Anyone homebirthed?

[JuniperDewdrop]

My friend is hoping to with her second and is getting a bit of stick from some people. Has anyone got any really happy stories I could pass on?

[Hughsie]

My DH was a little nervous - more about the mess probably but the midwives were so professional there wasn't a single sign of the birth apart from the baby!! I justifies the thought of anything going wrong to the fact that I was a 10 min drive from the hospital but that it coyuld take that long to page a doctor wehen you are there! i know I was lucky but it is supposed to be a natural thing and home births were common place when I was born so perhaps we shouldn't be so fearful of them.

[motherinferior]

Hi Hughsie - not seen you around for AGES, you were one of the people who encouraged me to have DD2 at home!

SA - my DP was absolutely terrified and I'm afraid nothing I could do changed his mind. I just went ahead with it in the end. And once the midwives arrived and got going he suddenly realised it was all going to be OK (although he still looked freaked out when asked to cut the cord).

[Dophus]

I also would like a homebirch for my fisr baby (due Jan). I am having a hard time persuading DP alos. His concerns are that is anything goes wrong etc etc etc.

However we literally live 5 min form the ambulance station adn hospital anyway and believe that in the time it would take them to scrub up we could be there? Am I just kidding myself though and are there any interventions that are necessary that can only be done in hospital and would necessary within 20-30 min of diagnosis?

In contrast my concern is for the cream carpets!

[ragtaggle]

If you live five minutes from a hospital there is absolutely no reason not to have a home birth. I had my first at home (See earier post) and get so pissed off with the way people scare monger about this subject. Many of the problems people have in labour are CAUSED by hospital procedures,not prevented by them. A good midwife will know in plenty of time if there is a problem that can only be dealt with by a hospital.

One of the main problems with having a home birth is, I think, that not enough midwives
are experienced in them today so are very easily scared. (And in some ways you can't blame them given that we're getting almost as litigious as the Americans)That's why I opted for the pricey route of hiring independent midwives who specialise in them. I was very comforted by knowing they'd performed 20 home births that year. (And not one of those women tore. Maybe irrelevant but I was attracted to that statistic. And sure enough I didn't tear either) However, it is expensive so I know it's not an option everyone can take.


When I planned my first at home somebody told my dh to tell me that she would have died if she'd had her first at home. That really pissed me off as my dh nearly called the whole thing off.Her birth story was a litany of medical intervention and one in which it was impossible to judge precisely what the problem was.

Having witnessed my home birth my dh is now home births biggest convert. I hope you have a good experience too.

[Dophus]

That's encouraging. Given that I am not happy with my named hospital (see St Peter's thread) I have nearly managed to convince him that we should go for the homebirth.

Was it messy? I have cream carpets!

[princesspeahead]

Dolphus, I had a fantastic home waterbirth with my third (after two hospital-epidural-theworks births) and it couldn't have been more fantastic. 4 hours, no pain relief had or needed (even though I was adamant they would need to bring ewxtra large canisters of gas and air - didn't use any of it). And completely clean, there was nothing to clean up at all! Placenta plopped out into a bucket and that was that. Don't worry about your carpets, about 4 towels is all you need (and plastic sheeting under your birthing pool if you have one, for drips). And you'll probably only use 2 of them.

[KathH]

i had cream carpets as well, haven't anymore although mine was more messy as it was unexpected! Went to the loo and felt baby's head - don't think i'll ever forget the sound of hubby in the bedroom as he tried to put on his trousers and kept falling over, all i could hear was "oh my god" every 2 seconds! Oh how we laugh now! When i got home from the hospital and went in the bathroom it looked like the scene from Carrie near the end! Seriously though i don't think it's that messy it's just that we weren't prepared.

[KathH]

I also had the added indignity of my 5 yr old son poking his head round the bathroom door and then excitedly hopping about singing "mummy's got a baby hanging out her bum"! and then telling everyone he spoke to for the next fortnight!

[Hughsie]

LOL - sorry KathH but it is the way you describe it!

I have become somewhat of a homebirth bore locally as all my friends were fed up of hearing my cheery story so I haven't mentioned it for ages - glad it has been of some help deciding for some people - each to their own though!

Hello Motherinferior - thanks for remembering me - my PC wasn't allowing me to access the talk pages due to over zealous virus protection software installed by DH - thankfully it is ok now but DS1 insists on leaving the PC logged onto CBEEBIES most of the time!

[jennifersofia]

Had my 2 at home. 1st labour 6.5 hrs, 2nd labour 3 hours. Was not pain free but was the most amazing experience I have ever had. I felt empowered and jubilant and like I could go rollerskating after the births. I was in a cleaner environment and had much better care (2 midwives) than if I had been in hospital. Absolutely, totally recommend it if you feel that is where you would be most relaxed. I do think in many cases they are safer than hospital births.

[ragtaggle]

Dophus - in answer to your 'was it clean? question'....erm... perhaps better tell you my placenta story.

Had got out of the pool to give birth as felt the need to be on dry land (Birthing stool on floorboards and no noticeable stains afterwards) Anyway, having had my dd the midwives asked me to get back on the stool to give birth to the placenta. Tired of pushing, I told them to just give me 'that injection' you can have to speed it up. They said 'Let's just give it a go naturally' at which point I got really stroppy.

They promised that if it wasn't out in five minutes they'd give me the injection. So I got back on the birthing stool and my placenta (which I like to think of as my revenge placenta) shot out within minutes and straight into said midwives handbag. So, my carpet was saved but her handbag was ruined. Serves her right for not just giving me drugs when I wanted them.....ha ha.

But seriously, stay away from your white carpets or make sure your mum is on hand to get those towels you lay down really clean - mine got them that bluey whiteness you only see on ads...

[SamN]

Just wanted to add my story, very quickly. Had ds2 at home this July - wonderful, everything I could have wanted. I think dp would agree that it was the best option. May try to persuade him to add a note if he's not too tired tonight!

All my towels washed perfectly clean, couldn't tell I had bled on them at all. And ds1 was whisked away for breakfast by his auntie before ds2was born so I don't have anything to match Kath H's story.

[midden]

lol raggletaggle - what a cracking story.

Dophus - you can buy plastic sheeting from B & Q for next to nothing, I covered mine with some sheets which I was planning on chucking away afterwards but actually washed up ok. I also bought a few of those big pads for kids who wet the bed for the floor and for my bed afterwards. This was 2nd time round, 1st time I was not really very well prepared apart from plastic. Still not that much mess though.

[doyler]

Had bouncing baby boy 9lb 4oz at home in June after a 6hr labour using just some gas and air(no mess at all placenta was delivered into the mop bucket which my hubby spotlessly cleaned afterwards).I am a midwife but the decision to have a home birth was met with intrigue by colleagues and laughter by friends who thought I was mad.My poor hubby and I had some good rows and heated discussions about it all, as he was concerned and wanted to know why I couldn't be normal and have the baby in hospital like everybody else.He got worse when I mentioned water birth,homeopath etc.I stood my ground and in the end he was delighted and can't say enough about home birth.As someone who works day in and day out in the NHS I had no problem with a hospital birth.But because this was our first child I wanted it to be special.After baby was born he slept in a drawer from our chest of drawers as we hadent put up the cot! But for anyone wanting a home birth I would say go for it.I will definately have another home birth.I lived to tell the tale!

[Shimmy21]

I had ds2 at home and while it was generally a positive experience (unlike ds1 in hospital)for the sake of balance I want to say that IMO there are some drawbacks to homebirths.
The pros -dh being calm and relaxed and not intimidated by constantly changing duty midwives; me being much more in control of the whole experience e.g. refusing to lie flat on my back to be examined. 2 lovely midwives with me throughout instead of one harassed mw trying to deal with several women at once.
The cons - things can go wrong (they did with me) and it gets very scarey. (most of the problem was that one of my mws was a panicker but a panicking mw is a con itself). An ambulance was called and it didn't come (new years eve). 2 enormous epsiotomies with no anaesthetic in the panic to get ds2 out. Not having the time in hospital to recover (being at home in bed when you have a toddler you're not quite as 'off duty' as being in hopital.) To sum up I still don't regret having ds2 at home and in spite of the emergency it was still a better birth than the interventionist hospital birth of ds1 but if I ever had a third I'd go back to hospital and do my best to make it my own experience there.

[winterdolly]

shimmy sorry to hear about your experience - but maybe you should read the original post by JD again?

[Dophus]

Okey doke - thanks for all the stories, I'm convinced and since we have just finished decorating have plenty of spare sheets around!

Interesting to hear that the homebirth issue ahd been picked up by the media today and was one of the lead stories on the today programme this morning.


DP is nearly with me and I will speak to my doctor about it tomorrow.

[Pidge]

Dophus - what were the Today programme saying on the subject - I missed it this morning due to whizzing out of the house in an ultra-keen fashion at 7am!

[artyjoe]

Dophus, I'm with you on this, I'm off to MW this morning to see if I can do home birth without St Peters...hopefully then I'll be able to allay DP's fears and mine, am also around 7 minutes from St Peters in rush hour so feel I could get to hospital in a rush if needed.

KateH and Ragtaggle, I haven't laughed till I cried in ages! x

[Dophus]

Today Programme:
I only caught part of it as I was dozy having had the four-pound parasite keep me awake! I think it was basically just picking up on the NCT campaign about mixed messages given to mothers re home births. They were also discussing how availability very much depends on where you live and that the stats suggest that it is every bit as safe as a hospital birth. They also mentioned that even if you are transferred to hospital you are less likely to need to CSec.

Artyjoe - when are you due?

[Dophus]

BBC Link on story

home birth

[Pidge]

Thanks for that - interesting that it's in the news. I know there was a bit of a kerfuffle in the press recently over homebirths - and I read about a midwife in Peterborough who was suspended for attending a homebirth after they had cancelled the service.

Am feeling very lucky living where I do that it doesn't seem to be an issue.

[artyjoe]

Hi Dophus

I'm due January 17th but due to my age (34) and a family tradition, and lots and lots of wishful thinking, I'm hoping for a New Years Eve baby...well, if you don't ask....

[Dophus]

I'm due 27th - lets hope we don't meet in the St Peter's recovery ward

[redshoes]

Shimmy - what went wrong for you? Important to know all the possible eventualities...