Would you recommend a homebirth??

[Thankyouandgoodnight]

And do you end up dripping slime, goo and yuk everywhere????

Yes, definitely.

No, not at all .

I have had 3 so yes i would recommend one.

No don't end up dripping slime, goo and yuk everywhere!

Yes, absolutely, still on a high 2.6years later.

Very little goo and gunk involved at all

I would recommend one if you know you will be happy and confident doing one. Have had one and it was great but next time I will just see how my labour is going and then stay at home if I am still happy.

I think it is a difficult thing to just advise someone to do as everyones circumstances/pregnancies/births are different, but in my case the birth went well and it was lovely to cuddle up in my own bed afterwards. Would be equally happy to go into hospital next time though.

Not much mess - I have floorboards though so might be best to put some old towels on floor if your house is carpeted! I put plastic sheeting under some old sheets on bed whilst in labour - then whipped them off afterwards to reveal lovely clean sheets!

Absolutely, if you want one.

Midwives are very good at clearing up goo and yuk. Slime, however, may require the services of a Ghostbuster, or similar...

Can you tell your mw that you want a homebirth and then when it gets too painful go into hospital and get an epidural or is this frowned upon? Think I would like a homebirth as I didn't have a mw or bed for my last hospital birth but I'm not too good with pain.

Its not impossible to change from a planned-hospital birth to a home-birth while in labour, but it's a LOT easier to do it the other way round .

I had DD at home - 9lb 12 and no pain relief. One of my (independent - thoroughly recommend if you can) midwives commented that she always had gas and air with her, but it stayed in the car more often than not. Women then to be so much more relaxed at home that they often cope much better with the labour, so feel less pain and need less pain relief.

I don't remember much in the way of goo and yuk at all. My waters broke over the pool as I went into the 2nd stage, and we had a "nest" prepared of old towels and sheets over a cheap tarpaulin. It all got cleared away while I was gazing into DD's brand new eyes

The more I think about it, the more I realise that I am pretty keen on this homebirth idea now.

How on earth do you clean the pool out?? The phrase 'shark attack in a toilet' springs to mind and I'm wondering if it all hoses down the drain ok?! Do the pools come with a pump that pumps the water out or are they just to deflate the pool??

Did any of you feel wierd having midwives in your home while you were in pain etc - find them a bit out of context (as you would normally expect them to be in a hospital)?

I definitely recommend a homebirth.

wrt the pool, I had a birthpool-in-a-box with (and this is key) a liner. I'm told that most of the water siphoned out down the drain and anything remaining was bundled up in the liner and shoved in a binbag in the dustbin. It wasn't my job to clean anything up as I was busy with BabyDragon I'd done my bit! As far as I recal, there was no mess whatsoever

Nothing weird about MWs in my home - I was kind of preocupied!

My very favourite part of the homebirth is that BabyDragon has our home address on her birth certificate under "place of birth". An unexpected bonus!

You can, I think, buy a pump to empty the pool but mine was just left to siphon out by itself via a hose (I wouldn't recommend sucking on the end of the hose to get it going though!!)

How else do you start the siphoning??

Definitely, i had ds4 5 weeks ago by homebirth

no mess at all (except where the mw kicked the water over lol)

I didn't have a pool, didnt want ione but there wouldnt have been time

the mw seemed ok to have around, but she was outnumbered (also had a doula, 2nd mw was too late). it seemed she was there to fit around us iyswim, rather than in hospital where you fit their schedules

best bit for me was that i didnt have to leave the 3 ds's, and they got to meet their brother minutes later

I think you slowly submerge the whole hose in the pool so the air is pushed out the far end. As I said, it wasn't my job so I didn't really care!

Ah yes that sounds sensible!
I look forward to it not being my job!!!

I had a birthing pool. It filled up very quickly and there was a pump to empty it. The problem was that it emptied too fast, and water went everywhere! You really have to have a practise run before the real thing.

Yes,lovely homebirth with DS2. I remember it so fondly.

Had lovely homebirth 5 weeks ago. Midwives were great company-we chatted while I took the odd sip of gas & air. Had NHS mw's-just fantastic. Only time I felt slightly weird was bumping into MW in town couple of weeks after-while we chatted I was thinking "last time we met I was baying like a banshee and you had to clean up my poo!!!"(blush)

Hmmm...that was meant to be a blushing smiley-trust me to do it wrong!!!!!!

we have almost-same aged lo's howlingcow .

Yes I would.

The mess is dh's problem . But he had a pump so emptying pool was easy, and bp had a liner.

By the time I woke up the house was spotless! He'd be more than happy to do it again so it can't have been that bad.

I too would love a homebirth. Just wondered if you tear 1st time round, will you definatley tear again second time round.

Also dh worried regarding meconium in water like 1st time so had to be monitored throughout and couldnt get in the pool ( hospital birth)

Surely the chances of that happening again are pretty slim arnt they?

we have our house as the place of birth too, it can be done

no1, no need to think you will tear again, and certainly not meconium again.