Home birth-did anything go wrong at yours? Would you go for one again?

[MissThang]

Just curious really. I was really pro home birth before I had my dc and still am to a certain degree. Then I had a home birth myself which turned from normal active labour into a shoulder dystocia. Midwife worked very hard and I shan't go into details as it's not nice, but miraculously the baby and I were unscathed aside from bad congestion and my hips/legs in pain from being held back.

I personally would never dare to go for one again because we came so close to something terrible happening, but I wouldn't dissuade anyone from having one. Did anything like this go wrong at your home birth and did you go for another one/still support home birth? Or the complete opposite?

[LadyGoneGaga]

Not so extreme as a SD but my first labour at home, ended in a transfer to hospital following no progress after two hours of pushing. It turned out he was asynclitic and I needed a ventouse and episiotomy to get him out and was v lucky to avoid a section. However, it wasn't an emergency as such - he wasn't in distress until after we actually arrived at the hospital, transfer was by ambulance but not blue light. Surprisingly once we arrived at hospital he wasn't born for another 3 hours with all the faffing around they did.

It hasn't put me off (second was in hospital due to GD) and I am currently awaiting labour to start at 38+4 so I can get the mw called out.

[EyelinerQueen]

My home birth was absolutely fantastic.
I'm 34 weeks with DC2 and wanted another HB but health issues mean I've decided to have this baby in hospital. I'm pretty much dreading it .

[Flisspaps]

I had to transfer in (DS wasn't budging), MW thought he was transverse. Ended up with forceps and PPH.

I don't want any more DC but would definitely consider attempting homebirth again if I did.

[aprovinciallady]

I attempted homebirth with my first DC. We were transferred in after 12 hrs labour with meconium in waters. At hospital put on a drip & monitored with an eventual forceps delivery 12 hours later. With DC2 I had a homebirth with a 3 hr labour. If I have another I will definitely plan a homebirth.

[littleducks]

I had to transfer in as ds was born small for dates so policy was to go in and have a paed check him over. I went in and he was fine. I then self discharged the next morning as the postnatal ward was horrendous and I could set it was starting to get into an unnecessary intervention cycle (pushing formula etc).

I was confident as it was dc3 though.

[ColdCuppa]

I had both mine at home - and would plan another homebirth if we were to have dc3.

I have a medical background and did a lot of research before choosing to labour at home. I was always just going to go with the flow - stay at home as long as felt right and see how it went. I believe that a lot of problems take a while to come on and the one to one care you get at home means more likelihood of things being spotted earlier. I don't live far from a hospital, and even if you are in hospital a theatre may not be ready immediately so the wait times would not be different.

I believe I coped better with labour, both the tiredness and the pain, because I was in my own environment. It was definitely the right decision for us. i loved the fact that I could have a bath in my own bathroom and get back into my own bed once they were here, and DH was not expected to leave us.

[PenguinsHatchedAnEgg]

I have had two. First one went a bit 'wrong' in that my labour was erratic and she ended up arriving before the midwife. Still a great experience though. Second was fantastic.

On shoulder dystocia. I know two people who had one within months of each other. First was at home, experienced pair of midwives dealt with it quickly and safely, no harm to anyone bar a second degree tear (or episiotomy, not sure which). Second was in hospital, inexperienced mw's panicked and tugged, causing permanent nerve damage to the baby which still needs physio 3 years later, and will do throughout childhood. I suppose what I mean is, when things go wrong at home, they tend to get blamed on being at home. But the person I know who had a shoulder dystocia badly managed was actually in hospital - it can be more about the skill of those with you than the location per se.

[DramaAlpaca]

I had a home birth with my third baby & it was perfect, uncomplicated and straightforward.

If I had my time again & was having another baby, then yes in principle I would like another home birth.

However, I would do my research thoroughly once again, and take guidance from my midwife on whether I was a suitable candidate to have a home birth with that particular pregnancy.

It's all theoretical for me anyway as my family is long since complete

[MissThang]

Really interesting hearing all perspectives, and the experiences. The shoulder dystocia thing is really terrifying though, and one of the reasons I feel worried about having more children. penguin how was the recovery for the women with the shoulder dystocias you knew? Were the babies bigger than average? This can apparently increase the risk so I've heard.

[PenguinsHatchedAnEgg]

As far as I know they were fine. I wasn't massively close to either of them - more people you chat to than someone who would confide re health problems IYSWIM. I know that the woman with the hospital birth did have quite a big baby (diabetes related), but I don't think either were exceptionally massive.

[Rikalaily]

I planned one for dc3 and ended up being transferred in due to mec in waters... I'd had a SD with no.2 in hospital and still went for a HB. Dc3 was born fine and was actually bigger than dc2. A lot of SD are due to babies position, not the size. My dc2 was 8lb 11oz, so not massive, she just started descending very quickly while in the wrong position. I was confident that it wouldn't happen again and tbh I figured that if it did, at home or in hospital, it's dealt with in the same way but I could reduce the chance of it happening due to bad position by having an active labour which is a lot easier at home.

I had no.4 in hospital after my failed HB with no.3 but should have stayed at home, she arrived less than 10 mins after I got into the delivery room and I was home 1.5hrs later. I'll be booking a HB for no.5.

[reindeesandchristmastrees]

2 home births - both wonderful. Tore badly during the first so had to transfer to hospital after the birth for stitching but the birth itself was fab and probably could have got by without going to hospital. Didn't need to go after second home birth - midwives there for less than four hours in total (they have to stay for two hours after birth). I would highly recommend!

[slightlyglitterstained]

I was fully prepared to transfer in as I knew about half of first time births tended to, and wanted to err on the side of caution. As it happened, birth was fine - ended up having episiotomy to get DS out more easily (he came out face up), but no probs and he was fine. Had PPH afterwards & transferred in, but all seemed pretty calm, no big rush (bleeding had stopped, but they wanted to check in case there was anything retained causing it).

I don't know if I will have another. If I did, I am not sure what I'd do. We're actually closer to hospital than the birth centre is (7 mins vs 20), on the other hand I think having had a PPH that may put me at higher risk so would make sense to go in. I actually don't mind either way, I liked my home birth but would probably have been as happy in hospital. I guess I'd take the advice of midwife/doctors.