Home birth

Chipmunk27

I am 5 weeks pregnant with my firt child, and have a booking appointment with the midwife next week. When I spoke to her I said that I would prefer a home birth, and from the way her tone changed I have a feeling she will be less than supportive. Don't get me wrong, if I need to go to hospital I will, I'm not going to put baby or me at risk, I would just prefer the comfort and familiarity of my own home, and to have a choice.

So, has anyone had their first baby at home? What did your midwife have to say, good or bad?

Are there any resourses you can point me towards?

I am hoping if I can go next week with a convincing case I stand more chance of getting what I want.

Thanks

Chip

stingylolo

I didn't have home birth, I think the problem with them (from working in a GP practice ) is that the midwife has to attend the home birth, even if in the middle of the night, and she still has to do her appointments etc... it can be pretty rough for them.
You can still ask to change midwife if you are not happy with her, better have another midwife than one that you feel is not understanding, as it will give you a negative pregnancy experience.
Best wishes with the pregnancy and the baby.

MrsTinks

Or if you prefer you can pay for a private midwife...
I know the midwives at hospital were not impressed with how many home births they had to attend to as it leaves them stretched due to staff shortages already making it hard. Usually you have to try and book as early as possible but ofcourse you'er still not guaranteed a home birth (unless you book a private Midwife) as you might end up delivering early and the midwife might be on another home birth already...
It's worth asking but yeah... not all midwives are in favour of them and I can kinda see why Personally I have no desire to have bubba at home - just does NOT appeal to me... I can just visualize the chaos and commotion in my house - compared to the calm of the maternity ward... I know where I'll be! :rotfl:

Becles

I had planned on having a home birth. In my area there was a small team of community midwives who looked after pregnant ladies and new mothers. My midwife said she would try and deliver my baby but if she was busy or unavailable, then another one from the team would do it. One midwife will look after you for the early stages of labour, maybe popping away and coming back depending on how you go. A second midwife will arrive for the actual birth.

The midwife did have to do a risk assessment of my bedroom and bathroom, just to note down anything unusual. Say you had a really high or really low bed, it may cause the midwife backache etc. She also said cups of tea and snacks are appreciated if they are attending for a long time!

A pack would have arrived from the hospital at 37 weeks, with a gas and air cylinder, plus all the stuff the midwife needs. The only thing I had to provide was a waterproof covering for the bed and floor, and old sheets and towels.

As it happens I was very poorly in the pregnancy and baby arrived at 36 weeks, so I had to have her in hospital anyway.

I'd love to know where the nice calm maternity ward is MrsTine. I've had three hospital births and none of them were nice and calm!

MrsTinks

John Radcliffe I spent time on 2 levels whilst there and had to go to other levels for tests and scan and it was very calm all the time Ok I wasn't in the delivery suite (obviously!) but the wards themselves were very nice
I think they have birthing pools too but plum forgot to ask whilst I was there... DOH!
I think they have enough private rooms that anyone with babies that are very vocal can have one which helps keep the wards calm... I had to move rooms because someone more in need of an en-suite came in when I was a bit better hence why I ended up actually on the maternity ward with people who'd just had their babbies... It was the only place with a private room (which they wanted me to have as I was vomiting a lot and oddly enough not everyone likes people in the next bed to them being sick all the time )

melwright

I had a hospital birth for my first and a home birth for my 2nd. The midwife said to me that for the first, you don't know what to expect or how you/baby are going to cope with labour and recommended that I had 1st at hospital.
My experience was good as was my labour, so when I fell pregnant again they were fine for me to have a home birth as I didn't have a history of pregnancy or birth complications.
My home birth was a fantastic experience - I use that word lightly as I woke up with pains at 3.30am and had DS2 an hour later! But it was great to be in my own surroundings.
As for midwives coming out in the middle of the night...I had DS2 at 4.30am on Christmas Day, the midwife on call was actually really chuffed as once they have delivered one on Christmas Day they get the rest of the day off, so she could open presents and have dinner with her family!
Good luck with whatever you do.

RoxieW

I've been told I cant have a home birth with my third child due to staff shortages. Pretty disgusting if you ask me as surely the solution to this is to employ more midwifes? Its ok for me to go to hospital and receive substandard care but not for them to do it at home.
Both my hospital births have been horrible experiences FAR from calm. My first was an induced birth with a baby born not breathing and in the room at one time I counted 8 students staring at me like a prised cow when I was far too out of it and distressed to do anything about it. My second was a quick natural birth where the midwives insisted that I wasnt in labour and sent me away. I was screaming in agony and noone would help me. It was as if I was some neurotic woman who didnt have a clue. Despite sending hubby for help 3 times it only came when i pulled the emergency cord.
Both births I felt out of control and not listened to. I also hated the stay on the ward afterwards - hard beds, scratchy sheets and how on earth are you supposed to rest with 10 other crying babies all waking each other up.
This time I really wanted to be in my own controlled surroundings and in my own bed afterwards but it looks like it wont happen because the situation with midwives in this country is so dire.

clairec79

OK as a mother who's had two out of three children at home - no matter how nice a hospital is it's not the same as being at home. If you are low risk (or even if you aren't if you know the risks and figure it's a risk you are willing to take) and you want a homebirth, even with a first baby, if you then find you need more pain relief you can transfer in, if you don't then you don't.

As a midwife, if you are on call then you know you may get called to a homebirth and it's not a problem, if you are on call and get called out you get the time back the next day (and it tends to get arranged so you work in small teams and the other midwives will cover appointments for you and if you have a clinic booked you don't do on call the night before. Our rota is worked so that the day after being on call is noted as a sleep day, with the basis that you'll work if not called out.

All midwives are trained in dealing with emergencies (yes we sometimes have nightmares about it but when it happens you go into autopilot) and can cope with them - the vast majority have warning signs that you pick up on as the labour progresses (even as simple as a cord round the neck I'm yet to be surprised by a cord as you can tell by the heartbeat or an intuition) and in a homebirth setting you act on those signs earlier (be it transferring or just getting a second midwife there sooner)

Any questions just ask (oh re the shortstaffedness, that sometimes is claimed but if you ring up in labour and say you are staying home they will send someone out (otherwise they could get struck off the register) it does take a lot of balls though to say that and play the game of chicken because they will put pressure on you if there is shortstaffing levels and offer to send you an ambulance, but if you make it clear you are not coming in and wont go in an ambulance, you expect a midwife they are yet to not accomodate a woman (however most give in and it does make me feel so guilty)

plumtreebabe

Hi,

If you want some real day to day support, information, advice and encouragement from both mothers and midwives, joint the uk home birth forum in the yahoo chat groups. They are absolutely invaluable and give all the info you need on which questions to ask and how to address the answers you get e.g are you being given the brush off or is it genuine info which you need to address. Loads and loads of support from those who have done it through nhs and independent midwives. and loads of support from those who are midwives in the system.

www.yahoo.co.uk/groups

Good luck!

mspig

I had a hospital birth with all three, first was fine, fast delivery no problems etc, then with second i wanted a home birth but OH kept on going on at me to go to hospital rather than be at home. To this day i am grateful to my husband for persuading me as the birth went well except he split me in 5 places, then i hemorrhaged badly the crash team were called in i lost alot of blood and had to be rushed to theater, i them spent another 17 days in hospital(partly due to me partly because my son was ill and had to go to neonatel). If i'd been at home i would of died. Didn't put me off having kids though because i went on to have my third, and i am considering a forth.

Snuggles

Just been reading this thread with interest, and at the risk of being shot down in flames, just wanted to give a different viewpoint.

Surely, it is unrealistic to expect the NHS to be able to cope with home births on demand? How could they ever have enough resources to allow for this? It may not be the woman's preferred option, but it is always going to be more cost effective to have the resources concentrated in one place (ie the hospital).

I know childbirth is a wonderful thing etc, but the fact is that resources are always going to be limited, and unless you are prepared to pay, I'm not sure why anyone should expect the right to a homebirth. I can be feeling really ill, but still have to drag myself to the GPs surgery - I don't expect him to come to me just because I would prefer it, it's not realistic.

Am I alone in thinking like this? Just to be clear, I don't mean to criticise anyone, I am just genuinely interested in why people think this is something that should be available on the NHS.