Home or hospital birth

[GeorgiaRW22]

Hi I'm looking for some advice on whether a home or hospital birth is best. Could people please tell me their thoughts and experience? Thank you.

I preferred my home birth to my hospital birth, but it's a very personal thing. Hospital birth had the advantages of medical equipment on standby etc. If something went wrong. Home birth had the advantages of midwives being with me the whole time, no travelling, and generally a calmer environment.

For me that would probably depend on location and infrastructure. My DC1 was a hospital birth (induction) and was very traumatic. I had DC2 in a hospital too as DC1 spent time in NICU and I wanted to be near to the medics. For a hypothetical DC3 I would consider a home birth on the basis that I live

I much preferred my two home births (dc2 and dc3) to my hospital birth with dc1. It depends on your risk factors etc though.

Depends how close you are to a hospital should anything go wrong.

I also preferred my home birth, but I don't think I'd have been brave enough to go for it for my first.

I was advised to have a homebirth with DC2 as DC1 was pretty quick. I dismissed the idea instantly. I hate the whole idea of a homebirth. I like hospitals, I like knowing how many people are around if more help is needed.

I liked being able to walk into a shower and wash away loads of the blood and gunk and not have to clean it all up in my own shower. People talk about how nice it is to be in your own shower and bed so quickly. Personally I was delighted not to be with all that mess!

I went for hospital. Im a girl guide and like to be prepared.

I had a home birth with my first (and only) baby. Any mess was cleaned up by my lovely midwives.
If I ever have any more children I'd definitely want another home birth if possible. It was so lovely and calm, I knew my midwives and they stayed with me (and just me) for 2 hours after my baby was born (and then were just a text/phone call away if I wanted them to come back).

Hospital. If anything unexpected happens you're in the right place.

I was very happy with my midwife-led unit (based in a hospital) birth for my first. My risk factors at the time and my research suggested it was the best option for me and the baby and I still agree that it was. I am now hoping for a home birth with my second, following my own research and with fewer risk factors this time around and armed with the knowledge of how my body dealt with the first labour, it feels like the best option for me and the baby. Part of this is being fully aware of how plans can change if the situation changes.