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

Same! I had my first DD in 2021 and had to pay for a private midwife to facilitate having my baby at home. Second baby came 9 months ago and my NHS midwife was totally honest with me this time and told me if I want my baby at home I needed to go private because although they meant to facilitate it… they don’t. I have literally never met another woman whose had their baby at home… I’ve met loads of mums who wanted to though.

It makes it sound like I have lots of money that I went private but we had to make a lot of sacrifices to manage it, it wasn’t easy. We are a one income family and my partner earns £40K, but we made the sacrifice because I felt strongly it was the right thing for us. I wish I could have just used the NHS.

I felt like this with DC2 - like I was in a good 3 star hotel. Midwives checking on me every couple of hours, clean sheets, food brought to me, long baths without DC1 banging on the door. And so many people to coo over the baby and help with breastfeeding. DP and DD popped in every day (we stayed a few days for jaundice) and brought me more nibbles and a proper coffee. Absolute heaven!

If you’re lucky enough to be able to stay at home, there is nothing better in the world than getting into your own bath and bed afterwards. It made all the difference with establishing breastfeeding too.
Totally get that many women may feel like this but I really can't relate. I loved being able to shower in a big wet room with all the blood being washed down someone else's drain and not caring about how wrecked the towel got. I had absolutely no desire to be in my own shower or bed till a few hours down the line.

I'm fortunate that not only did I consider a homebirth an unnecessary risk but entirely undesirable as well.

Exactly.

im sure some women benefit from being in a comfortable environment etc etc but the fundamental reason the stats on home births are so good is that is that (typically) no one with a high risk pregnancy gives birth at home.

It’s an odd one and I can understand your point about people not understanding the overall risks (I haven’t seen any recent stats to have an opinion on that).

That said, on a personal level I can’t imagine turning down the absolute privilege of the national health service and giving birth with all of the medical assistance that could be needed on hand as you just don’t know how a birth will turn out.

I had a great 1st birth which I enjoyed and cherish the memory of but it was tricky (back to back baby) but my midwives worked with me to keep the delivery as unmedicated as possible and I still managed to deliver as we could keep trying up until the last minute I would have needed to have a section.

Maybe I should check my privilege though as I am pretty comfortable with hospitals and advocating for myself and my birth plan was respected and they really seemed to want to encourage a vaginal unmedicated birth if at all possible.

I just can’t understand the benefits of being at home rather than a nice comfortable hospital room with music, dimmed lights etc. I love my home but I just couldn’t weigh up the benefits and risks and come up with home birth being the best choice for what is one day.

I would be really interested in hearing peoples reasoning who have decided on that.

Well me and both my dd would have died if I'd attempted home births so its not misinformation for me.

Your title is itself misinformation as for some people it absolutely is risky.

Perhaps you are very fortunate but where I live, you often do not get the choice to birth at home and if you want to, everything is done to prevent it. So unfortunately it’s not as simple as everyone having a choice, although you’re right that it should be

I also had a fast first delivery, and agreed with the midwife’s assessment that staying at home made sense for 2 and 3. The relief when the box filled with the midwives’ home delivery kit was safely waiting in the house and I knew I could stay put rather than risk giving birth in the car was immense.

Another big difference I appreciated - and which is rarely mentioned in discussions of the safety of home births - was having the undivided, focused attention of a midwife from minutes after my waters broke, and a second midwife joining her as things progressed. It all felt so much safer than my hospital experience, where a harassed midwife occasionally put her head around the door and told me she wished I’d slow down.

The only mess left afterwards was some coffee on the wall after DC3 arrived, as I’d kicked the midwife’s drink over in the final stages! My hospital delivery was followed by my partner having to hold the baby and try to help me in and out of the bath in a grotty hospital bathroom. If you’re lucky enough to be able to stay at home, there is nothing better in the world than getting into your own bath and bed afterwards. It made all the difference with establishing breastfeeding too.

I do feel like people assume home birth midwives just turn up at your house with just a pair of gloves. 😅

They carry newborn resuscitation kits, oxygen in case the mother needs it, and they set up a rhesus station while you’re still in early labour just in case baby needs it when born. They also have oxytocin injections to slow down/stop bleeding until you can get to hospital in the event of a PPH, and IV equipment. They really are very well equipped to deal with a range of outcomes but like others said, they can and will spot signs early on that indicate you should go to hospital!

I was transfered to hospital earlier than I would have been if I’d been labouring alone (the hospital advise you to stay at home as long as possible), and the relief of having a midwife at my house to examine me and make those calls was amazing. The ambulance was instantly outside and the hospital already had a room ready for me. A homebirth midwife stayed with me there as well. It was so much more personal and I felt really well cared for.

Never mind OP. You do you. If you are happy giving birth at home with a midwife in attendance (if there is one available), then feel free. No-one will stop you.

Each mum should be able to choose her preferred environment, without reference to you or anyone else. And they can.

Weeeelllllll in the case of correlation statistics, they do often misinform. And you can’t randomly assign women to HB.

I don’t disagree generally, but I am passionate about statistics

This happened to someone I know, her child was born at home with no heartbeat, it took over 10 minutes to get a pulse and by the time he got to hospital he was severely brain damaged and has been left with profound disabilities. The mum tried to sue because of improper monitoring....even though that's what she wanted/asked for in labour.

Statistics don’t lie, statistics don’t scare monger, they just give the facts.

Yes, I’ve always felt that the whole ‘doctors push c-sections and interventions’ narrative doesn’t accord with reality. Most of the recent maternity scandals have been underpinned by a drive to reduce c-sections and to push ‘natural’ birth at any cost.

You can't tell her that she's wrong about her child almost dying in child birth, just like you can't tell me I'm wrong for saying I would have died if I'd birthed my third child at home.

@everychildmatters what is your opinion on issues like mine where everything was going swimmingly until the moment of birth? There's also things women have like placental abruption, which happens without warning and you only have minutes before the baby experiences life changing brain damage - or when baby's shoulder gets stuck, etc.

Personally, I'm not sure it's worth the risk. I think it's great we have hospital teams of doctors ready to help birthing women and babies within minutes/seconds when things go wrong

Ask any birth injury solicitor and they could assure you that the majority of cases where injury occurs do not make the news.

In my experience of home births that go wrong the parents switch from "I'm low risk and I understand the risks" to "I wasn't properly advised and I'm going to sue the Trust" almost instantly.

No I'm not. I just found it a bit rude for you to be dismissing others' lived experience. That doesn't take away from your point that home births aren't inherently riskier than hospital births. It just depends how they go. I find it incredibly disrespectful that you are telling me how my birth went when you weren't there.

Nonsense. In my case what went wrong went wrong over three days. Even I could get myself to hospital in three days.

Birth often does go wrong slowly. And is less likely to go wrong when mum is calm, happy and not overly medicalised.

Home birth is better with medical advice and support. Even if you eventually need hospital.

Yes, I am fed up of it. Anyone that thinks home birth is unsafe is misinformed.

I don't remember you being there when I gave birth to my child.