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How a home birth takes place
During pregnancy
Introduction meeting
During the introduction meeting, we get to know you and family/partner. We provide information about home birth and answer any questions.
The information meeting takes place at our midwifery office in Holtegata 24, usually lasts between 1 - 1.5 hours, and costs 500 NOK.
If you are curious, you can also call us on weekdays between 09:00 and 20:00 for an informal conversation.
Pregnancy consultations
We follow the recommendations of the Norwegian Directorate of Health for pregnancy consultations and offer consultations from week 28 until birth (week 28, 32, 36, 38, and 40). The consultations also include planning for home birth and childbirth preparation conversations. You will be assigned a primary midwife as your main contact. She and/or the on-call team will always be available to you if you need advice or guidance after starting with us. Our goal is for you to feel confident that we are here if you need us. Additional consultations can be done by phone, through home visits, or at the midwifery center. We will refer you to specialist healthcare services if additional follow-up is needed.
During the birth
The midwife is on call for 5 weeks, from week 37+0 to week 42+0. Our midwives are available during these weeks, both day and night, regardless of when labor begins during this period.
Your midwife will come to your home when labor starts and will stay with you the entire time. She will call in a midwife colleague when you have progressed further in your labor. Both midwives will be present when the baby is born and during the first few hours afterward.
Our midwives have extensive and varied experience and are specialists in physiological births. This means that we are well-trained in supporting normal processes, assessing how your baby is doing, and providing you with the best possible support when needed. Because we are experts in the natural changes that occur during birth, we are also well-equipped to detect any changes that may require more active midwifery management or medical follow-up at the hospital. It is rarely necessary to transfer urgently during labor, and most challenges that may arise usually develop over time. The most common reasons for transfer are slow labor progress and a tired mother, the need for pain relief, or increased monitoring of the baby.
We are experts in water births, and most of our women spend all or part of their labor in water. We have birthing pools available for loan. Being immersed in warm water during labor has many benefits. It is relaxing and pain-relieving, makes you feel weightless, helps you stay mobile, and allows you to take various positions that are beneficial for the labor process. Most women experience a strong sense of security, and research actually shows that women who give birth in water are generally more satisfied with their birth experience. Research also shows that it leads to shorter labor, especially for first-time mothers, and results in more spontaneous births without the need for medical intervention.
We also offer acupuncture, massage, and other advice throughout the process. But our most important task is to be there as a source of comfort and security for you and your family.
In the hours after birth
The midwives stay in your home for a few hours after the birth. We facilitate skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby, and the partner, assist with breastfeeding, and ensure that the new family is comfortable. Additionally, we perform the necessary measurements before leaving the home.
Usually, the midwives are present for 2-3 hours after birth, but we stay longer if needed.
The days after birth
The midwife will visit your home later the same day, or in the days following the birth. We ensure that the new family is doing well, check that the mother’s uterus is contracting properly after birth, provide breastfeeding guidance if needed, review the birth experience, weigh the baby, and perform a newborn screening (a blood test that checks for 26 serious congenital diseases) about 48 hours after birth.
We will have a final conversation, but we remain available to you after the birth, even when the health station has taken over responsibility. We also organize postpartum gatherings with everyone who has been associated with Min Fødsel, and we truly appreciate receiving updates from you and your baby in the years to come.