There’s No Place Like Home
Last summer, Cindy Crawford and husband Rande Gerber welcomed their baby boy the old-fashioned way--without painkillers, fetal monitors, unflattering hospital gowns or paparazzi with telephoto lenses. The news of Presley’s low-tech arrival, splashed across the cover of People magazine, was a bold reminder that home births are not just for physician-phobic hippie types. Nurse-midwife Leslie Stewart, who counts Pamela Anderson Lee and Sherilyn Fenn among her clients, explains why her business line rings constantly.
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Q: Is there such a thing as a typical home-birther?
A: It’s very much about wanting an equal say in how things are done. They tend to be people who are very in touch with their bodies and informed. But, really, it runs the whole gamut income-wise and education-wise and career-wise.
Q: Are the motivations of celebrities any different?
A: I’ve had one or two express that they were really in need of privacy and were fearful of that being violated at the hospital. When Pamela Anderson Lee was pregnant, I had people from the Globe trying to find out if I was her midwife and following me in my car when I went to check on her in labor. [My clients] want their birth to be a beautiful experience rather than a medical or a media event.
Q: What about pain?
A: The only pain medication we bring is a local anesthetic in case we have to do a few stitches. Women who give birth at home aren’t any braver than women who give birth in the hospital, but it’s easier, in your own surroundings, to do the things that make labor go better. If it would help you to get in a weird position and howl at the moon, you can do that without scaring the lady down the hall.
Q: Any other freedoms that home affords?
A: I’ve had people clean out a kiddie pool and then labor in the pool and deliver their babies on their patios. I remember one lady standing up at her dresser [during labor] and putting on her mascara because she wanted to look nice. A lot of people light candles.
Q: Do most women like people around?
A: Everybody is real different. I had one where I think there were three generations of family in the room, at least 14 or 15 people. I’ve done births with a 3-year-old’s arm wrapped around my neck. The kids do so well. They’ll say, “Eewww, it’s coming out,” or clap and say, “Mommy, can you do that again?”
Q: What about the fathers?
A: I’ve had dads who start moaning along with the moms. It’s gotten so loud where you almost felt like you needed earplugs.
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Home Birth Service of Los Angeles; (818) 760-6541.