emergency home birth

[pinkx4]

I'm about to have no.5. I had a c-section with twins on my first birth (8 yrs ago) followed by 2 VBACS (one induced, one spontaneous) which were both very successful - luckily - and reasonably quick at only about 4 hours. However, this time I will have 3 DCs at school and a 16 month old at home. My DH is currently working away a lot and has long journeys each day (at least 2 hours, usually more). My mother-in-law lives close but is useless and my 18 month old can't stand her(!) and my mother lives 2 hours away.

Has anyone gone into labour in a similar situation and had to give birth alone, at home (even with other children in the house?) because no one could get to them in time? I know I'm a geriatric at this but being high-risk (due to the section) and having had fast labours is a bit of a worry! Any advice as to what I do if I'm alone?

why not plan a homebirth?

if you are down on the list for it that doesn't mean you HAVE to do it, so in the event if your dh is around or can get back to you you would be able to go into hospital anyway. but if you did find yourself in a situation where no-one could get to you you'd have midwives come out?

I did give birth to number 3 by myself. dp was with me, but on the phone to ambulance crew. was a planned homebirth but ds3 beat the ambulance AND the midwives. I delivered him myself and it was all fine

Definitely best to plan for a homebirth so that you at least have the bag of stuff in the house in case you can't get to the hospital - do you have a friend nearby you can call in case you go into labour?

Have you spoken to your MW?

Being high-risk, my consultant won't let me even think about a planned homebirth, but there's not much you can do if baby wants to come out, is there?! Midwives will come out but getting hold of them is really hard and we are rurally located so ambulances and visiting midwives are worringly far away. Good to hear that your home birth went well. How did you deliver the baby alone? Any advice? It may well be a good idea to make emergency home birth plans...

It's not your consultant's decision.

To me it would be sensible to have the HB pack in the house so that if you don't make it to hospital, everything is to hand. Or would the consultant rather you gave birth on the way to the hospital?

Hello
Just been through a similar situation. DD born in Dec at home with just DH and me as was only 40 mins established labour. Ambulance arrived 5 mins later. I was alone for 35 of those 40 mins as DH had taken DS to childminder. It was in all that bad snow so took hims ages, he got back to find me at the top of the stairs stuck on all fours.

Tips: Don't sit at the top if the stairs!!

Get something on bed to protect mattress, ours in ruined although have claimed on insurance on got a nice big cheque last week!

Try not to panic and push baby out hard, I had many stiches because had no-one there to coach me through it and was panicking a bit.

Don't touch the cord or anything, wait for ambulance people.

Maybe buy a few cheapo mobiles and leave at strategic places around the house? I managed to ring the hospital early on, not that they were any use...have you got a tens machine Mrs Ceasar?? Er no but had a baby 20 mins later!

Is there not a neighbour or anyone you trust nearby? I was bricking it to be fair even with DH there. Can't imagine having to push alone.

Really hope baby comes when DH is there for you, good luck x

PS me and DD totally fine though! DH was a bit traumatised...

agree with Fissplaps.

I would speak to the consultant and explain the situation and see what they suggest....

DC4 was born at home with a very fast delivery. We had planned a home birth but the midwife arrived too late having got stuck in Friday afternoon traffic. We live abroad, so have no family close to hand and dh's work is an hour's drive. DH arrived home about 15 minutes before the baby was actually born, so I wasn't all alone for the actual birth either.

My three elder children (eldest age 5) were all upstairs napping, though the eldest wasn't asleep. I had gone to get them from school, made them lunch, then decided that the contractions might actually amount to something, put the children to bed and then called midwife and dh.

Everything all went quite quickly from there on. I had enough time to call a friend to ask her to come and pick up my children when they woke, but by the time they woke the baby had already been born.

DH was fantastic and calm, though relatively well prepared having already assisted the births of DC2 and 3 just before the midwife arrived. Just before dh arrived home I had the midwife on the phone who explained that she was completely stuck in traffic, but I strangely didn't feel that worried, and felt fairly sure that if it came down to it I probably could deliver the baby alone, even with all the children upstairs.

But I wouldn't have planned it like that. I was very pleased to see the midwife arrive, who cut the cord, sorted everything out and most importantly was still there when my baby turned momentarily blue an hour after the birth.

My advice to you if the worst comes to the worst: don't panic, be somewhere where the baby won't get hurt if you don't catch it (they are slippery and turn as they come out), and be in touch with someone who can assist you by phone.

Also, when the baby is born, wrap it up warm quickly, and don't worry about cutting the umbilical cord, that can wait until help arrives.

I remember our CMW for DC1 saying precipitous birth was often quite shocking for the mother, but the baby was usually fine. IIRC, best thing to do with the baby is lie back and have a skin to skin cuddle with them and wrap yourselves up together in something to keep warm. If you want to give breastfeeding a try, newborn babies are naturally nipple seeking so just leave them to it and try not to get in the way!

How well do you know your neighbours? Are there any that the children know well enough that they could act as temporary child-care until your mum could get there?

Re. HB - as a mentally competent adult (making an assumption there :o) you get to make your own decisions. Women do have planned homebirths after CS's - especially when they've had previous vaginal births and especially when the CS was not due to problems (have a look here for more details). Given your circumstances I'd also be saying that you want to be prepared for a HB as you're worried you may not be able to get to hospital and you feel a planned HB is safer than un-planned one (plus it sounds like your starting point is that you'd prefer a hospital birth - in which case you could say in all honesty that you'd rather than happened, but that you want to be prepared in case it can't).

I had a v. fast labour, under 2 hrs from the first contraction, with dd2 and had planned a HB.

She arrived before the midwives did.

There is no need to 'push' a baby out, ime.

Things moved so fast anyway without any help and besides even women who are unconcious birth their babies so knowing that, I just kneeled in the birth pool and she came out all by herself with 3 contractions.

no grazes, etc.

I wonder about rubbing off a baby with a towel, loopy.

Maybe one to remove any goo and blood and there is usually v little of that but the vernix if there is any is insulating as well as a skin moisturiser and barrier protection so it is better to be left alone and allowed to be absorbed into the baby's skin.

I would put the towel around the possibly slippy baby and straight onto mother's chest for skin to skin which will help her to regulate the baby's temperature and breathing.

Yes, leave the cord well alone.

I agree with tangle that in the case of a very fast labour you may well be better off at home rather than delivering en route. In my case I would not have had time to get to the hospital, and the fact that I knew I wasn't going to have to try and that the midwife would arrive eventually made me able to stay calm and relax about birthing the baby rather than worrying about how to get into the car, what to do with the children, etc etc.