Notes on birth, health and family

How to prepare for a home birth

Everything to think about in the months before, from choosing your midwife to setting up your space.

How to Write a Birth Plan That Actually Helps in Labor

The people around you in labor can then protect what you care about without asking you to explain it between contractions.

7 mins.

Signs of Labor: How to Tell It's Starting, and When to Call Kim

Knowing the signs of labor ahead of time turns that guessing into something calmer: a sense of what is happening, what to do next and when to pick up the phone.

C-Section or Natural Birth: Which Is More Painful, During Birth and After?

A fairer picture is that the two hurt at different times and in different ways.

How to Prepare for Labor: Getting Your Body, Mind and Home Ready

Knowing how to prepare for labor means working on all three, a little at a time, over the weeks you have left.

What Is Natural Birth? What It Means and How to Prepare for One

So the most useful first step is to answer the question what is natural birth for you, in your own words, and then prepare for that birth specifically.

Natural Pain Relief During Labor: What Helps and How to Practice It

Each of the seven below appears in guidance from ACOG, the WHO or federal women's health experts, and each comes with a simple way to start practicing now.

Birth Pool for Home Birth: How to Choose the Spot, Set It Up and Fill It Safely

The steps below follow the order you'll actually do them in, with the safety points that matter most and the way Kim Windels, CNM, helps families get ready.

Is Water Birth Less Painful? What Warm Water Can and Can't Do for Labor Pain

Holding both of those at once is what lets you plan well and go into labor with your eyes open.

Where Can I Have a Water Birth? Your Options, Setting by Setting

Once you know what each option usually offers and what to ask, the search gets much simpler, and if home is on your list, you'll also see how water birth works with Kim Windels, CNM, in Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming.

What Is a Water Birth? How It Works, From First Contraction to First Breath

The full experience is a sequence of small choices made over many hours, and seeing that sequence laid out is what helps you decide whether water is right for you.

Benefits of Water Birth: An Honest Look at the Pros, Cons and Safety

What follows is what the research shows, where the evidence is still thin, and how Kim Windels, CNM, talks it through with the families she cares for.

Planning a Home Birth in Winter in Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming

Planning a home birth in winter means adding a few layers to your plan, covering roads, warmth, power and timing.

Home Birth Supply List: What to Have Ready by 37 Weeks

This one is grouped by room and by stage, so you can fill a box at a time and have everything in place by around 37 weeks, when many families like to feel ready.

How to Get a Birth Certificate for a Home Birth in Colorado or Wyoming

Everything in this guide comes from state government sources.

Is Home Birth Legal in Colorado and Wyoming?

This guide draws on state government sources to explain how each state approaches home birth and what to check before you choose a midwife. It is general information, not legal advice.

Breech Birth at Home and Twins at Home: Where Kim Draws the Line

With Kim Windels, CNM, the answer is no, and the same goes for twins. Her reasons are personal as well as clinical, and a breech baby late in pregnancy still leaves you with real choices.

What Happens If a Home Birth Transfers to the Hospital

Asking what happens if a home birth transfers to hospital is a sensible question, and when the groundwork is done the answer is calmer than most people expect: a plan you wrote months earlier, a short route you already know, and a familiar face beside you the whole way.

Who Is Eligible for a Home Birth? A Clear Guide to Being a Good Candidate

Everything below reflects the guidelines Kim Windels, CNM, follows in her own practice, so you can see where you might stand.

Are Home Births Safe? What the Evidence Says About Planned Home Birth

Take away those conditions and the risks rise. The large studies show why, and they shape the way Kim Windels, CNM, runs her practice.

Home Birth vs Hospital Birth: How Families Decide

It is a decision about fit, shaped by your health, your values, where you live and the kind of support you want, and the factors below are the ones families weigh most often.

Pregnancy

How to Have a Home Birth: Planning With a Certified Nurse Midwife, From First Call to Three Months

The steps below follow the order they usually unfold, with a look at how each one works in care with Kim Windels, CNM.