Homebirth, am I crazy?

[rubberducky87]

Just that really. I'm a first time mum and I really want a homebirth but scared because I've never done it before. Only a few more days until I'm due! My midwife is very supportive but I'm still nervous. Any stories to share??

Please do bow out now. You're bordering on offensive now tbh.

Bees, with all due respect very little evidence has been presented in support of home birth beyond opinion. I have (way way way down the thread) copied chunks of reports which say that home birth is considered riskier for first time mums, with a significant risk of transfer and a greater chance of serious complications than in a hospital birth. If you can find me a report that says there is no increased risk for first time mums then I'll happily read it. The original post was about a home birth for a first time mum. Ignoring the reports which refer to that (albeit) slight increase in risk makes no sense to me at all.
Home birth is, by a considerable distance, the minority choice. I am not alone in my views and my fears. It surprises me that on this thread the majority of posters are home birthers.
And by the way, having a strong opinion which differs from yours doesn't make me offensive! I have my opinions- I am entitled to them (as are you to yours).

It isn't your opinion that is offensive. It is your nasty snidey judgment on another mother. Another mother who went through the worst thing imaginable. Because you in your infinite wisdom think she should have made better choices.

Agree with penguin. It isn't the fact you have a differing opinion to me. I can fully appreciate why you so, given what you've been through.

What I don't understand or accept is your judgement and attitude towards people who don't share your opinion.

I typed a response but she's so self righteous and judgemental I don't want to engage anymore.
Flowers view is not at all the majority in my experience and certainly not amongst the mws/gp/nurse I've discussed it with. Both my mws and practice nurse had had home births themselves. Will you march off and tell those people they are selfish and ignorant?
Most people choose hospital for lots of different reasons and that's their choice but don't think everyone agrees with you because they don't.

I hope you get help to work through your birth trauma flowers

You could try reading the Place of Birth study from 2011 before sounding off Flowergirlmum, rather than the mostly anecdotal evidence which you seem to find more palatable.

This study did indeed say that there was a slightly increased risk to the baby at a home birth for a first time mother. There was substantially less morbidity for the mother, which perhaps doesn't matter to you but matters to very many.

What the study did find, which I would have to assume, won't please you in the slightest, is that a stand-alone midwifery unit was the safest place for a first time low-risk mother, both for her and the baby. They most certainly did not find that the CLU came out as the safest place, nor those MLUs based in the same hospital as the CLU.

So it's a personal choice. You obviously were worried about something which only happens in 0.1% to 0.6% births, (unless breech, where it's slightly more than 1%), (RCOG figures). Other women might easily say, the baby isn't breech, the head is engaged, so the chance of this happening is so negligible as to be not worth my worrying. On the other hand I don't want to be in one of those hospitals with a 33% CS rate, or high forceps rates with the attendant problems and perhaps having my own health compromised for a number of years.

As I said, find me a report that states that home birth (which is what we'rw discussing) is the safest option for a first time mum (as the OP is) and I will bow out gracefully.

Re risk factors LaV, I've said previously that in many ways they are irrelevant if you find yourself in that small percentage where it has gone wrong. All that most people want is a safe delivery- it would be cold comfort to know it was unlikely should the worst happen. My baby wasn't breech, she was engaged (at least that's what I was told), she wasn't small (another risk factor). The only slight increase (and this isn't listed as an increased risk of cord prolapse anywhere I've seen) was that my waters went before contractions. However, this was the case with my first child also who was born naturally with no intervention and minimal pain relief.

The woman in that article assumed that she would be in the majority group where all was well (this wasn't her first child) and she wasn't. Her opinion is on the Internet which renders it open to comment.

Oh and I must add I have read that study.

There's an article on the Internet called '10 reasons I'd never have a home birth'. It is from the US and so some of it is irrelevant due to differences in levels of training of home birth midwives. However, much is completely relevant regardless of where you live.

The report you refer to LaV says this:

the risk of an adverse perinatal outcome appears to be higher for nulliparous women who plan to give birth at home (9.3 primary outcome events per 1000 births vs. 5.3 per 1000 births in an OU).
For nulliparous ‘low risk’ women the intrapartum transfer rate is high in settings other than an OU (home 45%; FMU 36%, AMU 40%).

And Bees- I find your last comment offensive, ridiculous and totally expected (see earlier posts).
I have no need for support because, as I have repeatedly said, for me the outcome is far more important than the experience. I yearned only for a safe delivery and that is precisely what I got. Do you believe that disagreeing with you makes me mentally unstable??!!

Not meaning to be offensive, maybe hit a nerve, I'm sorry about what happened to you but it doesn't make you an expert. Best wishes for the future

And your success in home birth doesn't make you an expert either Bees.
No nerves have been hit at all. I had the views I have prior to my second child's birth which just confirmed them for me.

My opinion, particularly on first time mums (which I'll say again, the OP is) IS backed up by the report you all stand by- the only significant report there is actually in the UK.

You are deaf to all attempts to explain things to you Flowergirl. The relevance of MLU stats has been explained - the place you are shouting about and jumping up and down as the only sensible place to be is not the safest place even for a first time mother. The studies show a CLU isn't the safest place for anyone.

"The woman in that article assumed that she would be in the majority group where all was well (this wasn't her first child) and she wasn't. Her opinion is on the Internet which renders it open to comment."

Attacking a grieving mother is fine because she put the story on the internet and you know best? I am hiding this thread. I will not be party to someone behaving in this way. It's appalling. I find your comment abhorrent.

Avoiding interventions was one of my reasons for avoiding hospital (interventions like ARM, which can cause cord prolapse as this article points out).

A number of iatrogenic causes also exist, some of which are related to routine procedures performed as part of normal labor management. These include artificial ROM (especially if the fetal head or presenting part is not engaged), placement of a fetal scalp electrode or an intrauterine pressure catheter, amnioinfusion, attempted rotation of the fetal head from occiput posterior to occiput anterior, and external cephalic version.

Yes, Flowergirlmum I have read the Place of Birth Study from cover to cover, so I am glad that you found the place where they put numbers to what I said what I referred to as a slightly increased risk.

We have been over the business of transfer in labour numerous times. You have been told that most first time mothers who transfer don't transfer because it's a dire emergency. Something like 40% transfer i.e. 60% go on to have as straightforward delivery at home. Show me the hospital which manages a statistic like that for a first time mother.

Now please, to convince me of your own point that the CLU is safest for the baby for a first time mother and better for the mother's health,(which you appear not to be too worried about) will you find that part in the Place of Birth study, because I seem to have missed it.