Anyone had a homebirth / birthing centre birth with a baby with a heart defect that they knew about before the birth?

[RememberToPlaywiththeKids]

The cardiologist has said that baby won't be poorly at birth and it should just be a normal birth. One of them said he'd go for hospital rather than home though I can choose to have the baby 'in the middle of the forest if I want to'.

Now i had an interesting chat with my very good and very experienced midwife this morning and she said she's leaning towards going for the homebirth option for me because

a) the labour ward has become more medicalised and she believe this is the reason why they've seen an increase in C-sections, intervention and also morbidity

b) the birthing centre criteria for inclusion has become more medical based so more and more people are being refused on the basis of things like BMI greater than 30 and sent to labour ward instead and hence more c-sections etc etc

It is my 3rd baby with the birthing centre team (if they'll now have me - we'll all have to have a meeting!) and my last was a homebirth.

Now - I am pro as natural as possible but not at the cost of safety. I do know from experience that unless I am allowed to be in one particular position (on knees leaning forward), labour slows right down and doesn't progress. It must be the shape of my pelvis or something.

So - if they do 'mess' with that, then I am almost certainly going to end up with intervention.

The MW thinks the birth centre won't allow me to go there so my choice is either a medicalised / complicated / stress on baby and me approach in the labour ward, or a homebirth and going straight in after that for baby to have all proper checks.

The offical transfer time from the call to the ambulance to arrival at hospital is 17 minutes.

wow.

no question.

i'd go for the hospital option - even if that meant having to go down the medicalised route.

baby will probably be fine - but 17 minutes is a very long time in the life of a newborn.

Can you have a hospital birth but make it VERY VERY clear that in the absence of a huge reason not to (i.e. intervention that is needed) they are not to interfere with your birth position?

You could ask them exactly how they would plan to manage your labour in hospital. If it's just the standard treatment then I'd go for the homebirth - you'll get constant attention from the midwife which you are much less likely to get in hospital. Even if you have problems in hospital they are unlikely to do anything in 17 minutes.

Given that the cardiologist has said baby should be fine and that the MW is leaning towards the homebirth suggestion then I'd be happy to go for a homebirth.

Hi everyone - thank you so much for your replies.

It's a difficult one isn't it - the MW seems to think that for me to go to labour ward it will inevitably end in a difficult delivery and a stressed baby. i suspect she's right. On the other hand - would it be rash to stay at home?

I am thinking that the birth centre is a good compromise but it depends on whether the consultant midwife is ok with it.

Aaaargh!!

I would love a homebirth as I found the labour much easier to control without having to get to the hospital etc.

Mmmmm - any more thoughts and comments at all would be most welcome.

You have to balance the risks and benefits.

But if I had advance notice that the baby would have a health problem, that would be a very weighty reason in favour of a hospital birth.

And Margles - my baby got distressed during labour, they pulled the emergency cord and the room was full of people in seconds...!

And the fact that the birthing centre won't accept you would ring alarm bells - if they aren't willing to accept the risk, should you be?

17 min transfer time - thats if an ambulance comes straight away and isn't busy picking up drunks. 17 mins can make all the difference even if that is all it takes.

I'm normally very pro homebirth but I'd be worried about a baby with a heart defect having a prolonged bradycardia when its tired and stressed in labour. Which can happen with a baby with no heart defect but surely must be more likely in a baby with a heart defect. Dunno, guess the cardiologist knows best about the likely condition of the baby at birth but I wouldn't want to take the risk.