To be fed up of the "home birth is risky" misinformation?

[everychildmatters]

Because clearly evidence says otherwise!!

I think maybe it’s nicer if you have a nice hospital that’s a bit more hotel like.

Our just feels very clinical which of course it’s a hospital but all of the maternity ward windows seen to even overlook grim offerings. Midwifes ran ragged and just dirty.

Ours was a totally seperate new building. We weren’t within 100m of a sick person. Most maternity hospitals are distanced from the main hospital.

And do you not have strangers at home in the form of midwives and health visitors?

I find the clinicalness of it comforting. I was happy throughout my pregnancies and births to consider a medical process and being in a medical setting therefore felt right in a way that being at home wouldn't.

I don't think my hospital was particularly hotel like, it was just professional.

I chose an ELCS, partly(but not only) because of the lack of midwives available.

I would never have chosen a home birth and preferred to have the baby out via the quickest method.

I do think if a woman wants a home birth and is a good candidate then the resources ideally‘should’ be available, but since the resources are currently very thinly spread I wouldn’t want to take my chances on a home birth. There aren’t enough midwives to attend to the majority of women who choose/prefer to give birth in a hospital setting, this needs to be addressed first.

I am a co-sleeping, natural term weaning type of mum (so people in those circles are sometimes a bit surprised by my choice of ELCS unless I share the background with them).

This isn't true. In countries where they don't have as many "interventions" for births, the death and complication rate is so much higher.

Absolutely, was very happy to be basically incontinent in the hospital room and hospital bed and vomiting periodically in the convenient and endless stash of cardboard kidney trays that got whisked away, rather than my own house.
I don’t know why everyone is all ‘home births are safer because they rush you to hospital’. We must have no representatives of what usually feels like a sizeable amount of the home birth cohort who think being rushed to hospital is devastating and ruins their birth experience. (Note they do recognise it’s necessary) If you’re counting on being rushed to hospital why not just birth in hospital, I would. Nothing would make me more anxious about the birth than knowing if something went wrong I had to hope for an ambulance. I live 5 minutes from a hospital and it is a huge source of comfort that I could get the kids there if needed and not risk waiting for an ambulance, so many stories about how long they take.

You can't give hard & fast advice on this, there are just too many variables. Generally it's safest to rely on the advice given to you based on your circumstances. And even then! ANYthing can happen!

Consultant tried to send me away from the hospital (went in to be induced for DS2 but the dates got screwed up & so he refused to do it) & it was ONLY cos the midwife had a 'feeling' that I'm even here to write this! Without her 'feeling' & whispered 'let me just put you on the monitor, he can't send you away then' there's no doubt I'd have gone the hour's journey home, started labour & we'd both have died. The monitor showed him in serious distress, they started the process & I couldn't finish it cos he was so tangled up - I was screaming he was trying to come out but something was wrong. He came out shrivelled, blue, unresponsive & covered in mucomium but only after around 8 ppl suddenly filled the room in deathly silence to get my stuck baby out of my birth canal. A home birth would have killed us after an otherwise entirely healthy pregnancy.

Conversely, DS3 decided he was coming out at home even though I wanted to go to hospital. 9lb 11oz & facing the wrong bloody way lol. All healthy & fine & I'm really really glad it happened that way.

In my experience, don't plan anything just hope for the best & be prepared for surprises. Home births will always look better on paper cos they are generally the lowest possible risk pregnancies in the first place

@MsCactus Which countries?

TW: Maternal death.
I think the simple fact is, nobody knows how their body will be during childbirth. It’s unpredictable due to all of the variables at play.
My friend died in childbirth.
It was a home birth.
An otherwise healthy pregnancy & mother. Had she been in hospital, she’d probably be alive today. But instead, she was at home with a midwife who didn’t fulfil her duty of care. Too far from help to be saved.
Consequently, she died.
The whole thing is hugely traumatic, and I really hope nobody ever has to experience losing a loved one in this way.

I appreciate it’s rare, I appreciate negligence occurs in the hospital setting too (wrongly). But your odds are greatly improved by being closer to emergency treatment options when things do go wrong. The saddest part of the story is how she was misled into thinking there was virtually no risk of this occurring, because of the supposed elevated level of care from the home birth team and emergency access to ambulances.
No such provision exists, you join the same 999 queue as everyone else.

I had four babies with no VE. Not necessary, especially after waters have already broken early. It just risks introducing infection.

I'm sorry your friend didn't make it. I've had a number of successful home births but, if I'd known how the last one would go, I'd have gone to the hospital for a c-section. They have their place.

Women and babies die in hospitals too. I'm not against home birth at all, obviously, but birth is always a risk. I birthed at home to avoid unnecessary interventions that caused complications with my first baby. It was very worth it.

@DoggieHeaven Thank you. I’m glad your experiences were positive.

I think the piece that’s the hardest is in this specific example, in a hospital setting, this was a preventable death from a very common & treatable complication (that’s as detailed as I’m comfortable being). And for me, that’s why I couldn’t entertain a home birth, or sit silently on the topic. There are inherent risks with not being close enough to emergency interventions, care & support and I can see some comments on this thread don’t accept that, or somewhat minimise that (perhaps survivors bias). It’s one of those things I think, you just see things very differently when you’re on the other side of it. I respect a woman’s rights to informed choice, I must add.

I think a lot of people have rightly picked up on the broader issues with maternity care that’s lacking in this country, and almost pushes some people towards home births, to your point, to avoid unwanted and unnecessary interventions. That is, in my view, a really sorry state for this country to be in.

I think that's the point you can't predict how a birth will go ,both my pregnancies were problem free but my oldest son had the cord wrapped around his neck three times and wasn't breathing at birth and needed oxygen they were monitoring him through out the birth
My youngest was back to back which wasn't picked up until I was two weeks late and being induced he was delivered via ventouse I'm grateful I was in hospital and had the necessary interventions
I think it can also depend how far you are away from the hospital ,had I decided to have a home birth I only lived a mile or so away from the hospital anyway so could have probably how there fairly quickly it might be a different story if someone lives very riralkg for example .

I gave birth at home manny years ago and it was wonderful afterwards just to be in your own bed. Other children also able to be in the house.
Perhaps things have changed now. My recollection is that, since the local hospital was a small one, it did not have many facilities. If anyting went wrong, I would havet o be transferred to the big hospital 20 miles away. So, I calculated I might just as well be at home.
I felt certain in myself that all would be well and that my body would do what was needed without help. That's just what did happen.
I can't get my head round how this could be thought of as risky.

Home birth midwives do carry full resuscitation gear for mother and baby, so that can, and has been, stablised at home before transfers in cases I've known.

One of my babies had the cord around the neck at least five times. The cord was cut after the head emerged, but before the body. Midwives check for this.

I agree that being near medical care is very important, just in case. How far away depends on the comfort level of each woman, I suppose.

You're happy with your births and that's the main thing. Isn't it good we have a choice?

I’m sorry but in an emergency situation (for mother and/or baby) a midwife at home is absolutely no substitute for a crash team in a fully equipped hospital setting.

I would agree on the basis that the team will have more experience as they do it more often.

My own midwife didn't give me oxygen soon enough, even though that was available. Thankfully the paramedics sorted that one.

However, I also know of babies born at home or in small rural birthing units where they have been stablised and transferred to hospitals. I've never known of a case where it's been a problem (though I am sure those cases exist).

(safety NOT being one of them.)

Safety was my only priority when having my ds.

I couldn't have cared less about all the things other people seem to worry about - the food, noise, visiting times, temperature, sleep, not your own bathroom etc.

Who cares? My only priority was for me & ds to come home safe and well. For that, I gratefully tolerated any amount of noise, odd food, strange bathrooms, disturbed sleep etc.

Rubbish, unless there is a hidden surgical theatre in my house my baby would not have made it.i was told this by the doctor who delivered her
I went from being in labour as normal or rushed down to theatre in minuits
You know when you see the panic buttons pressed and all available midwives run that was it i was wheeled down my other half had a blue gown and cap chucked ah him and he had to put it on while walking down
Wnt are you so dismissive of the dangers of giving birth outside of a hospital enviroment? It doesnt even have to be at home just anywhere where there is not medical support and equipment

Exactly what do people think theres an ambulance just waiting to take you and your baby to hospital f an emergency occurs during home birth? An ambulance in the current state of the nhs is likely to be hours away at best
Why rish your life and your babies life on the off chance you may be ok?
Sorry to hear about your friend that is so awful that she was let down and given false information and hope :(

I understand completely why women would want to have a home birth.

But birth can be unpredictable and dangerous and I know where I’d rather be should complications arise.

It’s not about ratio of care. If something goes wrong and mother or baby need surgery before or after birth for example, it’s the time wasted on travel to the hospital that can cost lives. Unfortunately I personally know of situations which put both mum and baby at severe risk because of this factor. When something goes wrong, time is of the essence. It doesn’t matter how many midwives attend a home birth, the fact is that hospitals have advanced equipment and surgeons that are not just on hand at home.

One positive home birth does not outweigh the genuine risk involved.

@Nanatobethatsme46 A question if I may? Was the labour progressing completely naturally and without intervention until that "emergency" point?

Same.