Home birth stories

[Jorja02]

I’m seriously debating having a home birth for my second baby due early December. This is mainly due to covid hospital worries but also because my first birth was quick and I worry this one will be even quicker...

First birth I had no interventions, no drugs (not through lack of trying but no time!), and no problems so I guess that makes it pretty low risk but I’m quite an anxious person and just worry if something happened to the baby I’d never forgive myself...we live 10 mins from the hospital with no traffic. The only thing that almost went wrong with my first was my baby got stuck for a few pushes around the shoulder and midwives nearly got me out of the pool but they didn’t have to in the end..are they equipped to deal with shoulder dystocia at home?

I’d love to hear other people’s stories?

My grand baby was born at home this year and was a true shoulder dystocia. It was obviously an emergency but the midwives dealt with it calmly and she was delivered safely. The home birth team can review your birth notes and see if they think you’d be suitable for a home birth. It was amazing but not something I’d have ever chosen for myself but really suited my daughter and ensured she had a far more relaxed and positive birth than in hospital.

Hi OP,

I think that planning a home birth is a very good idea when your first birth was quick. It's definitely better to have a planned home birth than an unplanned one - or worse, giving birth on the way to the hospital! If you find that once you go into labour it's not progressing too fast and you'd prefer to be in hospital, you can always go in.

I advise you to request to talk to the consultant midwife to ask any questions that you have, including risk of shoulder dystocia and how it would be managed at home as opposed to in hospital.

When my oldest was born he did get stuck briefly, IMO this was because I'd been forced to lie on my back on the bed, and it was resolved with a manoeuvre that all midwives are trained to do (although it was an obstetrician who did it, as I was in the delivery unit).

When I was pregnant with DC2 and considering my options, like you I was concerned about the risk of shoulder dystocia second time around, but I discussed it with the consultant midwife and found her reassuring.

I did plan a home birth although I was on the fence about whether I would decide to go into the hospital when in labour.. as it is everything progressed very fast and DC2 was born at home with no complications.

An obstetrician I spoke to when pregnant with DC2 told me that if it's a very fast birth it's usually straightforward, so shoulder dystocia is quite unlikely. It is also managed in the same way wherever you are.

My first birth was in hospital but the others were at home. The most striking thing to me was that at home I had two experienced midwives with me, for the actual birth whereas in hospital I had a succession of people trying to manage me and other births at the same time.

Home births were vastly better in terms of experience and recovery. The midwives were not constantly distracted by other calls/patients and I had large b2b babies with nothing more than the odd whiff of gas.

However I wasn't a high risk in terms of medical history, blood pressure etc and in a crisis the maternity unit was not far by ambulance. We talked through this in advance and the community midwives went through how they monitor a home birth and at what points they would transfer to hospital if there were warning signs.

This was a few years ago but the women I speak to having babies now report even more pressure on maternity units, even less support and time for individual women. I wouldn't fix on a decision but discuss it with your community midwife team and take your time to make a decision when you understand how it would be managed and if they think you have any contraindications.

2 home births. They were painful and the second one was long and exhausting. But as others have said above the attention you get from the midwifes made it worth it for me. I heard horror stories from friends who were high risk pregnancies and were barely monitored at hospital.

I also loved having the whole of my house to Labour in. I moved around loads and was so comfortable to be in my own environment.

Oh also, you really can make the decision on the day. So with my second we had moved further away from the hospital so I was less keen on HB. But prepared for one just in case and when I started Labour just decided to go for it. Also the other way round if you decided to go for it and during Labour don’t feel comfortable you can go to hospital.

3 homebirths. I live less than a mile from the hospital and if I'd needed to go in, would have got there quicker than if I'd needed to get myself there (there has to be an ambulance available on standby) - midwife stated in the event of an emergency actually just as fast if not faster than it would take to move me from ward to theatre (I've worked in our hospital and believe that to be true!)

Didn't have a birthing pool any time. Being able to keep moving around in my own home, in and out of the bath, up and down the stairs and around the garden was great, and being able to relax in my own surroundings afterwards. Was up and about straight away and recovered really quickly each time. Had two midwives with me throughout for the first and last, middle one I actually had 3 with me- 2 and a lovely and very skilled student midwife.

First birth was textbook. Second one much longer as daughter was back to back and wouldn't shift. I did start to get tired and asked for my waters to be broken, as soon as that happened baby swivelled around and was out. I do think if I'd been in hospital there would have been some other kind of radical intervention. Third time midwives arrived just in time. From first sign of discomfort to baby being born was about 2 hours- if I'd dismissed it she'd have been born on the patio!

We have a dedicated homebirth team in our area now and they've dealt with all sorts including shoulder dystopia and breech babies, any transfers to hospital the midwife stays with you. Hope your midwife can talk through and reassure with any worries you might have. As above you can always change your mind about where you want to be at any point, even once labour has started. If you decide to be at hospital I understand even in current pandemic circumstances they are as accommodating as possible, and people are still having good experiences in hospitals.

I had should dystocia with my first baby. It was absolutely horrific and we both would have died without a consultant being there in hospital. The midwife could do nothing. I had everything and nothing worked. So if there is any risk of that I would say don’t have a home birth.