Home Birth Club- tentative first timers and vetertans welcome!

[Allstoppedup]

Inspired by the ladies in the October ante-natal club thread but not wanting to clog it up with incessant HB chatter, I thought I'd start a little thread for anyone planning a home birth this year!

I thought it would be a nice place to share tips, advice, experiences and generally have a chat about it all!

I'm due DC2 in early October and am hoping, all risks considered to have a home birth!

Love to hear from anyone else!

Yeah, that sounds great! They don't have one 2 one in my area but they do sound very clued up with regards to homebirthing! Good luck with everything!

Ooh, bees I tried to link the Kati Katrix page but am technologically stunted and almost ended up going cross eyed whilst grunting and bashing at my phone with a rock.

She is the placenta quaffing lady from the show you mentioned and is on Facebook if you have it. I will try and post it when using an actual computer though!

Hi Bees, I am in Wigan and self-referred to the Warrington team. It's available generally around Liverpool and Cheshire and I think also Manchester. A friend in the Peak District also managed to transfer fairly late on in pregnancy. I think there is also a service in Essex. The website is www.onetoonemidwives.org - contact them if you are even vaguely near one of the above areas. Or even if you aren't, you never know where they might be branching out !

Sadly I'm nowhere near there but will ask my mw about it this week

Hello all, just checking in, I'm officially 40+6 today but really only 1 day over....still very bored of being pregnant, have a horrible chesty cough, rib flare and dd was up all night being sick with a random bug that no doubt I will get..

No twinges, no shows, nothing. Fed up.

Those one to midwives sound fab, I have done the Katherine Graves hypnobirthing course too, it feels like so long ago now, my doula used it for her births so I'm hoping she can remind me what to do!

C'mon baby!!!

Thinking baby evicting thoughts for you missmakes!

Hoping some news soon! You must be knackered! We've all had a sickness bug here but it took me a while to know I had it because of morning sickness!

Hello everyone, would you mind if I join? I only just got my bfp so early days, but I know I would like a home birth this time if possible. I was booked for one with my last pregnancy but didn't go to term so ended up with a hospital birth. Let's just say it wasn't an experience I want to repeat. . I'd love to hear everyone's hopefully positive homebirth stories.

I haven't seen a midwife yet but imagine I may be classed as a higher risk due to issues with my last birth. So I don't know if they will support a home birth this time or not.

Hi snozzberry, so lovely lots of home births being planned!!

Hi snozzberry congratulations on your BFP!

I agree, it's lovely to see so many people considering it an option! Sadly everyone I've mentioned it to in RL has looked at me like I've sprouted a second head!

Hi all, I'm due 8th May and hoping for a home birth - midwife hasnt mentioned anything about a birth plan yet so worried about it getting too late!

Definitely not too late banana!! What's your plan?

Banana I told my midwife I wanted a home birth at my 36 week appointment which was absolutely fine! Maybe bring it up at your next appointment?

38+4

Good to hear! Not really sure, think my hospital will provide a pool (I just need to order connectors/liner) and would like a water birth - have had SPD so think it would help. It's just the worry that the homebirth team don't know about me, and I haven't had many midwife appointments at all (only 4). Hoping that all will be sorted when I see her on Thursday and I can get myself mentally and actually prepared

Hello,

Popping in. I have no idea what we will decide, not sure if we really have any 'choice' given my previous two births...

My first was induced at 40 + 15, just given the pessary, 'unsweepable' to fully in 4 hours then she got well and truly stuck- back to back and pushed for 2 hours. I was low risk until this point but then they decided that I needed some help and I had a spinal in theatre and a forceps delivery. To get the forceps on they had to move her hands which were up above her head. Then I had a big bleed 1.4 L because my uterus failed to contract rather than any cuts they had made.

Second baby arrived 40 + 1, on an ambulance trolley just inside labour ward. It didn't realise I was in labour until I had an unmistakable urge to push, in retrospect I had probably been in labour 20 mins- I had just felt slightly 'ouchy' BH. It took 9 minutes in ambulance to get to hospital (pushing) no complications this time.

Our third baby is now due in October and we have moved house, we live very rurally 40 minutes away from a hospital. I think we have two options, one is a planned homebirth and the other potentially induction at hospital as otherwise I think baby will arrive at the roadside!

DH I think would far prefer the hospital option. I am super nervous about a home birth as I worry that the reason for having one (distance) is also a reason not to have one. The reality if given the distance a major complication would be very, very serious if it then took an ambulance 25 mins via sirens to get to hospital and that is after they have got to us... And the previous bleed does put me at higher risk.

Argh! Oh well I have a while to stress about it further,

Great to read everyone else's stories.

Hi toobreathless ,
Have you discussed your optopns with a midwife yet?

Hi, I've just had a homebirth with my first child last week (beautiful DD)so thought I'd post a few thoughts while still so fresh on my mind!

For us, it didn't go quite to plan for a few reasons. These are a few 'things to consider or what I might do differently next time' pointers rather than a list of reasons not to have a HB...

1. We had planned to fill pool up via shower hose as tap adapter didn't fit our taps but then I needed to be in the shower for pain relief so the pool didn't get filled in the end (also due to a pretty quick labour.) 2)As labour was pretty quick, the midwife didn't get here in time for the actual birth and my partner had to deliver her following instructions from a 999 operator! Midwife did arrive 5 mins or so after she was born so was there to manage the third stage of labour. No-one's fault- I just progressed really quickly. Next time I'll know the signs to call midwife earlier!! 3)As second midwife wasn't going to arrive for a while, I ended up being transferred to hospital as first midwife wanted a second opinion on my tear before stitching me up. Not the end of the world and we were given one of the lovely birth centre rooms with double bed in etc to relax in but it wasn't quite the plan of crawling into my own bed in my own home!
2. Being a first time mum, not having a midwife there meant I sometimes panicked at the thought of the pain continuing for hours- if midwife had been there, she could have told me how dilated/close I was. I think I pushed too hard at the end(?!) hence all the stitches which again, is something the midwife could have talked me through. I also didn't really realise I was pushing until I reached down and felt baby's head crowning! Having a doula/mum/private midwife may have helped.

Having said all of that, both my partner and I have agreed that we would definitely have a homebirth again though and it was great to be at home. In fact, even if we had planned to go to hospital, I'm not sure I would have been able to make the transfer in as labour was so quick/intense.

Good luck to everyone. I feel very fortunate to have had a homebirth, despite everything and am so pleased I didn't deliver in hospital. I would definitely opt for a homebirth again if safe to do so and am still living in an area with a very supportive HB team.

One other tip- bendy straws were super useful and I had bought lots of little juice cartons so didn't have to worry about knocking them over and were easy to hold and drink from.

Nothing congratulations! What a lovely (and dramatic!) story, thank you for sharing. Was there a reason you didn't realise you were in labour sooner? I had always thought I will "know" when to call midwife!

Congratulations to those of you who had your babies

I'm 39 weeks today and planning a home birth, this is dc2.

The midwives have booked me in for a second growth scan because they want to make sure baby isn't too small, due to previous low birth weight baby (who was perfectly healthy), I am really hoping to go into labour before the scan date is confirmed because I just hate the uncertainty about whether they will support me for a home birth or not!

Wow, nothing, that is quite an adventure! Many congratulations on your new daughter!

Congrats nothing!

Good luck to everyone planning home births. I had one last month and it was amazing. Would love to do it all again.

Thanks ladies!

Brixton- I knew I was in labour- there was no mistaking that!! We called the midwife out who then came to visit us to assess me. When she arrived, I was still only 3cm and my cervix was still thick so she left and said she'd be back in a while once my contractions were 3 in 10. However, I quickly progressed from that to giving birth in about 90 mins! We didn't call her back out in time as I thought I was just being a wimp, not coping with the pain as we were expecting me to be in labour for a good few hours! In hindsight, I can remember when I started to push- I just didn't realise at the time. I guess as everything happened so fast, there was no clear cut differentiation between the phases. Next time, I'll know the key words to say to the midwife so she'll have a better idea of where I am...

I have the mw today and intend to ask her about the mw provision for home births. It's my only source of anxiety about the hb this time!

Well I'm still waiting at 10 day's over according to scan and 5 days according to me...
had reflexology yesterday, was lovely, very relaxing. She said things were feeling like they were imminent, I had a few tightenings and some that were only down one side and painful last night, did the whole walk, bath, sex (like a bloody comedy sketch at this point) thing...woke up to nothing again today.I also saw midwife and apart from a slight worry over some protein in my urine and ever so slightly raised bp (had both in last pregnancy towards the end but didn't turn into anything) all is good, she said he's just chilling out in there with everything on tap..

I however have still not had a proper nights sleep in a week, due to coughing, although it was slightly better last night. Hoping I will start feeling better over the next day or so and will have a baby!

See consultant on Tuesday. Hoping things won't go up shit creek, they will offer some induction (sweeps, breaking waters and drip) but I'm meeting with SOM again at some point to get in writing when they will support homebirth to, although they pretty much said they couldn't refuse to come out if I called with everything up to the drip scenario, so I'm confident that if I do end up going over 42 weeks I have choices.

Why is nothing ever simple!!! Just want baby to come now, actually felt excited last night when I had a really painful cramp...just feel down today.

Hope everyone else's plans are going well?

Missmakes I hope baby comes soon for you! Sounds like you're doing all the right things. Will you still be able to have a home birth if you go over 42 weeks?

I'm currently 39+1 and starting to think gentle eviction thoughts!

Missmakes sorry I didn't read your whole post - that's great that you seem to be getting positive vibes from your midwife!