To think about a home birth for my first baby?

[consideringhomebirth]

Trying to decide. Initially I thought home birth was a crazy idea and that things can go wrong in a split second, but I have seen research online which says there is actually no increased risk. Now I am thinking twice.

I know I either want a no-interventions birth, or a planned caesarean. Two extremes but I don’t think labouring for ages in my hospital would be ideal for me and I would feel quite stressed, plus the recent enquiry into UK maternity services is not great. 45% of all births in the last couple of months at my trust were C-sections, majority being emergency ones. A large proportion of women seem to end up being induced and there is a high rate of induction being unsuccessful and leading to emergency section or assisted deliveries, which would be the worst of all worlds for me.

I am low-risk and baby measuring on the 60th centile. Is home birth the gamble everyone says it is? We are 10 minutes from the hospital by car. If we went for this option we would have midwives at home from the homebirth team and you get transferred to hospital should anything be not quite right.

I’d be so much more relaxed at home- but only if everything went right, obviously, and I understand birth is quite unpredictable.

I’m speaking to my midwife about the options I’m considering soon. In the mean time any thoughts or experiences welcome. :-)

I had a home birth with DS1. All went really smoothly, had him in the pool. No tearing or anything. We were eating pizza snuggled up in bed two hours later.

DD I tried the same, but she got stuck. Had to be taken in and ended up with an assisted delivery with forceps. Lost a lot of blood. She'd been at a funny angle. Getting to the hospital was fine though, the midwives knew when it wasn't going to work and that I needed help. Didn't feel scared at all, and the hospital team were fabulous. Even my episiotomy healed like a dream. Labour ward afterwards was my only complaint!

I'd still opt for a homebirth if I were to have another.

With respect, it's not about being 'daft', it's about facts, and I'm more than 'pretty sure' of them. An eleventh hour, blue light dash to the hospital where a fully staffed theatre is standing by to do an emergency delivery of, say, a distressed transverse baby is going to result in a hospital birth. Much of the literature concentrates on that kind of quantitative evidence, when the qualitative picture is obviously more nuanced. The pro-home birth lobby makes use of those kinds of statistics to make their case, so I'm advising OP to look a bit deeper at what she may find online (as she's clearly been searching).

My friends who have had home births have had amazing experiences.

But for me I wouldn't be able to relax in the knowledge that an ambulance might not come if we needed one.

The odds and facts and statistics mean nothing in relation to what will happen during your own birthing experience. I think you just have to decide is, how important is a home birth to you and why? How comfortable are you accepting risk and the possibility of a negative outcome as a result of you making that decision?

Not to be awful, but if getting to the hospital hadn't been fine and you'd not had a good outcome, I wonder if you'd have the same opinion.

Both me and baby would have died if I'd had a home birth.

Plan carefully.

I wouldn’t for a first baby just because you’ve never been in labour before and don’t know what might happen.

I know the stats from hospitals look scary but out of all 8 of my NCT class (all of us FTM) only 1 person had a ‘normal’ delivery and the other 7 needed intervention. The normal delivery was a baby born at 35 weeks so not low risk anyway!

I actually thought that you could do all the planning in the world but you just never know what’s going to happen at the end of pregnancy and I wish someone had been more upfront with me that I might not get my planned water birth with no pain relief. For that reason I think YABU but that’s because I would plan to be much more flexible/open minded with what might happen and consider what you would want in different circumstances eg would you decline induction.

Well obviously. But the midwives were on the ball and the ambulance came very quickly. They're trained in these things, and it had been discussed prior to the labour.

That's like saying "well if you'd driven down that road and crashed, you might think differently about driving in the snow again". Of course outcomes are going to have an effect on how people think. My outcome was fine and I have faith in the midwives to do the jobs they were trained to do.

I was going to post the study, but see someone already has. Home birth for your first baby is significantly more risky for the baby unfortunately. Also your chances of giving birth at home are little more than 50/50 unfortunately too.

I feel as well that a no intervention birth whilst being your aim, might differ to what is needed in terms of instrumental delivery, emergency CS etc, in an emergency.

I had a maternal request C section and would really recommend. I read the pros and cons of elective sections vs vaginal delivery and discussed with the consultant that I preferred the risk profile personally of a section.

I felt with a section, your chances of everything going as planned, with no complications or additional interventions, was much more likely than with a vaginally delivery.

I hope you have a good experience too whichever you decide.

Sorry - yes I understand what you're saying. I meant my point in relation to my other post. What happened to other people doesn't make any difference. Stories or positive or negative outcomes don't actually mean anything for the OP. It's a very hard, emotive decision, and I think it's easy to get swayed up by other people's experience but they've got nothing to do with the actual decision about a home birth. In my opinion.

I should say that I'm one of those low-risk, young, no-concerns-at-all women for whom a home birth would have meant my baby would have died, so I'm not objective at all.

I had a homebirth with both my kids and loved them. The comfort of my own surroundings and being able to climb into my own bed with baby afterwards was lovely. My second came while my eldest was sleeping, which was really special and quite the surprise when she woke up the next morning. The midwife care you get is also higher - 2 dedicated midwives with you throughout, monitoring only you, focused only on you and your baby. They don't leave your side until baby is born. I've heard horror stories from my friends of being left labouring alone in hospitals, shift changes, staff shortages etc, you don't get any of that with a home birth. I felt really safe and with professionals who knew exactly what they were doing. And as for the horror stories of the wards in hospital. Give me my own bed any day!

This isn't true. The Birthplace study counts as a home any birth that is planned to take place at home even if the woman subsequently transfers - that's how there are number for the percentage of, for example, home births that end in caesareans.

You'll just get horror stories on here. I had both of mine at home. Both long back to back labours with big babies, both totally fine at home. I'm 100% sure they would have been a horror show in hospital - no way I could have done it on my back or if I was stressed.

There was no mess, had a birth pool and the midwives cleaned up while I fed baby. Amazing sleep in my own bed and my own food.

I agree that it has to be the OP's decision. It's something she has to feel comfortable with - personally, I'd have hated to labour in the hospital. I'd not have been able to relax. Other women might like the knowledge that there are doctors on hand. I know several women who were traumatised by their hospital births due to medical negligence or treatment by the staff. On the other hand, there are women who've been traumatised by home births not panning out correctly.

You can't always plan for these things and what may or may not happen. I think it's just something women need to be able to make a decision about, having read as much information as possible, including good and bad stories. Hearing real life experiences can be useful, even though every birth is different.

Of course you'll get differing opinions, research and make your choice. I was going to have a homebirth with DC1 but had pre-eclampsia. I won't go into detail but both DS and I wouldn't be here if I'd been at home. The same happened with DC2.
I would have been much more open to a homebirth after experiencing childbirth once safely in a hospital setting.
From speaking with friends and family none of them experienced labour to be as they expected . DIL is currently pregnant and if she asked I'd advise the hospital for their first baby.

I had a home birth for my first (well, for both of mine). The first was definitely trickier than the second, mostly because the midwives were more nervous and wouldn’t get out of my damn way. But both were wonderful and I’m very grateful to have had both of mine at home. I did have to have a hospital stay with my eldest as a baby (not related to birth) and it was truly horrendous, even in a private room. Hospital is exactly the right place to be if you are high risk and need to be there. But home was definitely right for us.

Look to see if you have a local home birth group or there is a group called Home Birth UK on Facebook that is really informative.

With my second, we had a dedicated home birth team. I had one-to-one midwife care with my named midwife, all antenatal appointments at home. And then 2 midwives just for me for the whole birth. It’s much better care overall than I would have received in hospital.

I had an unplanned home birth and it was terrifying. But when I look back now all the things that scared me were due to it being unplanned. I’m not saying I’d do it again, but I think if you have planned well and know the midwife is there to keep an eye on you, there’s no reason not to do it.

Yes, but there are other studies with different parameters, the conclusions of which have been wilfully misused by the pro-home birth lobby. I am personally quite pro home birth, but OP needs to read with a critical eye. I'm not sure why multiple people are so keen to suppress this basic common sense approach.

yes some stuff here, American but not that reasurring

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35037395/#:~:text=The%20odds%20of%20having%20been,CI%2C%201.05%2D6.87).

I don't think you can really plan your birth. I was pushing for hours in NHS hospital - head kept almost coming out - and in the end they got assistance to pull her out as I pushed... Turns out the cord was around her neck, which is why I couldn't deliver. It strangled her and she had to be resusitated by specialist doctors, who were in the room within seconds. They saved her life and she has been fine, no issues.

I recovered easily from birth - maybe tmi but my vagina looks the exact same, same tightness. No issues with pelvic floor, everything great.

So having an assisted delivery was no bother for me. I would strongly say no to home birth though - if I had done so my daughter wouldn't be here. As it is she was a very straightforward birth with a great recovery

I'd always be cautious of having a homebirth on a first baby because there are so many unknowns. Home births aren't an option for me so I have no experience of them but a girl I know passed away a few short years ago after a homebirth with her first so it can go wrong. The birth was fine but she haomorraged afterwards.

Just because you're close to hospital doesn't mean you'll be seen quickly if you need to go there. I was in a midwife led unit, transferred to hospital by ambulance which was a short distance but driver got lost so took over an hour, and then I waited ages once I arrived at hospital for anything to happen.
But I can also see your reasons for! I would have hated to be in hospital from the start.

What does one do with the placenta?

Same as in hospital, midwives can dispose of it safely or some people may want to keep it, it's their choice.

I never considered a home birth and am very glad I didn't have one. Regardless of midwives' ability to clean up afterwards, I wouldn't want my home to be imbued with traumatic and painful memories of giving birth. Also, my dd probably would have died.