scared of home birth?

[suilaruin]

this is my 3rd pregnancy and ive had the all ok to have a home birth or go to a birthing unit which is 15 mins away. the main hospital is nearly an hour away. I like the idea of home birth but I have read horror stories and it has made me scared of something going wrong! has anybody else felt like this??

I felt very safe during my home births. The midwives were sitting in my living room, rubbing my back, checking the baby's heart beat regularly - at any hint of trouble, I would have been transferred straight in to hospital.
During my hospital birth, I was left labouring on a ward with hardly any contact with a midwife with only paracetamol for pain relief. By the time they took me to delivery suite, I was ready to push - it was all very rushed and scary.

Yes but transferred straight in is likely to involve a long wait. It's all fine unless there's an unexpected complication
At which point, given current pressures on ambulance times, you and your baby are screwed.

Wickerlampshade yes I agree. In half an hour my DD went from a tiny temperature rise to alarms and sprinting theatre staff GA then baby delivered in 30 mins all in. Her home is maybe 25 minutes from hospital by ambulance and this was rush hour so it may have taken longer. I'm sure for most people it's a wonderful experience (and I would have loved a home birth at the time as I said) but it astonished me the speed with which things changed. It just underlines how important it is to assess who is suitable for home birth. My DD wouldn't have been allowed as it was her first. In no other way was she high risk (she will be now!) her waters had broken but labour had not been prolonged. Somehow an infection developed. It can happen though it mostly doesn't.

The only thing I can say, from my hospital birth experience and my home births, is I was being really, really looked after during my home birth.
The two home birth midwives were watching me constantly, checking baby heart rate really regularly - everything was written down and any hint of change would have led to a hospital transfer.
During my hospital birth, I was left labouring without seeing any midwives for most of the time. It would be more likely things were only picked up last minute in that situation.

user As PPs have said, there isn't necessarily that much mess!

With both of mine I gave birth kneeling by the bed, on top of some old towels, which were on top of a shower curtain. The midwives just scooped it all into a bin bag and chucked it as they left

With regards the statistic that 40% of home births end on a transfer to hospital, that's for first time mums and in the vast majority of cases it's because the woman wants more pain relief/pain relief options that aren't available at home.

During my second pregnancy my midwife encouraged me to go for a home birth but I was adamant I wanted to go to the birth centre at our local hospital because of concerns about what happens if something goes wrong.

As it happened, when I went into labour the birth centre had been closed due to staffing problems and the labour ward was short staffed so we made the decision to stay at home. We had two midwives and a student here and it was lovely. I really wouldn't have had it any other way.

The midwife told me that, in his experience, the majority of hospital transfers he has seen have been due to retained placenta after the birth.

The risks are about equal so for every woman that would have died at a home birth there must be a home birther who would have died with a hospital birth.

I'm astonished at the 30-minute thing. Are you sure you haven't misunderstood what she was trying to say? Off the top of my head, I can think of things like cord prolapse, shoulder dystocia, massive obstetric haemorrhaging, non-responsive neo-nate or undiagnosed congenital abnormalities, and worst of all amniotic fluid embolism (fatality rate a terrifying 50% if in hospital, 100% out of hospital settings) as a few things that would not easily wait half an hour with a midwife. All of these things are complications that happen instantly with no or very little prior warning. Nonsense about theatres take time to prepare etc is all overridden in true emergencies where they might even begin before fully scrubbed if the situation is dire enough.

I am perfectly happy for people to choose homebirth if they know and understand the risks. But it is dangerous and foolish to pretend that obstetric complications always give plenty of advance warning. If you personally feel your risk is sufficiently low and that the other attractions of home birth outweigh the risks, good for you. But to choose home birth believing that complications cannot occur instantaneously in low-risk pregnancies is deluded and ill-informed.

Plus getting into an ambulance from, eg your bathroom upstairs naked while contracting heavily or while bleeding out is nowhere near as simple as it sounds.

What sycamore said.

Personally, I wouldn't choose a home birth just because of the time delay/ difficulty of transferring to hospital in the event that things don't go as smoothly as expected.

If other people are happy to accept the risks along with the advantages of a home birth and they are deemed to be low risk, fine. That's a difference of opinion. It's the people who go against medical advice I don't understand...

I had dc3 at home as was low risk.

BUT we were 5-10 minutes to the hospital. Not sure if I would do home birth if had been far away from a hospital.

Everything went fine, million times better than the hospital experiences.

I wasn't scared being at home. Felt very in control.

But I had armed myself with a tonne of information and didn't make my choice lightly.

Good luck with your decision (and can I recommend strong painkillers for the afterpains with dc3 and beyond....they are, not fun) x

My midwife told me the 30 minute thing too

She said don't worry, build ups to emergencies are spotted a long way off, and in hospital the 30 minutes to prep for surgery are same as transfer time.

That made me feel better at the time, but not now reading this...

The OP wanted advice on homebirth. She didn't need scaremongering.

It's been said plenty of times before that it is as safe as hospital birth in low risk 2nd plus pregnancies.

For everyone who has had a horrible experience (in hospital and at home) there are thousands who have had a positive one.

Things can go wrong. The majority of the time, it's not an emergency that needs immediate help. More rarely (in low risk pregnancies) things can go immediately wrong and help will be needed right away. Sometimes that will have tragic consequences and that can happen in hospital too. Transfer to hospital can delay this help so it does need to be factored in.

It's up to the woman in labour to decide what she feels safest doing. There's a very high chance all will be fine, is it worth going to hospital instead of a homebirth because they might be the 1 in 1000 who experience complications? (Made up stat, it's probably much lower odds when you consider how many babies are born everyday in the U.K.) Remember, the odds of being hit by a car are pretty high too! And you don't cross every road with 1-2 trained health professionals watching out for any complications/lorries that may fly by.

Please don't bash homebirth because it's not your personal choice. The women who choose it have chosen it for a reason and I doubt they have taken the decision lightly. It only takes a minute on google to see the immense benefits to mother and baby if they have a successful homebirth.

I'm a hospital, pregnant women aren't usually monitored constantly. Maybe they are checked on every half hour or so?? In which case, it would explain why things are missed until they get critical. During a home birth you are monitored constantly.

In a hospital

My midwife told me the 30 minute thing too confused.She said don't worry, build ups to emergencies are spotted a long way off, and in hospital the 30 minutes to prep for surgery are same as transfer time.

she either doesn't know what she is talking about or is lying to you to push a home birth agenda

if they have a successful homebirth.

yes. and the lifetime consequences, usually for the baby who didn't choose where to be born, are catastrophic and preventable on the rare occasions that it goes wrong.

wicker what exactly are you trying to achieve?

I can't answer for Wicker but consent to a home birth is NOT informed if women are being lied to by their healthcare professionals about no such thing as a unforeseen emergency and that minimum decision-to-incision time in a hospital emergency is 30 minutes. This is entirely untrue. It does not allow women makes informed choices. Give women accurate information, then let them choose and respect their choices. Not lie to them and pretend all is rosy and if something bad happens, shrug shoulders and say "worse things happen at sea".

In any case, the OP is a full hour from the hospital and I personally think she would be crazy to consider a homebirth. From her post, she is also highly doubtful.

wicker what exactly are you trying to achieve?

I am trying to make the point that previously uncomplicated pregnancies can end with complications in which brain damage can only be prevented if the baby is out within minutes, and that this can be done in hospital but not at home. I have direct experience both personally and professionally of MW giving very misleading information in order to promote their own home birth agenda and I think it stinks.

I can't answer for Wicker but consent to a home birth is NOT informed if women are being lied to by their healthcare professionals about no such thing as a unforeseen emergency and that minimum decision-to-incision time in a hospital emergency is 30 minutes.

this.

My understanding is that things don't just suddenly go wrong - there's a build up first.

just spotted this upthread
sometimes there is a buildup
sometimes it's sudden.

Most women contemplating a home will take advice from lots of areas of information. Scaremongering is nasty and unnecessary and labelling mothers who choose to have home births as negligent and irresponsible is foul behaviour.

It was sudden for me (pph ended up in intensive care)

I planned a hb both times but the thing that put me off and would in your case is knowing nearly half transfer to hospital would you really want an hour in the back of an ambulance in labour!?