first child home birth

[fultime]

Hi
I am pregnant with my first child and I am seriously thinking of having a home birth, can anyone tell me there experiences of first child home births please?

Thanks in anticipation

Kelly

I had my first one at home, and although I don't fully remember the rationale for that at the time, I now think it is the best decision I made. I got people saying maybe I should try it in hospital first time, and others saying 'ooh aren't you brave' which was all very negative although not meant to be. It was a fab experience and I am sure the pride I felt from it helped carry me through the first tough few weeks. It also has meant that I have a positive memory of the experience for next time, rather than having any demons to exorcise from feeling out of control in hospital.
Have you discovered the homebirth website? There is also a very helpful yahoo group dedicated to homebirth in the UK which is great.

I think you are crazy. The risks are too high. I would never never never do this.

BUT, if it's what you want after researching all the pros and cons, then best of luck to you. I believe the birth should be as the mother would want it.

Are you close to the hospital (in case you need it)?

go for it Fultime, but just stay aware that it might end up in hospital.

Good luck .

I know this is not what you want to hear, but I would really try to discourage anyone from having a home birth for your first baby. I had my first baby last year in hospital, and the doctors had minutes to get the baby out alive because of an undiagnosed problem which only manifested itself halfway through labour. There were doctors running down corridors like a scene out of Holby City and luckily we were a few feet away from an empty operating theatre, so they started an emergency Caesarean within 5 minutes of diagnosing the problem and pulled the baby out 4 minutes later.

If I had been at home which is a 30 minute drive away from the hospital, my baby would probably have died and I might well have died too.

I know lots of mothers have wonderful home birth experiences, and I realise that my situation was quite rare (although not that rare - I know of several undiagnosed breeches discovered halfway through labour). If you've had an uncomplicated first birth already, I'd say go for it, have a home birth - I'm sure it's much more enjoyable. But is it worth the risk, if it's your first time?

Sorry to be so negative, but I feel strongly that when people encourage more home births, they sometimes don't consider all the risks for first-time mothers who don't know how their body will react.

I did have a good experience having my 1st baby in hospital but had a homebirth for my 2nd 4 months ago. It was fantastic and something I would definately recommend to anyone who will listen
You will come across a lot of strange and negative comments but if being in your own surroundings is where you will be most comfortable and relaxed that's where you should be.

Go for it and good luck.

Hi Kelly.
I had my first baby at home. It was fantastic and I went on to have DD2 at home aswell. I was so relaxed and so was my DD1. The midwives were in and out monitoring me all day. I was told the first sign of trouble you are whipped straight into hospital! It was perfect and drug free. In fact the three midwives said it was a text book delivery! My midwife throughout my pregnancy was a real help and really supportive. If you have a healthy pregnancy,are generally fit and healthy, then you are a good candidate for home birth as far as I am aware.
I found other peoples attitudes to be so negative but if you feel this is right for you then go for it!
Read up on it, get advice from mumsnet. Then make the decision you feel comfortable with.
Good luck and I am sure a few others will be keen to share their experiences!
Emma

I wouldn't have survived my first labour either (although I suspect I would have been taken to hospital in good time). You will be amazed how many women have to have some sort of intervention during their first labours - they don't tend to come out of the woodwork until you have had your baby - but subsequent labours are much easier and would be a good time to have a home birth.

But don't listen to me. I have given birth 4 times and wouldn't have opted to have my baby at home under any circumstances. I liked to have all modern technology to hand.

My friend had her first at home last year. She had a long labour but all fine and probably much nicer and less stressful than hospital imho

Me again!!!

Just a thought but where are you? Some areas are more encouraging of home births than others. This could be due to the amount of midwives etc?

Have you seen \link{http://www.homebirth.org.uk\the homebirth site?}

My first birth was very straightforward and would've been fine as a homebirth - my second was meant to be but I got gestational diabetes and wimped out - but it would've been fine too.

There are risks involved in hospital births too, so you need to weigh the pros and cons for you personally. Good luck!

I had a truly wonderful home birth with my first child. Sheer magic. I'll never forget sitting in the bath with candles (lit by the mw) and my newborn in my arms.

I had to ignore all the well meaning concerns of family, friends and the likes of uwila because I knew it was the best thing for me.

Good luck. It's statistically slightly safer than hospital birth anyway so don't let them get to you. x

Sorry I don't mean to be rude to uwila or those who expressed their concern when I wanted a home birth with my first. I'm just remembering the frustration I felt after encountering so much negativity.

Sheila Kitzinger writes really well on this subject. I loved her book Homebirth (now out of print I believe, sadly). Another great one by her is The New Pregnancy and Childbirth. She also has one I haven't read called Birth Your Way. I also loved Active Birth by Janet Balaskas.

If you'd like to read some positive and uplifting birth stories then Ina May Gaskin's book (not Spiritual Midwifery but the other one) is really excellent.

I had a home birth for my first and it was a fantastic experience. Lots of people tried to put me off with "I would have died if I'd been at home' stories but my independent midwives reassured me that as professionals they would be able to spot a problem in plenty of time. Labours - especially first ones - tend to be pretty long and there is plenty of time to ascertain how it's going. To the person that said 'I know of lots of undiagnosed breech births' I would point out that a) Most good midwives have a pretty good idea which way the baby is facing and b) breech babies can be delivered perfectly safely at home. What people don't tell you (and probably don't always know) is that a lot of the life/death situations during childbirth are caused or exacerbated by the concoction of drugs you are given - something you don't have at home. I'm always unsure why people are so ready to believe the hospital line on why they needed a caesarean. The caesarean rate has increased dramatically with one in four births now delivered this way - If hospital is so safe why are there so many 'emergency' caesareans needed these days? Have a home birth - they are wonderful and as long as you are close to a hospital should anything really go wrong I don't see the problem - at home you have two midwives monitoring your every move - at hospital you may be one of five patients the midwife is monitoring.

I was planning a homebirth. But the midwife suspected my baby might be breech (at 38.5 weeks) and sent me in for a scan. If I'd been planning a hospital birth we might not have bothered with the scan then. They are very very wary about doing homebirths if anything might be wrong - I think you're less likely to have an undiagnosed breech if you're planning a homebirth cos your midwives will be annoyingly paranoid about everything.

I planned a homebirth with no 2 as well. I'd have died if I'd had him at home. The point is, I didn't have him at home because I would have died...

Ask the midwives about "time to theatre" from your home and compare to "time to theatre" from the delivery suite at the hospital. I live 30 minutes normal drive from the hosp, and they could get me on the operating table in the same time from home or from the labour ward.

I've had four homebirths and I employed indie mws because the NHS ones didn't seem to have the confidence in me. Expensive, but some of the best money I've ever spent. Also they were completely unphazed by breech deliveries.

for what its worth i dont think you are 'crazy' (!!)

i plan to have my next one at home. my first was a birth centre birth and while there were some complications, should i suffer exactly the same complications when havig a home birth the midwives will be able to deal with them easily. Any good midwife will know if you need to be transferred to hospital.

I guess if you are a bit nervous a birth centre is a nice compromise.

I had my first (and second) at home and thoroughly recommend it. For a start you get 2 midwives, you aren't even guaranteed one in hospital. And Uwila, statistically PLANNED home birth is AS SAFE as hospital birth, that's a fact. I am not following you around disagreeing with you today btw, it's coincidence!

I didn't have a home birth for various reasons, but my SIL did and she would recommend it to anyone! She was fortunate enough to be able to afford an independent midwife and hired a birthing pool. She had a straightforward birth and as a result feels so confident about giving birth again. I think if you have a trouble-free pregnancy, and feel confident in the support of your midwife, then go for it!

i believe that in the netherlands home births are the default position. its the 'norm' there...their stats are as good as if not better than other developed countries. c-sections & instrumental births are much lower obviously.

Hi Kelly
There is no evidence to suggest that having your first baby at home is unwise. If your pregnancy is normal and healthy then it is, as WWW says, just as safe statistically to have your baby at home as in hospital.

You will probably encounter lots of (usually well-meaning) negative attitudes if you say you want a first baby at home. But the evidence is there to back you up and, with respect to some posters on this thread, other people's scare stories aren't really relevant. They have no bearing on what may or may not happen to you.

Talk to your midwife, definitely check out the homebirth site and www.infochoice.org for some useful evidence-based information on place of birth - and good luck!

Oh thank you all so much, thats a big help. I am only 10 mins from the Hospital and my Midwife seems happy as long as the pregnancy is 'normal' also the baby care unit at my local hospital (Basildon Essex) has been shut down a couple of times with mrsa and a few new borns have died of it so I think home birth if possible will be the safer option for us both. Will let you know how I get on, only just over the 3 months now and just stopped throwing up the last two days so hopefully can now start to enjoy this so long awaited baby. :)

Good luck, fultime.

The views on this thread really scare me. But, if this is what you want, I wish you the best. We all have different views and desires regarding childbirth, and mine tend to be of the medicalised variety. But, I would say that there is an underlying assumption on this thread the you will have a "good midwife". I hope this is true. I personally have read too many horror stories (not scaremonger stories, but true stories) on mumsnet and in real life to have that kind of faith in the NHS.

Anyway, statistically speaking, you will probably be okay. If you are happy with "statistically speaking" then by all means that is your choice to make.

I do not wish to sway you over to my way of thinking, or persuade you to do something you don't want. I just think you came here looking for information, and so a variety of views should be presented.

Good luck with your home birth if that is what you choose.

My DS was born at home. Hadn't planned a home birth but he came so very quickly he didn't leave us with much choice in the matter. My acive birth classes came in handy, ambulance arrived with gas and air for the last 30 mins and midwife arrived 6 mins before he was born. It was in fact all very positive and I'm very glad he was born at home (in his own bedroom in fact) Bad news came when the placenta was retained and I had to go into hospital to have it removed - Thing is, when things went wrong I ended up in hospital very very quickly (7 mins with siren if IIRC). Having a baby in hospital would feel as weird as having a baby at a bus-stop now - so I'd definitely hope for a home birth if i ever do have another baby.

"other people's scare stories aren't really relevant. They have no bearing on what may or may not happen to you."

Equally you could say that good stories have no bearing on what may or may not happen to someone else.

My friend had planned a first homebirth. Madness, I thought. She ended up with an emergency CS due to undiagnosed breech. This was last summer, in London. Her MW had convinced her she's 100% sure she didn't need a scan, the baby was head down.

Good luck and healthy babies.

I'm a serial homebirther too (3 of them) and people thought I was brave! I considered it the safer option, 25% of emergency c.s in hospital is not a good statistic. Like you, I was very close to the hospital and I figured that, should I need to go there in an emergency, I would be just as quick in the operation room as if I would be in hospital. By the time they have found a anaestacist (spelling...sorry)and a surgeon the ambulance would have arrived.
My 3 homebirths were painkiller free and I felt tremendously proud and strong and female. And it's so nice to be in your own bed with your baby just hours after giving birth... Also nice for your partner, who doesn't have to go home to an empty house now that he's become a dad! Go for it and goodluck to you.