I had a home birth AMA

[TheCatFromOuterSpace]

Not the most exciting AMA, but I thought this might help anyone considering one.

Who did you have with you? Was it your first baby? How far away from the hospital do you live? Did you plastic sheets? How was it?

Which room did you give birth in?
Do you regret your choice at all?

How painful was it?

Was it as lovely as I'd imagined it would be?
I had a homebirth planned with number 3 and was so excited to have her and then shower in my shower and go to bed in my bed but my blood pressure went up and I had to go in.

Who did you have with you? Was it your first baby?

It was my second baby and I had my partner and my sister. My elder child was asleep in a different room and if she had been awake my sister would have looked after her. She slept through the whole birth so my sister could stay with me, which was great

How did you prepare for it, and was there anything you wish you had prepared?

If you have older children, were they home at the time?

Me too
Second baby born at home, 36 weeks, no pain relief, totally hands off midwife (didn’t particularly want her there but DH did), DH caught baby.
Was the best decision I’ve ever made for our family.
I get excited when I come across other home birthers, as everyone in RL thinks I’m mental for even considering it let alone having done it

How far away from the hospital do you live? Did you plastic sheets? How was it?

I'm 5 minutes from the hospital, which played a big part in my decision. The local birthing centre is further from the hospital than my house.

I had a birth pool with a plastic sheet underneath, and lots of old towels everywhere.

It was a good experience, miles better than my first hospital birth.

Me too op! I wish I’d thought of this AMA

Which room did you give birth in? Do you regret your choice at all?

I gave birth in the dining room because it has a wooden floor . Definitely no regrets.

How did you fill up the pool? And I have hesrd the weight of it all can be a factor in where it can be placed?

If we go for dc3, I was advised to have a home birth by a mw as I progress rather quickly!

How painful was it? I used a pool and hypnobirthing and the contractions were manageable - strong sensations rather than painful. Things got a bit more intense around transition and I had gas and air then. Crowning was pretty painful but only lasted a short time. Overall there was less pain than my first birth, when I had a spinal block for the delivery, but a long slow recovery.

I did too!

Was it as lovely as I'd imagined it would be?

It was a lot nicer than a hospital birth. Not as much fun as, say, a spa day, but probably as good as pushing something the size of a melon out of your fanjo is going to get.

How did you prepare for it, and was there anything you wish you had prepared?

I had a birth pool, lots of old towels, and listened to some hypnobirthing cds. There was nothing I wished I had prepared, but dp was in charge of the birth pool and hadn't checked that the hose had the right connector for our taps, so had to fill it with a bucket.

If you have older children, were they home at the time?

Yes. My dd was three, and I had all kinds of contingency plans for childcare. In the end, I went into labour after she had gone to bed, and gave birth before she woke up.

How did you fill up the pool? And I have hesrd the weight of it all can be a factor in where it can be placed? I mostly left this to dp, but I remember it being placed in the corner of the room for this reason.

@MyBreadIsEggy I'm glad you had a good experience. Could I ask you whether your midwife encouraged you to have a home birth at 36 weeks? Mine said that it wasn't recommended before 37 weeks.

Ps other homebirthers please feel free to answer the questions on this thread.

TheCat mild contractions start d at 35+5, and was in established labour the next morning 36+0. I made it clear from the start of my pregnancy that unless my life or my baby’s life was in imminent danger, I would not be going to the hospital.
I called labour ward that morning, and was told “we’d prefer you to come in” but they weren’t insistent on it. I just said that I’d be staying at home and would be comfortable birthing with a midwife present, or freebirthing.
Midwife came after she’d finsihed at her first call out
My DS was born perfectly healthy, no breathing problems (cried before he wasn’t even all the way out!), not problems with temperature regulation or feeding and was a really good weight for his gestation. I’d been told to expect a very small baby, but he was huge in comparison to his estimated weight!

Was there any opposition to your home birth? I'd love one but my partner is completely against the idea

@MyBreadIsEggy I am glad that you got the birth that you wanted.

Was there any opposition to your home birth? I'd love one but my partner is completely against the idea My partner was supportive. He accepted that it was me giving birth, and that the choice was mine. It probably helped that he had seen how useless the hospital were first time around. My midwife was also totally supportive. I think that some of my family probably thought I was slightly mad, but knew better than to argue with the hormonal pregnant woman.

Who cleans up the pool etc afterwards?

Who cleans up the pool etc afterwards? DP did it, I think the midwife may have helped a bit. The pool had a liner which we threw away, then I sold the pool on ebay.

I was too fat to be allowed a home birth anyway but a lot of the time i wonder if it would be better just from the POV of avoiding getting childcare. If I’m thin for my third pregnancy...

But I just can’t get out of my head what if something went wrong and the baby had oxygen deprivation and needed immediate medical attention (like the brain cooling or whatever) and they ended up with severe cerebral palsy because I wasn’t in a hospital - would I ever be able to forgive myself. I’m not sure I would even be ok with a birth centre that was off site from a hospital with an nicu tbh.

I was too fat to be allowed a home birth anyway but a lot of the time i wonder if it would be better just from the POV of avoiding getting childcare. If I’m thin for my third pregnancy.

Well they can't 'not allow' you a home birth, they can only advise you against it. It's up to you whether you agree with their reasons. Although personally I don't think I would have gone against medical advice.

I suppose the childcare thing would depend on whether you are happy for your older children to be around when you are giving birth.

But I just can’t get out of my head what if something went wrong and the baby had oxygen deprivation and needed immediate medical attention (like the brain cooling or whatever) and they ended up with severe cerebral palsy because I wasn’t in a hospital - would I ever be able to forgive myself. I’m not sure I would even be ok with a birth centre that was off site from a hospital with an nicu tbh.

I think that the midwives carry oxygen and are trained in resuscitation so you wouldn't necessarily be better off in a hospital in that scenario. I do agree that there are some situations where you would be better off in hospital, and others where you would be better at home. I think you need to weigh up the risks of both and do what you personally feel most comfortable with.

But how did you weigh up the risks OP? You can't fully know what they are until you're in the thick of things can you, by which time it's possibly too late. I had a cord prolapse followed by a crash section. No idea that would happen until it did and thank God I was right next to the theatre when it happened.