Special delivery: Du Quoin woman gives birth at home

On Jan. 2, Du Quoin resident Jen Emery gave birth to a daughter, Beatrice Anastasia, in a birthing pool in the family's Park Street living room.

Home birth - once a common occurrence in the days when hospitals were either too expensive, difficult to access from remote areas and less convenient thanks to presence of midwives and traveling doctors - has started to make a comeback.

"Just getting her birth certificate was a funny affair, because babies haven't been born in Perry County for a number of years," Emery said. "The county records employees seemed baffled when I called them about her certificate, and even thought I had called the wrong place."

Beatrice is the second child of Jen and her husband, Craig, to be born at home. The couple has three other children, Gilbert, Catie and Annie, with Catie and Annie having been born in the hospital.

"My mother delivered three of her children at home in Pinckneyville over 20 years ago, so I was familiar with home birth growing up," Jen said. "However, back then, home birth midwives were not licensed in Illinois and it was illegal for a midwife to attend home births here, even if she held a license from another state and could legally practice there.

"I was disappointed to find that even now, 20 years later, this is still the case."

Planned home births in Illinois are legal, but the only people legally allowed to deliver babies are medical doctors and certified nurse midwives. The nurse midwives are only allowed to attend home births if they have a written collaborative agreement with a physician.

"I tried to find a CPM (Certified Professional Midwife) for my first two pregnancies, but to my knowledge, there were none practicing," Jen said. "Most have moved across state lines where they can practice legally, severely limiting safe options for Illinois families who choose to birth out of the hospital."

The Illinois General Assembly took up legislation to change that with the Home Birth Safety Act, which would have provided for the licensure of midwives by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, but the measure failed to make it out of the Senate committee.

Supporters of the legislation said about 1,000 Illinois families choose home birth every year.

"Despite what a lot of people think, home birth midwifery has grown with the times," Jen said. "Just as modern medicine has grown more sophisticated, so has modern midwifery.

"They are very skilled professionals and for Illinois midwives, they really want their work recognized and to be held accountable like all licensed medical professionals."

Jen explained the role of a CPM in home birth.

"My CPM provided all my prenatal care, which is much more personal and thorough than any other medical care I've received," she said. "She provides all the same necessary tests I would undergo in a hospital setting. She also provides at-home postpartum care and lactation support for both me and baby, allowing for me to stay home and recover longer.

"CPMs are often referred to as the 'gold standard' in pregnancy and postpartum care, and my experience has made me truly believe that."

Jen was asked how she started the discussion with her husband about home birth.

"With my first two pregnancies, my husband Craig was skeptical of home birth," she said. "After our hospital births, he was much more open to a different birth experience for me.

"We decided to do some research together. We read books on natural birth, home birth testimonials, and we consulted both doulas (trained birth coaches) and midwives."

Jen noted that home birth isn't an option for every mother and baby, and to rule out any possibility of a high-risk pregnancy, the couple consulted their midwife about Jen's health.

"Comparing my two hospital births and my two home births, I am convinced that the care I received from my CPMs contributed to my faster recovery time and my success in breastfeeding my last two babies," she said.

Jen's story is also the subject of a documentary by SIU-Carbondale student Ellen Esling, who is writing her master's thesis on home birth. Jen said Esling is planning on a public screening of her documentary in April.

"For us, home birth was very healing and empowering, and it was one of the most exciting things our family has experienced," she said. "My advice to anyone considering home birth is the same advice I would give someone planning a hospital birth - take advantage of the sea of birth resources and learn all you can."