No Place Like Home Birth

    Paula Bernini Fiegal has helped 400 hundred women give birth since becoming a Certified Professional Midwife in 1993. (That translates to having witnessed 4,000 tiny fingers and 4,000 tiny toes for the first time!) Seventy percent of those births happened at Morning Star Birth Center in Menomonie, where Paula is director, and 30 percent have taken place right at home.

    Though hospital births have become the norm since the 1950s, approximately 1.4 percent of Wisconsin babies are born at home, a percentage that is double the national average.

    But why is the number still so low, compared for instance with Netherlanders, who opt to give birth at home 30 percent of the time? It isn’t because it is any less safe. In fact, Paula notes that a 2003 study by the New England Journal of Medicine found that, for low-risk women, homebirth with a qualified attendant is safe, or safer than, hospital birth.   

    Paula’s philosophy is that a woman will birth best where she feels most comfortable and safe. For some women, that place is home. “A woman will be “imprinted by … what she’s led to believe about her body and her innate capabilities,” Paula says. “Giving birth is the quintessential feminine act. It pays to find a midwife who will celebrate and respect that from start to finish.”

    Rebecca Gorski
    When Rebecca Gorski of Eau Claire was ready to give birth to her first child, Mason, she couldn’t proceed because her doctor wasn’t there yet. Later, Rebecca had to get out of the bathtub (a taxing task for a woman in labor) because the doctor hadn’t been trained in water birth. “This was an experience I did not want to repeat,” says Rebecca of her hospital experience.

    After her second birthing experience, which happened at home, Rebecca wants people to understand that midwives are highly trained professionals who are well-equipped with a sterilization kit, among other tools. “I didn’t do it just to say I had a natural birth. It’s actually safer!” she says.

    Rebecca gave birth to Silas Robert Gorski, on Aug. 3 of last year. “It went very smoothly,” Rebecca says. “Our first meal as a family of four was in our bedroom and it was wonderful,” she says. Though opting for a midwife can be more expensive than going through a physician, Rebecca knows it was worth it.