Home birth

ginvzt

I agree with every single word you said, Snuggles!!!!

RoxieW

My point is that there should be adaquete resources - whether for a hospital or home birth ie a midwife per woman when needed. Not allowing homebirths in my area is because they dont have a midwife who will be able to stay with you for 4, 8 , 12 or whatever hours. My experience of hospital was that I saw very little of a midwife until I was in dire straits. No wonder there is more need for intervention/epidurals etc with hospital births - all of which cost the NHS more money.

Nicki

Snuggles wrote: »

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.

I had my two in hospital (by choice) so have no axe to grind, but if I had to answer this, I'd say its because it is (as I understand it) illegal to plan to give birth without a qualified doctor or midwife present. Therefore if a woman really doesn't want to go into hospital, she would only have two choices: to pay for a private midwife to attend her, or to give birth completely on her own (without even her partner for support). No other area of medicine is like this (exceot possibly serious mental health conditions)- you can decide even with serious terminal illnesses to remain at home and be nursed by your family. Therefore if the law of the country forces you to give birth with a midwife present, then they have an obligation to provide one for you wherever that birth may be.

However I do take your point that it would be completely impractical for every woman in the country to give birth at home as there just wouldn't be enough midwives to cope with demand. I guess that's why some mothers (and midwives) are posting here about pressure being brought to bear to deliver in hospital.

RoxieW

just to have another little moan - I cant have a homebirth and then stay in my own home to recovery - yet a friend of mine - neurotic first time Mum - chose to stay in hospital for 3 days afterwards even thought the midwife tried to discharge her after 8 hours. She wanted a 'rest' and the midwives to show her (repeatedly ) how to feed, dress, bath a baby etc. There was nothing they could do about this. Surely that's a bigger drain on resources - people treating hospitals like hotels and taking more midwives away from the woman who need them when they are giving birth.
I had post traumatic stress and post natal depression as a result of my two hospital births and the fact that I've been told no, I can't have a home birth, is keeping me awake at night. Not good for me or baby.

Nicki

RoxieW wrote: »

just to have another little moan - I cant have a homebirth and then stay in my own home to recovery - yet a friend of mine - neurotic first time Mum - chose to stay in hospital for 3 days afterwards even thought the midwife tried to discharge her after 8 hours. She wanted a 'rest' and the midwives to show her (repeatedly ) how to feed, dress, bath a baby etc. There was nothing they could do about this. Surely that's a bigger drain on resources - people treating hospitals like hotels and taking more midwives away from the woman who need them when they are giving birth.
I had post traumatic stress and post natal depression as a result of my two hospital births and the fact that I've been told no, I can't have a home birth, is keeping me awake at night. Not good for me or baby.

Most NHS maternity wards are nothing like hotels and most new mums can't wait to get out! They are neither clean nor quiet, and the chances of having a good rest with other babies crying as well as your own, and midwives bustling round doing regular obs must be less than at home. If your friend wanted to stay, that suggests that she was not in a fit state either physically or mentally to go home and look after a newborn. Frankly given how vulnerable newborns are, I'd rather that a mum in that state did stay in hospital where the baby will be safe and cared for, and be supported in feeding, changing, etc before she is discharged, rather than send her home and find the baby back in hospital or worse a few days later with dehydration or having been dropped or smothered. Most mums do of course pick up how to care for their newborns instinctively, but this clearly didn't happen for your friend, so imho it sounds like she made a sensible choice in the best interests of her baby.

becca2008

i'm hoping to go to uni next year as a student midwife, so my knowledge is limited at best... but i believe the government have promised to give women more choice in respect of things like this - more midwives and more choice with regards to place of birth... it's just not happening as fast as everyone would like - the funding just isn't there and there are lots of newly qualified midwives who are struggling to find jobs while hospital and community teams are so short staffed that they can't always provide the level of care they want to provide to women and their families.

i don't have children yet. but when i do, i want to have a home birth (providing i have a low risk pregnancy, of course), and i just hope that the nhs is better able to provide that option to me when i do choose to start a family.

on a more selfish level... i also hope that funding is sorted out for more midwives *before* i qualify to be one!

sooz

Roxie - when are you due?

Have you looked at the homebirth website?

There is a page dedictated to arguing with your local health authority against their apparent 'staff shortages' complete with sample letter to write. Aims will also help you.

sooz

Snuggles wrote: »

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.

It is cheaper to the NHS to have a baby at home, than it is to go into hospital!

milliebear00001

Snuggles wrote: »

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.

It's strange then, that other countries (particularly those of Scandinavia) seem to be able to manage approx. 60% of their births at home, while we manage about 2%. Make no mistake, this is a funding issue - it is perfectly possible (and cheaper) for the majority of women to have their babies at home.

sooz

milliebear00001 wrote: »

It's strange then, that other countries (particularly those of Scandinavia) seem to be able to manage approx. 60% of their births at home, while we manage about 2%. Make no mistake, this is a funding issue - it is perfectly possible (and cheaper) for the majority of women to have their babies at home.

exactly...too much funding of managers, & not nearly enough funding for midwives.