Active discussions

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Childbirth

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

Original poster

Refusing home birth for back to back baby!

153 replies

StarshitTerrorise · 15/05/2012 18:18

Ffs.

I KNOW I have rights etc but why are they making it difficult.

Apparently I won't forgive myself if it goes wrong and I won't be able to cope with the pain.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
edam · 15/05/2012 19:58

GPs know very little about maternity because they haven't been involved in delivering babies for several decades now.

My friend had a back to back delivery - she didn't realise it was supposed to be incredibly painful until I mentioned it in a conversation after the baby was born. This may be connected to the fact that when the labour ward initially told her to go away, she went for a walk in the grounds and had a spliff. (I am NOT recommending this, obviously, just an interesting correlation...)

Original poster
StarshitTerrorise · 15/05/2012 20:01

Lol. I wouldn't have a clue where to get a spliff these days!

OP posts:
Original poster
StarshitTerrorise · 15/05/2012 20:04

Pippin, I believe the hospital setting triggered my Ds' autism. That's not a risk I'm prepared to take again. Mws carry oxygen don't they, and delayed cord cutting helps with that too iirc.

OP posts:
EdlessAllenPoe · 15/05/2012 20:06

pippinella homebirth midwives carry oxygen and are trained in resus techniques.

also, you can't be sure it would have been the same at home - statistically there are all kinds of differences (shorter average labour by 2 hours, less use of pain relief, baby is less likely to be admitted to neo-natal care and less likely to have an apgar of less than 7 after 5 mins...)

ABatInBunkFive · 15/05/2012 20:07

My 9lb 10oz back to back baby came so quickly he surprised the midwife. Grin

IME bigger babies = less pain+shorter labour but it is only a survey of three Wink

EldonAve · 15/05/2012 20:10

All mine were back to back
No reason not to give birth at home
Stick to your guns!

McKayz · 15/05/2012 20:12

ABat I was told that bigger babies = longer labours. I would say that labour and birth with DS2 was less painful than DS1 who was over 3lb lighter. Labour was 12 hours with DS2 and MW thinks it would have been a lot shorter if he wasn't so large.

Though I suppose it depends on the woman.

Original poster
StarshitTerrorise · 15/05/2012 20:16

I understood that bigger babies were quicker providing you are labouring upright as gravity helps.

OP posts:
SneakyBiscuitEater · 15/05/2012 20:18

I have had 3 back to back births (none turned in labour), I think my pelvis must be wonky or something. The first two were home births with no pain relief at all. DC1 was in the bath and DC2 was in a spa-2-go pool which was amazing.

DC3 was a hospital delivery, I was induced early due to multiple pulmonary embolisms (emboli???) And ended up on the drip etc but still managed with no pain relief whatsoever.

I second the posters above who said kneeling/leaning forward is the best way to go and I would recommend a waterbirth too.

Good luck OP.

ABatInBunkFive · 15/05/2012 20:19

I think gravity plays a part myself, the heavier it is the quicker it falls. Wink Though i'm not small myself 5'9. Maybe that has something to do with it, i guess we all agree there are no absoloutes when it comes to labour and childbirth that's for sure.

ABatInBunkFive · 15/05/2012 20:22

The 10lber = no pain relief some gas and air with the other big one and loads of gas and air with the little one, i think they were worried they'd run out (small hospital.) Wink

mirry2 · 15/05/2012 20:31

Good luck to you op and obviously you have to decide what's best for you, but to counterbalance all the other posters my dd was a back to back emergency caesarean in hospital as I had a long long long painful labour (went into labour early hours Saturday monring and gave birth by emcs as 'failure to progess' on the following Monday evening) - baby was fine throughout but I was completely and utterly knackered, even with a drip - kept needing to haul myself into a kneeling position . Baby was very large and I had a pelvic x ray later when I was told that she would never have come out naturally.

Pippinella · 15/05/2012 20:32

EdlessAllenPoe I'm pleased to hear that midwives carry oxygen. Yes we will not know if it had been different at home, but I'm still grateful that I had been in hospital at that moment, I know I sound melodramatic but if he'd needed intubating or anything...

Anyway my message really is even hospital births can be low intervention, almost like a homebirth, being discharged so soon after, and not being strapped to a bed/drip/monitor. Maybe I'm lucky where I live, our mat dept came very high in the UK's CQC ratings.

OP, why do you think the hospital triggered your DC's autism? Just wondering, as I've never heard that before. You don't have to go into it if you don't want.

Original poster
StarshitTerrorise · 15/05/2012 20:41

Pip, there's a LOT of reasons and I don't think it is any one, nor do I believe that there wasn't a genetic predisposition but I believe it has a lot to do with the birth hormones and them being interfered with not to mention the highly unethical procedure of fundal pressure which was used to deliver the head.

Oxytocin deficiency is associated with autism. Plus if I can suffer PTSD as a result of giving birth then whatever was flowing in my blood at the time I.e high levels of fear and adrenaline, I doubt would have bypassed the baby.

OP posts:
GinGirl · 15/05/2012 20:44

Had my second DD at home, didn't know she was back-to-back until I had my initial exam, was 4-5cm and MW was astounded that I wasn't feeling anything in my back. Mind, she was on the small side so that may have made a difference. GP talking from his bottom, get in touch with the practice mw asap and see what she says!
Best of luck with it though...

EdlessAllenPoe · 15/05/2012 20:59

I am sure the OP knows that a homebirth does not mean it will definitely all go well, and is aware that transfer is one possibility that is higher with a large OP baby - with forceps or emcs at the end of that also a possibility.

these things are possible with any baby.

have seen OP on many a childbirth thread in the past so she knows her onions. was going to re-read the Birthplace study for detail on pph but it isn't working on my machine - can't open relathump document. I think it says transfer for pph is at 1% level, with 'catastrophic' pph being so rare in all birth locations they couldn't say anything on it.... (ie, requiring a transfusion ) but it was a while ago so don't quote me on that...

if OP googles, possibly her browser will open the big fat pdf with the detailed results analysis in it. lots to read through though (i think most of the juice was on page 74 of document 4 on...) .

Pippinella · 15/05/2012 21:01

Thanks for sharing, Star. Sounds like you really went through the mill.

Whatever happens this time I really hope you get the birth you want, good luck xxx

YoullLaughAboutItOneDay · 15/05/2012 21:58

Starshit - Have you read up on techniques that can be used during home labour to turn a stubborn OP baby? I can personally vouch for inversions Grin. Mental at the time, but did the job!

seeingstars · 15/05/2012 22:06

I had a back to back birth with DC1. I found that HB helps to make pain more bearable, own environment, in control etc plus a BTB baby can turn right up to the birth, I think. Bouncing on a birth ball, scrubbing the floor as if and walking are supposed to help. You can transfer if the pain is too much. Smile

Consort · 15/05/2012 23:37

Haven't had b2b labour/birth, but you should be able to have gas and air at home. Fwiw I've had 2 homebirths and 1 hospital birth. Hospital birth was DC2 due to infection. Our beautiful baby girl died at birth and really was negligence. I have felt I had much better care during my homebirths, though was with private midwife.

Original poster
StarshitTerrorise · 16/05/2012 10:12

YoullLaugh I just looked up inversion. I'm not an athletic person but tend to be surprisingly mobile during late pregnancy and could do that pretty easily.

May as well give it a go then. Might do it in early labour too if I have a mind too. Might work to give a rest from the pain too - who knows.

Silly baby!

OP posts:
Original poster
StarshitTerrorise · 16/05/2012 10:20

Thank you Edless. I do know that there are no guarantees with childbirth. I believe only that you can improve your chances for a better outcome through preparation and knowledge.

I think the difficulty I face at the moment is just that there is so very little time to explain what I want and why and without that opportunity I risk coming across as daft.

There was no time to discuss the role of oxytocin with the GP, or that whilst SD was probably better dealt with in hospital, it was actually more likely to occur in hospital in the first place and with less experienced midwives at that. (I assume that was what he was referring to when he was talking about 'something going wrong'.)

So what I want is him to just do as he's told, and refer me without opinion, to whoever does homebirths asap.

Tricky.

OP posts:
LaVolcan · 16/05/2012 10:25

I think you can refer yourself, despite what the GP says.

Original poster
StarshitTerrorise · 16/05/2012 10:30

I've contacted the consultant midwife and filled in a form she has sent now. The trouble was, she wouldn't accept me until I was registered with local GP. Local GP wouldn't register me until he had seen me.

But, it MUST be all being processed now. I have done both.

OP posts:
iguanadonna · 16/05/2012 13:21

V good idea to try those techniques for turning the poppet. My DS1 was back to back, so with DS2 I did loads of all 4s etc to make sure he was well-positioned. Felt damn silly, but ended up with v easy labour.

Pippinella - my DS2 was the same: didn't breathe immediately, needed resus and oxygen. The midwife did it all, at the same time as stopping my pph. Doula phoned ambulance, which was with us in under 3 minutes. By that time DS was fine, but taken to hospital anyway for checks. I reckon that was a better and faster response that we would have had in many UK maternity wards. The statistics bear me out: it's safer to have second babies at home.