Birth at Home – At Home With Birth

Abstract

In Canada, homebirth and midwifery seem to be inseparable. Prior to regulation, women wanting homebirths sought midwives and women wanting midwifery care often gave birth at home. Choice of birthplace, including the option of homebirth became a central tenet of regulated midwifery across the country. In this paper, the experience of homebirth is explored. Women and midwives from four provinces, both before and after midwifery regulation, spoke of their experiences of homebirth. Using hermeneutic phenomenological analysis, themes related to experiences of time, space, relationships and embodiment were identified. While some of the women's stories include comparisons of their births at homeandhospital,theobjectiveistouncoverwhatitisliketogivebirthathome notwhatisbetterorsafer or more challenging than other birthplace choices.