Home Birth

loobs40

My first was a traumatic forceps delivery in hospital Luckily my best friend was a community midwife, so she encouraged me to have a home birth for the
second and it went perfectly. Only a few minutes in second stage compared to 2.5 hours the first time.

No mess at all, in fact once everyone had left a few hours later, it was as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened and it was time to get lunch started !

pickle

I had planned a home birth but on the night the midwife found that the baby was in distress so I had to go to hospital and had the works. I would plan it again as I trust the midwives to pick up any potential problems and you are always able to go into hospital at any point if you feel you aren't managing at home. Pain management options are more limited though and if I had gone ahead with the home birth then I would have had two small cylinders of gas to see me through! So it really depends on your ability to manage the pain, but then I've heard that after the first birth it gets easier.

Bargain_Rzl

Hi Becles,

I just wanted to say that if you do manage to go down the homebirth route, it will be a great experience for your 7 year old to be there if he's up for it. I was his age when my mum gave birth to my brother at home, at 7:30am on a school day, and although I was really only there for about the last 5 minutes of the birth, it was amazing and something I will never forget. (He'll be 21 next week!)

LizD_2

Apologies if this is the wrong place.

We're not planning on starting a family for a couple of years, but I'm thinking about a home birth. I know some of you here have had them.

I'm interested to know what sort of experiences you had, paticularly if it was your first child, whether you met resistance from professionals, family etc? A friend had a baby in February (in hospital) and she said she just wanted to feel looked after, although she was only actually in hospital about 6 hours and went home that afternoon.

I ask because I hate doctors and hospitals, and would probably just want to get on with it at home with a midwife, so long as there was no medical need to go to hospital. I'm also concerned about the apparent problems within maternity units. Don't get me wrong, i have the greatest respect for the staff themselves, just concerned that there often aren't enough of them.

alwaysonthego_2

I had a home birth with my second daughter which was a beautiful experience. It meant I had 2 midwives to myself and I felt more comfortable being able to get snacks when I wanted and to go to the loo with out feeling akward. It was a quick birth but I knew I was going to have a quick labour because I was only 3 hours with molly. I went to hospital with molly because I did not know what to expect with pain or whether I would have a long labour and I personally felt more safe at hospital. I did not regret it though I did find her birth to be less personell than violets due to midwives having other women in labour. I think now a days they encourage women to give birth at home if they are low risk abd it is much safer less chance of contractings bugs etc and it is much nicer to climb straight into your own bed then having to get dressed and trapse home good luck

Mrs_pbradley936

I don't think they will let you have your first baby at home. This is because if you have complications they can sort you out better in hospital. I don't think they let you if you have had a c section before either. Once they think you will be OK (because you have had a straight forward uncomplicated birth before) the midwives seem more than happy for you to be at home.

alwaysonthego_2

pbradley936 wrote:

I don't think they will let you have your first baby at home. This is because if you have complications they can sort you out better in hospital. I don't think they let you if you have had a c section before either. Once they think you will be OK (because you have had a straight forward uncomplicated birth before) the midwives seem more than happy for you to be at home.

I think it depends on your local heath authority. Where I live they are trying to close our local maternity unit down and are pushing for women who are low risk to give birth at home. Midwives if they think there is going to be any complecations will get you to the hospital asaP

olgadapolga

pbradley936 wrote:

I don't think they will let you have your first baby at home. This is because if you have complications they can sort you out better in hospital. I don't think they let you if you have had a c section before either. Once they think you will be OK (because you have had a straight forward uncomplicated birth before) the midwives seem more than happy for you to be at home.

Sorry, but this is absolute rubbish. "They" cannot stop a woman from having a homebirth, if that is what she wants. "They" cannot force a woman to go into hospital (short of sectioning her under the Mental Health Act). "They" can advise against it but cannot stop it.

I've had two homebirths and they were wonderful, thoroughly recommend it to anyone.

I have only two things to say to those thinking about having a baby in hospital - 1) infections and 2) one midwife caring for more than one woman in labour. At a homebirth you would have one to one care and there are usually two midwives towards the end of the labour.

My sister was thinking of having her first in hospital, however, the above has now convinced her that a homebirth is the only way to go!

Money_Maker_Shaker

Lots of great information on this site;

http://www.homebirth.org.uk/

Hope this helps

MMS

alanalea

I had my first baby at home last year and everything went perfectly- I had a 4 hour labour and delivery

Seriously, I was met with lots or resistance from my midwife. She tried to scare me with horror stories of complications and 'what if's', but I held out and even though my blood pressure was edging up towards the end, everything went great.

If you're planning to have a home birth then express your wish at your booking appointment. Find out what the protocal is in your area, and don't be upset if they advise you that you will be better off in hospital. See how your pregnancy goes and go from there- if you get any complications or 'abnormalities' then you may well be better off in hospital.

Another option is to book yourself into the 'Domino' system. This is where you have your labour at home then get taken into hopsital and delivered by your midwife. You can then (assuming everything went well) go home after 6 hours. Not all hospitals offer this service, but it is worth a try.

BTW, I'm a midwife