[Rituals of care performed by families in preparing for the experience of planned home birth].

This ethnographic study aimed to understand the rituals of care performed by families, while preparing for the experience of planned home birth. 25 families participated in the period September 2010 to April 2011. The techniques of data collection were participant observation and interview. Through the processes of apprehension, synthesis, theorization and re-contexture, two categories emerged: The house to be born in and Preparing baby's arrival. Homebirth is an experience built within the pregnant couple. The house is considered the sacred place to experience childbirth, aggregating existential values to the physiological act of giving birth. Understanding these rituals contributes to offer a nursing care of quality in order to respect the cultural aspects involved in this assistance.