The NY Times' Julie Scelfo reports that thanks to Ricki Lake's documentary about having her baby in her bathtub in the West Village, home births are all cool now in the city. And not just among "hippie freaks or religious fundamentalists," either.
We can assume that this trend is real because some home birth specialist midwives are booked six months in advance. And it's all happening even though people worry about the rug and the sofa; or whether their one-bedroom can hold the birthing pool; or where everyone's going to sit; or--and this seems to be the real sticking point--what the neighbors will think about 15-40 hours of primal labor noisemaking.
I'm not sure, but I think the protocol for throwing a loud birthing in a New York City apartment building is to give the neighbors a courtesy heads up, and then to give them a bottle of champagne and an invitation to come on over if they hear a party.
Baby, You're Home [nyt]
Maybe I lucked out with my hospital, but I was able to do all of these things (bathtub, walk, etc.) at the hospital. And I was diagnosed with preeclampsia only upon being admitted to the hospital, so you never know what's going to happen. I love the idea of a home birth, but I love the security of the hospital. A natural birth can be done in the hospital. To each their own!
we had a home birth in the west village. I was so paranoid about the noise bothering people that I bought some sound blankets to put over our door. Turned out that one of the doulas couldn't figure out my ingenious blanket/door system and as a result the door was in fact wide open the whole time, ie in the middle of the night while my wife was screaming moaning etc. But no one noticed, our neighbors were shocked when they heard that the baby had been born at home.