Is there a home birth thread on MN?

[WestYorkshireGirl]

I've been trying to find a home birth thread on the talk boards but not having any luck. Is anyone else planning for a HB imminently? I am hoping for a home water birth in around 2 weeks with an independent mw and it would be great if anyone else was also in the same position or had recently had a HB.

i had my 1st at home and really believed what i was told - that it's probably more advised for 1st time mums cause they are more likely to have longer births and be more anxious about things so being at home helps them relax and let things progress better/quicker.

i was also told by mw if i'm getting to a point of wanting drugs like pethidine to help manage labour then it's likely i would be struggling and possibly need to transfer into hospital.

Hello knitta!

I'm also doing the hypnobirthing, great for making you sleepy anyway so no harm in it.

Really good to hear that about first time mums naturalbaby, at first all I heard was, but what if this or that happens?

Just occurred to me that this has now become the hb thread on mn, ironic considering the title! Thank you WestYorkshireGirl

Have booked my boots TENS now, exciting!

Want to hear from hackneyzoo hope she's doing well.

hazchem am not sure how the pethadine works as have not had it. But the mw did say that if you have the pethadine you can't get back in the birth pool.
I'm not opting for it as the point at which I felt I couldn't cope last time was during transition and DS was born about 5 mins later.

It's my due date today, had a few twinges yesterday, but nothing today, despite just dragging the dcs out for a two hour walk.

Haven't tried hypnotherapy but would highly recommend this one day course which really helped me last time...

www.activebirthcentre.com/pb/catwaterbirthworkshop.shtml

needtosleep thanks for that i'll jump on that thread to then!.

hackneyzoo that's really useful to know. i'll have a look at the active birth centre stuff too. hopefully not too long now!

It's nice to talk about birth without having to to start i'm planning a HB because first.

I think the pethidine varies from area to area as it's not available where I live.

I've had a home visit but MW not checked house out and doesn't bring a bag/box of equipment. She'll bring it with her when I go into labour. Perhaps they like to wait and be sure that a home birth will definitely happen.

Can I join please?! Hello to Needtosleep and Knitta from Feb thread! Hello to others I recognise from advise on the hb in a flat thread! :)

Needtosleep my due date is the 9th Feb! We're a day apart! 4 weeks to go!

I had DD1 in a hospital (now 4) and whilst not entirely a bad experience, falling foul of time management in the 2nd stage, which seemed to be the way it was 4 years ago, has influenced my decision to hb.

Some lovely inspiring stories from those of you who've done it all before, some more than once!

My midwife has done the checklist on the flat and advised they will drop off their kit 2 weeks before my due date from when they are on call. Drugs Inc local anaesthetic, vitamin k etc to go in a sealed box in the fridge. I can't remember if Pethidine is included but I'm hoping not to demand it! There'll be gas & air which I used effectively last time & may use again. Planning to use the bath (finally decided!). Going to get in an old shower curtain, midwife assured me they'd have loads of inco pads, floor cushions, birthing ball & angle poise. Oh and yes lots of nice snacks for the lovely midwives and Doula! Have I missed anything?! Lavender oil was mentioned in the other thread, nice idea to use that and maybe in an oil burner too? Any other oils recommended?

Good luck Hackneyzoo! Look forward to hearing about your experience and others too! Nice to be here with you all :)

Knitta - once you've had one HB there's no going back. My first was a hospital birth, which I only did as my mum put pressure on me not to have a HB - I applaud you first-timers! Had I not had my two very good, very experienced friends with me it would have been a different story and subsequent births may have been very different.
My tip is to put fresh bedlinen on, cover with plastic dust sheets (buy them in packs of 3 from Homebase) and cover with old sheets and towels. Your MW will whip the dust sheet and old stuff away whilst you are having a shower in you own bathroom, not wearing flip-flops - or having to clean the walls down first. Then you can slip all nice and clean into your lovely bed and gaze at your lovely baby whilst DP makes you a brew in your favourite mug and brings you toast. perfect.
My second tip is don't buy really lovely biscuits and snacks for the MWs, go 14 days over, then scoff the lot in a fit if depression.
enough from me. I wish you all well. I hope each of you gets the birth you want, but even if you don't, you are starting from the very best place, and will have the birth best for your baby. Take good care.

Ohforfoxsake, I have to agree with you applauding the first timers, I too was pressurised into a hospital birth the first time, I'm full of admiration for you first timers!

Brilliant advice re the clean bedsheets underneath the plastic & old towels! It sounds like perfection to me to have a shower without flip flops as you say, whilst a lovely brew is made ready for you slipping into the clean sheets with brand new baby! Had to laugh at the snacks scenario too and can relate, never been early for anything in my life and remember how long the 7 days over were the last time!

hello earlgrey! we're nearly there now....

i've become addicted to lavender and use the 'sleep' pillow mist from boots every night, it's lavender, orange blossom and something else. really calming though and have bought extra for birth.

i came across this a few days ago and liked the video at the bottom of the page, just thought i'd share

Hiya,

Can I join you?

Am hoping for my 3rd homebirth (4th birth) in May this year, am planning a waterbirth.

Had home water birth with DS2 and it was heaven - with DD I was a bit panick stricken and jkept telling DH I didn't want the pool ( ) so it never went up!

That mist spray sounds lovely! I'll check it out! I used to tap 1-2 drops of pure lavender onto my pillow at night and I swear I would have the deepest sleeps, don't know why I stopped as I'm perpetually insomniac around 4.30am these days!

Thanks for sharing that link, really nice to see the film & others affirmations!

Hello Totoros, that's brilliant! I see you're an old hand at hb! Any tips and advice?! I appreciate water birth was probably the ultimate but please tell me you coped brilliantly without it too!

One Born Every Minute starts again tonight for a new series! That should get us in the mood for having babies!

I used an NCT hypnobirthing CD kindly donated my an MNer (have donated it on) which was amazing during labour (it was a bit touch and go as to if the MW was going to get there). Great for dropping off to sleep to, and focusing during labour. Worth asking around for or borrowing.

Arnica tablets.

Earlgrey, mandarin oil was recommended to me and it smells lush. The lavender spray sounds lovely...might have to send DH off on a hunt.

Fox thanks for the tip about bed linen too, didn't think of tat, much better than faffing around with sheets post birth.

I seem to have eaten all the nice midwife biscuits...for the second time

hackneyzoo I'm really looking forward to hearing how you get on, so please keep posting!

Ohforfox that is such good advice (sheets), thanks. Did you use the music cd during the birth then?

For some reason the hypnobirthing cd does not send me to sleep... perhaps I am un-hypnotizable. That's be good in a derren brown show, but perhaps not so good for birthing.

hello earlgrey, you and needto are sooo ahead of me! I'm so impatient now, can't imagine how you must be feeling with just 4 weeks left!

No, it was the one which tells you to take yourself off somewhere you were happy (a beach in Thailand in my case). I visualised that very clearly when I was waiting for the MW and DH and I were bricking it that we were going to accidentally be 'freebirthing'.

If I think of anything else useful I'll pop back.

Enjoy your births ladies.

Marking my place and making supportive noises.

DS was a planned HB that went to emcs. Was a really positive experience nonetheless and I think planning the birth left me much better equipped when in hospital. I'm about to go off and train as a doula so I'm stll in the thick of it so to speak.

knitta when are you due? Since the prof has been on the other thread I've forgotten when everyone's EDDs are.

I asked for a new duvet and pillows for my birthday in nov so i'm planning to use the old ones for comfort during labour then just throw them out, still a bit that i used up a bday pressie on that but hope it's worth it!

porcelain it's good to hear a positive hb story that ended up with a transfer, i know some women have felt like they've failed in some way so i'm trying to accept that it might be necessary and we are blessed to have such good back up. It's also not a reflection on how 'good' a mother I'll be as you never know how labour's going to go. It's great that you decided to train as a doula, good luck!

I'm due next week with my first and planning a home birth. When I first became pregnant I wouldn't even consider it but a couple of trips to the hospital convinced me I'd rather be at home!

I was advised to write to the head of midwifery to advise her I wanted homebirth and expected to be provided with a MW regardless of the hospital's staffing levels. I think the AIMS website has some example letters if anyone's interested. I'm a bit concerned I'll be told there's no MW if I go into birth during the night.

Into labour I mean!

Gallicgirl the www.homebirth.org.uk/ has a good section on what to do if there is staff shortages.

My mum is being my doula and i' putting her in charge on the day/night if they say they don' have anyone to attend. I think both myself and my partner might be a bit to fragile to be the firm but fair voice that is needed.

Hi ladies - I started a homebirth thread a while ago (as I found out I was pregnant with DD1, Penny) and it turned into a great font of knowledge and all things homebirth advice with the help of lots of potential homebirthers. I actually used it as my live labour thread whilst contracting at home:

First homebirth thread

and it went over the limit so moved on here:

Second homebirth thread

I'm not suggesting you revive the second one, as it looks like you've got a great one going here now, but they may be useful with lots of positive HB stories, what-you-need lists, how the dad can help etc.

I did bump it the other day, to keep it alive, as I then had DD2, Connie, whilst on that thread - so it's turned into a bit of a record of my homebirthing experiences! I hope to have HB#3 in a little while, so I hope I can keep it alive.

I also just want to say that having your first one at home isn't brave - it's amazing. I personally think having a hospital birth is brave!

Good luck everyone!

Thanks Needtosleep. I think that at the time, I did feel a bit crappy for "giving up", I know there was a time earlier in my labour when I was sneakily thinking "sod this, I want to go to hospital and have an epidural" (mostly because the mw told me I wasn't in labour, I was contracting, but not dilating as DS was stuck and wasn't on my cervix). If I had gone then, I think I would have felt a lot worse afterwards and when I did go in, I felt a bit guilty about that. As it was I know the interventions I had were well thought out and absolutely necessary, we would have both died without a emcs, and having my little boy in my arms means that can't be a regrettable decision.

I did feel like a bit of a fraud going back to the homebirth group afterwards, but I think I feel even more positive about HB now, even though we didn't manage it, we still got an awful lot out of it, from the knowledge I gained in my research to the extra TLC from the midwives in hospital who understood that transferring was a bit of a blow. Next time eh!

Hello, I suppose I should join in and stop kidding myself that I've got ages to go! Hello, fellow February mums-to-be.

DC2 is due in around 6 weeks, I already have a 2.3 yo DD who was born in hospital (was meant to be a MWLU but it was closed on the night). I really wanted a waterbirth the first time around but the pool was out of order so this time I decided to get my own pool so that I could definitely use it if I want to.

Thanks for the links to the other threads, I will have a good old read when DD has gone to bed and stopped fiddling around with the mouse.

Hi everyone, how's it going with you Hackneyzoo? Hope you're either in labour or the wait isn't too agonising! Mandarin oil does sound lush. I'm going to re-stock my oils and bought a diffuser on eBay today when I realised naked flames were out of the question due to oxygen! I looked on the net at recommended oils for labour and the ones which were mentioned were lavender to calm & reduce pain (a bold claim!) it was recommended that a lavender bath once you reach 2cm dilation can relax & increase dilation. Other oils / combo's of oils mentioned were Neroli, Bergamot, Rose, Frankincense & Clary Sage.

I'm interested in Hypnobirthing which everyone is talking about but have no idea where to start. Music too would be good but I remember last time I was in labour all of the music I had carefully chosen was chucked to one side in favour of the radio at low volume!

Hi Knitta & Eau Rouge! Are your dates close? It'll be here before you know it!

Porcelain, good to hear your story, we all have to potentially face what you went through. As Needtosleep says, we're lucky to have such back up and I'll be more than happy to transfer if I need to (though wouldn't look forward to being carried down 2 flights of stairs on a chair!). I can quite imagine it prepared you all the more for hospital. I am giving this birth so much more thought than the last when I was very much more head in the sand and willing to be led. You'll be well prepared for the next one, good luck!

Boobz thanks for the links! Look forward to reading over them.