Experiences of home birth?

[pianodoodle]

I'd be grateful for any input here.

DD just turned 2 and now expecting a son due Date Christmas day :)

I gave birth to DD at the local birth centre (ten min drive away) with no complications which was pretty much like a "home from home" type of unit i.e midwife led only.

I was told that if there were any complications it would be a matter of ten mins by ambulance to next hospital and was happy with that especially as partners could stay overnight in same room after the birth which was lovely.

This time it's an awkward time of year! I'm worried about not having many people to hand to look after DD if I go into labour.

Anyway I've started thinking maybe I should just stay here to have the baby but a few things concern me.

1. The mess lol! Isn't it horrendous? How do you deal with it?

2. The noise! I'd be worried about DD being frightened? I wasn't sweary or anything but it was a bit hard to control the humping and occasional "arghing" :D

3. The fact that it may take a bit longer to get to hospital from the house in the event of a complication. I worry it's an unnecessary risk to take just to save some hassle/transport.

I'd love to know more about home birth anyway do you think it's worth thinking about in these circumstances? Thanks!

I gave birth to my first (and only) child by homebirth. I don't like hospitals at all and the thought of being in pain in an unfamiliar environment was worrying me. My midwife was very supportive.

We bought lots of polythene sheeting and some incontinence pads and had plenty of old towels. This contained all the mess (plus I spent most of my labour in the bath). The midwives tidied everything up afterwards and there was no mess what-so-ever after they had gone.

I think I was fairly noisey but I didn't have any children in the house. I have known people give birth at home with kids asleep upstairs and they never woke up.

Length of time to get to the hospital was a big factor for me in choosing a homebirth - we were five mins drive from the hospital if anything went wrong. However my understanding is that second births at home are safer than in a hospital (not sure if I am right with that?) but distance to the hospital in an emergency is definitely something I would take into account.

If I have another child I definitely will be having a homebirth (as long as its a straightforward pregnancy) although i have a very low pain threshold I didn't at any point find the pain unbearable which I think is 100% due to the fact I felt in control and relaxed as I was in my own environment.

Sorry for the essay!

Thank you! I was able to manage the pain with gas and air so fingers crossed for what my mum says about 2nd births being shorter and easier... I'm not going to assume though :)

I have to say the thought of being able to crawl into my own bath/bed does sound appealing.

I will ask the midwife at my next appointment about average times to hospital. I'm guessing my being at home could make it a twenty minute delay rather than ten. Of course it might add more time waiting for an ambulance to arrive rather than already being at the birth centre with one waiting.

It would be easier to get an extra pair of hands to chip in with DD if needed than finding someone to actually take her or stay with her for the duration of being away at hospital especially if it's overnight.

The only thing was the birth pool I didn't give birth there but spent a lot of time in it! The bath here is decent though and you can always hire pools can't you?

Yep you can hire pools. I was put off by the thought of having to sieve the bits out of it afterwards!! However I loved being in the bath in my tiny bathroom so next time would really consider a pool.

To be honest the idea of my own toilet and my own bed were significant for me.

I can't speak highly enough of home births and I am not normally into 'alternative' treatments. But I weirdly enjoyed having my daughter. If you have any questions just send me a message, I'm happy to help if I can.

Minimal mess.

Bought a pool. Fantastic for relaxation and pain relief but once things got mega intense and I wanted to be on my knees I couldn't stop slipping so moved onto loo and toilet and floor.

2 amazing and experienced midwives who helped me indescribably.

They brought gas and air.

When they left DP, brand new DD and I went to bed. He passed out and I sat up all night high on adrenaline and joy grinning and staring at this wee creature. In my own bed. Tea and toast and a bath the next morning were fab too.

Do it!

Wow this is all sounding so positive thanks everyone!

Am definitely considering this as a serious option now - the idea only dawned on me this morning!

Also if it does happen to be close to due date (unlikely) I'd hate to be away on Christmas Eve or Day for DD's sake.

DH just informed me DD doesn't own a calendar so that's a daft reason :)

I had a planned home birth 2nd time. It was great. i used no pain relief at all, was delivered by my fabulous midwife from my gps surgery and it was so lovely to be at home. I managed to hold on til morning before getting a friend to come for dd1. I think she was only out if the house for 3 hours. DH was not keen on the idea, but afterwards he was evangelical about home births, as he could get cereal and tea any time he liked!
There was no mess at all. Midwife recommended buying a cheap shower curtain as it was unlikely to tear. She tidied up brilliantly and there wasn't a spot if anything nasty anywhere. The best was using my own bathroom after. No going in a shower room with other people's blood on the floor. I hope everything goes ok for you.

Thanks! Yes DH is a bit dubious too but I'll get plenty of info from the midwife too and think about how to manage things with DD.

The only people who would be available to stay overnight with DD are in-laws but the thought of them being there when I first arrive home from hospital is not appealing. Plus they'd never leave and make more mess than a home birth would anyway...

Thanks for sharing I'll be pointing out the benefits to DH of the kitchen access too he'll like that!

Don't want to burst your bubble but please make arrangements in case you do have to go to hospital. I planned a home birth but got transferred due to complications and oh panic packed a right bunch of shite.

I'm sure you will have a lovely home birth btw.

1. The mess lol! Isn't it horrendous? How do you deal with it?

Nope, most MWs pride themselves on leaving the place cleaner than they found it. I put down a plastic shower curtain (99p from wilcos) with a sheet and towel over it. MW's take away the placenta (unless you want to keep it) and tidy up.

2. The noise! I'd be worried about DD being frightened? I wasn't sweary or anything but it was a bit hard to control the humping and occasional "arghing"

My older one, and then two slept through both my births. Quite a common theme from friends who've also had homebirths is that babies arrive while older DC are asleep or napping

3. The fact that it may take a bit longer to get to hospital from the house in the event of a complication. I worry it's an unnecessary risk to take just to save some hassle/transport.

Are you much further from the hospital at home than the MLU is? ambulances are very very quick when it's a bluelight situation
Another thing to bear in mind is that at a homebirth you will be with an experienced MW in a one-to-one situation. IME they pick up on any potential problems very early on so plenty of time to transfer. True 'emergencies' are rare.

1. There was absolutely no mess. I also got a few plastic dust sheets from Wilkos and some hideous towels the MIL bought us once (that I took great pleasure in chucking out afterwards). The place was tidier than it was before. One of the midwives even unpacked our Ocado order that we didn't have time to cancel! (thankfully he didn't arrive an hour earlier - or he would have had a bit of a shock!)

2. I did make quite a bit of noise and I'm really glad that DS1 was at nursery. My friend though put her DD to bed, contractions started a few minutes later, baby born a few hours later and DD woke up to find a new brother. I'd definitely try and get a back up plan in place just in case or in case you need to transfer.

3. I'm actually about 30 mins away from hospital (quicker in an ambulance) but because you have a midwife there the entire time (and two towards the end) they are constantly keeping an eye on you (unlike in hospital) and will be very pre-emptive of anything untoward and will pack you off to hospital sooner rather than later.

I hired my pool from www.birthpoolinabox.co.uk I never got to use it though because it didn't get filled up in time.

You definitely need a decent supply of biscuits in. Midwives get grumpy without biscuits.

I had a planned home birth for my first and only child, it was tough going but so amazing to be at home afterwards and I think it made lots of things easier for me in the long run - my physical recovery, my mental state, relaxed happy baby, never had any breastfeeding problems at all.

I had my own shower, my own bed, a huuuuge bowl of hot pasta, cake, champagne, soft cheese, lovely snuggly memories and photos.

I recall no mess. Guess someone must have tidied it up :)
I made a bit of noise around transition. I think for a second baby I'd like to have another person there in case my daughter woke up, or to take her out if it was day time.
I am probably 5 mins from the hospital by ambulance, so that was a big deciding factor for me. However for a second baby with a straightforward first birth I don't even think this would be a very big consideration. As someone said above, you tend to be more closely monitored at home births and they would transfer you in very early if necessary. There is no additional risk to the baby for a low risk mother having her second baby at home, this has been shown in a large study. There are better outcomes for the mother.

Of course it's possible you may have to go in - I had a bag packed - and this frame of mind "well most people give birth in hospital and they all have to make the decision when to go in. So I'll just do what I can at home and go in if I have to."

good luck :)

Oh and I made the midwives a cake - it was in the freezer, got it out when the contractions first started, called them about 15 hours later - I hired a birth pool (for free!) from my hospital though I didn't use it much in the end.

In contrast to the ladies above, my labour was rather long (30 hours from waters breaking and first contractions) - I absolutely believe it would have got more complicated in hospital. I was exhausted and it hurt but I think things would have gone worse if people had interfered with my labour. My midwives were amazing, proper oldschool midwifery, supportive, knowledgeable, calm and practical.

Sorry to intercept this thread but I'm planning a home water birth with my 2nd for very similar reasons and just wondered if any of you kept toddlers at home and if awake were involved in anyway? I don't think it will be the case my mum is on standby 15 mins away but just out of interest really! Also did you all use water pumps to empty and is that down to us (partner-not me for sure!!) or midwife? Thanks

I mean the actual bit of emptying not buying.

I had all 3 of mine at home and had was worried about my older dc(s) when I went into labour. With ds2 I went into labour at bedtime and we had an hour or so with him before ds1 woke up so the timing was perfect. With ds3 I went into labour in the morning, my older 2 went to bed for an afternoon nap and labour suddenly cranked up several gears so baby arrived 1/2hr later.

I used a birth pool and my waters broke in the pool so all the mess was in there! I bought a pool then sold it on ebay for a decent price. The midwives took away a big yellow bag of mess, including all my old towels which I was going to stick in the wash.

Planned home birth but Ds delivered by Dp as was very quick!
Was lovely, little mess, had shower curtain and towels on floor all chucked in yellow bag and disposed off after.
Ds was born on 30th dec, Xmas tree was up with lights twinkling as he was born (2:20 am) was very calm and a lovely experience.
Ds3 was in bed and slept thru it, Ds1+2 were out for the night. Home births seem to have a funny habit of happening when convenient!

Lion5711 - mine didn't wake up but my age gaps are 17 months and 20 months so when DC3 was born I had two pre-schoolers is the house. Most of the people I know who've had HBs have found they go into labour at a comvenient time (one person had her baby while her 2yo had his afternoon nap).
My plan involved trying to get them to my parents' house but I wouldn't have had time so would have let them come in or hoped they played upstairs. Luckily I'm not very noisy while in labour and don't get distressed so hopefully it wouldn't have been a traumatic experience in any case.

There was no mess. Part of that was luck (waters broke on the loo) and part of that was because I had arranged to have the baby AND the placenta in the pool so all the mess was completely contained.