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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

Outdoor homebirth?

99 replies

FutureNannyOgg · 04/02/2012 09:42

Just rattling an idea around in my head. I was at our HB support group the other night and someone made a joke about not having room for a birth pool unless it went on the patio (they were due in March, so not really very practical).

I am due at the end of July however, and actually, the idea of setting up a little bower in the garden (with a gazebo or something for shade and privacy) really appeals. Very much a pie in the sky idea right now. I am not sure where we will be living when baby arrives, and if it would involve suitable outdoor space that was isolated, not overlooked etc.

Anyone ever done anything like this?

OP posts:

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TeiTetua · 13/02/2012 16:42

Well, Koi Birth Woman's due date was back in October--what happened?

TheCinnamonGiraffe · 13/02/2012 16:43

The poor koi, the MW might have been quick with the sieve but even so.

As for giving birth outside, I think it would be wonderful (in the right conditions, which seem to be in place).

Didn't women give birth centuries ago anyway?

Original poster

FutureNannyOgg · 13/02/2012 16:43

Is the Koi birth supposed to be a cheap version of Dolphin midwives? Not quite the same really...

OP posts:

hathorinareddress · 13/02/2012 16:43

She had a boy at the end of September but there is no mention of the koi guiding him up and out or anything - it's on the blog thingy

Original poster

FutureNannyOgg · 13/02/2012 16:46

The use of the term "fanjo" will always out a MNetter.

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4madboys · 13/02/2012 16:46

i think it sounds fine and i watch far too many of those brith programmes on home and health etc and there wasa few home births and one lady who DID labour at the beach, well she laboured int he sea for most of the labour and then came out of the water to deliver the baby... i think there were rugs etc, but the thought of sand and sore bits after delivering... fills me with horror! anyway mum and baby were both fine and there was no mention of the annoyance of sand in the prog.

go for the garden, fairy lights, gazeob, like you say its almost in the house anyway if its very nearyby ie patio windows, however if you do decide yo udont like it, it might be a pita if you have already filled the pool as you wouldnt be able to move it without emptying it. so time factor there if you wanted the pool inside suddenly? but that is the only flaw i can think of :)

hathorinareddress · 13/02/2012 16:48

Nanny I didn't mean it as a dig at you btw I think a waterbirth in general sounds lovely but not with koi in the water iyswim?

Original poster

FutureNannyOgg · 13/02/2012 16:52

No offence taken hathor. I thoroughly enjoyed reading all about the pros and cons of fish pond birthing, I'll just stick to a rubber duck I reckon.

OP posts:

nailak · 13/02/2012 16:52

I was a lot less noisy in my hb and spent a lot of time in the garden, in July,

Original poster

FutureNannyOgg · 13/02/2012 16:57

Aww the baby has a koi babygro! That there is dedication. If you are going to do crazy, you might as well really go for it.

OP posts:

JenT11 · 13/02/2012 17:30

I had a home birth in november (abeit in the living room) but I would defo do it outside, how fantstic, go for it! x

ThePinkPussycat · 13/02/2012 17:55

Oh I just love the idea of a drum circle forming especially if all the dogs in the neighbourhood howled in harmony with the noises of labour.

Consort · 13/02/2012 18:11

I've had two hb, the most recent being a water birth last month. It was far too cold to even labour outside, of course. It would be lovely to do so when warmer but if you want a water birth I'd still set it up inside in case the temperature drops, or the birth occurs at night. Don't think you could easily move the pool from outside to inside.

CervixWithASmile · 13/02/2012 18:14

Totnes by any chance Future? I would go for it if it's what appeals!

Annunziata · 13/02/2012 18:24

What about spiders?! (Yes I am a big wuss!)

jandanaligazan · 13/02/2012 18:50

I can tell you that in a number of cultures around the world this is totally normal. Women from most Amazonian tribes give birth in the forest, lying on a hammock strung up from the trees, with other members of their family sleeping or going about their daily lives around them. There are even accounts of women from some tribes going to give birth into the Amazon itself - a very natural waterbirth (despite the pirhanas and crocodiles!).

In fact most hunter-gatherer people who live outdoors most of their lives, also give birth outdoors. I guess for them, the outdoors is their indoors? The Amazonians talk of the forest as a safe place, almost womb-like, in how comfortable they feel there.

In contrast in Africa among the !Kung tribe (who live in Namibia and South Africa) women go off into the bush alone to give birth, something which is expected of them. In their ideal, a women will go to give birth alone, bearing the pain in silence, and the first the other villagers (including her husband) will know of it is the crying of the newborn. However, with lions, hyenas and other predators around to smell the freshblood, it doesn't seem to be quite such a safe place.

Anyway - thought this might be of interest to you!

I have just started writing a blog about different non-Western cultures going through pregnancy and childbirth, please feel free to take a look (I just find it fascinating - no profit motive!); pregnancyandchildbirtharoundtheworld.blogspot.com/

zazas · 13/02/2012 19:11

I think it would be fab! My HB was inside in April but if I had lived somewhere warm and with privacy I would have definitely considered it...I found that I went completely into myself with no concerns of who or what was around me and I feel that being outside would have enhanced it.

Mine was a water birth and only set up as soon as I was in labour (which only last a few hours) so if it looked like a night birth / cold day and you were using a pool you could keep it inside if not set it out in that sun and enjoy!

Leni75 · 13/02/2012 19:17

I had my second birth at home (in Portugal) and spent a large part of the labour outside in our cork forest, it was lovely, I'm no hippy really but it was nice to be outside in the trees. To be fair it was July and 38 degrees outside and a whole lot hotter inside and very unusually for the time of year, there was not a breath of air so it was more comfortable outside. we did go inside for the actual delivery, if you can call going into the bedroom caravan inside, (we have a half built house round two caravans....long story!) The midwife was wearing her bikini top and a mini skirt, she said it was her first delivery in a bikini. We didn't really have any neighbours to concerns us, except my neighbours donkeys. Would totally recommend outside :) it was lovely......

The other day DD was doing something silly and I said to DS (older) "where did we find her?" and he said, straight faced, "in the forest, in Portugal" (we aren't there at the moment)......bless him.

HugeBowlofChips · 13/02/2012 19:56

After my very noisy home birth (in a small terraced house) a neighbour three houses down thanked me for being such an excellent contraceptive to his three teenage daughters. The poor girls couldn't look me in the face for months.

But if you have no neighbours or very tolerant neighbours I say go for it. Also, you can hose all the blood away nice and easily outside. We had to get a new mattress (on the house insurance).

MissM · 13/02/2012 20:13

My friend had both her children in a tent outside, by the edge of a canal. They used an independent midwife, who, my friend said, couldn't have been better. I was very envious when she texted to say her little boy had been born at 5am that morning, to the sound of the dawn chorus.

LaTristesse · 13/02/2012 20:13

Oh I'd love to do this, but unfortunately DD is due in March and it'll be waaaay too cold! We got married outside and are both really into the whole earth mother, nature thing so this makes perfect sense to me. Really hope you go for it OP!

BoffinMum · 13/02/2012 20:47

I would think the main problem would be the risk of overheating if it is a scorcher, which is a very bad idea while in labour for all sorts of reasons, so I'd make sure there was some shade and so on, and be mindful of wasps. But otherwise I can't see why it would be a problem.

DitaVonCheese · 13/02/2012 22:50

Do it OP I seriously considered it, because our house isn't really big enough for a birth pool (we did it, but the MWs complained it was hard to open the fridge door to get the milk out for post-birth tea) and our garden isn't overlooked. I did start looking at the prices of yurts after reading an amazing birth story from New Zealand about someone giving birth in a yurt at the top of some cliffs while dolphins gambolled in the waves below Sadly DH and doula less convinced, damn them

Original poster

FutureNannyOgg · 14/02/2012 10:31

Aww Dita, that sounds lovely. My doulaing mantra is that if a mum wants to give birth standing on her head singing happy birthday, I would support her. Provide her with info about gravity and birth, sure, be a bit on the inside, maybe, but ultimately an informed choice is not for me to question

Annun, spiders? I am in the UK, the liklihood of seeing a spider in the garden is fairly high I suppose, but I can't see them invading the birth pool

OP posts:

YNK · 14/02/2012 10:54

I was very quiet during my HB but my dog gave the game away by howling in the back garden - I thought that was a myth until I witnessed it with my own ears!

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