Definitely a brave couple. I'm not sure I could set my own fears aside for a home-birth. My hat definitely goes off to them both.

Avarice | November 03, 14:16 CET

Awesome! I hadn't heard this before. Go Aly!

Sassafras | November 03, 14:37 CET

This hasn't been posted here? I saw this over a week ago, I thought it was here. Maybe I'm wrong.

electricspacegirl | November 03, 16:47 CET

Where is Alexis going to sit!?

Haha.

ShanshuBugaboo | November 03, 16:57 CET

Nice one little Satyana, all the best people were born at home ;).

Saje | November 03, 17:07 CET

I'm so glad that Alyson and Alexis were able to have the birth of their child the way they wanted. Kudos to them.

embers | November 03, 17:23 CET

It's nice to see more and more people learning about and embracing less medicalized birth practices. Glad that they had such a positive experience. :-)

BrewBunny | November 03, 17:47 CET

Having had a friend's wife almost just die during childbirth, I'd say good on them, but I certainly would not be inclined to go that route nor recommend anyone head down that route without a backup plan. The fear factor is not just doctors trying to make money. There is a real risk.

Mort | November 03, 18:12 CET

Having a kid is a brave act from start to finish. After all, even if everything goes perfectly at the birth, it pretty much means you're going to be living with a teenager at some point...

And hospitals make a staggering number of mistakes, or at least American hospitals do... so while their doctor raised the good point that they'd never forgive themselves if something went wrong, wouldn't that cut both ways? Wouldn't they also never forgive themselves if they'd had a hospital birth and little Satyana had picked up some nasty disease, or the nurse gave Aly the wrong injection, or whatever?

Frankly, as soon as you add a baby to the mix, every fear on record goes up to 11. Or so I've been told, not having one myself.

ManEnoughToAdmitIt | November 03, 18:27 CET

It carries risk at home or hospital - not saying they're equally risky, just saying they both have dangers and the key is to know as much about those risks as possible before making as informed a decision as someone without medical training can make (both my siblings had far more complicated births in hospital than I had at home with my brother needing to be resuscitated twice and my mum very nearly dying in labour. That's obviously anecdote-not-data but it illustrates the point).

Saje | November 03, 18:44 CET

Childbirth has risks, period, and the truth of the matter is that much of the world's women give birth every day without benefit of a hospital. We make an honor of having the choice, but there is a reality. We intended a home birth for our first kids (twins) but when we found we were having twins our obstetrician felt it would not be best to do so- and he is a huge home birth advocate and well known. Good thing- one of my twins was born with lung problems and spent the first days of his life in intensive care. My third child was born at home, though. There are benefits and risks either way, but let us not make more of this than is there. Good for Aly and Alexis, but it is just a choice they made.

Dana5140 | November 03, 18:51 CET

I've never seen a well-known couple more on the same page or responding non-verbally the way those two do -- I think the stars must have aligned perfectly or Zeus threw a love thunderbolt down to earth because they are so well-suited for each other. And I say that not even knowing them. They really warm my heart.

Tonya J | November 03, 21:12 CET

One of my cousins decided to do a home birth. She went into labor and then had the baby before the nurse got there. Her husband delivered their son. Talk about scary.

Meltha | November 04, 01:21 CET

So happy that they had a good experience.

I almost lost my first baby due to hospital incompetence, so I decided to have the next one at home. I researched and prepared, got a midwife. It was a much better experience though I was pretty scared. I never told my OB the plan, just kept seeing him all along but stayed home for the birth. Interesting that he charged the full price anyway!

My third birth, at home, was a total joy. Nothing can compare.

Xane | November 04, 04:42 CET