I had both my babies at home. AMA

[disneylandlover]

Both my babies have been born at home - AMA

@Shmithecat2 distance from hospital is an important consideration and I may well not have chosen home birth if I lived 30 minutes away

From the ACOG website:

Recommendations

Women inquiring about planned home birth should be informed of its risks and benefits based on recent evidence. Specifically, they should be informed that although planned home birth is associated with fewer maternal interventions than planned hospital birth, it also is associated with a more than twofold increased risk of perinatal death (1–2 in 1,000) and a threefold increased risk of neonatal seizures or serious neurologic dysfunction (0.4–0.6 in 1,000).

how is that safer for baby?

I wasn't induced. No epidural, no forceps. Only a little gas and air. There was no reason to imagine that things would go so wrong.

Maybe fewer babies end up in distress in home birth but those that do need emergency intervention really need it very quickly to live and to remain brain damage free.

I think staffing levels in hospitals should be improved but syphoning off workers for individual home births hardly helps.

I think it is just the cushion of ignorant bliss that allows woman to weigh their comfort level and relaxation against the safety of specialist equipment for the resuscitation of newborn babies.

Because knowing what it felt like when I thought my baby had died I would give birth on a bed of nails to prevent ever feeling like that again.

I would hate for anyone else to look at all the flowers and hearts about home births and choose that and end up in the situation I did but at home.

I don't understand why people can just say " glad it worked for you" and move on. Giving birth comes with risk, whether in the hospital or at home. I'm sure babies have died in the hospital. There are many horror stories about birth in the home and in the hospital depending on where you look. As long as someone has been risk accessed and her midwife is happy what is the problem?

What percentage of babies are likely to die or suffer serious birth injuries at hospital compared to a home birth compared to a hospital birth?

Same for mother?

An uncomplicated labour is an assessment that can be made only after birth. You cannot predict how labour will go. You can have two uncomplicated labours then the third one suddenly goes wrong. I’m glad your births went well but a home birth is a risk and not one is be willing to take simply for my own comfort.

So what the NHS is saying is that choosing to have your first baby at home almost doubles the risk of baby suffering life-changing injury...

My consultant said my risk could be 1% likely to affect you, but for that 1% it’s 100%. Couldn’t have a home birth as if I was the 1% that went wrong, then a dead or disabled baby is 100% for you.

@RedTable did your consultant tell you that a hospital birth is risk free?

It's still a very, very small risk, about 0.5% difference.

Not the incredibly selfish and risky behaviour the OP is being accused of.

Home birth is encouraged and supported in the NHS

It is mostly a myth that women choosing to give birth at home are doing so for their own comfort. I will accept that I did choose home birth for my own comfort on one occasion, and that was a planned home birth of an already deceased baby. It won’t count in any home birth statistics because it was not a term delivery. But once the baby was already gone, yes exactly right I chose place of birth for my own comfort. That was all that was left.

In my live, term births I followed all medical advice regarding place of birth. I was advised to give birth at home and I accepted the recommendation from healthcare professionals. All of whom considered my attempting an out of home birth to be a significant risk.

It doesn't matter how small the absolute increase in risk is.

I'm pointing out that OP has been waving her "statistics" at us, claiming homebirth is actually safer for baby statistically, when in fact official data for both the UK and the US prove exactly the contrary. At least a two-fold increase in risk, especially for first time mothers.

OK must admit my question was "How do you cope with all the people who just want to spout off about how terribly risky home birth is" and that was an hour ago when you had no replies

No reply needed

People seem determined to misunderstand the actual risk profile of home birth vs the risk profile of birth in general.

Transfers aren't proof that it's risky - they transfer you in at the slightest hint of trouble, which means you get the best of both worlds. Stay at home if everything is going well, transfer in if there's even a slight worry something might not be. This is also why home birth isn't right for everyone. It's more appropriate if you're low risk to start off with.

Many emergencies can also be dealt with (or at the very least stabilised) at home. So the number of things that have absolutely zero warning signs AND couldn't be dealt with at home is incredibly small. Of course it exists. There are risks that exist for home birth which are not present in hospital birth. But there also exist risks that are present for hospital birth which are not present for home birth, but nobody thinks anybody is irresponsible because that group of risks exists

I agree the current ambulance situation is concerning and would put me off.

OP there are soo many mumsnetters that are just terrified of birth. It's so sad.

Hospital staff don't cover home births, community midwife teams do. Or at least that's how it worked 14 years ago - this may be out of date but I'd be surprised.

Each area works differently. Sometimes it's community midwives, sometimes a dedicated home birth team and sometimes labour ward midwives are sent out.

Well yeah. Because birth is objectively terrifying and potentially deadly even in this day and age.

Ripping up to your butthole is terrifying

Bleeding out is terrifying

Shoulder dystocia is terrifying

Emergency forceps or c-section is terrifying

Life-changing birth injuries are terrifying

....

All things that happen daily to women giving birth.

But you're somehow calling women weak and overly anxious to fear birth?

Childbirth is dangerous and women are right to recognise that. It's not sad.

LaLuz, 3/5 of those things are reduced statistically when choosing home birth/low intervention birth in general. The other two have no difference between home and hospital birth.

Those outcomes are horrible. Wouldn't you want to minimise the chance of them? Women who home birth aren't not scared of those things.

Being cognizant of risks isn't sad.

Childbirth is natural but for humans it naturally comes with a reasonably high death rate for mother and child. It isn't sad to mitigate against this.

My post had nothing to do with home vs hospital.

I was simply arguing against the idea that being terrified of childbirth is somehow sad aka unwarranted/hysterical.

Those outcomes are horrible. Wouldn't you want to minimise the chance of them? Women who home birth aren't not scared of those things.

Homebirth minimise the rate of interventions but they double the risk of baby's death/serious injury.

Not a trade-off I would choose personally.

There are risks whatever you choose. I gave birth in a stand alone MLU (after a traumatic 1st birth in hospital). It was an amazing experience and all the help and interventions available there were the same as if I'd had a home birth. Most transfers happen for failure to progress and/or the need for an epidural- very few are extreme emergencies (although all cases would be blue lighted). Those emergencies happen in hospital but often are caught too late because women don't get 1:1 midwife care until labour is very well established. Women report higher satisfaction with care at most MLUs.
I wanted a home birth for number 3 but as a week overdue I was advised against it and followed that advice. I had an intervention free birth but the care is far less personal and sometimes intrusive and you have to advocate for yourself a lot more in hospitals.
I wouldn't judge anyone for their choices. The NHS wouldn't fund and promote home births and MLU if there were shown to be unsafe. Nothing is risk free when it comes to birthing choices!!

People are so judgemental.

Well done op. I know that midwives keep a very close eye on baby at home and are able to make the call for a hospital birth if necessary.

The problem is that interventions can also cause serious problems including death or injury to the baby, or more commonly permanent injury to the mother. They are also very common whereas death/injury to the baby is rare. Doubling of a tiny chance is still a small chance. Halving of a big chance makes a bigger difference, to my mind.

I know at the time I chose home birth, it felt like a reasonable balance of risks, not a crazy out of proportion one. Most people seem to feel the opposite way, I don't know why that is. Maybe it's just a different people thing and we fear different things. Maybe I was looking at skewed information and they have the right information. Maybe it's the other way around. Maybe it's life experience. I didn't know anybody whose baby had died or suffered a birth injury when I had my first baby.

I didn't have the choice with DC2 or 3 and I won't have any more children so there isn't really much reason for me to look into it in detail any more. I am quite grateful in many ways that I don't have to, because quite probably I simplified it in my own head and it's much more complicated than it seemed to me. But I still don't think it's so clear as many people make out that it is so obviously better in hospital.