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 :)

100% agree with you, it's bizarre that so many people have said that people should only have a home birth if they're willing to go private/pay for it.

Aside from the right to choice etc. there are studies that evidence that home births actually cost the NHS less than MLU/hospital births (and that's after taking into account transfers and complications etc.).

Honestly all this about feeling safe and relaxed was not my experience at all. There’s nothing relaxing about child birth, being in the hospital where all the pain relief is would be my first choice. Can you handle pain well? If so you might be ok, if not you just don’t know what you might need. I didn’t plan an epidural for my first but after 3 days of labour I was begging for one. The second one was fast and intense so I asked for one there too but was too late. You should just plan either way and see how you feel at the time, even if you’ve done it before you’ve no idea what kind of birth you will have, they are all completely different so I would try not to listen to any one else’s stories because your will not be the same as any of them. My main question to the midwife would be what happens if you tear? Are they aloud to give you the numbing injection at home and are they aloud to give you stitches ? because that would be quite brutal without being numbed down there.

Personally, no. Too risky of there's a problem. Even half a mile is a long way of you're having problems, there won't be an ambulance on standby or a medical team geared up and ready for your issues, should there be any - I am risk averse with my children though

Actually there is more risk at hospitals. Some of the doctors are a bit keen on interventions. And start with one intervention often leads to more

Also with a homebirth you have a midwifes attention rather than being shoved in a room and left. Also tend to be more relaxed in your own home which is a good thing.

Yes they numb and stitch you at home

Huge congratulations on your pregnancy op 💐

Absolutely not, especially for first birth. The NHS ambulance service is broken. And imho (but not judging anyone who makes a different decision) putting your own life slightly at risk is one thing but someone else is involved in the decision and personally I couldn’t put my baby in that potentially risky situation.

People will at this point say “well home birth is statistically safer for mother and baby” which may well be true overall but this is an individual choice and there are no guarantees when it comes to birth.

And without wishing to scare you op, when birth goes wrong it can go badly wrong. At least in hospitals they have bags of blood immediately available and anaesthetic and operating tables and incubators if you need any of those things quickly.

People say “birth is a natural process not an illness” but breathing, digesting, and moving are all natural processes too and all sorts of things go wrong with them!

Most of the time all goes well and I imagine you will have a great birth op btw! Good luck with your decision!

In the time you were having " constant monitoring " you could've easily been transferred to a hospital anyway

I've had 3 kids First a hospital birth. Mainly ignored and left in a room by myself. Distressed baby, threated cesarean ( refused) and treated like an idiot. 2nd baby accidental homebirth as it was 12 mins from first pain until delivery. 3rd baby in midwife unit. Ended up with transfer to hospital 10 miles away which was a waste of time as DS born in corridor before getting up to their maternity suite

Honestly all this about feeling safe and relaxed was not my experience at all. There’s nothing relaxing about child birth, being in the hospital where all the pain relief is would be my first choice. Can you handle pain well? If so you might be ok, if not you just don’t know what you might need.

I think the key thing is that people/experiences vary. E.g. I find (some of the) hypnobirthing techniques very helpful, other people don't. I actually had very calm, relaxed (yes!) labours twice round. I'm not saying it was "relaxing" in the traditional sense or that it wasn't hard or painful/intense at times, but I was very much in the zone and felt able to just get on with it calmly, focusing on breathing. I felt very safe and cocooned at home. My first birth was in a MLU and I absolutely hated the drive to the hospital and the stress of determining (then fighting) to go in. Anyway. Key thing is, everyone is different...

You should just plan either way and see how you feel at the time, even if you’ve done it before you’ve no idea what kind of birth you will have, they are all completely different so I would try not to listen to any one else’s stories because your will not be the same as any of them.

This is sensible. You can always plan for a home birth and change your mind depending on how you feel at the time and/or how labour is progressing.

My main question to the midwife would be what happens if you tear? Are they aloud to give you the numbing injection at home and are they aloud to give you stitches ? because that would be quite brutal without being numbed down there.

Tears are assessed and stitched with local anaesthetic, no different to a hospital setting. A major repair job might require a transfer into hospital.

I don't think distance to the hospital cones into it. You can't self transfer to hospital if something starts to go wrong, ( or at least you couldn't when my we're born). So you still have to wait for an ambulance.

I would chat to your midwife. You need to be low risk and have a midwife that supports and is confident with home birth. My understanding when I looked into it was for the things that could go wrong there are signs they don't just suddenly happen.

@JellyTipisthebest things do suddenly go wrong. It happened to me. Everything was going fine until suddenly it wasn’t. I was rushed to theatre and now have a severely disabled child who’d have died if I hadn’t had immediate intervention.

It doesn't really matter how close the hospital is. If something went wrong you would still have to wait for an ambulance to transfer you.

Having said that if your pregnancy is low risk and you feel confident about homebirth then go for it. I just didn't want the proximity of the hospital to give you false confidence.

I've had 3 home births. All straight forward thankfully. Despite being large babies 10/11lb-ers (no GD!)

However now my kids are significantly older I get chills about what could have gone wrong and the time it would have taken to get to hospital. Not sure why.

I always thoughts I'd encourage any children of mine to have HB but now I'm not so sure.

The experience for me was amazing and I wouldn't have wanted to be in hospital but something nags my mind now about how lucky I am that it went well.

I live a 2 min drive from the hospital and I still delivered my baby there. I’m glad I did. It was a fairly straight forward birth but no one prepped me for the amount of blood all over the bed and floor!

@Sjh15 I had a home birth and zero mess afterwards. My midwives covered everything up and our (rented) house was left spotless. I laboured in both the front room and bedroom.
So don't let that put you off!

Agree! You would never have known anything had happened after the midwives had left

Not as a first timer with the ambulance service in the state it is, no. Might give you a different answer if we were living in a society where you could reasonably expect speedy transfer should it be required.

They'll tell you why not if they consider you at risk. Tell them now

Personally I’d never have even considered it. As they say, labour is only ever normal in hindsight, and if anything goes wrong, all those extra minutes needed to access help could make the difference between a healthy baby and death or disability.

Of course most home births go perfectly well, but I’d have been too worried about the ‘if not’.

I had a homebirth, I was only 5 minutes from the hospital, with my first. I was low risk, 27, no complications. Easy birth, four hour labour, no problems, all very relaxed.

100% recommend listening to "the great birth rebellion" podcast. It's an Australian podcast but speaks massively to home birth, birth without intervention and midwifery led care

I had a homebirth with my second. There were some complications but I stayed at home. I'm really glad I did it. I had a really supportive homebirth midwifery team.

My first child I had in hospital and it wasn't a good experience. Transferring slowed my labour down and the care from midwives in the early stages wasn't good. I think if I had had a planned homebirth with good support it may have been a better experience, but equally it might not.

@Skg452 But homebirth is dangerous and irresponsible(!)

I’m not sure that listening to the opinions of others will help because our experiences, risks and opinions are all so different.

My personal circumstances varied so much between births (age, complications, etc) and we took decisions based on those changing risks each time.

I would never consider a home birth.
I was always against the idea.
I had a low risk straightforward pregnancy and vaginal birth but my son still needed urgent NICU care and had to be intubated. I don't think he would have survived if he had been born at home.

I know someone who had a home birth, she loved it! Baby did have cord wrapped around its neck but all was ok in the end. Mum lost a lot of blood but refused to go to hospital for a transfusion, other than passing out a few times she was ok.

Entirely your decision but I personally would never choose one as I think it's too big a risk. (Also the mess puts me off! 😂)

I didn't want to give birth in my local hospital due to previous bad experiences. I also didn't want to have forceps because I have a big scar on my face from forceps from when I was born.
I was considered a low risk as well.
I decided to give birth at a birth unit.
It was just one room with a bed and a birth pool.
No medication no intervention facilities.
After a 41 hour labour and 6 hours of pushing without any progress I was finally transferred to hospital by ambulance.
After my baby was finally born I was told that because he was laying in a strange position (completely by chance) there was no way I would have ever been able to push him out it would have been impossible.
They also said if we were left much longer without being sent to hospital my baby would have definitely died and I probably would have as well.
My son is now severely disabled when there were no signs of any disabilities during the pregnancy.
12 years later and I still regret my decision to not got straight to hospital.
Giving birth rarely goes to plan. So much can go wrong. I personally don't think it is worth the risk.