Home Birth

[Aero]

Had such a good experience giving birth at home to ds2 19 wks ago and as I only know one other friend (my inspiration) who's also had a home birth, I wondered if any of you have done it and what you thought of the experience.

[hatter]

Hi there,

I had a sort of planned homebirth for dd2: I had an independent mid-wife (horrible hospital birth with dd1, horrible GP who refused to have anything to do with a homebirth, v.v.v. stressed and upset in late pregnancy, in fact terrified of going back to hospital - sorry - just like to put the fact that I paid in context) the idea was that she would come to the home and then we would decide whetehr to go to the mid-wife birth centre where she worked, hospital if I really wanted, or stay home: but in the end she didn't make it in time and DD2 was delivered by DH. Totally amazing experience: not all positive, it was very quick and a bit shocking and scarey to deliver without any professional help; but labour was a piece of piss and it was incredible to be at home: my mum was staying and although we're emotionally very close we've never really been very open abuot anything you could broadly call "messy" but half an hour after dd2 came along I was sitting in my own bath, in my own home, breast-feeding my beautiful new daughter, with my mum sitting next to us, totally awed and amazed. Brings a tear to my eye now. Something about that mother-daughter-daughter line. Inbloodycredible.

[Aero]

Have just caught up with this thread. Lovely to hear all your home birth experiences. Did I hear a whisper that someone's home birth baby made a very early TV appearance on 'Trauma'?

[mummyintexas]

Am so impressed by these stories - well done to all of you!
I had DD in December in America so it was a hospital birth (it was my first baby and I didn't feel confident enough in a strange country to have a homebirth)- though we were lucky and it was AMAZING - we had a wonderful midwife who I truly love - we still see her now! Assuming we are back in the UK for our next baby I definitely want to try for a homebirth - I think it would be marvellous. I had a great birth with DD (they don't do gas & air here so I had her with no pain relief at all - makes me think I'd be strong enough for a homebirth next time) and I regard it as the highlight of my life, on a par with getting married to my DH.
I think it's wonderful to hear so many positive birthing stories - I get so depressed by all the negativity surrounding childbirth. It's the most natural thing in the world and why most people seem convinced you need to be in a hospital with bright lights and people in scrubs constantly baffles me. Especially in America they seem to have it all wrong - when we went to the hospital for our tour (it's like a 4* hotel here!) they asked who had NOT pre-signed for an epidural and I was the only one (out of 25-30 couples) to raise my hand - scary! I think people are missing out on an amazing experience. I do totally support medication if needed, however I think it's a shame not to even attempt experiencing it.

Sorry to start ranting.....!!