Unsure where to give birth

[whizzy1980]

I'm current 35wk with my second baby and I still don't know where to have it.

My first labour was about 10hours of contractions ramping up before I went to hospital. I was 3-4 cm when I arrived and DD was born 2 hours after that. It was a completely straightforward water birth, no other pain relief, no stitches and I was able to home after about 7 hours.

Given that second labours are usually quicker I'm unsure what to do. My DH commutes to work and is about 1hr30 away. My mum lives an hours drive. All my local friends are due about the same time as me (it was a busy Christmas!!)or have 2+ small children themselves. The town we live in doesn't have a hospital but we get to chose from 3 hospitals all about 30mins in different directions.

I am registered with the hospital I gave both at last time, but this isn't the one where our community midwives work out of.

I had my 34wk midwife appt on Friday, and we ended up talking about whether home birth might be the right option for me. Given it all went so smoothly last time I am wondering if they are right. It would mean that I would have to change hospital

Basically, I am really scared of going into labour when DH is at work and I'm home alone with DD because given the speed of my last "active" labour it could go really fast and realistically I'd have a 2 hour window for DH to get home and get to hospital.

Should I just go for a home birth knowing that the midwife can be with me quicker than my DH or my mum?

Sorry this is so long, hopefully someone has some advice to clear the fog in my head.

Home birth is fab. With ds, dh phoned her and she was with us within 45 mins. We are home birthing this time round too

I had the same worries as with dd1 I went from 4cm to 10 in less than an hour and she was born 2.5 hours later (back to back so 2 hours pushing, she'd have been out much quicker had she not been a pickle).

Chose a home birth for second and it was great. Still had a fairly long early labour which was good as it gave my mum time to pick up dd1 and hubby to blow up and fill pool etc but again, once I hit 4cm I went to 10 in less than an hour and she was born about an hour after that with only about ten mins of pushing.

I loved my home birth but it has to be the right thing for you.

Thank you ladies.

I don't know what I want to be honest. I was completely happy with decision on midwife led unit at hospital, but the closer it gets the more terrorfied I am about being on my own and it happening to quick for DH or mum to get to me and then to hospital.

Homebirth sounds like it is my most sensible option. I stay put and everyone comes to me. But, our hot water tank is an abysmal size so no chance of a pool, and I LOVED the pool last time.

Argh, I've got to decide by this time next week!

You can use cold and then top up with hot water, and a few kettles of boiling water. Alternatively, you can fill it up and get a heat retaining cover, again just needing a top up of hot water.

Our hot water is low pressure and pants, but coped with pool ok, you could look at sizes and litres required and go for a smaller pool