To consider having a home birth

[EmUntitled]

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?

I was due to give birth in hospital but three weeks ago DS decided to come two weeks early in the early hours of the morning.

I gave birth on my living room floor minutes after the paramedics walked in. I feel so lucky there were no complications for him.
Unlucky for me we went straight to hospital in the ambulance to discover my third degree and labial tear.

So despite a quick labour with no pain relief I still ended up having surgery under spinal then a catheter and an over night stay.
You just don't know what might happen, I knew I had quick labour's but this was about 2 hours from start to finish.

I'm 40mibs from hospital. I had 2 of mine at home and 2 in hospital.

My second labour was 55mins from first pain.

My 3DC were all born at home, 2 in a birthing pool. I had low risk pregnancies and my husband was supportive so it was great for us - however, my mum is a community midwife so that did help us decide (she was present at all births but not in a professional capacity; there were 2 other midwives there). I also just didn’t want to be in hospital - I like my home comforts too much and, having never been in hospital before, actually felt ‘safer’ at home. It was also blissful being able to have a bath in my own bathroom afterwards. I only have positive things to say about my experience... as people have suggested do your research, talk to the midwives and if it feels right then go for it!

Statistically, if you are low risk, then it's technically as safe to have your baby at home rather than in a hospital.

Very fast labours seem to be a good reason to seriously consider a home birth.

But, personally, I would never have considered it with my three. I work for the NHS and see what happens when things go wrong.
I'd want to be as close to the operating theatre as possible, just in case.

I'm not a statistic, I'm a human. And I can still be the 1/100 low risk birth that goes wrong.

I wouldn't consider birthing centres for the same reason.

However, my job makes me paranoid and so I'm probably worrying unnecessarily.

Have a long discussion with your midwife for the pros and cons and go from there.

I had a homebirth after three hospital births. My previous births had all been straightforward so I was able to weigh up the risks. I also have had very short labours and came close to giving birth in the car on my third labour so I liked the idea of not having to travel in. I only had one midwife in attendance, the other was called elsewhere. Having 1-1 attention was lovely. The only downsides were kids friends kept knocking on the door as it was daytime and I didn't have that buffer of people not being sure if I was home that helps you manage visitors those first few days. The whole street knew I had given birth and word spread quickly! Also I only had 20 mins of gas and air because they didn't bring a secind cannister. That was enough for me .These are trivial matters but thought I'd share my experience.

Another factor to bear in mind with precipitate second labours is you can't set off for hospital the moment your pains start, you have to wait to sort out childcare for your first. In my case, since it was the middle of the night, that took up 40 minutes of my under two-hour labour. The drive to hospital was only 20 minutes but was the single most stressful thing I and DH have ever done.

@TaMere

That is a good point. My parents live 20 minutes away but we have very good friends who live across the road who could look after her until my parents could arrive.

Plan it but be open for changes.
I tried for a homebirth but things started to go wrong and I was ambulanced in to hospital. We were only five minutes away.
But the nice thing was my midwife was determined to make my birth as home birthy as possible. I had the same midwife all the way through from home to ambulance to theatre. She went out of her way to make things as calm as possible for me (I hate hospitals) and basically let me control as much as possible.
I did have an emergency hospital bag packed ready which turned out to be a really good thing.

Our plan was for my very good friend close by to come over. The baby came ten days early and VGF had left her phone on vibrate downstairs so we couldn't get hold of her... had to call on someone else for backup. Nightmare.

Women are often encouraged to stay at home for as long as possible and when women say ‘Oh I turned up at hospital 10cm ready to push’ she is often applauded, yet a woman choosing a home birth is often criticised for labouring and birthing ‘dangerously’ when she will have likely had medical staff present throughout a greater length of her labour than women who stay at home and turn up to hospital at the last second.

I aimed for a homebirth with my first but didn't get pushing contractions so was transferred to hospital (ended up with a c section). C-section went a bit wrong - in the hours afterwards I wasn't properly monitored, lost most of my blood and nearly died. The after care was grim and the care assistants on the ward were abusive (telling the woman in the bed next to me that she was a 'dirty bitch' for the blood that had leaked on to her sheet etc).

Having seen the NHS at it's worst and been truly terrified by my experience I opted for a private midwife and a safe homebirth for my 2nd. At the time I did masses of research and there was lots of evidence to show that the hospital setting is not good for labouring and birthing women. A women needs to be relaxed in childbirth and the poking, prodding, beeping, hooking up to various machines etc is more likely to make a woman labour and birth less naturally and efficiently, making them more likely to need interventions and creating more situations where medical assistance is needed.

When a woman has her baby at home she is more relaxed and the birth can proceed as it should - if a true medical emergency arises at home with excellent monitoring from a fully present (not distracted by having too many clients) midwife there is plenty of time to transfer to hospital.

From what I read at the time I remember feeling strongly that the hospital setting and procedures create many of the birth problems they then has to fix.

have not has

That’s another good point about childcare - you don’t have to worry about it if you stay home.
My toddler was pottering about at normal, totally oblivious that anything was going on! She kept squatting down next to me and asking “what doing mama?”, DH took her upstairs for a nap, and she woke up when she heard her new baby brother cry as he came out a few hours later.
That’s another factor in my decision for another home birth with DC3 - don’t need to worry about finding childcare for the older 2.

None of them I would be happy to go through at home without any medical staff.
you have midwives at home when having a home birth
They are medical staff

planespotting they're not doctors though.

Yes i phrased that wrong. Of course midwives are medical staff. I I meant the variation of medical staff that can respond to all the different types of scenario that can arise. Midwives in your house can only do so much.

Two homebirths here & one hospital birth. Just made it in with number one, our hospital is 30 minutes away. Labour was 4 hours start to finish. Number 2 was unplanned home birth, ambulance turned up & there was no way we were going anywhere, labour was 2 hours start to finish.
Number 3 was planned home birth. SO much better than both the first two. I had 2 midwives, was comfortable & could crash afterwards. I was with One to One Midwives tho so had a named MW & buddy on standby near my due date.

If i ever had another (wont happen) it would be a home birth all the way

We live about 30-40 mins from hospital.

I had number 3 at home. I did lots of research beforehand and balanced up the risks, everything you do regarding childbirth is a balance of risks.

No one tells women they are mad to have pain killers or an epidural yet they are linked to higher complication rates as most people understand that they made a decision based on what was right for them with the evidence they had.

There's no crystal ball, we decided I was safer having the baby at home in a calm controlled environment as the last 2 were quick, I was an hour the last time and usually each successive birth is quicker. It was the right choice as I was extremely quick the midwife made it for the last push! If I'd had to wait for childcare to arrive/ taken them somewhere then get to the hospital I most certainly would have delivered in the car on the side of the Road which would have been stressful and difficult to get in the most comfortable position thus raising my chances of complications.

But equally I could have had complications at home but the tests said that was unlikely so I took that risk over the more known risk that I'd be quick.

And also, youre reliant on two (and sometimes just one) person spotting a problem and making the right call. In hospital there are many more people there to spot something and to act on it appropriately.

MW at home births have lower emergency thresholds than in hospital. So if they aren't convinced it's going right, they move you sooner than they would at hospital.
My MW & her buddy successfully managed a massive bleed until the ambulance crew turned up, both mum & baby were fine & raving about how amazing the MW were.

No one tells women they are mad to have pain killers or an epidural yet they are linked to higher complication rates as most people understand that they made a decision based on what was right for them with the evidence they had.*

But you've got people around to address those complications.

I know a consultant who is horrified by HBs, but it’s because she only sees when things gone wrong. I don’t think it’s unusual for doctors, as opposed to the MWs I know who support them.

It’s much the same debate here - boils down to personal experience.

You can only make your own mind up OP.

I was more wary of hospital protocol first time round than anything else.

My first labour was like yours. I had #2 and #3 at home and it was great both times. I felt much better cared for at home with 2 midwives and a student than I had done in hospital where I was alone quite a bit. I would absolutely recommend you consider it, assuming you remain low risk.

See, I disagree iLoveMaxi - at Home you have two experienced MWs whereas in hospital you are likely to have a student or a MW looking after other women at the same time.

Better at home than in the back of a car stuck in traffic. The reality of fast labours is that OP may well have her baby at home whether she wants to or not.