To be fed up of the "home birth is risky" misinformation?

I gave birth at home manny years ago and it was wonderful afterwards just to be in your own bed. Other children also able to be in the house.
Perhaps things have changed now. My recollection is that, since the local hospital was a small one, it did not have many facilities. If anyting went wrong, I would havet o be transferred to the big hospital 20 miles away. So, I calculated I might just as well be at home.
I felt certain in myself that all would be well and that my body would do what was needed without help. That's just what did happen.
I can't get my head round how this could be thought of as risky.

I think that's the point you can't predict how a birth will go ,both my pregnancies were problem free but my oldest son had the cord wrapped around his neck three times and wasn't breathing at birth and needed oxygen they were monitoring him through out the birth
My youngest was back to back which wasn't picked up until I was two weeks late and being induced he was delivered via ventouse I'm grateful I was in hospital and had the necessary interventions
I think it can also depend how far you are away from the hospital ,had I decided to have a home birth I only lived a mile or so away from the hospital anyway so could have probably how there fairly quickly it might be a different story if someone lives very riralkg for example .

@DoggieHeaven Thank you. I’m glad your experiences were positive.

I think the piece that’s the hardest is in this specific example, in a hospital setting, this was a preventable death from a very common & treatable complication (that’s as detailed as I’m comfortable being). And for me, that’s why I couldn’t entertain a home birth, or sit silently on the topic. There are inherent risks with not being close enough to emergency interventions, care & support and I can see some comments on this thread don’t accept that, or somewhat minimise that (perhaps survivors bias). It’s one of those things I think, you just see things very differently when you’re on the other side of it. I respect a woman’s rights to informed choice, I must add.

I think a lot of people have rightly picked up on the broader issues with maternity care that’s lacking in this country, and almost pushes some people towards home births, to your point, to avoid unwanted and unnecessary interventions. That is, in my view, a really sorry state for this country to be in.

I'm sorry your friend didn't make it. I've had a number of successful home births but, if I'd known how the last one would go, I'd have gone to the hospital for a c-section. They have their place.

Women and babies die in hospitals too. I'm not against home birth at all, obviously, but birth is always a risk. I birthed at home to avoid unnecessary interventions that caused complications with my first baby. It was very worth it.

I had four babies with no VE. Not necessary, especially after waters have already broken early. It just risks introducing infection.

TW: Maternal death.
I think the simple fact is, nobody knows how their body will be during childbirth. It’s unpredictable due to all of the variables at play.
My friend died in childbirth.
It was a home birth.
An otherwise healthy pregnancy & mother. Had she been in hospital, she’d probably be alive today. But instead, she was at home with a midwife who didn’t fulfil her duty of care. Too far from help to be saved.
Consequently, she died.
The whole thing is hugely traumatic, and I really hope nobody ever has to experience losing a loved one in this way.

I appreciate it’s rare, I appreciate negligence occurs in the hospital setting too (wrongly). But your odds are greatly improved by being closer to emergency treatment options when things do go wrong. The saddest part of the story is how she was misled into thinking there was virtually no risk of this occurring, because of the supposed elevated level of care from the home birth team and emergency access to ambulances.
No such provision exists, you join the same 999 queue as everyone else.

You can't give hard & fast advice on this, there are just too many variables. Generally it's safest to rely on the advice given to you based on your circumstances. And even then! ANYthing can happen!

Consultant tried to send me away from the hospital (went in to be induced for DS2 but the dates got screwed up & so he refused to do it) & it was ONLY cos the midwife had a 'feeling' that I'm even here to write this! Without her 'feeling' & whispered 'let me just put you on the monitor, he can't send you away then' there's no doubt I'd have gone the hour's journey home, started labour & we'd both have died. The monitor showed him in serious distress, they started the process & I couldn't finish it cos he was so tangled up - I was screaming he was trying to come out but something was wrong. He came out shrivelled, blue, unresponsive & covered in mucomium but only after around 8 ppl suddenly filled the room in deathly silence to get my stuck baby out of my birth canal. A home birth would have killed us after an otherwise entirely healthy pregnancy.

Conversely, DS3 decided he was coming out at home even though I wanted to go to hospital. 9lb 11oz & facing the wrong bloody way lol. All healthy & fine & I'm really really glad it happened that way.

In my experience, don't plan anything just hope for the best & be prepared for surprises. Home births will always look better on paper cos they are generally the lowest possible risk pregnancies in the first place

Absolutely, was very happy to be basically incontinent in the hospital room and hospital bed and vomiting periodically in the convenient and endless stash of cardboard kidney trays that got whisked away, rather than my own house.
I don’t know why everyone is all ‘home births are safer because they rush you to hospital’. We must have no representatives of what usually feels like a sizeable amount of the home birth cohort who think being rushed to hospital is devastating and ruins their birth experience. (Note they do recognise it’s necessary) If you’re counting on being rushed to hospital why not just birth in hospital, I would. Nothing would make me more anxious about the birth than knowing if something went wrong I had to hope for an ambulance. I live 5 minutes from a hospital and it is a huge source of comfort that I could get the kids there if needed and not risk waiting for an ambulance, so many stories about how long they take.

This isn't true. In countries where they don't have as many "interventions" for births, the death and complication rate is so much higher.

I chose an ELCS, partly(but not only) because of the lack of midwives available.

I would never have chosen a home birth and preferred to have the baby out via the quickest method.

I do think if a woman wants a home birth and is a good candidate then the resources ideally‘should’ be available, but since the resources are currently very thinly spread I wouldn’t want to take my chances on a home birth. There aren’t enough midwives to attend to the majority of women who choose/prefer to give birth in a hospital setting, this needs to be addressed first.

I am a co-sleeping, natural term weaning type of mum (so people in those circles are sometimes a bit surprised by my choice of ELCS unless I share the background with them).

I find the clinicalness of it comforting. I was happy throughout my pregnancies and births to consider a medical process and being in a medical setting therefore felt right in a way that being at home wouldn't.

I don't think my hospital was particularly hotel like, it was just professional.

And do you not have strangers at home in the form of midwives and health visitors?

Ours was a totally seperate new building. We weren’t within 100m of a sick person. Most maternity hospitals are distanced from the main hospital.

I think maybe it’s nicer if you have a nice hospital that’s a bit more hotel like.

Our just feels very clinical which of course it’s a hospital but all of the maternity ward windows seen to even overlook grim offerings. Midwifes ran ragged and just dirty.

I don’t get why someone would rather be in a place where sick people go, with a bunch of strangers rather than at home? Each to their own I guess

Fair enough. I don't doubt more people prefer the idea of being at home and finding that comforting. But it's not universal. I like hospitals! I liked the whole process of being booked in and checked and seeing how it all worked. Much more exciting than being at home!

As a HCP I genuinely cannot fathom why in this day and age you’d want to risk your and your baby’s life to have a home birth. Well equipped maternity hospital for me (with theatres available for any potential c-section, on call anaesthetist for pain control & NICU should the worst happen) or nothing!

My friends hospital birth at 8am she was discharged by 2pm no overnight with midwife’s checking in. If you give birth early enough you are in and out same day.

Come now, I think doctors should be more intelligent than that

See our hospital shower was grim. Filthy grouting no changing the temp. Felt I was cleaner going in than coming out.

Where as my shower at home after giving birth the midwifes came checking on me because I was in so long. Just enjoying a nice piping hot shower.

This is what a lot of doctors think - 'If you want your child to be able to pass GCSE Maths, don't have a home birth'.

I believe home births are riskier because if something goes wrong, medical help may not arrive in time. In a hospital, you're surrounded by doctors, nurses, medical equipment, and medications that are readily available if needed. I had all three of my children in a hospital and had a very positive experience. Personally, I would never choose to give birth at home, but everyone has to make the decision that's right for them.

Mine too

Watching Channel 4 Despatches
ambulance delays