Would you consider a homebirth if the hospital was a 2 minute drive / half a mile away?

[Prickled]

First baby, in my 20s and low risk. Hate hospitals. I either want a total no intervention vaginal birth, or an elective section.

Very worried about induction, interventions and instrumental delivery as friends and family have had horrific births with these.
I only know one relative with a straightforward birth in hospital and hers was 10 years ago. I know so many maternity units are in a dire state with poor CQC ratings.

I am wondering about a home birth but don’t know if the risk of that is huge given that I’m a FTM.

Your thoughts please :)

No I wouldn't, and didn't, and I DO live 2 mins from a hospital.

Oh and I was induced in the end and it was a very positive experience.

All 3 of mine were born at home, currently pg with number 4 and all being well this one will also be at home. All 3 births so far were fine and lovely experiences. Home births are statistically very very safe and also cheaper for the NHS than hospital births (so the resources thing is rubbish). If you need to transfer you’ll be there in no time and you’ll actually have much more attentive care at a homebirth than you would in hospital - so for eg the poster whose waters broke with meconium; if that happens at home, yes the transfer will be a bit rubbish but it’s very unlikely that it will make any difference in terms of timing, interventions etc than if you’d been in hospital anyway. There are a tiny tiny number of true emergencies that you can’t plan for etc that are more dangerous at home but the homebirth midwives are trained for them. I’d give it a go OP, you can always go in if need be. And honestly you’re so close it really won’t delay you hardly at all - I work in maternity and even in emergencies there’s often a ‘watch and wait’ delay while the drs figure out what’s going to happen and what the plan is.

Personally no - you don’t know how your body is going to react in childbirth. I had a very lovely pregnancy and all low risk but ended up with a PPH. I have friends who are all fit and healthy, relatively easy pregnancies and needing some extra help to get baby out.
If it was your second baby, then yes potentially but not for your first.

I always think with a first home birth you are trading a very high probability of mild complications (in a hospital) for a very low probability of more severe complications (at home).

The data I think shows in relation to more severe complications it is better to have your first in hospital (and subsequent at home).

It all depends on your attitude to risk. I had both of mine at home becuase I knew in a hospital environment I would be more stressed and that would lead to more interventions. Another thing to bear in mind with your first is that it is normally so slow that you have plenty of time to get to hospital. I also felt I would have better care and monitoring at home (I had 2 midwives) whereas in hospitals these days the monitoring is usually pretty poor.

This was exactly my situation OP, I choose to have both my DC at home. When I was pregnant the stats at the time showed that a home birth was safest for the baby, less needed resuscitation or mothers needing pain relief etc, it is to do with a more relaxed mother and a calmer environment. I rented a pool from a charity and a tens machine which were great.

It meant we had 2 midwives with us during the active birth stage, my area was so busy on the maternity unit at the time that you would have had one midwife popping in and out except for when I was actually pushing. Also often our maternity unit’s doors were shut as the unit was full. These women had safe but unexpected home births with the home birth team.

Don’t be frightened by MN stories, people on MN general aren’t keen. Homebirth midwives are trained to do what they do, are great clinicians and are present. in my area it also meant all my apts pre and post birth were in my home and with the same midwife. That was a luxury second time round with a toddler.

I’d recommend reading some of Ina May Gaskin’s books, they were really helpful for me. Good luck with your decision.

I had my first at a midwife led unit i wanted a home birth but as I only knew people who had traumatic births of which they very much wanted to share with me all the gory details. I felt this was the middle option. As it was it was a textbook 5 hour birth which I felt would of been quicker and nicer overall at home.

Second one I had a lovely water birth at home with 121 midwives what a wonderful service they were! Gas and air if I needed it felt so supported they were so on-board with it all. 2 hour birth textbook.

3rd in 2022 after covid services were not great at all could see they were stretched. Felt like a lot of pressure for medical interventions when i didnt need them I got the impression thats just their stance. Perhaps homebirths are less common now.

Ended up having a very quick textbook home birth 40 mins with just my husband because midwives didn't get there in time/got lost / didn't believe I was in labour despite my notes of quick labour's.

There's a lovely group on fbook for homebirth support. Overall I'm glad I chose homebirths it's the most comfortable environment for me and my body. At 2 mins away from the hospital I'd definitely be going for one.

There is definitely statistics that show births in hospital tend to lead to more interventions I guess as its all there and being a medical setting they are keener to get it done. But birth doesn't need to be a medical procedure if all is going well.

I appreciate my views will be skewed by my experiences on this. I'd give I think it might of been called a Yorkshire midwife on TV a watch. That I felt showed more what homebirths can really be like. Rather than one born every minute or films.

None of mine were messy either.

Apologies for the rambles/missing grammat ect my toddler is jumping on me 😂

The locality of the hospital is a red herring as if things do go wrong you'll be beyond the point of being driven in. You'll potentially be in an emergency situation.

Is there a birthing centre within the hospital. That gives you the option of a labour with minimal intervention but you are on hand to transfer if you need the extra help?

I just wouldn't risk a homebirth.

I had my second at home and was great.
I recommend hypnobirthing if you go down this route though. Be prepared to want to go in after all when you're in the thick of it as you can't have decent pain relief at home.

Home births are statistically very safe though btw, if you end up going in by ambulance it'd be the same time it would take for them to get scrubbed up and get you in theatre anyway.

Also recommend hiring a pool and my midwives were so amazing and it obviously just focused on me. When I had my first in a midwife unit in hospital I was left for hours which was scary tbh.

I had a home birth with DS2, only lived a few minutes from the hospital but had a terrible experience there with the birth of DS1 and didn’t want to go back. It was lovely, I delivered him myself (under the supervision of the midwife), felt completely in control and didn’t need any interventions or pain relief.

Unless you are high risk, I would recommend homebirth to anyone- much more relaxed and the whole experience was SO much better than being in hospital.

I had a homebirth with number 3 and it was lovely! I was so closely monitored and it was really chilled. I did need to go up to the hospital after the birth for some stitches but he was a whopper.

I would chat to your midwife about it.

I'd never do it! First baby, fast strait forward delivery. Baby fine. Then I had a massive haemorrhage and it turned out I had retained products. It was such an emergency that I had a consultant with his hand inside my uterus to stem the blood. I was told that I was too high risk to ever try a home birth for future deliveries.

No I didn’t even consider a home birth.

I had an absolute shitshow of a hospital birth with DC1 and then 2 straightforward homebirths. Then labour at home with DC4 began to go the same way it had with DC1 - except this time instead of being alone and ignored on labour ward, I had two midwives with me who had been in the room with me and seen how things were going rather, than popping in and out or never been in at all! They dealt with it, there was an ambulance on stand by but there was zero panic, just calm professionalism unlike in the hosptial

I definitely would!

No

I never considered a home birth. It would freak me out and I felt much safer in hospital. But each to their own.

I was a 10 to 15-minute drive from the hospital and had a med-free homebirth.

Planned home birth for low risk young mums are no riskier than hospital births.

Hospitals carry their own risks but no one ever says don't go to hospital to avoid the risks hospitals pose.

Research research research.

I opted for a home birth but some complications meant I ended up having an emergency section at hospital (5 mins away) and it was fine. I got to do most of it in a birthing pool at home and when things didn't go to plan I was straight to the hospital and into surgery. I'm not having more but if I was I'd opt to try at home again. So much more relaxing if you do t like hospitals. My sister and my mum had all home births and they were absolutely fine, really easy and quick. I think as you're so close to a hospital, if your midwife supports it, you should give it a go. Wishing you lots of luck. Check out hypnobirthing to relieve your anxiety around labor.

I think you are crazy to even consider a home birth especially on your first. You have no idea how well your body will tolerate giving birth. I've had 4 children, all in the hospital and no complications as I birth extremely well and efficiently, thankfully. I still wouldn't risk the health and safety of myself and my baby by having a homebirth.

I've had two very straightforward births in hospitals. You don't hear about these because they're boring and nobody remembers these stories or usually shares them.

With hindsight a homebirth would have been perfect for me, (also in 20s, low risk) but it wasn't really a thing in my area when I had my babies.

I wanted to have a homebirth but as a single parent the midwife didn't advice it (just incase it took a while for midwife to get to me). If id have had a home birth I wouldn't be here now. They didn't even have time to get me to theatre they brought everything to me.
Dc1 was a spontaneous Labour and a horrendous year to get better. Dt was an induced Labour, quicker discharge, was up and about much quicker and so much healthier its not do black and white to what's best outcome it's so individual.

I knew one lady who decided to have a home birth on her 3rd child. She would not listen to her husband who was against this. She ended up in an ambulance during labour as their were problem's and rushed to the local maternity hospital 10 miles away. She was lucky that everything was ok for her and the baby.

I know another lady in her 20's who was thin and fit. She got pre ecampisa at 6 months. She was sent to her local hospital for bed rest and medication. Due to a nurse quick think after seeing her blood pressure reading she was examined by a consultant. They arranged for her to go to a bigger hospital for a c section and that had better facilities for a very pre term baby.
Both her and the baby were lucky to be alive when she arrived their as her blood pressure was so high. She recovered and her baby was a little over a 1lb weight. This baby had to stay in hospital for a long time but is now a healthy adult.

I know a midwife. She has delivered babies at home but at times she was worried about how things were going even with fit, healthy woman with no blood pressure issues.
She said I would advise woman to have births in hospital because you have immediate medical help if you run into problems.
She has also had woman who have gotten cross when advised to have a c section due medical need. She said ideally it's better to have a normal birth but sometimes woman need a section for both their and the babies health. She said I want to have a healthy mother and baby after helping with the birth.