Switching care to a different county to get a home birth?

[jammyscone]

Not sure if this should go in pregnancy or childbirth section?

I've been feeling less and less happy about having a hospital birth, and would love to have a home birth, but I live in a mid-terrace house with multiple (short tempered!) occupants on one side, whereas my parents live in a detached house.

Only trouble is my parents live 80 miles away from me. Is it possible for me to book on with a midwife near where they live instead of the one I have at the moment, and arrange a home-birth at my parents' house instead?

[nannyl]

No idea but i guess that would make all the routine appts VERY difficult.... having to travel 80 miles for each check up.

I vote Sod the neighbours and have the home birth at your home....

Or else you could end up staying at your parents for 5 weeks. Are you / they happy with that? Would be mad to do a 80 mile drive while in labour to "home" surely

[EggyAllenPoe]

heres the deal: have a home birth at your house.

if your neighbours complain about noise, explain you have given birth. if, at that point, they don't apologise for complaining, they are twats and not worth worrying about.

of course, you may find you don't make that much noise. you never know.

[jammyscone]

It's not that I'm worried about them complaining, it's that I'm worried about the one with violent tendencies kicking my door in! (I do not live in a good area, if you hadn't guessed).

I would probably go and stay with my parents a week or so before my due date.

I'm still not sure if this is feasible (and haven't even sounded out my parents about whether they'd be happy to let me do this!), but where I am at the moment the hospitals won't let you look round the wards before you're due to go in, which makes me anxious for a start. I want a water birth but there's only one pool at either hospital near me and if it's already being used that's tough. I asked the midwife if I could go to the other hospital if the pool is being used at the place I'm due to give birth in at the moment (they're only a couple of miles apart) but she said no, that's not how they do it :(

[jammyscone]

My main question is whether it is possible to book on with a midwife and arrange a home birth when it's not technically your "home"?

[strandednomore]

Where is your nearest birth (ie midwife-led) unit? Would that be an alternative?
If you do give birth at your parents, you will still get all the antenatal and postnatal care that you need from your local midwives.

[thisisyesterday]

yes, it is possible

i would say stuff the neighbours and just have your homebirth, however, I also think that you need to be where you feel most comfortable. and if that is at your parents' house and if they are ok with you having a homebirth there then you should go for it!

i think you would be able to have your appts with your current team., and then switch over later on. you can choose to have a homebirth at any point up to giving birth... but obviously if you can let them know in advance it's advisable

[thisisyesterday]

i would ring the ante-natal dept nearest your parents and explain that you will be staying with them before and for the birth and that you wish to book in for a homebirth and ask how to go about that

[strandednomore]

And in answer to your question, I don't see why not. After all, some people (eg single parents, people who are returning home to the UK to give birth) have to book in with a midwife who is not the one they have been seeing through the birth.
Why not call the midwives near your parents and find out?

[PorkChopSter]

I think you'd be better off asking this on the UK yahoo homebirth group ... on phone but will try to add link later.

[strandednomore]

Sorry - I didn't mean all single parents! I meant someone who wanted to be with eg their parents when they gave birth....

[PorkChopSter]

health.groups.yahoo.com/group/homebirthuk/ - here - search the archives, I'm sure it's been asked before.