The desire to have a home birth was originally kindled in highschool, when I took a brief one day course on the basics of midwifery.  I had already been curious about home births, as I grew up homeschooled in a homeschooling community where quite a few friend’s mom’s had home births with a midwife.  They had gotten to be there when their mom gave birth and told me about it.  I found it quite intriguing. I loved the thought of an all natural birth in the comfort of your own home along with the benefits that go along with that.  Fast forward to when I got pregnant with my first.  I was only 19, and although I desired to have a home birth with a midwife, my insurance wouldn’t cover it.  I also felt pressured by quite a few people to have the baby at the hospital.  “What if something goes wrong?” they would say.  “It’s your first, so you don’t know how it will go!” I foolishly let the fears of others take hold in me and caved to having my first child at the hospital.  I wish I hadn’t.