Homebirth Vs Hospital

[JenJen84]

Hello there
this will be my first baby (eep!) and sat here considering homebirth vs hospital. I have not spoken with a midwife yet, so just wondering if anyone here can post their thoughts?

Part of me would like to go to hospital, I imagine you get looked after well, it's safe and the best place to be if anything goes wrong.

However, I read that your partner can only stay with you a relatively short while, my oh is like my rock - I genuinely cannot imagine him not being there with me all the while.

I'd like to have a water birth (can you do this with pain control?!) and in hospital?

Lots of questions, hope you can help me out.
Jen

Best thing you can do is speak to your midwife/hospital about what facilities they have and what their policy is for partners staying etc.

As an example my hopsital doesnt have a waterbirth facility but does have a couple of nice big baths you can use if they are free. During labour your partner stays with you the whole time and then once on the ward after you have had your baby they can stay from 10am to 10pm, but this is only my hospital - not sure about others.

I didnt want a homebirth for a number of reasons and I'm very glad I was at the hospital as there were complications that i would have freaked out about had i had to have been transferred by ambulance (and we only live 10 mins from the hospital), plus I had an epidural which you cant have for a homebirth so depends on what you want in the way of pain relief.

Thanks cravingcake (me too btw!!)

I have a print out from the hospital and it says visiting is 4pm-8pm and 2pm-8pm on weekends. So I guess if you were lucky enough to go in the morning you could have your partner with you most of the day. However at night then you'd struggle I guess.

I imagine I will need pain relief, lets face it I have no idea about what I'm letting myself in for :D but the idea of a relaxed home environment really appeals...

I guess it will take some thought, we're about 5 mins from my hospital but that will seem like 5hours if something goes wrong...

If you have an uncomplicated labour and birth, you can be out within 6 hours anyway so may not even make it to the ward or be restricted by visiting hours. In the delivery room your partner can stay with you.

With pools in hospital there tend to be restrictions on who can use them (low risk) and it is often dependent on if there is a waterbirth trained MW available, or that someone else hasn't got in there before you.

Pools you can use G&A in. TENS and epidural no. Don't know about pethidine or diamorphine.

Have a look at this this site for info on a homebirth - given that you're only 5 minutes away and that any problems during a homebirth are usually picked up earlier than they would be in a hospital or MLU then I don't see that transfer time should be a major concern.

For low-risk first time mothers (eg, those with no pre-existing medical conditions) then a homebirth is almost as safe as a hospital birth for baby (and you are less likely to have intervention than an equally low-risk woman in hospital) and for second or subsequent births, it is equally as safe.

It depends what you'd feel more comfortable with at the end of the day. It's also much easier to 'book' a homebirth and then decide on the day that you're going to hospital, or even to go to hospital part way through for more pain relief than you can have at home than it is to decide on a hospital birth and then change your mind at the last minute (or walk out of the hospital mid-labour to give birth at home).

Jenjen I had my first at home 5yrs ago! Am hoping for #4 in May and haven't had a hospital delivery yet - if I'd tried to get to hospital with DD she'd probably have been born on the Oxford ring road! At least when I had DS1 we only lived 5mins from the hospital - I was more worried about the number of speed bumps on the route than the time it would take - I really don't know how people can sit in a car while having contractions.
They've all been water babies too, and I can't imagine giving birth on 'dry land', it feels so lovely when you get into the deep warm water
Have a chat with your MW, I was really surprised how supportive mine was with my 1st - I expected to be advised hospital for 1st then if that was OK consider home next time but she was lovely and just said as long as my BP etc stayed OK through pg then to go for it!

Oh ok, thanks guys! Lots to think about. I really like the idea of water birth, primarilly because on the videos I have seen it seems so serene really in comparison. Whether that's because of the type of person that seems to go with water birth, I'm not sure - but either way they seem very in control!
But like a poster above, I do want to do whatever is safest for baby and for myself really.
It's such early days but I guess it pays off to chat about these things openly, early on so you can thrash it out in your own head!