Please can you tell me why you are going to have / have had a home birth?

[CranberryMartini]

Because I just don't get it!

DS would most probably have died if I'd have had him at home. His heart rate dropped rapidly and needed a ventouse delivery with a resuscitator (sp) on standby. It was scary but I felt surprisingly calm with all the doctors and midwives around.

Why are you prepared to take any risk with your baby's birth? I can vaguely understand a home birth if it's not your first child and you know what to expect, but your first child?

I've also heard (could be wrong) that it costs the NHS £3000 to fund a midwife to do a home birth.

And doesn't it make a huge amount of mess?

Sorry I really don't want to offend anyone with this post and I would like to hear your reasons for choosing a homebirth. Try to persuade me to have my second at home!

Here's some info from AIMS on the last triennial Cemach report

thank you , am still churning through maternity matters, NICE intrapartum guidelines and various other bits!

Ack - tell me about it. So much info, so little time.

yes, but at least you will be a qualified midwife , i will just be a very well read doula with eyestrain !!

Really very relieved to hear that the homebirth rate in this country is between 1-3%. Was beginning to think the world had gone mad, but can see now how much of a minority view is expressed here despite the rather vocal and passionate postings.

Why are you "relieved" Evelina?

I notice that the visiting obstetrician has disappeared again, perhaps unhappy with the responses to his or her rather unbalanced posts which were certainly rather anecdotal instead of being backed up by 'level 1 evidence'.

I'm not going to post all of my reasons for having a homebirth with my second and hopefully my third child. Many of them are very similar to other posters. But one of the reasons is the terrible postnatal care I received in hospital with ds1. He ended up in special care on day 3, having had convulsions, and with hypoglycaemia. This was after he had been 'passed' by a paediatrician doing the new baby check. I was only in hospital for longer than usual as my blood pressure hadn't stabilised. I now believe that had I had enough breastfeeding support in the first few days this just wouldn't have happened. With ds2, in contrast, my wonderful independent midwives gave me lots of breastfeeding-specific support and reassurance in the first week after the birth, and ds2 never had any such problems.

Yes, a healthy baby is the desired outcome for everyone concerned, but the midwives in my ward seemed to forget that their care should have continued after the point of delivery. And the contrast between the way I was treated in the two situations (hospital birth and home birth) was so great that I have no desire to repeat the first, unless there is a clear medical reason for going to hospital this time round.

For the sake of the babies.

Evelina - are you aware of any good quality research evidence that the 2000 homebirths that take place every year in the UK result in higher morbidity and mortality for babies in comparison to those born to low risk mums in hospital?

Would you like to share it with us so we can discuss it?

oh yes, wanting to give birth at home is a sign of the world going mad..

i think you'll find that most women posting on here who are pro home birth are

Midwives

HCPs

Doulas

Mothers who;ve had home births

so not talking about this from a position of blissful ignorance

evelina.. what about the babies who are compromised due to hospital borne infection? or mothers?

thinking of the babies is what homebirth is about for many women.. giving birth with one to one care, in a clean , comfortable, safe environment

what is 'mad' about that?

"For the babies".

Sorry, no, I still don't get it.

I am guessing that you are suggesting that you have access to evidence that proves that homebirths are more dangerous to babies than hospital births. If so, please share, because I'd be really interested to read it.

fsp's post, for example, who as a doctor has both the qualifications and experience to back up her/his opinions.

But FSP hasn't said anything to substantiate a fear of homebirth rates potentially rising. Just: "birth is a risky business wherever it happens".
And suggested that having a homebirth was taking "medics out of the equation".
When it clearly isn't.
And that we should look to Afghanistan to see what happens without medical intervention in labour.
When homebirths are attended by trained midwives, people have access to ante-natal and post-natal care and to make any comparison on the basis of what happens in Afghanistan is ridiculous.

Evelina - two points:
Firstly, obstetricians generally only deal with obstetric emergencies and high risk cases. Most have very little experience of normal birth - it's not what they deal with in their day to day working life. Midwives birth low risk mothers and the official line of the Royal College of Midwives on homebirth is that it's safe for low risk mothers. You'd be hard pressed to find a well qualified, experienced and academically savvy midwife these days who'd share fsp's opinion that birth is intrinsically dangerous - even for healthy mums with not risk factors.
Secondly - not all obstetricians share fsp's opinion of homebirth.

Can I just say that mws help high-risk mothers to birth too, not just low-risk.

That's kind of the whole point - mws see both sides - and can actually tell the difference between the two. Obstetricians, useful as they are in their place only ever see birth when it goes awry. They almost never see the many many thousands of times every year that it works just fine. Their perception is understandly, umm, biased.

I have read alot of twaddle in my time but some of this takes the biscuit! "for the sake of the babies" mums need to make the decisions that are right for their own family circumstances.

There are some scarey close call stories about home - but there are also stories about awful hospital experiences.

My friend decided to be safe and have her baby in hospital - the mother picked up an infection in the hospital that nearly killed her and took her away from her baby for the first 3 weeks (ish) of the babies life.

If she had had a home delivery there would have been NO chance of her picking up this infection.

The risks are different in each location but Home is certainly not an irresponsible choice.

Just wanted to add 2p.

If HB is such an easy and almost expected way to take birth then why the hell is it taking so much pushing and prodding to allow my MW to let me do it?!?

I want the MW's who are trying to push people into a HB would be much easier!

"That's kind of the whole point - mws see both sides - and can actually tell the difference between the two"

Ha ha! So true Snaf!

I'd also like to point out - and this IS controversial - that the belief that all 'high risk' mothers are safer and better off in hospital isn't based on research evidence - because so few high risk women opt for a homebirth that meaningful comparisons aren't possible.

I had a homebirth after being labelled 'high risk'. All things being equal I felt that both my baby and I were safer at home. I feel very strongly that every case needs to be judged on its merits - not all 'high risk' mothers will benefit from birthing in hospital.

arf at snaf !

FSP's post was comparing giving birth in a war torn country, with no medical care, to a homebirth attended by midwives

polar opposites !

her post also said giving birth anywhere was a dangerous business

you are entitled to your opinion, but you need to come up with something more than 'she said it so it must be true '

this is a worthwhile debate

as the opposing voice , it must be difficult, but we all want to listen and find out why you think it is too dangerous

Blimey, talk about opening a can of worms CranberryMartini! I have read all of this thread with great interest. I had DS in 2005 at the birth centre at Queen Charlottes, it was fantastic and I felt very lucky to have access to such an amazing facility and midwives. For me as a first time mum the fact that medical intervention was along the corridor if it was needed was a great comfort and the whole experience was for me as close as I could have had to being at home. DS was born in pool without any pain relief or stitches and this has given me the confidence to want to have my next baby, due in June, at home. This is because personally I do not view giving birth as a medical process. Having said that, if my health or the babys seemed threatened at any point, the I would immediately go to hospital and seek medical intervention.

At my first appt with midwife this time, she suggested a home birth - Luckystar, if yours dont seem keen then try and change to one who is? The relationship with the mw strikes me as crucial, I really think she needs to be as enthusiastic as possible, not one who has been persuaded into it. From everything that positive home-birthers have said on this thread, it is essential that you need to be able trust her and relax for the best possible home birth.

I think there is a notable difference in the outlook of the people on this thread who are anti-home birth and the others. Strangely the anti-hb posters seem much more militant and narrow-minded (and less well informed or experienced) than the other, so called hippies, who are simply more open minded and pro-choice about it. I dont think any of them have said at any point that anyone should not go to hospital if that is right for them and what they choose.

It is a worthwhile debate, lulu and for the benefit of those out there who think all supporters of homebirth enjoy recklessly endangering mothers and babies, I would like to reiterate the point that just because I support homebirth generally does not mean that I think all women should have a homebirth regardless of their risk or situation.

Of course there are circumstances where homebirth is perhaps not the best choice. There are and will always be women and babies who need medical attention and hospital care. It's just that we are so conditioned into thinking that they are the majority of women and babies - when in fact they are very much the minority.

Anyway, I'm off out for the evening. I look forward to reading the counter-evidence when I return