The perfect homebirth

Noah Montego Björkén. I roared the whole 3995g and 53cm of you into this world early morning on May 10 in the most blissful setting I could’ve ever asked for. No rush to the hospital, no directives, just the feeling of a new day welcoming a new life in the presence of your two excited if yet somewhat perplexed brothers, champion of a dad and the two midwifes. The sound of birds that filled the room through the open terrace door in-between contractions. The loving support. The rawness. Me. And finally you! 

Sniffing the intoxicating babiness of you for the last two weeks have melted all (ok, some of) the worries about how on earth we’re going to handle three boys under 5. 

Having had the privilege to experience a planned and smooth homebirth, I bow my head in gratitude and admiration to the midwives and doulas that carry so much wisdom about how women bodies work. That know so well what they are capable of. That encourage us to trust our bodies instead of over-focus on potential risks like the conventional health practitioners tend to do. That feel with their hands rather than monitors. That offer so much compassion to birthing women at a time when they are most vulnerable. 

Whatever the choice is, I wish every woman could experience the birth they’ve planned and hoped for! While admittedly not always possible, I truly believe that the chance of this happening would be so much greater if pregnant women were more listened to rather than told to how and when to birth their babies.