News Local/State

Champaign Dad Delivers Daughter in Planned Home Birth with Help from Internet

By Kimberlie Kranich
 

Rebecca Butler, 34, and Tom Sheehan, 50, of Champaign wanted their daughter, Clementine, to be born at home. Rebecca's two other daughters, Sage and Lotus, were hospital births. Both were stressful and out-of-control experiences for Rebecca.

Rebecca and Tom connected with a local home birth group and hired a certified professional midwife who provided them with prenatal care. They knew prior to Clementine's birth that she was facing forward instead of facing backward. Clementine needed help getting into the right position in the birth canal. So Tom got on the Internet and with help from the website, spinningbabies.com, spun Clementine around and delivered her on the couple's living room floor on June 23, 2011.

Click on the link below to hear Tom and Rebecca interview each other, in StoryCorps style, about their experience giving birth at home.