Page 8 | Midwife, specialising in home birth, AMA

MidwifeAMA · 2022-07-11T11:53:23+00:00

Hi :) I'm a midwife of 15 years. I've worked in all areas of midwifery but mostly in midwife led birthing units and now specialising in home birth. AMA

Original poster

MidwifeAMA · 11/08/2022 23:13

CraftyGin · 02/08/2022 22:19

I'm sad to miss the momentum of this thread.

I have five children - 2, 3 and 4 were born at home. My first was a good hospital experience which led me to question, why am I here?

My community midwife was a real evangelist for home birth.

The team, over three births, were brilliant. I felt secure, supported etc. And when I came out of the shower, into a clean bed, with the sound of the washing machine going...

My fifth child was an undiagnosed breech, in a USA hospital (home birth illegal). I had a fair inkling she was breech (bowling ball under the ribs was a giveaway). I did loads of research and landed on Mary Cronk. I felt really confident that if the labour progressed, then fine. If it stalled, then straight to C-section. Nothing in between - no acceleration, no forceps. Fortunately, she was frank breech and basically fell out of me.

My midwife was brilliant considering she was fairly newly qualified. It took about 10 minutes for anyone to respond to STAT, after which time DD was breastfeeding.

The next morning, I had ever so many visitors to see this breech baby, as if it were the Messiah Jesus. All they saw was me tandem nursing the new baby and her two year old sister.

I will say that my USA experience was empowered by my three sets of UK midwives. I would never had had the confidence to speak up for myself and go against the grain.

I'm so pleased for you, what an incredible experience.
Shocking that home birth is illegal.
Imagine being told you can't be in your own home!!

OP posts:

Kindofcrunchy · 12/08/2022 14:59

OP if you're still answering questions, I'd love to pick your brain. This has been an amazing, enlightening thread.

What advice would you give to a second time mother with an underactive thyroid, who wants to birth at home, but had strep b plus other complications in her first pregnancy?

I hoped to have a home birth with my firstborn, but was diagnosed with strep b at 36 weeks and told I should plan to birth in the labour ward instead. To add to this, at the time I was on a high dose of Sertraline and under consultant care for this and my thyroid.

In the end my waters went early without contractions and I was induced several times on the labour ward, with an antibiotics drip, on my back. Basically the very opposite of what I wanted, and although my baby was born naturally and healthily, the experience led to severe pnd.

I'm under the consultant again for my thyroid this time round, but I'm off the SSRIs now and doing much better mentally. I have a lot more support and family nearby to help, which I didn't have with my son.

Is a home birth completely off the cards for me again?

Original poster

MidwifeAMA · 14/08/2022 01:32

Kindofcrunchy · 12/08/2022 14:59

OP if you're still answering questions, I'd love to pick your brain. This has been an amazing, enlightening thread.

What advice would you give to a second time mother with an underactive thyroid, who wants to birth at home, but had strep b plus other complications in her first pregnancy?

I hoped to have a home birth with my firstborn, but was diagnosed with strep b at 36 weeks and told I should plan to birth in the labour ward instead. To add to this, at the time I was on a high dose of Sertraline and under consultant care for this and my thyroid.

In the end my waters went early without contractions and I was induced several times on the labour ward, with an antibiotics drip, on my back. Basically the very opposite of what I wanted, and although my baby was born naturally and healthily, the experience led to severe pnd.

I'm under the consultant again for my thyroid this time round, but I'm off the SSRIs now and doing much better mentally. I have a lot more support and family nearby to help, which I didn't have with my son.

Is a home birth completely off the cards for me again?

I can't advise you on your personal birth planning but we can touch on a couple of these aspects.
Firstly, everything is an option and everything is your choice.

If your thyroid is monitored and levels are stable this is great, and doesn't impact on birth planning or place of birth.

GBS is relevant to birth planning as generally the recommendation is that you are offered antibiotics in labour to reduce thallus chance of baby becoming unwell with a gbs infection.
Usually you will need to be in a hospital environment to have these, in a delivery suite/labour ward only a onsite midwifery birthing unit.
RCOG have a patient info leaflet on GBS in pregnancy if you google, and it talks about the risks with some stats. Have a good read on these and consider whether you wish to have the antibiotics or not. If you choose not to have antiobiotics ( or labour super fast and they don't get time) there is usually a recommendation for baby to have some observations (maybe 13-24hrs) for signs of infection after birth. If you decide that actually you feel comfortable with this 'level of risk' you may decide to decline the antibiotics and have baby at home. It's all about weighing up the pros and cons and relating them to what's important to you.
I'm being a bit vague about the recommendations as all hospitals will have different guidelines so check with your midwife for info specific to you.
Other than those, nothing else you've mentioned leaps out at me as a reason not yo consider homebirth.

OP posts:

OhMaria2 · 11/10/2022 19:33

MidwifeAMA · 12/07/2022 21:32

We are regularly trained in managing emergencies so we are running through a well practiced set of actions. I know I have my calm voice down to a t, so probably look and sound pretty calm on the outside while the inside is thinking "oh shit".
It is unpredictable though and we do get scared and stressed, the adrenaline pumps and afterwards the emotional response may appear, hence the crying in the kitchen.
My experience of ambulances is that if we call and give them the "bad bad things" trigger words they come really fast and in numbers.

Show quote history

During a c section, is " I'm just going to adjust your pillow" code for its all gone pear shaped with her blood pressure, get the baby out quick.
How did my surgeon know to rush?

definitelynotlistening · 11/10/2022 22:10

I'm not sure if you are still checking OP but I have enjoyed this thread. Thank you for answering all the questions. I have given birth vaginally three times and never felt the urge to push. First and third were back to back and traumatic, but the second was straightforward and quick until the pushing stage. It took 45 minutes and I kept asking the midwives to tell me what to do, no urge whatsoever. In all three births I had to force myself to push as I desperately wanted the process over. I hated birth and could never do it again. It fascinates me that some people make a career of it, as I find it such a gruesome, scary mystery! I had great midwives by the way. Just a body that didn't like giving birth.
Were you drawn to the career through positive experiences, or did you want to help people through a difficult time?

TerfranosaurusVagina · 12/10/2022 02:00

Another question for you too OP if you're still checking.
I felt traumatised and not listened to in my 1st birth. I was examined without consent, assurances of care were broken and I ended up with a 20hr labour, an EMCS and sepsis. I felt like I was coerced into decisions, and I have never felt more alone and unsupported than when I was in labour. I never want to give birth there again. I have anxiety anyway but would need to come off my meds during pregnancy.
I really want a home birth next time to avoid the feeling of being on the clock, and all the anxiety of hospital but I think I'd either have to fight tooth and nail to get one, or go it alone and freebirth with all the risks.
My SIL had 2 straightforward births and wanted a homebirth with No 3 but felt she was coming against more and more resistance to it from her health team the closer she got to her due date.
Whats the chances of someone like me being offered a VBAC homebirth?

TerfranosaurusVagina · 12/10/2022 02:35

Also, my friends granny was a midwife back in the day (I'd say she's early 80s now). She said in her day, if a woman tore, it was seen as poor midwifery skills and it wasnt that common. Todays stats on tears is pretty high. Why do you think this is? Have midwives lost a skillset with the increase of medicalised births or are they chronically understaffed and so trying to speed labour up as much as possible?

BridetoBee · 12/10/2022 03:31

@MidwifeAMA would having had a retained placenta for my second (midwife snapped the cord) rule out a home birth for a third?