Hypnobirthing - Schaumburg,IL

Unfortunately, Homefirst no longer accepts patients for home births...and there aren't any freestanding birthing centers in IL. However, you could have a home birth or a natural hospital birth. I did hypnobirthing with my 2nd. I read some books on the Mongan method, but had access to HypBirth, so I did that instead. Like Momsrgreat B. said, you should start the books/cds now. There are many months of preparation. My good friend is a home birth midwife (and had 2 home births, herself) & can lead you in the right direction. In IL, a CNM *or* MD could attend your home birth. A doula would also be a good idea. If you want to pm me, I'll give you her info. - she's in Arlington Heights & works all over the area (up to WI!), and could give you some names & ideas. Hope this helps. Congrats!

I'm a homebirther here! Both my kids were born at home with a midwife. I used Hillary Kieser CNM I met her while I was a patient of the Western Suburban Midwives group (she was one of the creators I believe)... that whole group was great though. I also use HomeFirst for our drs! :) And its correct, they stop doing home births in April I believe. I used Hypnobabies for labor.....feel free to message me with any info/questions you have.. I LOVE chatting about this stuff :D

You've gotten some great advice here. I agree that West Suburban Midwives are probably your best option, aside from home birth. I used them for my 2nd birth, and they were wonderful. Back then, Hillary was still with them (before she did her own homebirth practice), so she was one of my midwives. She's fantastic! The downside to using West Suburban Hospital is that they only have (or did at the time, at least) 2 ABC rooms, staffed with nurses who are knowledgeable about natural birth. Well, I went into labor on a full moon, so the whole floor was packed. I had to use a regular L&D room, with a nurse who knew NOTHING about natural birth. She rolled her eyes at me the whole time I was doing my hypnobirthing thing, and was just a thorn in my side. It was really distracting and upsetting, especially because the nurse fought me on almost every procedure that had been agreed upon ahead of time (like not using rough towels on the baby's skin, giving me the baby immediately and letting me hold him during the APGAR testing, etc.). My midwife told me afterward that mine was the very first natural birth that nurse had ever seen, and that she was shocked at everything that happened. Anyway, my midwife was great, but I could tell that her hands were tied in certain situations, due to the contract they had with the hospital and the doctors they were working under. Also, I was appalled that the hospital had NO lactation consultants. The nurses there were NOT knowledgeable about breastfeeding, and were very pushy with the formula. They actually wanted me to sign a statement acknowledging that cosleeping was dangerous and that I wouldn't do it. I crossed out many sections and added my own addendums before I signed that thing! :)

Sorry for the novel here. My point is that going with a midwife is a great decision, but your happiness will largely depend on the hospital, and ABMC is not favored by women seeking a natural birth. I had my first baby there, and I would never return for another birth. I'm also a doula, and have heard many horror stories from other women about births there. From what I've heard, the tubs there are for show. It's something they love to brag about and point out on tours, but they don't actually let many women use them. They have a rule that if you have an IV, you can't use the tub, and as I'm sure you know, hospital protocol is that everyone gets an IV. Of course, you can fight that, and you should also ask your midwife is this is their MO. Maybe they've changed in the last couple of years.

If your insurance covers homebirth, you're low-risk, and you can find a CNM who's available to work with you, that would probably be your best option. There's a homebirth group in chicago on Meetup.com. I'd definitely go to a few of their meetings. Lots of informed, helpful people there! I wish you the best of luck! I'd love to hear how it turned out! :)

~A.

Try the Mongan hypnobirthing method. You need to start now with the excersizes if you are going to be serious about it. It is a learned art, not something you can just recall from memory the day you need it. Esp. if this is your first, everything in your mind gets erased when you are in the process of birthing. So if it's engrained in your brain, you'll be able to use it. It didn't work for me, but my sister used it successfully for 3 births.

I birthed my 4th child at ABMC. I was excited to find a new CNM at that hospital. I birthed at Evanston naturally the previous 2, and loved my CNM. I was just nervous about the distance from my home to Evanston for my 4th. My CNM was not Quigley, but my experience left something to be desired. I arrived at the hospital and was admitted to the triage room. All the labor rooms were busy. It was 10pm. I was also crossing my fingers to get the tub room. I never saw it. Luckily the nurse I had urged me to use a shower, so I was taken to a delivery room that was not in use, but was being used for storage or something. I was in the shower for 1 hour before I HAD TO deliver. My midwife arrived with minutes to spare, and I ended up delivering in this stock room. They had to rush to take the extra stuff out of the room, and bring the monitors into it.
Needless to say, all experiences are totally individual, but a hospital is a hospital. If you want a totally natural experience without the pressures and interventions of medicine, you are better off going to a true birthing center, or home birthing. I have friends who have loved West Suburban Midwife Associates in Oak Park. I myself returned to my original CNM. I didn't end up liking my Alexian midwife and her delivery or follow up styles.

Have you checked into HomeFirst? They are one of the original home birthing groups.

Good luck!

Hi Mama,

I'm so glad you're looking into all of this, especially your hospital options. Everyone always seems to be really careful selecting their care provider, but they don't look at the hospital, and when you're in labor it's really the hospital that sets the rules and policies, so that is so important.

I used hypnobirthing. I took the class with Tricia Fitzgerald. The key is to really practice it a lot. My first birth was scheduled to be a natural birth at West Suburban Hospital with the West Sub Midwives. They have natural birthing rooms there with tubs. I ended up being induced for high blood pressure, so I risked out of the natural labor rooms. But all in all I still really liked West Sub. They didn't push the epidural, I labored for 51 hours, over 24 hours past my water breaking - not every hospital allows all of this. I believe West Sub also has the lowest C-section rate in the Chicagoland area.

My second birth I did a home birth with Hillary Keiser of Gentle Birth Care in Oak Park, IL. She is awesome, and I loved, loved, loved my home birth.

Feel free to send me a message if you have any more questions. I'm studying to be a doula and I need to do a certain number of births for my certification. I'd be honored to be your doula if you're interested. Win-win - you get a free doula, I get one step closer to my certification.

Happy birthing!