Homebirths!!

[19111990]

Has any one had a home birth? I really like the idea of having the baby at home, really worried incase something goes wrong though.

What do you think about them??

I had both my children at home so obviously will say it's brilliant! IMO do your research, work out what is most important to you and where you will feel safest and most in control - easier now that you've had one baby you more or less have an idea of what your emotional needs will be during labour.

Def book it in (although you can't until 36weeks) because then you still have the option of hospital if you decide later not to give birth at home.

My personal reasons for homebirthing:

• fear of institutional decision making in hospital led by timings and obstetricians rather than guided by midwives in women led care
• hospitals automatically make me think of illness and death which created a huge mental and emotional block for me
• not being surrounded by the sounds of other women in pain and in labour!
• freedom to move around as much as I wanted, be in the safety and comfort of my home (with clean shower afterwards and whatever food I wanted!)
• freedom for DH to be more involved as it is in his environment too
• absolute trust in my midwife team compared to negative experiences at ADU in early stages of pregnancy
• not having to travel to hospital, potentially slowing down labour, and not having to travel home again
• there is a risk in giving birth wherever you choose, babies die at home and in hospital for a variety of reasons and you can never predict what a different outcome would have been if you chose something different
• not wanting an epidural
• feeling totally reassured by midwives that ambulance would get me to theatre quickly (you take priority with blue light service) if neccessary
• one on one care from midwives, which in turn means their powers of observation are more finely tuned than a midwife looking after several women on her own in hospital - so they'd notice the first sign of anything not going vaguely to plan and get to me to hospital just in case

I personally think anyone with a low risk pregnancy would be crazy to even consider hospital, but that's based on my research, my priorities and my experiences (do it do it do it do it!!!)

Congrats on DC2!

oh - and they clean up ALL the mess so don't let that put you off either - our flat was left cleaner and tidier after both homebirths than before I went into labour!

Midwife said there shouldnt be a problem with having a homebirth and got very excited. I know i want one now i've spoken to midwife :)

Thank you for all the advice

:)

Good luck with your home birth then :)

You'll get a home visit from a community midwife to assess your house for suitability (it's mere technicality now, but they like to chat to you, do a normal antenatal check (like when you go to the MW's office), and make sure they know how to get to your house)

Watch the BBC Sunday drama Call The Midwife, its post war, the vast majority of births happened at home, the setting is obviously old fashioned but the homebirth experience is the same.

second births were shown to be very slightly safer at home than in hospital...

the average birth is 2.5 hours shorter at home, lower rates of intervention etc etc..

i had all three at home and it was a good experience every tiem (or, as good as labour gets..).

Having had a EMCS & a ELCS, if we do have another I'd love a home waterbirth with a doula to support me. I'd also like to do hyp I birthing to as I know I have a lot of fear having not experienced even labour (failed induction first time round).

There's evidence to support that it's actually safer to give birth at home. Xx

X

The problem is if something does go wrong and you can't predict these things, your baby will be less likely to survive than if in a hospital surrounded by immediate medical attention (three times more likely to die according to dutch statistics). I'd rather discomfort than risk a dead baby.

I was having an easy and quite enjoyable labour when everything quickly went wrong, the quick actions of medical staff who rushed me to theatre and had the baby out in a matter of minutes saved both our lives. Had they not being doing their jobs properly we would have died. Had we been at home, we would have died. Emergencies happen and every minute can be the difference between life and death.

The most important thing is that the both of you come out of childbirth alive and healthy, the 'experience' is unimportant.

Saying that home birth is as safe or safer than hospital birth is untrue. Comparing the low risk women who homebirth with high risk pregnancies in hospitals will give inaccurate results. You have to compare with equally low risk women in a hospital environment. Hospital births are becoming more popular in Holland because they are proven safer WHEN something goes wrong.

Chances are that everything will go well but you there is a greater risk if they don't.

bobble - statistics prove that not only is a HB safer (so something less likely to go wrong), but that if something goes wrong in a hospital birth, it can take just as long for emergency action to be taken as an ambulance delivering the mother and having the action done.
(basically, they reckon that you get seen to practically straight away if you're coming in an ambulance, because they get the stuff/theatre ready while you're on your way)

That's not true.

nickel that isn't true I'm afraid - either part of it !

The last major place of birth safety study showed a higher risk of adverse outcome for first time mothers who gave birth at home, than had they gone into a hospital/ MLU. They don't know why there was this raised risk - there are suggestions it could be people gviing birth at home who are not really low risk - or poor home birth care in some areas. But - the stats do not show the HB is safer.

The risk was 0.9 per cent compared to 0.5 per cent - nearly double. BUT - still a small risk overall, the study made it clear that giving birth at home is safe.

That story about the ambulance getting you into theatre doesn't ring true to me - and you still have to get from your house to hospital, and there is less medical support in an ambulance than there would be on a ward.

I am very very supportive of home births, but women need to weigh up risks properly.

In the case of a second or subsequent birth, that study showed that second births are safer at home for both mother and child- very slightly.

i actually think that peer-reviewing may find they worked out their 'correction' wrong on first births (as the 'actual' results did show about the same incidence of 'adverse outcome', what you quote is the corrected) but the study did find as you say water

nickel - "You'll get a home visit from a community midwife to assess your house for suitability"

Not necessarily - this policy varies from trust to trust. My trust don't carry out home visits prior to a homebirth - you tell the MW you want one, you pick up the pack from the hospital at 37 weeks and then they turn up at the house once you call them. No suitability check/risk assessment. Even if your house is deemed 'unsuitable' they can't refuse you a hb anyway but you know that :)

bobbledunk whilst a healthy mother and child is the most important thing and no-one will dispute that, I disagree that the experience is unimportant - it is secondary to the ultimate goal of healthy mother and child but it is FAR from unimportant.

As it has been pointed out by others, things can happen in a hospital that put mother and baby at risk that wouldn't happen at home. A hospital birth was the right choice for you but it isn't necessarily so for every woman. That's what is so wonderful about our often berated NHS. There is a choice, and it is up to the woman to make that choice based on what she feels is best for her.

bobble actually...the recent Birthplace study found no evidence of any uplift in stilbirths for any group (including first timers at home) .the good news there was that stillbirth in the 60000 odd women studied was so rare the results were not statistically significant and no conclusion could be drawn.

this study used corrections for age, social group etc and compared only low risk mothers.

I had DS1 at hospital very long labour but no complications or problems so booked homebirths for next 2 births 1 hours 20 mins and 4 hours which I put down to being so relaxed!!! The most magical experience ever I would absolutely recommend it and they clean it all up for you!! It is surreal having a baby at home, you can go to bed a family of 3 and wake up as a gang of 4 with no leaving the house....good luck with yours x

Its not simple to say whether homebirth is safer than hospital birth or not. It depends on so many factors.

The birth of dd was so quick that hospital birth was not an option. A homebirth with an nhs midwife is a hell of a lot safer than an unassisted birth in an ambulance.

Mind if I ask, what happens if you need stitches? Can they do it at home?

DC3 is but a dream at the moment but I would def consider a home birth, but I've needed a fair bit of stitching with both my DDs.

"Mind if I ask, what happens if you need stitches? Can they do it at home?"

Depends on how extensive the tear is. If it is a third degree tear then you would have to transfer to hospital. However a midwive can stitch a second degree tear and there is local anestestic.

However I found that being more relaxed at home meant that I didn't tear.

most midwives can stitch up tears at home.

Mine went into the muscle, so they sent me to hospital to be stitched up.
(mine was a cut that tore - pushed too hard because everyone was starting to panic that the baby wasn't coming out....)
But they would have been able to stitch the cut if it hadn't torn.

that's a shame Fliss - I think it's a good idea to have a home visit first - mainly because it makes you feel a bit more relaxed about the midwife's attitude towards a home birth (it's a totally different environment from meeting her at the clinic, and at home you feel more in your own comfort zone)

waterrat - i'm willing to stand corrected. :)

I think if you want one , go for it . But just to look at the other side , I was low risk and considered a home birth ,but didn't in the end . I went in to hospital when I went into labour to get checked out . The staff put me on the monitor just to take a look at things , all fine. I was only 2 cm so were debating whether to send me home. The next minute the heart rate dropped off , mencomium flooded out , and the bells were ringing, the crash team called , my clothes pulled off and I was in theatre literally within a matter of minutes. There was no time for an epidural and I was knocked out . My daughter had the cord wrapped tight around her neck , and with each contraction it was pulling it tighter. If I hadn't been there at that point in time , she wouldn't be here .

I won't have another child as I can't go through that again . My sister in law had a home birth and all was fine .

also, gemma - I was transferred to the hospital in an ambulance with 2 paramdeics, and the MW who was with me for the birth (who then stayed with me until after I was stitched by a dr, and while all the paperwork was completed).

My opinion on this was that, if I had gone to hospital for the labour and birth, I would have had to do the same journey in a car, contracting, uncomfortable and quite a but of pain, scared, worried and not sure of what was happening, therefore only with DH, going over bumps and rough roads, needing a wee, feeling faint because I couldn't eat in the car because it would make me vomit etc, most likely wanting to kill DH for the journey, and yelling and getting annoyed definitely. I woldn't have had any trained medical personnel with me, and the journey would have been fraught with anger.

As it was, the journey was lovely, because I no longer had contractions (i was also numb down below because of the anaesthetic used for the cut), I had my baby, so I was in a lovely hormonal bubble, I was surrounded by laughing, joking people, supporting me, and I was wrapped up in a blanket.

The two only compare that I would prefer the 2nd case any day.

sorry Arctic - bad crosspost.
Sorry for your experience :(

nickel not necessarily, I was much happier knowing no-one was coming for a nose around my house until I needed drugs, couldn't have been any more relaxed in my plans first time shame DD had other ideas!

Even as a high-risk this time, the only reason MWs have seen me at home is because it's convenient for me to not have to take DD out, not to do a risk assessment or 'check'