Home Birth

[Gabriella93]

Hey! I'm curious to find out if anyone on here has had a home birth and how it worked? I would love a home birth but my house is pretty small and there is carpets all down stairs, I'm guessing it could get messy . I would happily do it in the bath but is that going to work? So I guess my question is, how did you give birth at home and what were the logistics of it? Haha x

No mess, bar one pea-sized splash of blood on the carpet.
I had a new plastic dustsheet (from the DIY store!) and a few old towels, and the midwife brought incontinence pads which absorbed 99.9% of the mess.
(I suppose the only time you might get a big mess on the floor is if your waters were to break suddenly and with force. But that could happen any time, in labour or not.)
Don't be put off by the worry of mess. My home birth was the best experience of my life. Even if I'd ruined £1000 worth of carpet, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

I suppose the only time you might get a big mess on the floor is if your waters were to break suddenly and with force. But that could happen any time, in labour or not.

We were told in antenatal class that it's quite unusual for waters to just break like they do on tv, it's more common to have a slower loss than a sudden whooosh. I found this quite reassuring but unfortunately mine went with an almost comic flood, akin to a massive water balloon being burst, and ruined our mattress

My daughter has had 2 home births - the most recent in their very small bathroom.

We were out in the park when her waters went - it was most definitely sudden and with force. The other ladies in the park gave her a round of applause and shouted good luck as we squelched towards the car.

babdoc your experience isn’t representative of homebirth, which is generally safer than hospital birth (for parous women). Who knows what would have been different if you hadn’t chosen hospital

If this is your first op, I'd highly advice agaisnt it.

Many women have a hard time just because it is the first time. The second birth may not be easier because your at home! It's because your body is stretched and you know what to expect!