in normal pregnancy and birth. Your midwife can do all of your prenatal care, handle the birth of your baby, provide postpartum and newborn care and even do well-woman care like Pap smears and menopause counseling.

When I was first learning about homebirth years ago, I got a lot of information from the ladies at mothering.com: http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/list/20/homebirth

One provider of homebirth in this area is Merideth Geers: http://www.cnymidwife.com/ I have not done a birth with Merideth yet, but I have attended several community outreach events that she has hosted and we've done lunch at Chipotle (where else?).

Another lady that many Syracuse moms use is an Ithaca midwife named Kate Finn:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kate-T-Finn-MS-Licensed-Midwife/71671612781 Kate works with several other midwives in the Ithaca area, who also provide homebirth to their clients.

For people closer to Rochester, you have the ladies at http://www.welcomehomemidwifery.com/ Meg and Sarah have a lovely website with lots of information about their practice on it.

You may already know that I had my last baby at home, though while we were living in Baltmore. If you are considering homebirth and have questions or didn't realize homebirth was an option and you want more information, feel free to contact me and ask away.