Low intervention - homebirth

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Hi. Just wondering if any ladies are currently pregnant and planning a homebirth?

I have self referred and noted on my form that I’ll be having a homebirth. I have my first booking appointment in 2 weeks.

Just looking for some positive stories on the process so far and how to navigate avoiding landing on the intervention conveyor belt.

not looking for opinions from people who are against homebirth/haven’t experienced it

Yes me! I am a midwife, it’s my first baby, and knew I wanted a HB before TTC. Informed the Trust I will be home birthing at booking and requested they refer me to the HB team which they did.

currently 18+2.

I recommend homebirth community uk on fb, be mindful about any medical advice or recommendations shared by unknown people on SM, but it’s a nice group for support and people share their experiences and birth stories etc.

Well that is your fault because that wouldn’t be a home birth which is what she clearly stated she wants.
That would be a free birth.

Out of interest are you skipping scans and going low intervention too?

Why would you quote me to bring me back to this thread given what I’ve shared? Just why? That’s unbelievably cruel especially to be so rude and heartless towards me.

note to add. I had left the thread.

At what point have I asked for advice on the 12 week scan?

Thank you for sharing this - I have been ridiculed for opting for a homebirth from the outset.. even though the question was literally on my self referral form 🫠

Thank you for the recommendation - I have just joined the Facebook group and shared my experience of naively attempting to start a homebirth thread for pregnant women on here LOL....

Are you going to jump down her neck (like most have with me) when you hear an answer that you don't like?

🙄🙄🙄 no one has ridiculed you got wanting a homebirth. We have expressed concern over your attitudes.

so I am not allowed to be positive and determined with my plan for homebirth? Gotcha!

I have been ridiculed for opting for a homebirth from the outset.. even though the question was literally on my self referral form
No. You have had lots of people misinterpret your words when you stated you would 100% be having a homebirth as actually meaning that. You gave every impression of being utterly inflexible about that and not realising that indicating a preference on the booking form wasn't setting anything in stone. Nobody thinks you are ridiculous for wanting a homebirth or mocked you for it. You were given lots of advice on managing your expectations and considering all the options. Which you have since said you were anyway.

I cannot control how you guys apply common sense... It should be a given that although I am 100% planning for homebirth, things change!

Which she still has.

Encouraging people to come to the thread by sharing info on it elsewhere, defensively cross-answering posts not aimed at her in a way that at least appears argumentative.

Home birth itself doesn’t sound like it’s for me, but provided OP’s baby isn’t at risk - whatever, as far as I’m concerned. The attitude however is off the charts.

I thought it was interesting if she is planning low intervention etc as a midwife because it shows she has confidence in that process even as a medical professional. Which is not something I’d expect. Clearly you didn’t though and just enjoyed another opportunity to moan about people not agreeing with you.

ok - when I get labelled a naive, dangerous baby unaliver (post now deleted), you're not going to be met with hugs and kisses! If people had read my OP from the outset and actually asked some genuine questions instead of being completely judgemental then perhaps I would have a different attitude. But ultimately, I don't give a flying frigg how I sound - you guys dont!

It would be better to be realistic. To hope that you can have an experience of childbirth that exactly matches what you want on your birth plan,but to also have a plan B and to understand that labour can be very unpredictable. That's not the impression you are giving, you are giving the impression that 'be positive' will be enough.

Actually I wasn't - I wanted to make sure this poster doesn't get the same treatment as me

This isn't a game, this is literally how you handle the most dangerous thing you and your child will ever do.

It's that you can't even bring yourself to say, that if the midwives have concerns, you're happy for them to examine you and for you to go to hospital if necessary. Instead, the talk is about a plan B in an emergency, without any indication of how the midwives sitting across the room will find out if there is an emergency, given there to stay away from you and not talk to you.

You can't even bring yourself to say whether or not you'd allow the midwives to stitch you up afterwards, if needed.

This isn't about us dampening your positivity, it's about your attitude.

I do have a plan B - this is not what that thread is about though?

@ToKittyornottoKitty
depends what you define as an intervention. I won’t be having any unnecessary interventions that put me or my baby at increased risk of harm. Any intervention requires a risk vs benefit decision.

I’ve consented to routine scans (dating and anomaly) plus the entirety of the newborn screening programme.

I guide all of my decisions by good quality, peer reviewed evidence rather than clinical guidance. Most people would be very surprised to learn how little NICE and RCOG guidance (which is what governs antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care in the UK) is based on good quality evidence. The most recent estimation which I haven’t fact checked myself, was that just 9% of RCOG guidance is based on good quality evidence.

There are huge aspects of maternity care, for example the use of vaginal examinations to assess progress in labour which is based off of the results of an entirely unreliable study from half a century ago. The results of this study aren’t applicable to women in normal labour but VE’s inform so many interventions that happen today. That’s just one brief example.

The amount of new methods of antenatal surveillance and interventions that have begun in the last 5/6 years alone is astounding. With all this increased monitoring and interventions you would have expected the maternal and neonatal mortality rate to reduce… not increase exponentially as it has done.

I am 9 years a midwife, I’ve practiced in most areas of gynae and obstetrics, high and low risk, specialist areas, different locations. I am confident I am knowledgeable, that my decisions are based on good evidence, and that I am doing the best for myself and my baby.

Any decent midwife should be skilled enough to observe and spot things that don't seem right and I know my body well enough to understand when something isn't right.

I think (although this has been explained) that saying so definitely that you are having a home birth, does appear naive. As ultimately, you might not be.

MN is also the kind of place where if you’re going to post evidence, people will assess its robustness (have you ever seen FWR?), and 20 year old articles probably won’t pass that test.

Someone did post that, and that is an awful thing to say, but continuing to post so defensively and rudely to people who didn’t say that, makes no sense.

You’re the one continuing the combativeness and arguing. You’re fuelling your own fire, and then saying “people are arguing with me!!” Yes. Because you’re starting arguments.

And you keep mentioning my attitude? I am being blunt because I tried explaining myself and clarifying my position but unfortunately it's fallen on deaf ears.

Fair enough! If you read my earlier posts perhaps I wasn't as blunt but I was piled on. Sorry if my tone is coming across as spikey, that is not my intention.