Birth stories · Episode 1

Planning a home birth in Portugal: when plan B is the right birth

Maria, a doctor, and Carlos planned a home birth in Portugal. After five nights of labour, they transferred to hospital and still had the birth they needed.

Born to be Wild · 2026-09-28

Listen to the episode

Maria is a family doctor specialising in women's health. Carlos works in business. Together for 12 years, they spent a long time preparing for their first baby, and they chose something few people around them understood: a home birth in Portugal, with independent midwives and as little medical intervention as possible.

On episode 1 of the Born to be Wild podcast, they told Aviva Markowicz and Irene Jaspers how they prepared, why five nights of labour at home ended with a hospital transfer, and why they still describe it as "the birth we needed".

Why a home birth, even as a doctor?

Maria trained partly in the UK, including six months in obstetrics and gynaecology. There, families can choose between home, a birth centre run by midwives, or the hospital. In Portugal, those options are much more limited, and hospital births are often highly medicalised.

Being a doctor cut both ways. Maria knew the evidence and the guidelines, but she also knew the protocols from the inside: the defensive medicine and the fear. "Doctors only see the complications," she explains. "The midwife knows how to look at the woman. Just by listening to the sounds, she knows what stage of labour she's in."

She chose not to tell her colleagues about her plan. As Carlos puts it, they were "out of the norm twice": a home birth, and a doctor planning one.

How to organise a home birth in Portugal

Their first question was simple: where do you even start? What they learned:

You need an independent midwife. Maria found a list of the midwives who attend home births in Portugal. It was short: somewhere between 12 and 20 names.
Contact them early. Because so few midwives do this work, availability is a real issue. Maria and Carlos reached out right after the 12-week scan and interviewed several before choosing.
Midwives work in pairs. On the day, expect a team of at least two.
Preparation is part of the care. Their midwife ran monthly sessions and group classes with other couples, where parents who had already had home births came to share their experience.
You'll still need a doctor. Midwives in Portugal have broad legal competencies (Regulamento n.º 391/2019), but in practice some prescriptions, such as scans and blood tests, still go through a doctor (read Filipa's article). Maria and Carlos found an obstetrician who knew and respected their plan.

Looking for a midwife or a doula? Browse the midwives in our directory or the doulas, with reviews from other parents.

Preparing the space, not just the body

Before conception, they read about conscious parenting and took time to prepare during a six-month trip. Later, they wrote down their birth values, the feelings they wanted in the room wherever the birth happened: connection, love, serenity, trust and surrender. The cards were placed around the house, next to messages from a mother's blessing with family and friends.

Past the due date: everyone starts asking

The due date was 28 December. Christmas passed, then New Year. As 41 weeks came and went, the calls and questions multiplied. Even with a doctor's knowledge, Maria started to doubt herself.

A friend who had planned a home birth in Australia gave her perspective: there, she said, nobody would even ask before 42 weeks.

Five nights of labour at home

Labour started on King's Day, 6 January, at 41 weeks and a few days. Contractions came every one to two minutes at night but never became regular, then eased during the day. That lasted five nights. Their midwife came in regularly, Carlos supported Maria through every contraction, and Maria spent the last night, around 12 hours, in the bath.

Maria was so exhausted that she fell into deep sleep for two or three minutes between contractions. She was stuck at 4 cm, and Matthias, their son, had not yet engaged in the pelvis, which, their midwife said, is unusual for a first baby.

Knowing when to change the plan

It was Alma, a friend and their backup doula, who first said the words Maria needed to hear: the hospital was always an option. Maria felt relief.

"In the first journey, you don't know what's normal. You think that suffering equals progress."

Maria cried, talked to her baby, and made the decision herself. They left calmly, with the bags already packed.

A hospital birth that still respected their plan

At the hospital, the doctor asked for their birth plan and set out three "non-negotiables": IV access, CTG monitoring, and oxytocin after the birth to prevent haemorrhage. They negotiated a wireless CTG. Everything else was respected: dim lights, their own playlist, privacy. Note that the World Health Organization does recommend a uterotonic such as oxytocin after every birth to prevent haemorrhage (WHO, 2018), so this one is worth discussing in advance.

They also negotiated the rest:

Maria asked for an epidural to finally rest. It took two attempts and never worked perfectly.
The team wanted to start synthetic oxytocin straight away, while the CTG was normal and the baby was fine. The couple asked why and gained time: they started at half the usual dose, and only moved to the standard dose many hours later.
Within a couple of hours, Maria was fully dilated.

Maria is honest about the fact that being a doctor made it easier to be heard, which it shouldn't. Knowing your options and asking "why?" still helps anyone.

The birth they needed

By luck, the midwife on duty had interned with their home birth midwife two weeks earlier. The pushing phase lasted about 35 minutes, in a nearly dark room (the surgical light was broken), with their playlist on and the midwife singing along.

Matthias was born healthy at 42 weeks. They were left alone for an hour. He went straight onto Maria's chest for skin-to-skin, breastfed right away, and wasn't weighed or cleaned for the first two hours.

"It wasn't the birth we asked for, but it was definitely the birth we needed."

What they would tell other parents

Know your limits and respect them. Next time, Maria wants to listen to her body sooner, and trust the baby and the process more.
Partners, move from doing to being. Carlos says the partner's role isn't to fix things. You can't fix labour. It's to be present and in tune, and that can be practised during pregnancy.
Plan B can be beautiful. A respectful hospital birth is possible when your values, your birth plan and a good team are there.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find a midwife for a home birth in Portugal? Only a small number of independent midwives attend home births. Contact them early, ideally after the first-trimester scan, and meet a few before choosing. You can start with the midwives in our directory.

What happens if a home birth needs a hospital transfer? Your midwife comes with you and hands over your case to the hospital team. Bring your birth plan: many hospitals will read it and respect much of it.

Can I say no to synthetic oxytocin in a Portuguese hospital? Yes. The law guarantees informed consent and informed refusal (Lei n.º 15/2014). You can ask why an intervention is proposed and discuss alternatives, such as waiting or a lower dose, when you and your baby are well. Some procedures may be presented as hospital policy.

Sources

What our guests share comes from their own experience and practice. The medical and legal information in this article is based on the sources below. It doesn't replace advice from your care team.

Listen to the full episode

This article is based on episode 1 of Born to be Wild, the podcast: A family doctor choosing home birth, with Maria and Carlos. Listen on Spotify.