Can I have a homebirth if I rent an apartment or live in a small space?
Photo from friend of client family.
Yep! I’ve attended plenty of births in apartments, and even in an RV. Midwives who helped bring me up as a student have outhouse stories from their rural birth attending days. Truthfully, even if you live in a large home, we half expect you to squeeze yourself into a smaller nook or cranny once it’s time to have your baby. Many people want a dark, secluded space that feels safe and private. This makes sense: we’re ultimately part of the animal kingdom as mammals, and our species sometimes falls under the prey category. Our bodies and brains know that. Prey animals who give live birth tend to do so privately, or surrounded by a small group of trusted herd members to protect them and support them.
In all seriousness, the most important things you need in your living space are access to running water, electricity, and overall cleanliness. We can work with small, we may just need to temporarily rearrange a surface area to put birth supplies on while you’re in labor. We happily clean up before we leave and put things back to normal. There must be clear walkways from you to the door in case of emergency.
When I say overall cleanliness, I do not mean that you need to scrub your baseboards or obsessively declutter, but that there is not recurrent overflowing trash or litter boxes or other hazards that could influence air quality or infection risk for you, baby, and birth team. Your space must be reasonably livable- and we fully expect it to look like you live in it! We live in real homes, too. Mine was built in the 50s and doesn’t have an actual closet to speak of. One of my babies was born here, and he still doesn’t care about the lack of closet space and other quirks.
However much space you have, we make sure we’re familiar with it by coming to your home for your 36 week prenatal visit. We like to know where you see yourself potentially laboring and birthing your baby, and to visualize where we may set up equipment. If you intend to borrow our birth pool, we talk about water hook ups and where it makes the most sense to put it. We familiarize ourselves with your laundry so that we can start a load of laundry on our way out the door after you have your baby. Once you’re in labor and we arrive and set up our equipment, we always have a smaller tray of supplies we follow you around with, so you have flexibility of where and how you want to be. You don’t have to choose a spot ahead of time to birth your baby in and stick to it. Sometimes folks are certain they’ll want to birth on their bed or in a tub, and something else ends up feeling better. That’s okay!
We provide you with a link to our birth kit supply list during your third trimester, which mainly has disposable items that are used to help keep your living space clean. Blood and fluids happen in birth. There’s chux pads, floor coverings, and ways to make your bed for an easy transition from birth to postpartum for all of it.
If you live close to your neighbors, it may be a good idea to let them know that if they hear noises, they don’t need to worry, you’re just having your baby. We find most are very understanding, and are excited for you if they see us coming and going. There are no laws keeping you from having a homebirth in an apartment or rental home in Tennessee.
We’re happy to attend low risk births in most any place. That’s one of the best parts of my job: being with all kinds of people who live in all kinds of ways, for the same big and brave event that is the birth of their children. If you’d like to talk about having your baby with Maypop, you can fill out our contact form here and we’ll reach out to you to schedule a free consultation.
