Due in November and Considering Home Birth.

[MagGirl]

I live in Battersea and had planned to have my first baby at Chelsea & Westminster but am now considering a water birth at home.. Anyone else thinking about it/have experiences they'd like to share? Am completely ready to be taken to hospital if needs be but at the moment home feels like the right place to be.

I wouldn't. If there is the minutest even 0.5 percent chance of increased risk to baby, why would you?. Sod the birth 'experience', safety and a healthy baby is what matters..

I am also due in Nov and planning a hb, but DC3.

I've recently read that women who plan a hb are successful 60% of times for a first baby, and 90% for a subsequent baby. That reassured me, because my pelvis is already tested , but may not you. I think that planning a hb and not getting one could be a trigger point for disappointment and depression for a susceptible person, so keeping practicalities and statistics in mind is helpful for me.

I wouldn't have qualified for a hb with DC1, and DC2 had to spend a short time in hospital with me for tests before being allowed home, so although I could have had him at home and nearly did, he was so fast I am happy that I was in hospital. The fact that I am planning a hb now is no reflection on my previous hospital births.

Part of the reason I want a hb is that DC2 was very fast and the hospital is fairly far away if there's any traffic at all. A planned hb is far safer than an impromptu one! Another major consideration is that it significantly reduces our "find childcare" issue, because while the children are in bed they can simply be here, and they can visit their new brother very soon, instead of waiting for visiting hours.

I don't see the appeal of hbs for first babies, to be honest, but that's partly because I was surprised by how much medical attention I wanted after DC1 was born. In hospital you ring a buzzer and someone comes, 24/7. At home someone comes when you call, but he might be half asleep and he knows even less about babies than you do.

Without wanting to turn this into a scaremongering thread, there are many cases of births going wrong in hospitals because shortages of midwives means problems aren't spotted til much later than they would have been at home with two dedicated midwives keeping a very close eye. As with everything you do your research, weigh up the risks and decide which you're prepared to take

FWIW I had both at home and no regrets at all. Mess wise, the MW have to clean up as its biological waste that needs disposing of properly.

Homebirth.org is a fab site with many different anecdotal tales, talk to your MW. I would def choose two MW dedicated to me than an oversubscribed ward where one MW is rushing about between 7 women personally, seems a lot less risky to me....

Research has found no difference in the death rates of mothers or babies between planned home births and hospital births

I actively chose home birth because I considered it safer. I'm low risk and the hospital care was so dire. I felt there was less chance of a problem and more chance of it being picked up and acted upon having her at home. I also lived 5mins away from the maternity unit.

X posted with America but same viewpoint

First baby born in hospital, an incredibly long labour followed by huge intervention and panic, caused by Doctor...who subsequently went away and left me to it.

Second DC born on my living room floor, an hour after waking up. No mess, no fuss. Just me in complete control and knowing how my body felt, being able to get in the right position which was on my knees, with my head resting on the couch. I consider the home birth to have been safer than the hospital, and possibly produced a healthier baby.

Hi. I had a HB 5 weeks ago and don't live far from Battersea, so may have had the same specialist team that you would. Too tired to type all out here, but to summarise it was a mixed experience care-wise and I would do it again.

Feel free to PM if any Qs - I have contact numbers for community teams if you decide to go ahead, and there's a session at Guys hospital on Friday late afternoons periodically for those thinking about it.

Sorry - should have said that mind was for a first baby too.

Does the NHS pay for the 2 midwives to attend or is there a charge for a home birth? Genuine question.

NHS pays - and it's cheaper for them than a hospital birth so no wonder they're keen.

The 'average' homebirth is considerably cheaper for the NHS than an 'average' hospital birth so no there is no extra charge and nor should there be. I had my 2nd baby at home and felt so comfortable in my surroundings that I was 6cm when the first midwife arrived and my baby was born 45 mins later. The 2nd midwife arrived about 15 mins after that so I probably only had 4 hrs of midwife time in total.

X-post

PS Zombie thread but wanted to answer Owlina

Well if NHS pays and it's cheaper for them, I'm on the fence. I had 3 different midwives giving birth in hospital, induction so wouldn't have been eligiable for home birth anyway. Left alone a lot. One midwife left soon as baby was born as her shift was over. 2 midwives giving you constant attention sounds preferable.

OTOH my baby had to be delivered by forceps in the end, and was resusitated. There is no doubt that she would have been stillborn at home. As it was she lived for only 3 days. So there is always the risk, whether at home or in hospital to be honest. There were no problems at all with my pregnancy, and I don't think that the hospital choice changed the outcome. But the situation can change very quickly during birthing, and at least in a hospital the experts are there straight away which will help you have the best possible outcome for yourself and your child.

This is very unlikely to happen to you. But do consider how far away you want medical experts such as doctors and paediatricians to be.

Doh didn't realise zombie thread!! Hope the op has delivered safely by now then!!

CPtart if I hadn't planned a homebirth I would have had real trouble.

I wasn't sure I wanted to be at home necessarily but thanks to MN I knew the midwives would come to me when I went into labour instead of what happened to every single other woman I know in the area (except those with inductions or ELCS), which was to hang around at home, wondering if this is really it, stressing about contraction timings, and getting sent home repeatedly from the labour ward because they had no space/not in labour yet/no midwife available. And even when they were admitted I heard stories of being left for literally hours, with birth partners frantically searching for midwives begging to be seen.

I wanted someone who knew what a normal birth should look like (ie. not DH, lovely as he is) to be there with me keeping a close eye, and tell me if something was going wrong and that I had to get to a hospital.

In the event, thank GOD I had planned a homebirth so the community midwife was available to come out to me. I was having strong regular contractions but never dilated past 4cm - if the midwife hadn't accompanied me to the hospital after 12 hours labouring at home they would have sent me away too and DS would have died as his heart rate was dipping with each contraction. This was picked up by midwife at home, midwives in labour ward just checked dilation - since I was only 2cm at that point they tried to send me away but homebirth midwife insisted and DS was born by EMCS.

Even in those circumstances when I was admitted, once I was on the ward everyone disappeared and when I started bleeding everywhere and all over the hospital bed and the floor DH sprinted into the corridor and had to shout at and then physically drag a registrar to my bedside when the labour ward midwives told him it was normal and he had to just wait his turn to get someone to see me.

I often thank my lucky stars I stood up to my whole family who were furious with me for planning the homebirth. If I had listened to them, I would have been sent home from the labour ward, would have haemorrhaged at home and DS might not be here today.

I had a home birth for DC2 following a very straightforward hospital delivery for DC1.

I was a really positive experience and I'm very glad we did it. I had one to one midwife care throughout my labour and two to one care for the delivery which is better ratios than a hospital birth in general.

My community team did a great job and were very risk averse - before the birth I was given a long list of potential changes in my condition or that of the baby which would trigger a transfer to hospital. Our well being was their top priority.

As a poster up thread said, it's a very personal decision and you have to feel comfortable at home. If you would feel safer in a hospital with monitors and drs around then a home delivery will not do you any favours. Sometimes it's suggested as a pancea for the ills of childbirth, "If only we could all be relaxing at home then birth would be a doddle". I don't think that's the case at all.

A book we found helpful was 'The Father's home birth handbook'. HTH

(I did realise it was a zombie thread but wanted to reply to CPtart)

Owlina very sorry about your DD.

I would only be 5 mins from a hospital in an emergency so that was a factor.

TattiePants Thanks for your kind words.

5 mins away is pretty close!

Like i said, i don't think being in hospital changed the outcome significantly. But it went from a pretty straightforward situation to not at all very quickly. I guess if I had been at home i would have felt guilty that i wasn't in the hospital when it went wrong iyswim.

Yes that is a consideration. We are sometimes an hour from the hospital, but 10-12mins under blue lights.

I have looked at the stats and also considered that I'll get a lot more medical attention with a 1-2-1 mw in my front room constantly than I would in hospital where you might only be checked every few hours. It's my understanding that hb mws are necessarily more cautious when any slight problem occurs, so they only let you stay at home while you're still very very low risk.

I'm sorry for the loss of your daughter. I can see that you would feel comforted that you had done everything you could to make her arrival as safe as possible, as I'm sure I would be very sensitive to any ignorant criticism even as mindless as "oh well did you hang the washing out yourself tsk tak".

Horry I think it's great that people have the choice, My sister had a home birth and it was a wonderful experience for her. I would not tell anyone they were wrong to choose a home birth, far from it, but i just wanted to put that side of it forward as well. At the end of the day it is the mother and father's choice.

I think you are also right in that they would only let you be at home if everything was very low risk too.

I also found that my HB midwife was very hands off (albeit she only had 45 mins to wait). I was examined when she arrived to ensure I was at least 5cms so I could get into the pool but she didn't touch me again until after DD was born to help me out of the pool. She just let DD come out herself and rise to the top of the pool!

I felt very comfortable that she was watching for other signs of labour progressing rather than relying on internal examinations (as discussed in another recent thread). When I said I needed to push after 25 mins in the pool she said 'do what your body is telling you' where as when my son was born in hospital I was examined again before I was given the go ahead to push.