Home birth

[user1474140141]

Hello,

I am 34 weeks pregnant with our first child and my husband and I are really keen on a home birth.

We have done a lot of research and know that the risks for first time mothers is slightly elevated.

Would be keen to hear of other women's experiences.

We both feel that we would be more relaxed at home which may help us have the birth we want.

Thanks

DS1 was born at MLU - brilliant experience.
DS2 born at home and the most amazing experience. Had a water birth with both.

My midwives were the best. I am part of a trial in our area. Normally you get one midwife from the 2 man team. Then another from the unit. I was lucky and got both my midwives, one came out on
her day off.

We're done at 2 now, a bit sad not to have another Homebirth.

I had my first in hospital, my second at home and planning to have my third at home (due in 4 weeks' time).

i had far better care at home than I had in hospital - 2 midwives and a student with me the whole time. In hospital the midwives were rushed off their feet and in and out. It was much calmer and I hated the car journey! DC1 was born an hour after arriving at the hospital so could certainly have managed at home. Only issue would have been that I tore quite badly and the midwives wanted the consultant to do my stitches - so I'd potentially have had to transfer in for that.

I know of someone who had three home births. The first two went amazingly so of course she wanted the same experience for the third. It went wrong, the child had massive birth injuries. She is pregnant with her fourth, and despite being the most enthusiastic home birther previously, said she not only would she now only give birth in a hospital, but she would furthermore choose a bigger hospital with an excellent newborn intensive care unit, just in case. She reflected that she now prioritises a healthy baby over her own birth experience, which she now feels is but a moment in time compared to the hopefully long and healthy life of her baby. I am sure some home birth enthusiasts won't be keen on that story, but it is a true story.

Go to your local home birth /positive birth group and find out what your local home birth service is like.

If you can afford an independent midwife, get one.

Get a doula.

Plan for both- have your thoughts on what circumstances you would want to transfer. Pack a bag regardless. Make sure you get enough pain relief for home.

If you are healthy there's no reason not to try!

I had a home birth at 37 on an island in the middle of nowhere.

All went fine until my waters broke and there was a lot of lumpy meconium. His heart rate dropped right down and he went in to distress. We got him out quickly and he needed resuscitating.

In this case both attending midwives and other healthcare professionals agreed that the fact that I was at home could have saved him. The key point when a baby is in distress having ingested meconium is to keep the Mum calm. If I'd have been in a more pressured setting its my belief the outcome could have been different.

If you have no health issues I'd advise every time to go with a home birth. Most births are not a medical emergency and don't need a hospital.

Watch 'the business of being born'. It really scared the crap out of me living in the states but is also relevant to birthing in the UK. And it's lovely too.

Daisy garden there are also a whole bunch of stories regarding unneeded hospital intervention and horrific outcomes. Home birth isn't just about the mother.

There are always things to go wrong in any circumstance your scaremongering is misplaced and a little cruel.

It's all very well saying that an individual home birth was a wonderful experience when it all went smoothly, but even with all the best intentions and support, it doesn't always go smoothly. There's no point looking at it through rose tinted glasses and it's always good to be as well informed as possible. There is always a risk that there could be a severe medical complication or unforeseen critical health problem for mother or baby, which could happen to anyone regardless of how well the actual birthing process goes. If you are comfortable that this is an acceptable risk compared with the time it would take to get you to hospital then go for it. Unfortunately for lots of people the time it would take to get hospital could prove life altering or fatal. Personally, as much as I like the idea of the lovely home birth experience, I'm feel I am too far from the hospital (1/2 hour) to want to take that risk. We are very lucky to have potentially life saving medical care so readily available to us. I couldn't live with myself if I made a conscious decision to put myself and my baby in a position where we could not access this care if needed. That doesn't mean I can't have a lovely hospital birth experience with minimal pain relief and intervention.

Not sure if this is helpful as i didnt have a homebirth- but planned for one. My regular midwife was very cautious and risk averse but i found others more enthusiastic. Anyway its your choice not theirs. We were all ready to go, had the plastic sheeting and midwifes kit ready- actually as it was xmas had the 'perineal suture kit' waiting under the christmas tree! However it wasnt ment to be, as i went overdue and agreed to induction- i laboured in the birth centre and can honestly say as much as I liked the idea of a homebirth the birth centre was great. Ended up with Emergency section but thats another story...
If i was in the same poistion again i would again plan for homebirth (But i wont be as with previous section theres advise to be at hosp this time..).
I would just advise against getting caught up in anti-hospital anti-doctor blaming medical interventions stuff.. Overall i had a positive birth experience tho not what i would have ideally chosen.

Ps i hadnt hired a birth pool but perhaps worth the effort as the pool at birth centre was AWSOME and definitly a perk if being there

I had planned a home birth which made me feel happy, in control and relaxed in the lead up to labour.
I actually gave birth in hospital as my waters broke 6 weeks early and I had a precipitate labour. My baby needed 1 min 40 of resuscitation and was taken to the NNU where we stayed for 3 weeks.
So, I'm glad I had planned what I wanted ideally, as it made me feel more relaxed about what I thought was to come but I'm very thankful we got to a hospital.

I've had one of each. The home birth was a lot nicer, and I also felt safer having one midwife who was looking after me and no one else, than I did alone in a hospital bed, with a harassed midwife running in and out of the room as she was also looking after several other women.

In terms of safety, i think if you live close to the hospital then the advantage of one on one midwife care (meaning that any potential problems will probably be spotted sooner), probably outweighs the disadvantage of having to travel into hospital if and when a problem arises. I don't know of any research into the safety of home births which controls for the distance to the hospital, so this is just a guess.

Don't forget that if you book a home birth then you are allowed to change your mind and go into hospital if you want to (for example for stronger pain relief). But if you book a hospital birth then you can't change your mind and stay at home.

Good luck with whatever you decide

Your choice but just remember

Your at home! Midwives trained in basic life support. If baby was to get stuck (I'd shoulder dystocia) it could be too late by the time you get to hospital. If baby was born unexpectedly in a poor condition there is only so much they can do where as in hospital paediatrics can be there in under a minute, the difference can be catastrophic.

I don't want to scare you, but I do want to make sure you are adequately informed about worst case scenario as the quick 10min to the hospital could be the difference between life and death.

If you are willing to accept this and have a home birth, you need a midwife that you have built a relationship with who you trust. Make sure you have a contingency plan if needed and be prepared for things to change at the last minute.

As I said, I don't want to scare anyone, just stating facts. Most deliveries go smoothly with no complications. I hope all goes well for you

I had my first at home, it was a lot less painful than expected. I had a cervical lip which slowed labour down, so I needed longer to push. At my local hospital they only give you an hour, midwives at home gave me two. I was told after that I avoided c section by having baby at home. I think home is far safer than hospital, less intervention means less to go wrong.

Midwives at home do the same with shoulder dystocia as they do in hospital.

OP, you've looked at the stats so you know already that the risk is very slightly higher for first births. Anecdotes on the Internet about home birth nightmares probably won't tell you the full story, and especially won't tell you whether being at home made any difference to the outcome. There are mountains of scary stories out there about birth full stop.

I had three lovely home births. Three very different labours but all problem free births. Tons of one/two to one attention and support from midwives, totally relaxed in my surroundings, washed in my own shower and tucked up in my own bed, no issues around transferring in with painful contractions and worrying about being sent home, no worries about postnatal wards etc. The midwives told me in one labour that I'd have been sectioned as I wouldn't have met the hospital protocol on profession, a policy that research shows to be pretty baseless.

Do be prepared to transfer in as things are not predictable. You may want pain relief not available at home, which is the reason the majority of women transfer. You may have high BP or the baby show signs of distress - both things more likely to be picked up quickly with constant medical attention. But many women have their first baby at home with no problems. Good luck.

C-sectioned as I didn't meet the protocol on progression.

Why no edit button, MN?

Three "Midwives at home do the same with shoulder dystocia as they do in hospital."

Not really, because in hospital, midwives have the option of calling in a consultant/doctor/registrar on-site to oversee any complications during the birth. What would a midwife do if a baby became stuck and could not delivery naturally during a home birth, apart from calling an ambulance and getting mother and baby to hospital (time that may make all the difference to the outcome of the birth?)

They would do exactly that, Winter. The majority of shoulder dystocia cases are resolved by positioning, and emergency transfers can be, and have been, successfully made if that is not the case. No birth choice is 100% risk-free. Some situations will be inherently more risky at home, and some will be more risky in hospital. It's a very personal decision.

Just to put a different perspective on this. In a medical emergency in the labour ward if an emergency c section or other surgery is required it would take time to get the team together. I experienced a wait of over 10 mins to get a surgeon (the rest of the team (anaesthetist etc) were already there for non-emergency reasons) while we had a cat1 emergency (danger to life of mother or baby) at hospital while in labour. If we hadn't already been prepping for non-emergency surgery I'm sure it would have taken 20-30 mins to get that full team together. So if midwife phones ahead to start getting that team together while you are transferring and u are not too far from hospital you probably wouldn't lose as much time as most people think. Just a different way of thinking about it. I'd be interested to hear the hospital's target c section times for pulling such a team together in an emergency. I expect 20 mins from emergency to csection would be considered pretty good?

I had a home birth with my first and it was great! I'm only 10 mins from the hospital which was a factor. I was open minded about the possibility of transferring in (almost half of first time mums who plan a home birth end up going to hospital, the majority for additional pain relief).

From my booking appointment, the midwives were really positive and supportive - I had expected some negativity as it was my first.

I definitely think it helped me to be calm and focus. And being able to lie on my own bed after with DD and DH was great. As was the takeaway curry I had on the sofa a couple of hours later

For what it's worth, I was told by my midwives that if you look remotely in need of transferring to hospital they err on the side of caution and blue light you in, and they do this way sooner that calling for further help from docs/cons in a hospital setting if you were having similar issues (fetal HR decels for example) precisely to mitigate any risks. You obviously can't plan for everything but it gave me more reassurance.

I agree and because you have one to one care (2 at the end) things are assessed and monitored constantly rather than a midwife popping in and out every hour or so.

I had both mine at home. Great. Straight forward. No complications.

Read up on the risks, etc, yourself. Don't listen to scaremongers above. Yes there are risks. But there are risks with hospital births. Inform yourself and make a decision that you and your partner are comfortable with.

(For what it's worth I decided on a hb for reasons you mention - I knew I'd be more comfortable and relaxed at home.)

Thanks for all of your messages.

It is really useful to hear people's experiences of home birth, especially those who have actually done it.

It seems that the experiences of those people are overwhelmingly positive.

I have a midwife appointment tomorrow so we are going to request a home birth and see how we get on.

I've read into the adverse outcomes which also include serious but not necessarily life threatening conditions for baby, and the difficulty is that you can't distinguish from what would have happened at hospital anyway. In the same way that there are people who have bad experiences at home, I'm sure we also know people who have given birth to still born babies at full term in hospital, or babies who have died shortly after being born in hospital, despite the earliest medical intervention.

As I said above, we've read into the risks and the positives, which relate not only to me but actually what's best for our baby, which is me being as relaxed and mobile as possible, so the baby doesn't get stressed and we reduce the likelihood of any interventions. We'll be ten minutes from the hospital should we need to transfer as a high proportion of first mum's do. We are also going to hire a pool, which I'm sure will be a hassle clearing away but by that point we'll have our little girl there too so I don't suppose we will consider it too much of a chore.,

I love the idea of us all being together afterwards in our home.

Thank you

Hi OP!! I'm 34 weeks pregnant with DC2 and am also planning a homebirth this time!!
My Dd was born in hospital 17 months ago, but I had the simplest, easiest, quickest labour I could ever have imagined (3 hours from first contraction to Dd being born, bit of gas and air, 5 internal stitches) - definitely would have been fine at home!
I'm also very excited at the prospect of being at home, in my own bed, being able to eat/drink whatever I fancy straight afterwards, being able to actually sleep without postnatal ward noise - the 24hrs I spent on the postnatal ward after Dd was born is one of the major reasons I would never choose to birth in hospital again (unless it's a dire medical emergency!)