To consider having a home birth

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DD is nearly 2 and we are TTC number 2.

With DD my labour was really quick - 4 hours from first twinges to birth. 90 minutes from waters breaking. We only just made it to the hospital in time and if it had been rush hour or roadworks I'm sure we wouldn't have got there in time. The car journey was by far the worst part of the whole thing.

As I have heard generally second babies are born quicker, I was considering that a home birth might be the way to go. However I have always thought there was no way a home birth would be for me. Am I mad to even consider it?

It’s the birthplace in England study. For second and subsequent births taking place at home, no difference in outcomes for the baby, and fewer risks for the mother, comparing like for like low risk cohorts choosing home vs hospital births. So it did in fact come back with home birth being safer for a significant number of women.

Here. www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/birthplace

It's not a fair comparison to compare births that happened at hospital to if they had happened at home.
Lots of things change when you're at home.

The stages of labour are likely to be shorter
Dilation likely to be more effective
You're likely to be more mobile.
Add into that that if in hospital the slightest sign of things being different leads to an increased chance of interventions.

All of these things can have a huge impact.

My first labour was less than 3 hours. I got to hospital about 20 mins before the baby was born. They didn't examine me and said they'd monitor me to see if I was in labour; it was only when I said I needed to push that they discovered I was fully dilated.

2nd pregnancy I said I wanted to consider a homebirth because I was worried I wouldn't have time to sort out childcare for my first child in time for me to get to the hospital. Everyone tried to put me off. 2nd labour was 45 mins (from first twinge to baby being born). There was no way I'd have got to the hospital in time because I wasn't sure I was really in labour until the last 10 mins. If I'd tried going to the hospital I'd have given birth in the car.

I would have been happy to go into hospital if I needed to but I thought it best to be geared up for a homebirth in case things happened very quickly. Being prepared meant all the equipment had been delivered to the house in advance so when the midwife arrived (she only arrived as the baby's head was crowning) everything was there, although she didn't even have time to put her gloves on; she literally walked in the door and caught the baby. Why not plan for a homebirth but keep a totally open mind so that if it isn't a really rapid labour (which I was told are generally straightforward) you can go into hospital.

No one's said her child will die if she has a homebirth. Some of us have said our kids would've died without hospital intervention and that it's worth bearing in mind that while these things are rare, they do happen and sometimes very unexpectedly.

OP it's worth asking if you can have a midwife led birth in a hospital if that's what you're interested in. Discuss all options.

As a general point I don't know why they don't attach birth centres to hospitals. That way if anything does go wrong you can be transferred immidiately while avoiding hospitals if you don't need it.

You don’t think all the ‘me and my baby would have died if we’d been at home’ messages aren’t saying that? Of course they are! They want to be as dramatic as possible to scare the OP in to choosing a hospital birth. The only horror stories I’ve wvwr heard about have been hospital births. Now I’m very aware that anecdotes is not data, but neither is the stories being spouted here. People are more likely to post their bad stories and people who have incident free births don’t, they probably wouldn’t even click on this thread.

@Entschuldigung
Your first birth sounds a lot like mine. We were in the hospital, got up on the bed for them to examine me and the student midwife was like "oh I can see the head!"

Being geared up for a home birth with all the stuff there seems like a really good idea, with the option to go to hospital if it's not going as quickly as expected

I had all four of mine at home and enjoyed their births. I also have fast births so by time I’d called and the midwives had arrived I was already about 7cm and with my second babies head was crowning so definitely safer for me to have been home than a bus to the hospital (didn’t have a car at that time).

I’m in the same situation as you, except 37 weeks pregnant with my second. Dc1 arrived in less than 4 hours, no one believed I was in labour, very traumatic experience.

I’d planned a home birth this time for the same reasons as you. Done lots of research, live 15 minutes from hospital, uncomplicated first delivery and both textbook pregnancies.

Last week I got a new midwife who has decided she won’t ‘let’ me have a homebirth as I have one risk factor, booking BMI of 37. I’ve only put on a stone and weigh less than this stage with dc1 but she has been incredibly unsupportive and basically implied that my weight means my chance of pph is so much higher I’d be irresponsible to have dc2 at home. Her response to me saying I’m worried about giving birth by the side of the road? You’ll have to drive faster the won’t you

Anyway, the outcome of this is that I’m having an induction at 39 weeks. Seems the best of both worlds, avoids the fear of not making it to the hospital, I get the medical back up needed if necessary and I don’t have to battle with the community midwives to get a home birth or worry about if the horrible midwife is going to be the one turning up at my door.

I didn’t know induction was an option for precipitous labour so might be worth bearing in mind if you’re not totally sure about a home birth. C section can also be an option but I wanted to avoid that if possible.

They want to be as dramatic as possible to scare the OP in to choosing a hospital birth.

If i wanted to be as dramatic as possible I'd have detailed the horrendous experience we had. I haven't done that. All I and others have done is be truthful.

When people are telling stories that they were rushed to theatre in under 10 mins I don’t think they realise that they would have been in a trace and that the drs would have waited until it was at the point a section was necessary. At a home birth there wouldn’t be such a high threshold. The first signs of feral distress and you’d be transferred. Very very different situations.

I had my second at home and it was a good experience overall (still such hard work though!). The midwives who looked after me were phenomenal, absolutely no way I’d have got the same level of care in a hospital. To be honest if you are considering it I would say go for it. You can always change your mind at any point and go in. You usually start labour at home anyway so you can see how you get on and either stay at home with two midwives there to help and all equipment on hand or transfer to hospital if you need to. I’d give yourself that option, especially if you had a quick first birth and thus likely to have a quick second. One thing to be aware of is that the amount of gas and air available is dependent on area. Mine didn’t have much available - two 30min canisters. I’ll admit I’d Have loved to have had more gas and air available. But then it was still a longish second labour (13hrs) and a 10lbs baby!

So here is the thing, people here are giving anecdotes and examples.

The birthplace study studied 64,000 births. Many times more people than you will be able to find as examples on a thread like this.

They found that women having their second baby were safer at home and they found that second babies were just as safe being born at home. By studying data.

So for every example here where a baby was saved by a hospital setting, so must an equal number be endangered or damaged by the hospital setting, or the data would not come back as statistically equal.

Birth is not a science. The point is that whatever the choice the OP makes (HER choice) it is a reasonable choice. Having a whole load of people pile in and blame her IN ADVANCE with the what ifs are not being reasonable.

I would not be reasonable if I began a list of reasons babies might be damaged by birth in a hospital setting. The point is no choice is risk free, and both are entirely reasonable options.

Platypus I would've bled out very quickly, and my daughter had no oxygen as her placenta had completely separated.

Now for disclosure they were very preterm so obviously wouldn't have been at home but a placental abruption isn't unique to premature births, it can and does happen full term.

You don’t think all the ‘me and my baby would have died if we’d been at home’ messages aren’t saying that? Of course they are! They want to be as dramatic as possible to scare the OP in to choosing a hospital birth

So what do you want us to say? That everything would have been fine?

Statistics are only useful to a point, whether the risk is 1 in 100 or 5,000 makes no difference if you are the 1.

My 3rd child was born at home for the same reasons OP. I wish I'd trusted my iwn instincts and had a homebirth for my second as well. He was nearly born in the car but luckily I made it to the delivery room with a lot of panting.
I would consult with your midwife (and consultant if applicable) and take their advice.

@chanklybore

This

All of this

When people are telling stories that they were rushed to theatre in under 10 mins I don’t think they realise that they would have been in a trace and that the drs would have waited until it was at the point a section was necessary.
No that’s not true in my case. The baby was fine and then it suddenly really wasn’t. I don’t disagree that most home births are lovely experiences that went well but you can’t pretend that all issues will be picked up earlier during a home birth and there would be time to transfer to hospital.

"Her response to me saying I’m worried about giving birth by the side of the road? You’ll have to drive faster the won’t you"

She sounds horrible surely midwives should be supportive and help you feel calm. And driving like a mad man is surely more risky than a home birth!

I would prefer not to be induced if possible. 39 weeks seems late, what if you went into spontaneous labour before that? You would be stuck with the choice of home birth or potential side of the road birth if it moves quickly again.

I am aware of placental abruptions as I’m a midwife. But the signs of an abruption would be an immediate transfer. A crash section has the target time of having baby delivered in half an hour, a transfer in would take about the same amount of time and delivery suite would be on stand by ready. A home birth may not be for yourself and that’s great but statistically a home birth is safer for low risk women

@seline but without research or statistics how do you make an informed decision?
1 in 20 people have some form of seizure. Does that mean you should never drive just in case you are that one person who has a seizure when driving and dies as a result? Even though the stats are incredibly low?

We use statistics to help us balance the individual risk factors to us. To help make an informed choice. To balance everything.

Chunky monkey were you on a monitor? If so why? Or were they listening in?

I’m guessing baby had a bradycardia?

My midwife tried to persuade me to have a home birth with dd2 because dd1 was a ‘textbook’ labour/ delivery. I refused because i’d rather be in the hospital environment. I ended up going to the birth centre (still in the hospital) and that was amazing. It was not a busy day so I had 2 midwives and all home comfort but then if there was an emergency, the delivery suite is just downstairs. Can you consider that?

Thing is, you can start with a home birth plan and change your mind but not the other way round. And, for me, that was enough assurance.

I had all home births because I was low risk and pretty laid back about the whole thing. We were 20-30 minutes away from hospital barring serious road issues.

To some extent, I think your own attitude and approach to it carries a lot of weight but that goes hand-in-hand with professional advice.

I remember someone at toddler group telling me her child would have died if she'd had a homebirth like I had. Well, I wouldn't have got to hospital in time even if I'd tried to so I couldn't see how that was a helpful thing to say. Staying at home meant I at least had a midwife with me (only just though!).