Home birth stories please!

[Royalgalas]

I'm 28 weeks with second baby and starting to think about where to plan to give birth (to the extend that anyone can plan for this!)

My daughter was born at 36 weeks after complications (PPROM at 34 weeks) but the labour and delivery itself was easy, uncomplicated and quick, about four hours from 3cm to birth.

My community midwifery team are strong advocates of homebirth and are encouraging me to think seriously about it. We're very close to the hospital (probably about 5 mins with blue lights if it were needed, 10 mins by car with usual traffic) so I'm not overly concerned about transferring to hospital, and the prospect of a heavy covid and flu season is making the prospect of a stay in hospital particularly unappealing.

So, any home-birthers? I'd love to hear other's experiences!

A few questions I have:

• did you worry about noise? I don't think I was especially loud when in labour before, but I don't love the idea of all my neighbours hearing me wailing!

• I probably wouldn't bother with hiring or buying pool - seems expensive and a bit of a faff, and I didn't have one with DD. What else would I need? Presumably a waterproof cloth and lots of old towels!

• How long were the midwives with you afterwards? Was there any support with feeding, or did they leave quickly after baby was born?

Thanks for any tips!

Similar to others here, no pool or candles, just an old duvet rolled up to cushion my knees on the floor. Used an old tarpaulin on carpet, and some child bed mats we had left over from potty training. They were great to have.

Midwives were here for a couple of hours to get to know me, and probably stayed 2 hours after (did all my stitching here after using a light we use for DIY, it was tough on her back though). I was based upstairs and they had no issue bringing the gas and air up the stairs.

I wanted a homebirth but it didn't manifest properly.

I wasn't worried about noise as I lived in a detached house pretty far from other neighbours.
I wish I did hire a pool though, I was in the mindset you were...couldn't be bothered with the faff etc but actually I think it would have helped me.the thing I like is if you say you want a homebirth you get the gas and air at your house all ready to go for when midwife arrives. If you then change your mind you can still go to hospital or maternity unit but at least you had pain relief at home first! I was shocked at how sore contractions were so early on.
I used a tens machine a lot on day one!
Unfortunately I used all the gas and air up! And the midwife had to go get more from a town about 30 mins away so I waited for over an hour and then when she came back, the canisters didn't work!

At that point I had lost all my will and asked them to get me to hospital. And I had an epidural in the end.

Now I'm 32 weeks pregnant, I again am going to say homebirth but I am totally in the mindset I'll go to hospital.

Oh and the set up we had was a mattress in the living room that DH brought downstairs and a tarpaulin thing underneath it.
Old Towels and on top and a duvet too.

Home birth with dc2, two midwifes attended. They were very respectful and hands off. I declined all vaginal examinations and wanted as little interference as possible. We just chatted as I bounced on my ball. Gave birth on the sofa, used old towels and vet bedding but there wasn't much mess. Had a bit of trouble delivering the placenta but got there in the end. 2nd degree tear, was stitched on the sofa while feeding newborn. Quick wash, hopped into bed and dominos pizza was arriving as the midwives were leaving.

All in all, rather pleasant. My first delivery was in hospital and the care was horrendous, both dc1 and I were put at risk due to negligence. Having dc2 at home really helped to heal some of those wounds.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

I had two home births in a birth pool (water births are amazing, the pool is unbelievable for pain relief).
Both very quick, the second one the midwives only just made it in time for baby to be born 10 minutes later.
I couldn't recommend them highly enough. It was just so peaceful and calm throughout and being able to hop upstairs and straight into your own bed is brilliant.

First was a horrible experience in hospital (I'm old so long time ago) so insisted on home birth for middle one. Not really the done thing then so GP came as well as midwife, not something that would happen now I'm sure, was lovely lady GP who stitched tear afterwards. Much more relaxed/natural event. Two year old slept through most of it. I didn't even use the gas and air as could walk around doing what came naturally rather than flat on back with monitors & cannula. Tried the bath but didn't like it personally. Only down side was came very quickly at the end, two minutes of pushing and midwife wasn't ready, she told me to wait, I was squatting and said I can't its coming and GP said calmly 'don't worry I'll catch him' as he shot out. She did but new cream carpet was ruined😂 He was worth it😍