The staff brings to the home the same birthing equipment and medications which hospitals supply. They bring IV fluids, Pitocin, Methergine, vacuum extractor, forceps, suture material, oxygen, laryngoscope, suction catheters, ambu bags, Doppler ultrasound, etc. This equipment is readied on a stand-by basis, but a natural birth without drugs, episiotomy, or early cord clamping is anticipated. Shortly after delivery the mother gets into a rocking chair to hold and to breastfeed her newborn, exhilarated and awed by the miracle of new life.
Couples choose home birth because they feel safer and more in control at home.
They avoid the unnecessary hospital routines such as confinement to bed, continuous electronic fetal monitoring, IV infusions, blood drawing, enemas, and frequent pelvic examinations by strangers. They avoid exposure to the dangerous drug-resistant virulent bacteria which colonize hospitals. Their babies are not taken away from them following the birth. Women who give birth at home feel empowered and strengthened. They must reach deeply within to grasp the strength to overcome the difficulties of labor.