ANYONE HAD OR HAVING A HOMEBIRTH/USING INDEPENDANT MIDWIFE?

[totallyfloaty35]

Im pregnant with my 3rd and interested in a homebirth,i will have to have an independant midwife though as nhs very reluctant to let me have one.Has anyone had an independant midwife or a homebirth with the NHS?or are you having probs getting them to agree to let you have one.A mate had a homebirth on the nhs and never saw the same midwife ever,even at the birth was a completely new one.

[sharklover]

New independent midwives have set up in Essex - www.essexmidwiferypractice.co.uk
Im's give a much better level of care because they have more time for you and its lovely to have that trusting relationship - money well spent!

[Grapes2]

I had my second at home- and I can honestly say it was the best day of my life so far. Had NHS midwife, second one didn't arrive in time for actual birth. Both were great. My daughter arrived into a dimly lit room calmly and without screams (from her anyway!). 8 months later she is still the calmest, happiest baby ever! The midwife was so good that she stopped me pushing at the right time so I didn't tear so i didn't need horrible stitching as I did the first time. My son slept through the whole thing and awoke in the morning to discover he was a brother.
I wholeheartedly recommend it!

[totallyfloaty35]

Thanks ladies,am now officially signed up with wonderful independant midwife.Will let you know how it goes

[pupuce]

Have you contacted Caroline Spear in Bognor Regis, she is a VBAC (nationwide) supporter and she knows the stuff really well.
You can find her details \link{http://doula.org.uk/findadoula/findadoula.php?region=12\here}
She had an independent midwife herself.

[MissChief]

hi - it does help to get them on side - yr local hospital isn't worse than average - 2% homebriths I think nationally, I guess they're trying to make sure you'll be ok..Iron levels are important too ( as I found out after having PPH!).
Good luck with it anyway.

[totallyfloaty35]

Thanks ladies,Worthing hospital only had 54 homebirths out of 2574 last year!My iron levels are always low,something to do with the fact im a Thallieseamia(sp?) carrier.So they cant use that one to stop me,as dr told me i could eat iron pills by the handful and it wouldnt do a fat lot. i might try Brighton hosp if worthing are difficult as £2600 is alot of money to find

[secur]

I had an NHS homebirth and the midwife wasn't even present at the birth (mind you labour was only 22 minutes so I guess she had an excuse!)

I found it an amasing experience and would heartily recommend it, however, it is important to get your facts together before you request it so that you can show yourself to be well informed, be pushy but not rude (i.e. resolved that this is your right and you are excercising it) and also get up to date in the current views for your area. This should be enough if you keep working on them.

Oh yes, and the final one they seem to try to drop in when you think you are home and dry is your Iron (HB) levels are low - my advice would be to start from right at the begining of your pg making sure you keep then up with a very good diet and/or natural iron supplememts, that way you can take one more ball out of their court

Hope it all goes well for you

[MissChief]

had homebirth with NHS midwife - found lots of support locally from mws/GP no problem with them "letting" me have homebirth..was lucky in that I knew my mw - she'd been the one I'd mainly seen while pg and she was on duty for me around my due date. I honestly don't see how it could have been better had we paid and got an independent mw, she was truly brilliant.

[Piffle]

IN NZ I had an independent midwife, this was on the health service, it was superb.
If I could afford it, I would do it, for sure -

[pupuce]

Totallyfloaty - not sure if you'll see this but I know that Brighton NHS midwives are actually supportive of (for example) breech home births so they would too for a VBAC.

[totallyfloaty35]

Thanks spider,i spoke to sussex independant midwives,had long chat and they were lovely,so looks like i will be booking them thanks to all for sharing info with me.

[spidermama]

Have CATed you back but it seems to take ages.

[spidermama]

OK will look out for that.
Meanwhile, \link{http://www.sussexindependentmidwives.co.uk/labouranddelivery.html\these} look interesting.

[totallyfloaty35]

Spider,have CAT you

[spidermama]

TotallyF I'm in Brighton and had a mw here who was OK, but in the end she was my back up and I kept my South London mws as they were willing to come and attend the birth as they had already done two of mine.

I can give you the name of the Brighton one if you CAT me and a little more information about her. But I don't know how close you are to Brighton.

Alternatively the South London Independent mws are absolutely brilliant IME. They may be willing to come to you depending how far out of London you live.

[pupuce]

www.independentmidwives.org.uk/article6577.html

[pupuce]

Rosie Smith (I think) is lovely

[pupuce]

South coast?

[wilbur]

totallyfloaty - haven't read all of this but just to say I had a home birth after two hosp ones (an emergency c-section then a ventouse). NHS not keen on it because of birth history and other medical issues so I hired an independent midwife. Best money I ever spent, ds2's birth was amazing (still hurt like hell lol!) and calm and lovely and I'm still thrilled about it 8 months later. Good luck!

[totallyfloaty35]

Thanks ladies,you have made my mind up for me will def book an IM.I live in sussex,anyone had an IM they recommend in this area?

[cookie4]

Have had 4 homebirths. First 2 in water with IM and other 2 used water but babes not born in water and with NHS midwives. Firstly, I think IM's worth their weight in gold and certainly worth the money. Nhs mw's under huge pressure to stick to hospital guidelines unless you get a really good one. IM's are great wait and seeers! If I hadn't had my IM with my 1st, I'd have been shipped into hospital for definate. V long latent phase, slow dilatation and direct posterior position but I did it with her support. 2nd much quicker and easier. 3rd hard work but fine and 4th wonderful. Nothing compares with bringing babies into the world in the comfort and security of your own home. I have no idea why so many women have babies in hospital! As far as coping with difficult midwives not letting you have a homie, whose birth is it anyway? They are legally obliged to attend you at home but there may always be the unspoken "difficult mother" thing going on. If you're in any doubt, get an IM :o

[totallyfloaty35]

yes i was very irrational by that point,i thought they would say i was 2cms and i could wait,which is why they did at last place,but if id known i was 8cms i wouldnt have bothered.i dont much like epidurals,everything slows down so you need drug to speed it up!Also i was induced,i would not let them induce me this time unless there was a medical risk.Its just the expense of an independant midwife thats a worry,saying that i have yet to see anyone from the nhs hospital,i have only spoken to them on the phone,they keep cancelling my apts and telling me they are understaffed,also my local hospital had 2540 births last yr and only 54 were home births

[pupuce]

I suspect at home she wouldn't have wanted an epidural and she said she had the epidural at 8cm... typical time to ask if you have coped well and suddenly feel scared. At home the scare factor is less. It is very very unusal for a woman who has had a vaginal birth before to request or need a transfer from a home birth to hospital.

[jollyhockeysticks]

I'm a great beliver in home birth but are you sure you want one. You say you needed an epidural last time and wouldn't let the midwife check how dilated you were, you would need to let them check you if you were at home and you couldn't resort to any epidural at the last minute.