Home birth for the first baby - did you manage it?

[walkingwomb]

I am only 13 weeks and very much at the early stages of considering what is out there. I had my scan on Wed and talked to the midwife about it a bit. My local midwife is going to go into it in more detail with me, but when I mentioned I was considering a home birth (because i don't like the idea of being interfered with) she said that the local midwives would be supportive, but with first timers they have a very high rate of transfer, so to be aware of that.

SO - any first time HB stories?

one visit to see my sil in the postnatal ward convinced me home was where I wanted to be. MW highly supportive - although didn't tell anyone else what I was planning because I thought I'd be called naive/crazy - and, although I'd never met the two MWs that turned up for the birth before, they were great and very respectful of my birth plan. Ended up with a fabulous home birth experience, which I'm hoping to replicate in a few months time. Obviously, be prepared to be flexible but don't feel put off by being a first-timer - each birth is unchartered territory anyway.

I didn't have a homebirth with my first baby. I was only 15 and my mum wouldn't hear of it! but have had 4 homebirths and different though they all were each and every one of them was great! good luck and go for it. I highly recommend it!{smile]

I had hb with 1st (and 2nd and hopefully 3rd!) and really can say one of the best experiences of my life. We were lucky. We are inner London, and had 3 mw's for 1st birth, 2 for 2nd. I am sure I got better care here, and that it was cleaner (well, not that clean, but at least it was my dirt!) than at hosp. 1st labour 6.5 hrs, 2nd 3 hrs, pregs had been straight forward. One of main reasons why I wanted hb was because I wanted as little intervention as possible, in case things took longer than they 'should' in highly medicalised eyes. Also think I was more relaxed here, and that helped labour. Can't recommend it enough if you are keen and mw happy about it.

I had a homebirth for my first baby two months ago, and would highly recommend it. The community midwives just sat back and let me get on with it while I pushed for 3.5 hours (gulp). In hospital there's no doubt they'd have intervened much sooner. But because baby was in no distress and I was coping, they let me continue. Sadly I didn't deliver in the pool, my contractions had weakened somewhat and I had to try lots of different positions on dry land to get DD out (she wasn't small, and her hand was by her face!)

In the end we had to transfer afterwards because of a retained placenta, but this didn't detract from a very positive birth experience and I would definitely do it at home next time. Living one mile from the hospital was part of the reason I felt so happy to give it a try. I felt in control, relaxed, unworried, with two fabulous midwives, my DH (who enjoyed being more involved than would have been the case in hospital) and a wonderful doula who helped with the hand-holding, brow-mopping and general support and encouragement.

Having read this I'm feeling more confident about a home birth. Just need to look into getting a pool.
My first is due on 2nd Jan so best get going!!

I planned a homebirth with my 1st and ended up in hospital. I'd been pushing for about 2 hours at home and suddenly started bleeding. Was taken to hospital by ambulance, a bit scary, and had ventouse delivery in the hospital. The first stage of labour at home was really pleasant (strange thing to say about labour, but it was), but by the second stage I was completely exhausted and then we had the crisis on top of that. Fortunately the bleeding stopped quickly and we were both perfectly fine in the end, but in all honesty there was a moment when I thought that DS and I were both going to die because we weren't in hospital.

I have to say the care you get at home is LOADS nicer than hospital - at hospital I found people did things to me without telling me, and kept dashing off and leaving me alone without having a clue what was going on, and the people looking after me kept changing without anyone saying why, but at home you have your midwives' undivided attention and they treat you like a human being.

My main piece of advice to you would be not to do what I did and unpack your hospital bag when you're halfway through labour at home. I wound up in hospital with almost nothing I needed, which was rather inconvenient.

i had my first baby at home (nearly a year ago now!) and it was as wonderful an experience as birth can be i think. Didn't have much support from mw's at all (causing mny tears on my part!), but then 2 things happened: i got a doula who was amazing and then in my final month of pg an ANGEL of a mw got assigned to me by chance and she was totally behind me and was also trained in waterbirth so i was doubly blessed! It was still a long and very hard labour but i was so glad to be in my own environment and especially afterwards to just get into bed with my beautiful ds and dh and a piece of cake - magic! I read quite a few books by Sheila Kitzinger and Ina May Gaskell and also one called Birthing from Within that really encouraged me. Would really recommend a doula too if you can afford it, if you have a long labour like me, its nice to have someone around who knows what is going on with you when the mw isn't there. All the best with your decision

Yes I did, in London in 1997 with first and in Bristol in 2003 with second.