What would you do?

[compo]

I have ages to decide this but wonderewd what people thought or if anyone had been in a similar postion. I had ds in 2004 at my local hospital. Since then they only offer a birthing centre so if you need any intervention like an epidural or a C-section you have to transfer to another hospital. I had an epidural the first time and ds was constantly monitored which I liked. I had my booking in appointment today and told the midwife I would like to have this baby at a hospital offereing everything just in case. She said that's fine but it's very unlikely I'll need an epidural with a 2nd baby. Would would you do? My sister has just had her 2nd and she had an epidural. Also one of my best friends very recently had a still birth which has made me even more aware of the importance of a full mediacal teamat the touch of a button (not an ambulance drive away)

i would do whatever you feel most comfortable with!

i see no reason why you wouldn't want an epidural for a 2nd baby... that sounds kind of odd!!!
the most important thing is that YOU feel safe and secure wherever you give birth, and if that means a hospital then go for it!

That's what I thought And dh agrees. I knew the midwife would try to persuade me otherwise but I can't see why I might not need an epidural either!!!

If you feel happier having all the invervention there as a back up, go there. I didn't have epidural with 1st but did with 2nd.

I would do whatever makes YOU feel comfortable compo.
You have to go into giving Birth hoping that everything is right for you, not worrying about facilities.

Go with whatever you feel is right for you.

My mw tried to convince me to have a home birth for my 5th. Even though all prenancies had gone smoothly, no4 had the cord round his neck so tightly his heartbeat dropped to only 40 beats per minute. There was a big panic as the rescuscitator was wheeled in and the mw's telling me I needed to get theis baby out urgently.

Happily everything turned out fine, once his head was born they got the cord from around his neck and he was fine. But, it made me realise that I too wantyed the peace of mind knowing that everything was there to hand if any problems arose.

I agree with you that better safe than sorry. They can't force you to do anything you aren't happy with.

Good luck!

Compo - It is entirely up to you the only things I would say are I had an epidural with my first and second ( never have been a martyr to "natural" ! ) Both dh and I have medical backgrounds and knowing what we do we both felt we wanted to be as near to everything we might need as we could be ! That said I am at that end of the continuum I'm sure others are at the other and would be shocked at that attitude but hey do what YOU want to do. Best of luck and enjoy it goes so fast second time around

If you would feel more reassured by a hospital birth then go for that option. I had an epidural both times and sincerely hope I have the same option with baby no.3.

Compo, re: the epidural and second baby, I had exactly the same comments when I discussed the fact that I felt that I might need one with my second baby. The midwives were respectful but at the same time quite dismissive - "ooh darling you won't have time for that!" (I thought yeah right! at the time). I think the main factor which affects the pain relief outcome in the second labour is the length of labour compared with the first, You know, you can take so much for so long and then you just crack....In my case the second labour was about a third as long as the first. Not that I was 1hr start to finish like you hear somtimes, more like 7.5 hours but still bearable. So I was surprised but I didn't find I needed the epidural (and I was such a big fan of it first time round!). Having said all that, I laboured both times in a "full on" hospital environment and was glad to do so, knowing that precious minutes could be lost in having to transfer somewhere if there were complications. In the final event, I needed the care of doctors after all, not for my baby who was a bonny 9lbs 1.5 oz with a gigantic placenta to boot, but for me who had a very severe cervical tear in the process of giving birth, losing lots of blood and having to be stitched up for 1.5 hours after the birth!! Go for the hospital if that's what you want.

Hi Compo
Go with what u want to do - our local hospital where dd was born - downgraded to a Community Midwife Unit - they have problems keeping the number of births up so they try and get as many people as possible to go there - maybe a similar thing? They even let my neighbour go there for a 1st child - she ended up on a 40 minute blue light run to nearest hosp and having a section.