Emma has had eight homebirths!

Who homebirths? ME!

My name is Emma and my eight children have all been born at home. My oldest child was born when I was 20 and my youngest when I was 35. The land of my birth is England and I have Welsh, English and Irish descent.

I have travelled extensively and my first two children were born ‘on the road’ in England: the first with a midwife, through the publicly funded community midwife scheme, and the second with a lay midwife who was a Lakota Elder. My subsequent babies were born under publicly funded midwifery care in four different areas of New Zealand.

I have never had to pay for a homebirth or even any related costs ~ extra towels, sheets, a temporary nappy service, home help and osteopath visits were funded by the midwives (in New Zealand) out of the additional payments they receive to care for mothers who birth at home.

I have been living in Australia for four years, and I am in a long term heterosexual relationship. I work in and from home, and within the local community, for love only.

I do not have an immediate family herstory of home birth, and went against the grain of all my living family, friends, colleagues and peers by birthing at home.

I birth at home simply because it makes perfect common sense and subsequent independent research, as well as experience, has consistently confirmed this.

Any difficulties I encountered along the way ~ such as my losing my first born’s twin at 12 weeks, a babe who was transverse until the final moments of labour and another with true shoulder dystocia ~ have been handled gently, respectfully and successfully at home. Although I would of course transfer to hospital in the case of any genuine medical need, I know home is the best place for the best welcome to this world my children could possibly receive.