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 :)

The midwives are trained in cpr though

As long as your not high risk and your pregnancy went smoothly I don't see a problem.
I had my 3rd at home at 38 weeks, I was 25 miles to the nearest hospital. Thus was 25 years ago as well.

It was lovely and relaxing,I had 2 older boys under 3 and they went out with a friend and came home a couple of hours later to their baby sister.

A massive problem with the maternity system in the UK is that we are all told hospital is the safest place to have our baby... but they usually won't let you in to the hospital and settled into a room until the baby is basically poking its head out of your vag. This is super disruptive to birthing as women have to travel whilst in labour.

I definitely would consider a home birth for a second baby. Except... I feel like I relied a LOT on gas and air for my first birth and i'd worry the home midwife wouldn't have it (or have enough of it).

A valid reason is that being in hospital increases your risk of interventions that can lead to things like c sections. Births also often just go better in a private environment with one-on-one care, guaranteed access to birth pool etc., which often isn't available in NHS hospitals.

I get what you're saying (I didn't dare have my baby at home), but there are lots of good reasons to consider it.

I wouldn’t personally for your first. Your first birth tends to be more difficult and riskier.

In my NCT course, they said in our area, 50% of first time mums get blue-lighted to hospital.

I know 3 women personally who attempted home birth with their first baby. 2 ended up with EMCS. 3rd successfully gave birth at home (over the toilet) but was very close to being taken to hospital.

I would recommend to give birth in hospital or MLU if you can. If that goes well, consider it for your second.

Regardless of pregnancy/age/health, some women are able to give birth easier than others. I’m a healthy women in my 30s and i’ve needed 2 sections.

Birth can become a medical issue in literally moments. If there is a delay in getting the baby out you and your child can suffer lifelong consequences.

Sometimes interventions happen for a reason.

Also proper pain relief is available in a hospital.

Gas and air is available at home births, they have plenty.

A transfer in doesn't mean blue lighted to hospital..... yes a there are a high number of transfers for first time mothers - I was one of them. But I transferred in a taxi due to lack of progression and risk of infection due to the amount of time that had passed since my waters went. I was given a choice and there was no immediate emergency just a recommendation by the midwives. I went in and things started moving along so was able to have a water birth in the attached MLU unit 24 hours and 10 minutes after my waters went. Neither myself or baby developed an infection luckily. All in all a good experience even though I didn't give birth at home. Most transfers are not for emergencies- they tend to be lack of progress, wanting more pain relief, stitches etc. OP, just have a chat with your midwife.

This reminds me of the MN thread one Christmas when it was really snowy and a MNer posted asking - I can't remember if it was moral support she was looking for, or a local MNer with a 4x4 and snow chains. Anyway she was rural, having a home birth and the midwife was struggling to reach her with the gas and air.

It was a lovely thread and I think the MW did get there in the end. Baby was born safely no drama too.

Oh I found it if anyone would like a heartwarming homebirth related read (and the baby will now be a teenager which makes me feel very very old!!)

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/childbirth/887810-URGENT-HELP-PLEASE-am-I-in-labour-I-am-SERIOUSLY?postsby=stellamel

4 kids all home births and the last one was twins. All I knew was I wanted no intervention,pain relief etc unless absolutely needed which it wasn't. Loved every minute of all births, being home, comfortable,just wandering about tv, cuppa in hand. Great midwife team tho the first birth and second they just made it as baby popped out lol.

That's amazing! I read the OP only posts and how lovely, although I'm not sure I could have been posting in labour! ❤️

I agree with this. I think, if I could go in and take up residence in the MLU at the first sign of labour until baby is safely out, I would feel much less drawn to having a home birth...

I planned a MLU birth with my first and hated the transfer from home to MLU during labour that much that I have absolutely no desire to torture myself by doing it again. I hated the stressful phone calls to the MLU during labour, during which I was denied permission to go in even though I said it was ramping up (turns out my labours don't follow the typical textbook pattern)... so I ended up transitioning at home and was only allowed to make my way in once I'd called to say I had mild urges to push. It was stressful, I was tense because I thought I wasn't progressing when I actually was (and in hindsight should have trusted my body and gone in anyway, but as a first time mother I trusted the midwives) and I'm pretty sure it contributed to me experiencing more pain than I would have done otherwise, plus a longer pushing phase than I would have experienced otherwise.

My home birth was much more relaxed, much less painful and I had a much shorter pushing phase. I'll credit the shorter pushing phase (at least partially) with being a second birth, but I'm sure the rest was down to being relaxed at home.

I'm looking forward to my second home birth, planned for a couple of months time.

Edit to add - you can have gas and air at home! 🙂

@Poppins2016
This is how I ended up with my first accidental homebirth, we kept calling and they were telling us not to come in until suddenly it was too late and it wasn't possible for me to get in the car (she would have been born at the roadside)

The funny thing was I actually wanted a homebirth but they were suspended due to covid. I'd complained about this previously so I'm sure they thought it was an "accidental" homebirth but it genuinely wasn't - with first birth especially you have no idea what to expect and trust the triage teams! Especially with covid we didn't want to go in too early and have no birth partner allowed so they were encouraging us to stay at home more than usual. Bizarre time.

The second was quick too but much calmer and planned!

That sounds incredibly stressful, I'm glad your second birth was calmer!

I guess it must be difficult for triage/midwives, because for every 5 mothers who are close to giving birth, there will probably be 5 who are complaining of the same sort of pain/symptoms who are nowhere near... but it would be nice if the resources were there to be able to err on the side of caution (and comfort!) and allow women to come in when they feel they need to, without being dismissed. It's also a real shame that so many women are dismissed in hospital and then end up giving birth having been denied adequate pain relief or medical assistance.

My first birth baby was back to back and it was fine being a home water birth.

I disagree, I think it’s very pro-home birth. But I suspect it’s just the side you’re coming from.

no, I still wouldn’t OP, especially now when it can take hours for an ambulance to come.
you would very rarely get a obstetrician who was willing to take that chance.

All 3 of my babies were back to back. It's only by the time I had the 3rd this was possibly considered an issue

I have read that home births are actually cheaper for the NHS, so while I understand in the current set up about "hogging resources" surely from a purely cost/resource point of view, we should encourage HB?

@anonhop You'd be correct.

@DrFosterWentToGloucester23 Giving birth isn't a "medical procedure!"