Home birth

clairec79

Also the booking homebirths in advance may not be done in some areas incase you go into premature labour my first homebirth was first discussed at 28 weeks (when I said I wanted to do it), forms weren't completed by midwife or the kit dropped off till I was 36 weeks and a few days.

Next time they knew from booking but nothing gets planned for until you are at the stage where you would be staying home (ie if you went into labour at 26 weeks most sane women, however wholehearted they were over homebirth would go to hospital). That time a kit wasn't dropped off as they were several of us due at the same time and the midwives just carried them all in their cars.

Just pointing out that not 'booking' a homebirth doesn't always mean the midwife isn't supportive

Nicki

clairec79 wrote: »

But you AS THE MOTHER can plan to give birth without a midwife or doctor (just as long as you don't have anyone else acting as one - some would claim that would include being there) which is what I wanted to point out is not illegal, so a true unattended birth is not illegal

OK whatever :rolleyes: Presumably you think that what you have posted is completely different to what I posted, which was in any event only to explain why my view was that midwives should be provided on the NHS for those who were determined to have a homebirth.

I personally don't know anyone who would want to give birth completely alone, or who would want to put a close friend or family member at risk of prosecution, so I should have thought your window of legal behaviour is limited to a very hardy few!

My_Fathers_Daughter

Nicki wrote: »

OK whatever :rolleyes: Presumably you think that what you have posted is completely different to what I posted, which was in any event only to explain why my view was that midwives should be provided on the NHS for those who were determined to have a homebirth.

I personally don't know anyone who would want to give birth completely alone, or who would want to put a close friend or family member at risk of prosecution, so I should have thought your window of legal behaviour is limited to a very hardy few!

Wasn't there a Channel 4 documentary on this recently - following the stories of women who were giving birth at home without any medical intevention?
I didn't watch it (we were either ttc or just pregnant so didn't want to scare myself!) but I remember it being advertised and seeing snippets.
There was no suggestion of illegaility...

cazscoob

'As I understand it you have the right by law to give birth at home, and the NHS has an obligation to send a midwife to attend. I would ask to speak to the Senior Midwife for your area'

as above you have the right to have your baby where ever you choose to do so, however this all does come down to staffing and equiptment. i found this out the hard way with my last pregnancy as i wanted a homebirth and 5 weeks before my due date they tld me they could no longer offer me this, i was not impressed and it left me with many problems as my appointments were meant to be at home and they wer all cancelled and due to xmas they could not fit me in anywhere else?

this time around i mentioned to them at booking in appointment and they changed my notes and ref me to the community midwives, they came out last week to go over things and talk it all over(thats me 21 weeks). I have recently moved and it seems to have worked in my favour as this lot love homebirths and are so enthusiastic about it. they also explained they will be nipping i and out to say hi so i meet them all before the birth(that means ill need to keep the house gleaming lol) am really looking forward to it and advise you to push it as much as you can and not take any notice of the midwives who play it down. this will be somethig you remember forever and you should have it all the way you want!!

Nicki

My_Fathers_Daughter wrote: »

Wasn't there a Channel 4 documentary on this recently - following the stories of women who were giving birth at home without any medical intevention?
I didn't watch it (we were either ttc or just pregnant so didn't want to scare myself!) but I remember it being advertised and seeing snippets.
There was no suggestion of illegaility...

I don't really want to divert this thread down this path as it isn't really what OP was posting about. It's only started going haywire because I answered a question someone posted about why PCTs should have to support home births, and Claire then decided to pull me apart several times for saying exactly what she is saying but in different words!

However, for anyone who is interested in this issue, this link is interesting. http://www.midwifery.org.uk/hbuk.htm. The section on who can assist at a home birth is about half way down the page, and it gives several examples of fathers in the UK who have been convicted and fined for helping to deliver the baby either by catching it or cutting the cord without a qualified midwife or doctor present, when it has been shown this had been planned in advance by the couple and was not a case of a sudden emergency.

sooz

My_Fathers_Daughter wrote: »

Wasn't there a Channel 4 documentary on this recently - following the stories of women who were giving birth at home without any medical intevention?
I didn't watch it (we were either ttc or just pregnant so didn't want to scare myself!) but I remember it being advertised and seeing snippets.
There was no suggestion of illegaility...

There was! The channel 4 cameras had to leave for the birth, for fear of prosecution. They left a handheld camera with the father.

It was a great programme - don't know if you can still catch it on C4online, but the woman's water birth was amazing.

scottishchick27

I had my DD in hospital and while the midwives were great I would much rather do it at home next time. The first time I went to hospital and was determined to have an epidural but in the end I was too far on to get one and I managed fine. I was allowed to leave 6 hours after the birth but was dying to get out before that. I don't really like hospitals. However, I wouldn't have wanted a homebirth for my first baby as I didn't know what to expect. It could all be different the next time but that's a chance I'm willing to take. OH and my dad don't agree with it though, but it's not them going through it.

bumpybecky

RoxieW wrote: »

But according to my midwife, homebirths in my area have been temporarily suspended. So how can I insist on something that they say they're not doing?

if just need to be very determined / stubborn / pig headed! you have a legal right to have a homebirth, but you might need to fight to get it

Have a look at http://www.homebirth.org.uk/ I can't give a direct link to the page you need, but if you select from the left hand list 'you can't have a homebirth beacuse....' then scroll down to the section 'We just don't do home births in this area' and check out the links there

One of those links is for http://www.aims.org.uk/ I've not used them myself, but have heard excellent things about support offered by them.

It isn't always easy to get the birth you want, but I believe the chance of having a homebirth is worth getting stroppy for

Have you signed up for the yahoo group? you'll get a huge amount of supoort there the address is...

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/homebirthUK/

good luck

bumpybecky

and as for fathers being prosecuted - my DH caught ds (now 9 months) as the midwives didn't quite make it in time. I know we were never risking legal action as we'd not intended to birth unassisted, it just happened that way thanks to a set of temporary traffic lights

I'm very glad it did though.... it turned out that had the midwives been here, the midwives would have requested that I left the pool for the actual delivery as they weren't qualified for it. DH and myself had been to more water births (our two older daughters) than both of the midwives added together :rolleyes:

Chipmunk27

Hi all

Many thanks to everyone who has posted for your comments, I really didn't expect such a response so quickly. Thanks especially to those of you who have given me some links to follow, guess I'll be doing some reading over the weekend! Will let you all know how I get on with the midwife at the end of the week!!!!

Chip