5 Essential Tips for a Confident, Empowered Homebirth - from a seasoned Illinois Doula - includes a list of local Homebirth Midwives.
Choosing a home birth means choosing trust in your body, your baby, and your birth team. You’re inviting birth into your most sacred space, and that kind of intimacy requires preparation that’s physical, emotional, and mental.
As a seasoned doula and homebirth mom I’ve come up with some tips to help you prepare.
1. Change how you think about pain.
Contractions aren’t punishment. They’re power.
They’re your body doing exactly what it was made to do.
And with each wave, your body releases its own natural medicine cabinet:
Oxytocin, the hormone of love and labor.
Endorphins, stronger than hospital meds. Many home birthing moms say they feel high, calm, or dreamy.
Dopamine, the reward chemical that keeps you focused and grounded.
Adrenaline, your final-push hormone. This one helps when it's time to meet your baby. Too much early on, though, can burn you out, which is why rest matters.
Try these affirmations and mindset changes.
I AM doing it. I GOT this. My favorite thing to say to clients as a contraction start is: You got this. And they answer with - YES I DO! As they take a deep breath.
Breathe into the intensity, go towards it. That’s where your baby is waiting to meet you. When you breathe out make low sounds utilizing your diaphragm - think of the sound “moooooh”
Trust: "With every wave, my baby and I are one step closer"
REMEMBER: Your mind is the architect of your birth experience. Contractions only last 45-90 seconds. You can do anything for a minute. Once you feel the peak - know you’re halfway done and keep filling your belly with air.
2. Hire a Doula — Yes, Even for Home Birth
Actually, it’s especially important at home.
Most home birth midwives strongly encourage or even require first-time parents or first time home birthers to hire a doula. Doulas increase the chances of a smooth labor and help you stay calm, informed, and supported.
Your doula will guide you during early labor before your midwife arrives. She will remind you to rest, help you cope with contractions, and give hands-on support when things pick up.
She also holds space for you emotionally before, after and during birth.
She cheers you on when you forget how strong you are.
And many doulas (like me) take photos and even video clips of those first precious moments, so you can see your power afterward.
Doulas are an investment in a peaceful, confident birth. You may be able to use your HSA or FSA funds. Some insurance providers reimburse with a letter of medical necessity.
3. Forget the Birth Plan. Focus on What Matters Most
Home birth already centers your preferences. You don’t need to fight for delayed cord clamping or uninterrupted skin-to-skin.
Even the super cool baby still attached to placenta photo is happily arranged if you wish.
That’s the default with Homebirth and why it’s where I personally have chosen to give birth, after my first - a hospital birth.
Instead of a rigid plan, think about your values. What’s most important to you?
Examples:
I want to labor in water if it feels good.
I want quiet during pushing or labor.
I want my partner close by the whole time.
I want to be left alone until transition.
I want my mom/child/partner to cut the cord.
I want to catch my own baby.
Let your midwife and doula know. Then let go of the outcome. Birth isn’t a checklist. It’s a dynamic, living experience.
You may expect one thing and end up doing another. That’s not failure. That’s flexibility. That’s instinct.
Although transfers are rare, and most happen due do maternal exhaustion (see number 5), sometimes they do happen.
Trust Your Team
Homebirth midwives are deeply committed to both your safety and your autonomy. They’ve attended births in all their wild, beautiful forms and know how to walk the line between hands-on guidance and letting you lead. They trust birth—and they trust you.
If a transfer becomes necessary, your midwives don’t see it as failure but a necessary next step to keep you and your baby safe.
They’ll stay by your side, communicate clearly, and make sure the transition is smooth and respectful.
Many homebirth midwives have built strong relationships with hospitals and OBs, so you’re never left to navigate that path alone.
At the end of the day, a “good birth” isn’t about sticking to a script. It’s about feeling seen, heard, and supported—whether you're in your own tub, your own bed, or making the call to continue your journey in a hospital.
Your team will be with you every step of the way.
4. Nourish Your Body. Move with Intention. Stay Connected
The best way to stay low-risk and ready for home birth is to treat your body with care and attention.
Move your body daily.
This isn’t about workouts. It’s about balance and alignment. Walking, prenatal yoga, or swimming help your baby settle into the best position for birth. Even bouncing on a birth ball or doing hip circles can help.
Squat a LOT. Have you noticed that in many cultures, people squat daily—to rest, cook, or work? That simple habit actually prepares the body beautifully for birth. Squatting opens the pelvis by up to 30%, uses gravity to help baby descend, strengthens key muscles, and promotes optimal fetal positioning. During labor, it can reduce the need for interventions and may even help prevent tearing. Practicing supported squats during pregnancy, using a wall, yoga block, or partner. Or utilize the squat instead of bending down during daily activities this can build flexibility and strength so your body instinctively knows what to do when the time comes.
Eat for strength.
Your body is building a baby and preparing to birth one. Protein, healthy fats, iron-rich foods, and plenty of water are key. Dates, coconut water, and bone broth can help boost stamina in late pregnancy. Vitamin C and daily eggs have shown to strengthen the amniotic bag.
Listen to yourself.
If you need to rest, rest. If you feel off, tell your midwife. Home birth works best when communication is strong and everyone is tuned in to your needs.
5. Early Labor? Netflix and Nap.
When labor starts, don’t rush. Don’t time every contraction. And definitely don’t panic.
Early labor is your body’s gentle warm-up. It can last for hours or even days.
This is the time to relax and protect your energy.
What I tell my clients to do:
Sleep if you can. Or lie down with your eyes closed.
Sip on coconut water, Gatorade, or juice.
Snack on simple, nourishing foods. Yogurt, fruit, toast, nuts.
Distract yourself with a movie, baking, or puzzles.
If it’s nighttime and your contractions are manageable, you can ask your midwife if it’s safe to take something like Tylenol PM or Unisom because the best thing you can do is get sleep and rest before things really begin.
You’ll know when labor is active.
It gets stronger, deeper, and more focused. Now you utilize that storage of energy you have been reserving by resting.
Use your body.
Sway. Rock. Get in the shower. Moan. Drop your voice low and blow your breath out slowly, like you’re melting tension with every exhale. These are the tools that work.
You’re Home. That’s the Magic.
No packing a bag. No driving during contractions. No cold hospital lights or waiting to be admitted.
Just you, your baby, your team, and your space.
When your baby is born, you get tucked into your own bed. The midwives clean up, start the laundry, and leave you with tea, snacks, and oxytocin.
They come back the next day to check on you and baby and for any necessary tests.
You never have to leave.
This is birth the way it was always meant to be.
And you are so ready.
Curious about Homebirth in Chicago and Suburbs?
Check out this alphabetical list of midwives we love working with.
Birth Pray Love - Dedicated to providing personalized and compassionate maternity care. Serving families in the Chicagoland area and suburbs, within a 1 hour radius of Willowbrook, IL, as well as Indiana. Our focus is on empowering women to have a safe and positive birthing experience in the comfort of their own home. Fluent in Polish.
El Nido Homebirth Midwifery - Focused on building peer level, deep relationships with clients where they feel encouraged to use their own wisdom and autonomy. Trusting pregnancy and birth to go well and utilizing physiology and nutrition to help navigate any bumps along the road. Traveling about an hour around Wood Dale, IL. Fluent in Spanish
Gentle Birth Care - Our team of Certified Nurse Midwives and Midwife Assistants bring over a combined century of experience and passion for family-centered care. As a group practice, we are able to make home birth safer and more accessible to families across the Chicagoland area.
Homebirth Midwife - Homebirth nurse and midwife focused on forming relationships with clients to ensure trust and comfort and informed consent in the birth space. Attended close to 2000 home births in Illinois and SW Wisconsin. Traveling one hour from Elgin, IL.
Midwives Care LLC - Christian nurse midwives proud to offer women and their families an opportunity for the blessing of a natural, undisturbed birth process. Midwives Care LLC offers homebirth, lactation, newborn and well woman services. Offices are conveniently located in Crete, Orland, Lisle, and Arlington Heights. Standard clients home visits 34-40weeks. Global fee $5500 with professional biller for PPO insurance.
Profound Birth - Professional Midwife, and Prenatal and Pediatric Chiropractor. Since 2018. The practice is grounded in a commitment to generational health, community wellness, and integrated perinatal care.
Sacred Circle Birth Services - Holistic care and elevation of physiological birth. Treasures building relationships with clients and providing heart centered, client-led, care. Honoring nature and the client’s wishes. Serves an hour radius around Naperville.