I had both my babies at home. AMA

[disneylandlover]

Both my babies have been born at home - AMA

Did you get continuity of care? Do you think it made a difference?
It's the main reason I wish I'd been able to have home births.

Is it emergency transfers? I thought the majority of transfers were patient preference for pain relief.

I had my children at home (they are teens now). My local midwife team were very pro home birth and I know 3 other women who had home births on my street around that time.
As others have said, the evidence at the time showed that for straightforward pregnancies I was actually increasing the chances of a safe birth.
I lived within 2 miles of the nearest hospital which also helped my decision. If I had lived in a remote area I would have decided on balance it would have been safer to go in.

If something had gone wrong, i would still have been comfortable in my choice. As I knew that I had made the safest choice for my baby and myself

I also gave birth to all my babies at home, including those who had already died before they were born.

I was and am happy to accept a different set of risks, yes. In the same way I’m assuming those choosing a hospital birth are happy to accept the additional risks of leaving home to give birth, and giving birth in a hospital environment. I would never challenge someone choosing a hospital birth on the increased risks or make them feel as if they were somehow responsible for any negative outcome of a perfectly normal and routine birth choice.

There is no one size fits all birth solution.

The majority of home birth transfers are due to needing pain relief. It's actually a very small percentage that are due to an emergency situation. Are you sure that is the figure for emergency transfers?

It absolutely isn't for everyone, and I'm very much behind women making empowered and informed decisions around whatever is right for them and their family

Yes I had the same midwife throughout my pregnancies and for the birth, which was amazing

You're like a broken record - statistically, statistically, statistically...can you actually provide a source for these statistics? Because most people know it's utter rubbish that giving birth at home is safer than in a hospital. What you're peddling on here is irresponsible.

Statistics mean absolutely nothing when you draw the short stick though.

And when you measure home birth outcomes vs hospital birth outcomes, where do you put those births that started at home but finished in the hospital? If the outcomes of such births are lumped together with hospital births then that makes for a very misleading statistic...

This! Put more eloquently than me, but this is exactly my thoughts too.

That isn't to say it's for everyone, but I find people suggesting that I knowingly put my babies at risk very rude and factually incorrect
A baby who needs emergency care and is an ambulance ride away from it is at greater risk than one who needs it and the care is brought into the room.

I don't expect you particularly to accept that OP. I'm hoping just to highlight this for anyone who is undecided.

Yes my birth experience was highly traumatic but I consider it a good birth because my baby lived. I came very close to burying my baby. If I had had a home birth I would have done. It wouldn't have mattered to me how statistically unlikely that was. It still would have happened.

@LaLuz7 the statistics are for women who planned to give birth at home.

While I understand the point you are making, there are risks to giving birth in hospital too, yet women who make that choice are not asked whether they are comfortable with the risks they are taking.

Ooft haters gona hate today eh?

I have also had 2 homebirths and can't imagine doing it anywhere else. It was perfect for us and our family. We decided quite late the first time. I had a conversation with the homebirth midwife at 35 weeks and she gave me so much more confidence that it was the right thing and the care I had in the remaining 4 weeks was better and more consistent than anything I'd had earlier. They're trained to spot problems early and will always err on the side of caution. I think the stat from our area was that of the women under the homebirth team around 50% ended up giving birth at home.

Good for you OP for starting the thread. Shame on everyone suggesting she (and I) put our babies at risk. I wouldn't want to give birth in a hospital, but I wouldn't tell people they're wrong for wanting that.

Who did the clearing up? I can imagine that my ExH would have assumed it would be me!

@disneylandlover can you please link the statistics you keep quoting? I'd really like to have a look

I am not rude, I am glad it worked for you. I know one person whose baby died because of the home birth. I will never forget the tiny white coffin and therefore I can’t stand people who life in countries with safe hospitals and free medical care who advocate home births because it’s comfy and nicer.

I do accept the point that you are making but I think what I disagree with, is that it is less likely that babies will end up in emergency situations in the first place at home. Mothers are more comfortable and birth more quickly and naturally than in hospital births. Hospital interventions such as induction are known to put babies in distress.

*live
apologies for typos.
many women all over the world would be so grateful for the privilege of free healthcare and giving birth in modern hospitals.

The midwives were brilliant and did most of it! With DH helping out and finishing off

@disneylandlover you act like all choice is taken away from you if you birth in a hospital. You can refuse induction. You can refuse pain relief. You can refuse instrumental delivery and ask for c-section instead.

It's not a black and white choice between total choice and zero choice...

That is a heartbreaking situation, but babies die in hospitals too. Yet no one is made to feel awful about having a hospital birth, knowing the risks that entails.

This!

If you want to selfishly put your own needs above the safety of your baby then thats fine but own it. Don’t pretend your baby is in anyway safer at home than they would be in a hospital setting surrounded by doctors, nurses and medical equipment if things go wrong.

That is absolutely true, but most women do not decline intervention. It's horrendously common to hear women saying 'they had to.... induce me, use forceps etc'.

From -NHS website

If you have a straightforward pregnancy, and both you and the baby are well, you might choose to give birth at home.

Giving birth is generally safe wherever you choose to have your baby.

But if you’re having your first baby, home birth slightly increases the risk of serious problems for the baby – including death or issues that might affect the baby's quality of life – from 5 in 1,000 for a hospital birth to 9 in 1,000 for a home birth.

If you’re having your second baby, a planned home birth is as safe as having your baby in hospital or a midwife-led unit.

It's rare but, if something goes seriously wrong during your labour at home, it could be worse for you or your baby than if you were in hospital with access to specialised care.