"One more push!" "The baby's almost here!" "You're doing great." I heard the same words that many women do while giving birth. The difference? I was being encouraged by my husband and midwife as I gave birth in our bedroom at home. Home birth isn't for every woman, but I would never have found a way to have the perfect birth for us if it wasn't for the internet.

I started using the internet for work in 1991. At first I thought that email and other internet tools were just to help people do their work. Then I found out how people could get really connected, and talk about shared interests. Usenet groups were my training ground, however. The intricacies of netiquette, flamewars, and the necessity of sifting information as it was presented, separating the dross from gold, were an educational experiences in themselves.

I found myself frequently reading about children and childrearing. I was beginning to nibble around the edges of full-fledged babylust, and this was a way to get my feet wet safely. Also, I could bring home cute stories of other people's children to share with my spouse. I figured he'd become enthusiastic about the idea by proxy.

The nicest thing about the web as a way to explore parenthood was the amazing diversity of opinions represented. As I read, I began to have a sense of where I fell along the parenting continuum.

Since I was not yet a parent, pregnancy and birth stories were intensely interesting to me. If I were going to have a baby myself, I'd have to go through the same thing all of these people were discussing!

Over and over, I read the same story, with only minor details changed: A fine pregnancy, followed by the onset of labor, and then the hospital experience. Abrasive nurses, busy doctors, "managed" labor, interventions too often leading to a C-section. This wasn't how I wanted to begin our lives as a family.

But among the typical (typical for Americans, I found out later) birth stories, there appeared a few that were different. Women having enormously satisfying birth experiences at home.

Birth at home? It was a completely foreign idea to me. Yet if I believed that these were real people, posting real stories, I had to accept that this was true too. As I read and reread these stories, I realized that if I were to have a baby, I also wanted to be at home.

I was also going to want my spouse as an enthusiastic advocate. So I turned again to the web. Loads of great information about home birth, midwifery services, pregnancy information! We both began to get excited about the possibilities.

I became pregnant during the summer. All the time that we spent actually expecting our baby was more time to learn and grow in anticipation. Thanks to the resources on the internet, I had wonderful women to pose my questions to -- women who had done what I dared to hope of.

Any time we faced opposition to our plans for birth, I knew where to go for Information and, more importantly, support. I could email out the questions and challenges I'd received from family members or medical professionals, and get back gentle feedback from women who had already gone through home births.

On March 4, 1995, we had the perfect birth for us, at home. Our daughter joined our family in the same room where she was started, nine long and exciting months before. I know that we would not have had this great start without the miracle that the internet was for me.

Now I log on to talk to other women who have had home births, and those who are curious. Any woman can use the internet to discover information about different birth choices. Maybe someone who thinks home birth is the choice for her will be encouraged by my story, too.