Home birth is becoming an increasingly attractive option for families who want to claim more responsibility for their health care, want to have a safe natural birth in an infection free environment and who value the intimate, spiritual and family centered nature of birth. Child birth at home protects the integrity of the most important event in a family’s life and honors a woman’s right to give birth in her own environment and with attendants she chooses. Research comparing home births and hospital births indicate that planned home births with a trained attendant have the same or better outcomes than hospital births. The well being of the mother, baby and the family is the midwife’s primary concern. She provides women with complete prenatal care, labor, birth and immediate postpartum care and cares for the mother up to 6 weeks postpartum. Midwives view their relationship with each client as a partnership. The best way to have a healthy baby is to be a healthy mother. A Homebirth Story Seamless. That is the word I would use about our homebirth experience on the last day of April, 2003. It might be easier to describe all the things our birth was NOT. There were no decision points, no shifting of gears. The day was so naturally paced and home based that there are few bench marks to recall besides the arrivals of our birth attendants. They came to us. To our home. To our birth day. My partner, Prentice, and I had spent the day in the woods and in the greening grass, both of us experiencing the slow and steady onset of labor in our own ways. Soaking in the spring sun, reading aloud to each other, we were home-having a day together, waiting for the arrival of the new family member. Our friend Julie arrived just as Prentice started feeling the "nesting urge." He needed some time to get the house ready and so Julie and I went into the woods. We walked and stopped. Walked and stopped. Julie supporting me as I hung over her shoulders to relieve the back labor pains that were getting more intense. I took her on a new trail that Prentice and I had worked on the day before. At a fork in the road, she said, "Let's do the loop." I replied, "No, it is time to head straight back." When Prentice saw us emerging from the woods, me hanging over Julie's shoulders every couple of minutes, he knew we were on our way. He commented to Julie that I was all business. No more chit chat. Donna arrived around 6 pm and I was still not sure I was in productive labor. She assured me that I was definitely in labor. And to prove it I was 8.5 cm dilated. Donna did some time as prop to the laboring mother and didn't even flinch when I threw up over her shoulder. I went back into the birth tub where I continued to ride the back pressure contractions. Around 8 pm after a strong contraction, I opened my eyes to see a little elf sitting on the steps inside the door. It was Ellie, smiling at the scene. "I'm in labor, Ellie," I said. "Yes, you are." Minutes later, shaUna, the intern, arrived. Everyone was present and accounted for. Let the birth begin. I was a loud laborer. I was hoarse the next day from moaning the low tones of release. More animal like than human, I think. Words were not my first language that night. I was fluent in the expressions of sound that meant only one thing-childbirth. But the midwives understood every moan. They were incredible. Matching my energy with the precise words of release and acceptance that let me know that I was doing the job beautifully. I felt safe and loved and I was at home. These feeling made my birth experience special, beautiful and in perfect concert with our son, the guest of honor. Our son was born in the water just before 11 pm. He was a round headed and big baby. 10 pounds 2 ounces to be exact. As my friend, Julie observed, "a big part of the midwives' job is really after the baby is born." It is so true. You think of the midwives as ushers and companion through the labor process but there is the less glamorous of but oh so crucial time immediately after the birth where the midwifery model of care really shines. Our midwives really, really shone. I was exhausted. I got out of the tub and into bed. Prentice and our son were snuggled by the fire, making eyes at each other. Food, water, tea, and stitches, that is what I remember. Prentice and yet unnamed boy child joined me in bed. Without even noticing, the hours had flown by. Our house was clean, the birth tub was packed up and I had a baby in my arms. It was time for the midwives to leave-there were tears of gratitude in the parting. I was already looking forward to seeing them the next day. The new family fell asleep. We named our son 24 hours after he was born. Welcome to the Earth, Joseph Andrew Grassi.