I chose to have a homebirth with my daughter. It was not a decision made lightly just because I cloth diaper or breastfeed. the utmost importance to me was my son's emotional well being. Yep. its true. I chose to homebirth because of Jzilla. This boy has been through amazing changes in his 3 year old life. he was born in los angeles. his daddy left for iraq when he was 8 days old. mama's milk dried up and he starved while feeling lethargic and sick. eventually back to the breast he went. 4 months later he was driven on a 14 hour drive to colorado where he got to know his dad for the first time. then a few months later, went back to los angeles while dad got some training. a little bit after his first birthday we moved back to colorado a month in an extended stay, then on to a uhaul to north carolina. learned to walk, and turned two before we were plucked off again to alaska a few weeks after his second birthday. spent 3 weeks in a hotel before his dad deployed again... this time to afghanistan. we moved back to los angeles again and 6 months later his sister was born.

its so interesting how modern medicine doesn't seem to count on emotional and psychological well being. It always comes up in debates about homebirthing or right to die. so what if you were alive and the baby was healthy after a traumatizing birth? so what if you were physically alive but brain dead while your hard earned money you wanted to leave to your children was drained to nothing? I'm not saying that hospital births are always traumatizing, or that brain dead people should die because they are a burden. I'm saying that why do people seem to fight the choice that other people want to make? why do they have problems with people making educated decisions? why don't some people understand that the risks we take are worth it when it comes to emotional and psychological well being?

when I chose to homebirth I knew its physical risks, but its not just homebirths that comes with physical risk. so do hospital births. when I contemplated the emotional well being of my family, having a homebirth was the answer. Physically I was well enough to have one as well. If I wasn't of course I would have gone to the hospital to give birth (and I am pretty sure 99% of mothers out there would agree). having the birth itself wasn't empowering for me, making the right decision for myself, my son, and my daughter was empowering.