Any recent home births in the east London area?

[BefnalBub]

I didn't really think about home birth until the antenatal classes and now they really appeal. I haven't spoken to my midwife about it and am now 33+5 wks so not sure if I am not too late? Just wandering if anyone else has been through this and how they got on - all the other homebirth threads are great but are from last year & before.

Have you asked on the homebirth yahoo group There may well be somebody on there who's in the area or knows someone who is.

thanks Daisy - have posted there too!

I tried for a home birth - didn't work out but nothing to do with my great independent midwife - it might be worth looking at who practices in your area on the Indpendent Midwives Association website and having a chat with them.

What you need to be aware of is that some of the hospitals in London say that they offer home births on the NHS, but from what I have heard what frequently happens is that they are 'too busy' to send someone out to you when the time comes and say you have to come in. This appears to be the case at Homerton, for example, which is the hospital I have had experiences with. Don't know about the one in Whitechapel or even exactly where you are. My point is, you might just want to ask the hospital how many people book home births and are able to get them on the day? If they'll tell you. With an IM this is obviously not a problem.

Thanks Genidef - I'm with the Royal London & Globe midwives. Just been reading on the homebirth page how to do the 'broken record - I'm not coming in even if you send an ambulance' technique with the labour ward until they send someone

Good good! Be sure to let us know how it all goes.

I'm in SE London, my nearest hospital is the Queen Elizabeth in Woolwich. I don't mean to be alarmist but in the last 6 months the homebirths (3 in all) I have heard about on NHS have all ended in the midwife not actually getting to the birth in time. I don't know how common this is for NHS in general and the midwives involved were NHS, not independent midwives.

Thats astounding!

Pretty appalling isn't it!

will definitely keep you all posted on this one as I'm hoping to improve the statistics in my area!

Do let us know how you get on.
I went with an Indie in this area because I wanted to be sure last time that there wouldn't be any staffing issues on the day. However, I originally booked with the Globe midwives (2004 unfortunately) and they were quite happy when I said I wanted a home birth. I got the impression that in theory they were very 'pro'. But the crunch point will be whether they say they have anyone free on the day I guess. That might be the risk you face - in which case you just need to be armed with all the stock phrases and be ready to be assertive.

There is a home birth support group as well in E3 that you could go to if you are interested in talking to locals.

The home birth support group in E3 is very very good.

Do you have details of it already? (Have you spoken to me already? Have you been on one of 'my' antenatal classes? In which case you already know about the E3 thing ...)

Thanks - I found a tower hamlets group on the homebirth website & I've just emailed them - is that the one you are talking about NQC - there is also a hackney one which appears to be dormant, which isn't a good sign! Am doing the Canary Wharf NCT at the mo, but its not you doing it - I asked her if she was a mumsnetter! To my horror she said no... lol...only joking.

The NCT classes at Canary Wharf are organised by yours truly :-P

I think there's only one Tower Hamlets home birth group, it's in E3, the initials of the organiser are CD. Very good. It takes place on the last Thursday of every month, so your timing isn't too bad, there will be one next week.