Birth plan for home birth and just in case of transfer?

[TheGrumpySquirrel]

Hi, I had a very straightforward first labour with my DD (4 hours from first cramp to baby, including just 1 hr active labour, 5 min pushing) with no intervention or tearing and just gas & air. However this was 13 years ago and I'm not that young anymore. I'm planning a HB due to the expected speed of this one (we shall see...) and (mainly) because hospitals make me very anxious.

BUT I'm aware I need to be prepared for all eventualities including the potential for transfer to hospital and interventions if need be. I live a 2min car journey from hospital so comfortable with this plan. I just need some help thinking through the "what if things aren't straightforward" scenarios.

For example - forceps vs EMCS or episiotomy vs allow tearing... I've heard horrible stories about high forceps and thinking of specifying I do not consent to them and want CS in that situation. My pelvic floor is not what it used to be, although not bad.

& What if I go overdue and they want to induce labour? Almost everyone I know who has been induced has ended up with traumatic EMCS so why would i not just ask for ELCS instead.

Thank you in advance!

(& home birth scare mongerers please don't bother, this isn't what this thread is about)

Also will look at midwife thinking blog, haven't come across it before

My son was low birth weight and I have low levels of Papp-a (a hormone produced by the placenta) which can restrict growth, cause pre eclampsia and other problems. My last growth scan put him on 75th centile and I don’t have any indication that anything is going awry, so I’d like to just play it by ear.

Balloon induction is now supported by NICE so should be offered in most/all trusts. Haven’t found data on outcomes like likelihood of instrumental birth or needing a different form of induction.

I didn't have the injection for any of my deliveries and the placenta arrived without any issues each time.

The afterpains aren't related to the placenta delivery though - it's your uterus shrinking back after birth and it gets worse with each child! Didn't have them at all the first time, had a few the night I delivered my second, and happily used the diclofenac suppository with the third!

Oh crap I didn't realise that! Will make sure to ask for supply of painkillers 👍🏼

@Levithecat fingers crossed they won't need to induce but can let you wait with extra monitoring. I think I'll have a scan at 33-34 weeks or so because of previous pre term delivery but waiting to hear (I'm MW led but I think need to see consultant once for this reason)

Dreading the ideas of afterpains...haven't had them with the first two but this little monkey has put me through the wringer this time so i just know they will happen!

They were only really bad when I breastfed. And you know how little newborns do that.

Planning to bf this time 😱 thought his days of painfully torturing me were almost over haha

I'm just looking forward to not having a baby's bum in my diaphragm any more.. still got 8-11 more weeks to go!

Same to you, Grumpy! A scan around 34w is a good idea. Best of luck

I want my whole tummy back, fed up of sharing now. Keep getting what i believe is an elbow in my hip (baby is back to back suddenly so still unsure!) any time i move. 5 days left here til due date, roll on so i can have a bloody sweep. Get oooout baby!!!

Fwiw with a previous vaginal birth the odds of induction ending in vaginal birth are 90%. It's different to inducing a FTM.

Afterpains with #2 only happened while breastfeeding and were basically like strong, achy period cramps. A few days of paracetamol and ibuprofen sorted them out.

Thanks queen that's reassuring although I'm hopeful that my likelihood of needing an induction is pretty low anyway

Oh god, shuddering at the thought of the awful afterpains I had after DS2 !

Had the injection for the placenta with DS2 - all out fine and quick!

I had a failed forceps attempt for DS1 - they couldn’t lock them on or something, so had EMCS. Wouldn’t try forceps again. DS1 was also an induction (blooming awful)!

@TheGrumpySquirrel I have just returned my pool to barefoot birth pools and had the same one as you. It was comfy however I never got anywhere near it during labour as DC wanted to be born in the bathroom before the midwife got there

They were very helpful and have picked up the pool today.

Oh wow how did it go??

It went fine, I just didn't realise how close DC was to arriving until it was far too late. By the time I had managed to attract DH's attention (I had shut myself in the bathroom) and got him to call the midwife I could already feel DC's head. DH didn't believe me and kept trying to insist I stand up and go downstairs to the pool until the head became visible. He then tried to call the midwives in a panic instead of paramedics and was put in a telephone queue but DC arrived before they answered and was caught by DH.

DC was fine, just didn't want to cry which worried us for a minute but he was just relaxed and absolutely fine. Midwife turned up shortly afterwards to do checks on us and tried to convince me to see the birth debrief team as apparently it's usually traumatising for this to happen but I feel fine so I'm not bothering.

Oh well done, glad you are both okay! Yeah I was wondering that, so I guess if it's all happening like right now you should just call 999 not midwife? My MW wants me to phone her on my first twinge as she's expecting me to be fast. So hopefully she will make it!

I also had a straightforward 6 hour first labour, opted for Homebirth for second. I found that things went similarly quickly but I was very tired (from 3 hours monitoring in the hospital, only a few days over but over 40) had to lie down, rest and slow it all down.

I had a planned homebirth 8 weeks ago. In regards to induction, of course it's your choice however for my home birth (dC2) I went to 42 weeks (my babies like to make me wait!). I had alot of pressure for an induction, but chose to believe that my body and baby knew what they were doing so waited it out. I probably would have gone to just shy of 43 weeks if I had to as I absolutely hate the idea of induction unless medically necessary (I don't believe being overdue is a medical need for induction).

I had the injection for placenta with Dc1, and then a natural 3rd stage at home, I didn't notice any difference in how long I bled for each time, probably the same. It took a little while to deliver placenta but was painless.

Try to ignore those scared of home birth, my nearest hospital is 40 minutes away and I had plenty of people trying to put me off, however it was the right choice for us, was a beautiful birth, Dc1 met dC2 minutes after he was born.

Good luck!

Midwife knew I was in labour, I had an appointment at 08.30 that morning and was having contractions then but they weren't bad at all. They just suddenly got much closer together about an hour before baby arrived and I just didn't notice how close they were.

DH probably would have noticed had I not told him to leave me alone. I know they were closer as I was actually timing them on an app, I just wasn't looking at the times, just pressing the start and stop button without looking!

Definitely call 999 rather than triage if baby is arriving right now, they would be able to talk you through things as well as dispatch paramedics. I guess triage would have talked DH through it if he had got through in time.