Home Birth

inkie

I have done plenty of home births and I would advise anyone if they are low risk to 'go for it'. It has been sugguested ealier on that you are not 'allowed ' to have a home birth if it's your first baby - this is not true - i have delivered women at home with their first baby. Furthermore, there are situations where you would not be advised, in the light of current research to have a home birth (whether this be a first or subsequent birth). However, in such a situation, you cannot be made to deliver in hospital, and the Local Supervising Authority (which oversees midwifery care in the area,) has to provide a midwife to attend. A good relationship with a midwife who gives evidenced based care would ensure that any conflict would be avoided. Midwives do not have any option whether to attend or not, Drs can refuse to take on a homebooking.

Mrs_pbradley936

Ladies I think you have misunderstood me. Perhaps I should have said you would not be encouraged to have a first baby at home. You can of course refuse any and all medical help unless you are sectioned under the mental health laws but one would assume that a person seeking medical advice would at least think about taking it!

LizD_2

inkie wrote:

I have done plenty of home births and I would advise anyone if they are low risk to 'go for it'. It has been sugguested ealier on that you are not 'allowed ' to have a home birth if it's your first baby - this is not true - i have delivered women at home with their first baby. Furthermore, there are situations where you would not be advised, in the light of current research to have a home birth (whether this be a first or subsequent birth). However, in such a situation, you cannot be made to deliver in hospital, and the Local Supervising Authority (which oversees midwifery care in the area,) has to provide a midwife to attend. A good relationship with a midwife who gives evidenced based care would ensure that any conflict would be avoided. Midwives do not have any option whether to attend or not, Drs can refuse to take on a homebooking.

Would you be willing to expand on these situations? I'm interested to hear all sides.

Mrs_pbradley936

Giving birth is an individual experience and some of us sail through without any form of pain relief, no stitches and everything is hunky dory. They have large healthy babies and produce milk like a dairy cow. They are the ones singing the praises for natural childbirth and home deliveries. Some women might think they want a natural birth but find they ask for an epidural when the time comes. Others need forceps or other interventions. So while I think it is good that you are researching now, you should prepared to review any options nearer the time.

Squidgy

Ask if your midwifery team do something called a domino birth. I had one for my second and it was the best of both worlds. Basically it means that when you go in to labour you call your midwife and she comes round and assesses you if you want to stay at home and she thinks it will be ok she will stay with you if you decide you want to go to hospital she will go with you and assist only you. The only thing is is if she is on call with some one else you may have to wait or go with another midwife (one you will probably have met before) the same applies if she is not on shift.

HTH
Squidge x

lyns_2

I had my son 4 years ago it was my 3rd pregnancy and the other 2 were natural.The midwife kept telling me to have a home birth but in the last month i changed my mind.
Well i am glad i did because he went in to distress and i ended up with 7 midwifes and 1 doctor in the room trying to sort it out.
I am now 29 weeks gone again and shall be going into hospital to have him.
My point is do what you want to do and dont let anyone tell you diffrent

Crispy_Ambulance

research shows that booking for a homebirth halves your chances of having to have a c-section. lots of interventions eg continuous monitoring, epidurals etc aren't available at home and so the whole rollercoaster of one intervention leading to another just can't happen.

Actually, homebirth is statistically safer than hospital birth.

And remember - just because a doctor is advising something, it does not mean that it is the right thing to do. A lot of clinical practice in labour wards is still based on hospital protocol rather than on evidence based research. Obstetricians are NOT experts on normal birth - they are experts in surgery.

When you are pregnant, go to NCT classes and learn all about labour, birth and early parenthood.

inkie

Obstetricians are NOT experts on normal birth - they are experts in surgery.

and the management of complicated pregnancies. This why midwives are experts and autonomous practitioners in the management of normal pregnancy/labour and the post-natal period and are required to refer to Dr when things become complicated.

Mrs_pbradley936

I am one of those women lucky enough to get pregnant easily, give birth without pain reliving drugs and make lots of milk. My babies Apgar scores have been 10, 10, 9. I have no doubt that I could be one of the women you hear about dropping their babies behind a bush in a tea plantation. I would think that a high proportion of women are just like me. BUT WHAT ABOUT THOSE THAT ARE NOT? What happens to them if there is no one on hand capable of intervening in an emergency? Years ago women used to die in childbirth, they do not die as often these days.

Sometime ago there was a Consultant Obstetrician reported for endangering the lives of her patients and their unborn children because she did not step in as quickly as she ought to have. It turns out that she was working in an area with a high Asian population and those women would have been regarded as sub-standard if it was thought they could not have children naturally. Anyone interested should read A Savage Inquiry.

inkie

It turns out that she was working in an area with a high Asian population and those women would have been regarded as sub-standard if it was thought they could not have children naturally. Anyone interested should read A Savage Inquiry.

This is why any clincal decision making must be based on clinical facts, in the light of current research, rather than cultural influences. This of course would include situations where we see women wanting LSCS (section) delivery as they do not want to go through the 'pain' of childbirth - if it is not clinically indicated, then the answer should be no - this would include 'too posh to push cases'.