Home Birth

Rikki

I was greedy. I had three midwifes for my home birth.
I had my own midwife and a second midwife as you are meant to have. I also had my midwifes student. It was great for her as she had never seen a home birth before and it was good experience for her.

inkie

out of curiosity, how long do you have to make up your mind? how much 'notice' do you have to give that you want a home birth and not hospital?

Practically, I would say that you need to have firmly decided by 36 weeks - as this will give your midwife the time to come and do a reccy of your place, go through everything from the thread to the needle with you, and come and drop off the birthing pack etc. It also gives you time for your midwife to organise a prescription of pethidine from your GP (depending upon how things are organised in your area).If you are thinking about a pool at home, then the sooner the better, really. However, if you are a GP booking, not all GPs will provide cover for homebirths, and they have the chance to refuse your care (not that they come anyway, but with GP bookings they are repsonsible for and get payment for care, even though practically it is all done by the midwife in most cases) - the midwife doesn't get any choice in the matter, we have to attend!!
Of course we all hear of tales of people giving birth unexpectedly at home, but it's nice if its a planned home birth - it's a wonderful experience all round.

rio

From what I remember of my pregnancy, we were told that we could have a home birth as long as we had not suffered any complications during the pregnancy; high blood pressure etc, which I had. I have a friend who has had all three of her children at home and each experience sounds so wonderful when she talks about it. Someone else I know went into labour at home but developed complications and had to be rushed to the nearest hospital which is half an hour away, it was really touch and go for the baby, as she had to have an emergency c section to save the baby's life, and the poor thing spent quite a long time in the special care baby unit.

Personally I quite like the idea of a home birth, but I would consider how long it would take you to get to the hospital if things went wrong.

Becles

bella4uk wrote:

This is just my opinion....I wouldn't even consider having a home birth, everything is there for you at the hospital, ok it's not very personal and they are often short staffed,

I've had two hospital births. The first birth was ok, but the aftercare was poor. I had to stay in for 2 days and nobody had the time to explain things to me. I was really upset and worried by things like the amount of blood loss, after contraction pains, and that I hadn't had a poo - all trivial things, but I didn't know beforehand I thought something was wrong with me. Nobody had time to explain it's all normal. They didn't have time to teach me to breast feed properly and kept just stuffing a handful of breast in baby's mouth and leaving me to it. I also hated being referred to as "bed B4" and "baby B4", rather than our names. It wasn't till I got home and the community midwife spent time showing me how to breastfeed better (as he was tiny I wasn't holding him right, so she showed me how to put him on a cushion and cuddle him in which worked!). She also explained all the health things were normal which put my mind at rest!

On the second one, I'd had strong contractions the night before and thought I was in labour, but when I got there they stopped. They kept me in for a couple of hours, then sent me home.

I really did go into labour the following evening, and went back to hospital. The same midwife was on and clearly didn't believe I was in labour. I was desperate for some gas and air, but she refused saying I should wait until I had proper labour pains, as she didn't believe I was in pain. She got quite a shock when she eventually examined me and discovered I was 8cm dialated!

About 15 mins later, I buzzed to say I was going to give birth now, but again I wasn't believed. I was told I had ages to go yet. I argued and said I didn't, but again I was dismissed. I just ignored her and started pushing anyway, then she realised I was giving birth and got all flappy as she had nothing ready. She was telling me to hold on while she opened the delivery pack, but you how can you hold on?! It ended up really stressful due to her not believing me and her knowing best, when she clearly didn't. As soon as my son was born, I just wanted to leave and get out of there.

That's why I'm not keen on a hospital birth and would rather stay home where I'm more comfy and relaxed, and have my own midwife who is just there for me as I think I'll get far better care than I did with the other two.

india

I've never had a home birth. I am currently pregnant with my 2nd child and when i went for my booking appointment the midwife spent quite a while trying to talking me into having a home birth. She was very encouraging.

LizD_2

LizD wrote:

I suspect my fiance may have similar reservations when the time comes, to your hubby, becles! Although I do usually get my way! (I'm not a horrible person, really!)
Personally I always feel you should stand your ground, so if it's what you want and it's ok with the midwives, then go for it! A previous poster suggested getting a midwife to talk to him, which i think would be a brilliant idea. Good luck with your baby as well.

I mentioned it to my fiance last night and, to my surprise, he's all for it if it's what i want!

Benmollymoo

Hello MrCow

I too am expecting my third - and had a crisis c section with my second at 30 weeks . I am currently in the process of booking a home birth - yes there is a risk of uterine rupture (0.35%) BUT having seen the registrar who was pushing for contuinuous monitoring and scaremongering, whilst also admitting that it was probable I would have to share a midwife with another labouring women (wich means that I would then be left without assistance for 30 minutes out of every 60 if split equally!) I decided that I would probably be better off at home with a midwife who would be with me all the time, in case something did go wrong! We do live only a 15 minute drive from the hospital though, so I reckon that I could end up in Theatre just as quickly as if I laboured in Hospital. I too feel quite emotional about having a better birth so do sympathise.

I found the following sites quite useful:
http://www.homebirth.org.uk/vbac.htm
http://www.caesarean.org.uk/

You need to make the decision which is best for you and your baby - for me I have found I am much better informed this time and feel much more in control so i am hoping for a much more positive experience however it turns out.

Best wishes and hugs.

happygal_3

I say go for a home birth if possible. I have had two and found them far better than the hospital birth I had with my first daughter.

My OH wasn't sure at first but after DD2 was born he aggreed with my when I said I wished I'd done it first time round.

With DD2 i had 3 midwives too, 2 trained and one student so I had better care than I had in hospital where i was strapped to a monitor and left - because it's rountine

DD3 i had one midwife - she came so quick we ended up with the ambulance crew because she was so quick and midwife turned up just at right minute

When we have another child we will definately have another home birth.

I also read somewhere (can't remember where) that homebirths are cheaper than hospital births too!

funky-footprints

not for me Im afraid, though i admire those who do go for it.

Home births are realy being pushed in south wales ..but my midwife has already let it slip that 50 babies are due christmas and new year week and they are seriously understaffed.

Every single one of my appointments to date has resulted in no show on the midwife part or has been cancelled, and i havnt seen the same one yet. Yet they promise me 2 midwives to myself within 10 minutes of calling?? such faith i have ...NOT !!! am i supposed to have a relationship with my midwife ? ?

For my 1st and 2nd deliveries i chose a local, small midwife led unit. I in honesty had fantastic before and after care, but I had problems with my 2nd childs birth and was ambulanced from the unit to a larger hospital to deliver. My close friend had complications at that same hospital too, and was ambulanced immediately after her sons birth, but her son wasnt allowed with her.
(we were told by going with a midwife led unit we were discouraging medical intervention when so often it wasnt required, however in both our cases a team of midwives wasnt enough)


So we have a choice ..in that case ? ? give me a new hospital, with a new competant team. A Hospital with extra staff around for me every time !!! and that is what i am doing this time.
x

clairec79

Where in South Wales are you?

The hospitals tend to have even less staff - it's so bad that students are included in the staffing levels (we aren't meant to be - I'm a student and on our last placement we were included, but because we aren't brand new and are all pretty competent it is a case of 'buzz me if you are worried or can see the head' - by competent, I mean we can recognise when something is going wrong and are ok on normal stuff.