First of all congratulations...your life will never be the same once you have kids!

I will briefly say that I had 5 children all born at home naturally in the 80's, never any drugs, shots etc. The very first thing is to do due diligence...read, read, read. I went to a family practice that did home births (NE Illinois) for the first four and then 2 midwives in Georgia for the 5th. There are many things to consider when looking for a doctor or trying to determine if you want a home birth with a midwife. My kids had hospital births with midwive nurses and that seems like a good alternative for hospital births. You always want to know what hospital policy is and how you can eliminate any protocols you don't agree with. You definitely want to know what your doctors C Section rate is...you want to avoid a C Section unless absolutely necessary...you also want to avoid a routine episiotomy...properly negotiated births have very slight tears at best. Also, check out the death of babies born at the hospital.

We took the Bradley Method birthing class and that prepared us with all the knowledge we needed to prepare for birth...whether hospital or home. The issue of hospital backup is a good question for home birth midwives since laws vary from state to state on licensing midwives. You CANNOT prepare too much for having a baby. At home when the baby was born, I put it to the breast and let it nurse a bit, which then allows the placenta to naturally be delivered with another contraction. In the hospital one of my daughters had the nurse pull the placenta before it was ready to naturally come out and she was bleeding like a sieve, which became an emergency with drug intervention...and this was with nurse midwives!!!!! It turned out okay...but these are things you need to know. They actually have women called doulas that assist birthing moms to help them through the process...

In the hospital when babies are born, they put mercury in their eyes to protect from syphilis, I believe...but at home that did not happen. Also, a good birthing position is not flat on your back (hospital)...it really is more of a squatting position. Also, at home you can use essential oils, homeopathies, herbs, etc. and actually, a lot of hospitals let you do whatever you want up until the time of delivery. I never vaccinated my children, so they did not receive any shots at home. Fortunately, the doctors that delivered the babies were general practitioners and became our family doctor. Another consideration...I did not circumcise my 2 boys, but I have to say all my grandsons are. I do not know if you can decline that in the hospital.

Also, your wife needs to start going to La Leche League meetings as soon as possible...if she intends to breastfeed. I breast fed all my children and with each I went longer and longer with just breastmilk...finding that is perfectly okay not to start any food at 3 months or even 6 months. One baby I went almost a year with just breastmilk and truthfully 6 months of just breastmilk is a good target before starting solids. I also let them wean on their own naturally (usually when you get pregnant your milk changes flavor to encourage them to self wean).

I don't know what your philosophy of childbirth is but you definitely need to know what you want and develop a plan BEFORE you set foot in the hospital or before you have a home birth. Like I said...read, read, read and then read some more. Find the exact doctor/practice that you want or you could be very sorry. It is well worth the time and effort to know exactly what you want.

There was a thread a couple days ago that talked about vaccinations. Please take the time to find that thread and read it. My advice...DO NOT VACCINATE YOUR CHILDREN...but hey, that is just my humble opinion...

Just remember knowledge is power and you only get one chance to have a healthy birth/baby so you need to invest everything you have toward that goal. God bless you and your wife as you embark on this journey of a lifetime...