Maegan Carves’ advice on having a baby birth at home is, don’t do it! After a harrowing home birthing experience, she says that it is better to plan to have your baby at the hospital. She went further to say that moms-to-be simply shouldn’t plan to have a home birth because it will never go according to plan. For now, Maegan Carves and boyfriend Robby Lunt are following advice on baby care week by week bathing and taking advantage of additional baby advice websites on bathing their new little girl, Oaklyn. They’ve had plenty of support from their small town of Gardiner, Maine.
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Best Laid Plans and All That
Maegan and her boyfriend Robby had planned to have a home birth, so it wasn’t that part that didn’t work out. Pretty much nothing went to plan. Their midwife was stuck at home because of an ice storm. This meant that Robby had to deliver his daughter on his own in the bathtub in their home. Robby received advice on having a baby birth at home from their midwife over the phone.
The midwife told Robby to hold the baby with a towel while she was coming out and to turn her during contractions to guide her. However, that didn’t quite work out because Oaklyn was coming out feet first and got stuck. Robby stated that he just kept hoping that the baby would take a breath or start crying or moving. Mothering instinct took over for Maegan based on advice on having a baby in distress and she began infant CPR right away.
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All the Advice on Having a Baby at Home Points to Being Prepared for the Unexpected
Just minutes after Maegan started CPR, paramedics arrived and started Oaklyn on oxygen. Maegan stated that Oaklyn was on a towel and paramedics just scooped her up and they all followed them out the door. Al Nelson, the Gardiner fire chief noted that it seems that the stars aligned. Since Gardiner is such a small town, it only took paramedics five minutes to reach the baby.
Things worked out fine despite the scary circumstances and Oaklyn is now healthy and thriving. However, her mom’s and dad’s advice on having a baby at home is simply to not do it because things just don’t go according to plan. Having a birth plan is great, just don’t plan for it to happen at home. We’ll have to admit that Maegan and Robby’s point of view is a bit jaded because of their negative experience, but we’re sure there are millions of home births that have gone perfectly well. We only hear about the ones that don’t. So, if having your baby in the bathtub at home is your dream, and you have a normal pregnancy, why not give it a go?
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Source: WGME ; Mayoclinic ; NPR