first baby home water birth?

[MiissMartiin]

hello im only ttc #1 at the moment but i want to consider all my options..
im 22 and i would be 23 hopefully when i have a baby if all goes to plan?
I have no (current) health conditions what so ever..
would i be able to have a home water birth for my first baby?
do you have to get a private mw?
what generally happens in regards to preparatiom for this type of birth..
what pain relief would be avaliable.. if any?
thanks ladies xx

[Sheepoverthemoon]

I'm 29, first baby home/water birth. As long as your low risk and baby isnt breech, your OK for home birth (there are still choices but they look at best options for satey being in hospital) . Pain relief - gas and air, pain relief injections such as pethidine, tens machine and birthing pool - I'm going for buying birth pool in a box but you can also hire. Your community midwife attends and then a second one joins her for active labour. There are lots of good information/facts about this, ask your MW or look on mumsnet as well.

[MiissMartiin]

aww Thanks so much sheep! much apreciated

[CityDweller]

I had home water birth with my first. All on NHS. Was great, highly recommend. Whether you can or not depends on your pregnancy (and level of risk as pp mentioned)

[pickwickcrocus]

I did it, it was amazing

You need to chat to your midwife about it when you see them and they can give you more info. Mine was incredibly supportive but it seems like attitudes can vary from area to area, and of course just between midwives! I was very lucky.

I got a birth pool in a box, it was great. Used gas and air which I hated at first then the m/w persuaded me to try again saying, 'just go with it' so I did - gas and air rocks! Said some silly things

Also, if you haven't thought about it, I would really recommend looking into a hyonobirthing course. It helped me to remain calm and in control during both of my labours (second also at home in pool but much faster!) and I really rate it, we had a great teacher too.

M/w will come out to assess your house at some point later in pregnancy and they have a list of things to go through eg things you need, pain relief, why you may need to transfer to hospital etc. Things you need might be stuff like towels, birth pool, torch, things for baby (changing mat, hat, nappies, cotton wool, clothes etc), snacks for everyone (Inc midwives), coverings for floor or sofa (we used old bedding and tarpaulin) and various other things!

Also, we had hospital bags packed for everyone, just in case. We actually did have to go to hospital with our first after she was born at home, so I'm glad we had packed everything up already as it was a very stressful time and that would have added to the stress otherwise. There are great threads on here about what to pack.

Good luck ttc!