Were you born at home or in a hospital?

[Spangles1963V]

And what year was it? I was chatting to some friends a few days ago and I was surprised to find that I was the only one born at home. This was in 1963. Three of my friends are the oldest child,whereas I was the youngest,which explained why they were born in hospital. Back in the early to mid 60s,it was common practice to have your first baby in hospital,then subsequent ones at home,providing there were no health issues or problems with the first birth. Another of my friends said she was born in hospital even though she was the youngest,but then she was born in the late 70s. I remember my DM saying that she didn't want any of her babies at home,she'd rather be safe in hospital,but the doctor wouldn't hear of it! Said she was fit and healthy so it had to be a home birth. I also recall her saying that the midwife who delivered me wouldn't let her sit or lay down while she was in labour,insisted she keep upright and moving around. This seems contrary to what I've heard about a lot of deliveries,where the mother was told to stay flat on her back when she would rather be upright. Any MNers got any stories about when they were born?

Me and my siblings were all Hospital born. Late 60s, late 79s and 1980.

My gran had my dad at home In 1951.

I had dd at home in 2010. My gran thought i was ridiculous.

1990, born at hospital and tbh thank God I was becuase otherwise we would both be dead.

^^not saying anything about home births btw, I would seriously consider it but when I was born, there were several complications and the dr was preparing my Dad for the worst case scenario. Luckily both of us were fine in the end but they wouldn’t have had time to get the the hospital had my mum chosen a home birth, we just lived too far out.

Mil was a midwife from 63 for 35 years in Newcastle then London.
She talks a lot about babies mostly being born at home at the start of her career but as the housing stock in slit of areas was still developing hospitals were seen as more hygienic options.

1968 at home, my sister 1965 in hospital.

Hospital 1995

Oh and to add when we opted for Home birth for ours she was furious with us even though she had attended hundreds of safe happy homebiryhs as a community midwife!!

1992 - born at home (at my grandmother's house, where all my siblings were born). It was the only place my mother would 'tolerate' giving birth.

I was the sixth child, if that makes a difference.

Hospital, late 80’s

Hospital 1975. My sister was born at home in 1980, but my mum had to fight like crazy for a home birth. I remember how nice it was, and always planned to have my children at home (which I did).

Born at home in 72, as was my DS 4 years earlier. Mum worked at the hospital as a midwife!

Home 1969 ; with my mum's aunt (her mother's sister) as the midwife - and of course my dad watching on from afar!

Home, 1965, same for my brother in 1967.

Home. 1968.

1991 in hospital but my mum wanted a home birth but was denied one as she was deemed "too small". She also expressed interest in a water birth but again was denied one as the doctor told her they were dangerous. I guess they weren't very common back then though.

I ended up being born born really quickly at 43 weeks, with no complications. A couple of things I found really interesting though was that my mum told me that despite the fact she was so overdue, they had only just started to mention the possibility induction, although nothing was booked in, and despite having zero complications we stayed in the hospital for 4 days! That definitely wouldn't happen today!

1968, first baby, in hospital. DM suspects I was breech as 2 of mine were, but I had 1 VB (unexpected breech delivery) and 1 planned CS. Mum was tiny, had lots of stitches, then had ptsd, kidney failure, pnd and refused to have more kids.

Dad was at home, having his tea with DGM and DGD

1956 at home, first born.
Apparently it was normal for that time
Mine, 1982 hospital followed by maternity home one week
1985 maternity home 5 days
1991 hospital followed by 2 days maternity home.
My grandchildren all born in hospital and home same day or next day.

95. Hospital. Australia. First born. Emergency cesearian so it's a good thing hospital deliveries were the norm.

My DM had me in 1964 by planned c-section because I was breech. I say planned, but my DM wasn't told she needed a CS. She was told to go to a hospital 20 miles away instead of the local maternity hospital as soon as she went into labour, which she did on her due date. When she got there she had me by CS under GA.

She had my sibling four years later by VBAC, induced a couple of days early.

94. Hospital.

DD was born in 14, also hospital.

MIL was made to give birth at home though she would have preferred hospital. She said she wasn't allowed to go into hospital, except for one birth when there were complications in pregnancy. She was told hospital beds were only available to those who couldn't safely give birth at home.

She had seven births between 1954-1963.

All 6 of us were born in a local nursing home between 1959 & 1967

Me and db were hospital births in the 70s. My mum was a hospital baby during WW2. My nan used to tell how the woman opposite her was abused by the staff because she was unmarried :(

I was born in 1993, first born, hospital.