First time home birthers and their support squad

[jollyjoanne]

Not a homebirther personally but wanting to offer support to Boobz and others who are going for a home birth . . .

HI everyone

I joined the thread ages ago then forgot to update and come back, but am feeling a bit more connected with the pregnancy and generally getting back into the idea of giving birth, so can I rejoin please! DC2 but had DS at home too (4months before Boobz had her first, and we share a midwife, who is brilliant). Added myslf to the list:

SelinaDoula, due 28th July, DC2
minicorrect, due 31 July, DC2
Ohanotherone, due 3rd August DC2
gogoNagano, due 12 Augst, DC1
JenniL, due 17 August, DC1
KellyKettle, due 28 Oct, DC2
GirlWithTheMouseyHair, due 24 Nov, DC2
Tortoiseonthehalfshell, due 26 November, DC2
emsies, due 2 Dec, DC2
redheadbedhead, due 23 Jan 2012 DC1
Boobz, due March 2012, DC3

Have to admit to completely forgetting the pain of it all. Was discussing it with my midwife the other day who is convinced labour will be ridiculously quick this time (established labour 3.5hours but I WAS in labour for a good 9 hours previous to that, trouble is I went from 7cm to birth in about 15mins, 6mins of pushing.....and consequently went into shock!)

Any thoughts on what those on DC2 or more will do with the other kids?

I wonder if Selinas had her baby yet?

Sorry to take ages to come back to this thread.

THWTMH I am hoping that DD will stay at home - either sleeping through the birth (I can dream!) or being occupied by DH. if not, if she's upset then she'll go to my mums about 30 miles away.

Having said that, my mum really wants to be at the birth & I don't want her near me in labour at all. She stressed me out so much when I was in labour with DD.

I am more worried about sending DD to my mums than giving birth

Hi Ladies,

Please can I join in this thread? I am 38 wks pregnant with my first baby, and after a successful ECV procedure yesterday to turn the little one (who has been breech for the last 10 wks!) we are back on track for a home birth. Fingers crossed things stay that way!!

The baby being breech for so long has knocked my confidence in my body a bit, so any support from you ladies who are also planning a home birth would be wonderful. I have a very experienced midwife who will be supporting me, and we're using her birth pool, so things should be fine but I'm just a bit nervous as we're 30 mins away from hospital.

SelinaDoula, Minicorrect and Ohanotherone: Hope things are going ok with all of you, whether your babies have arrived or if you are still hanging on now you are passed your due dates.

KellyKettle: That sounds stressful having to deal with your Mum - really hope it all works out ok

KTisPG: How was the growth scan? and has the baby turned from back to back yet?

I've updated the list of due dates to include myself - hope that's not too forward:

SelinaDoula, due 28th July, DC2

minicorrect, due 31 July, DC2

Ohanotherone, due 3rd August DC2

JenniL, due 17 August, DC1

KTisPG, due 20 August, DC3

LearningFast, due 24th August, DC1
MissTriangle, due 9th Sept, DC1

KellyKettle, due 28 Oct, DC2

GirlWithTheMouseyHair, due 24 Nov, DC2
Tortoiseonthehalfshell, due 26 November, DC2

emsies, due 2 Dec, DC2

redheadbedhead, due 23 Jan 2012 DC1

Boobz, due March 2012, DC3

Hello Learningfast! How are you getting on?

Well I have bought the Home Birth prep cd from Natal Hypnotherapy. I thought it might be nice to relax to at home.

Has anyone else tried it?

Hi All, sorry I forgot to update.
Finn was born at home on August 3rd (40+6)) at 5.26pm weighing 8lb 1oz.
I had regular braxton hicks (every 8 mins but painless on the 2nd, managed to get a nights sleep, then on 3rd, woke up with period type pains every 8 mins but only last 10-20secs. Put on TENS. Walked to midwife appointment at 1. Booked my plus 10 appoinmnt, she gave me a sweep, I was 3cm's with bulging membranes. As soon as I left had much stronger contractions every 4 mins. Managed to walk home, called DP to come (3 hours drive away).
Started filling pool, called midwives to come and a friend, was 5cm's at 3/4 ish.
Got in pool at 4.30, started on gas and air and then contractions were almost constant, made lots of noise, contractions were very intense, had a 1 min second stage, he was born in the water, DP didnt make it.
Sadly had a suspected 3rd degree tear and was bleeding quite heavily after a physiological thuird stage and had intra muscular and iv syntometrine and had to get an ambulance to hospital, spinal and repair in theatre, was on ward over night, but hyoe and breastfeeding fine the next day. No regrets, just sorry i didnt get to stay home and drink the champagne!
S xx

Sorry forgot to update this thread. Growth scan was fine, baby estimated at 8lb 4 (at 38 weeks). Both my other two were 9lb7 so not expecting it to be small. All paperwork now done and ready for homebirth, plus one of my friends who has just done the course is going to doula for us so all we need now is a baby.
I'm 39 +2 now and really uncomfortable - hips and back really sore and using my tens machine on a daily basis. DS pushed me over on Saturday and I landed with a heavy bump on my ar*e which jarred all my back :( generally just a misery today. Roll on B day!!

Well, it's due date today!
And utterly nothing happening. BH every day for the last 6 days, at the same times of the day, but they're not painful and not too tight. I'm carrying so low now though that she must be getting ready...
am going to beg mw today for a sweep, even though they've told me they won't do one until 40+5.
Am also going to ring reflexologist friend and get her over to see if she can work some magic!
Issue is that where I live they induce at 40+10 - which would be bank holiday weekend, so I'd more than likely be induced a week on Friday. I know I can refuse, but DH won't be comfortable with that at all. :(

Hello, can I join please? I'm planning a home birth for my first, so will be good to share other's experiences hope you manage to avoid induction jennifer

minicorrect, due 31 July, DC2
Ohanotherone, due 3rd August DC2
JenniL, due 17 August, DC1
KTisPG, due 20 August, DC3
LearningFast, due 24th August, DC1
MissTriangle, due 9th Sept, DC1
KateeTheBump, due 16 October, DC1
KellyKettle, due 28 Oct, DC2
GirlWithTheMouseyHair, due 24 Nov, DC2
Tortoiseonthehalfshell, due 26 November, DC2
emsies, due 2 Dec, DC2
redheadbedhead, due 23 Jan 2012 DC1
Boobz, due March 2012, DC3

Welcome Katee*

Jennifer you could ask for regular monitoring and take each day as it comes. As I understand it, so long as you have plenty of amniotic fluid and the placenta is in reasonable nick there is no great risk of being overdue. I've been reading up because by my dates I'm due a week after my scan dates. Fingers crossed it won't come to that for either of us :)

Hello hello! So I was totally shit and didn't update when I said I would, nearly 3 weeks ago, and had been on holiday for 3 weeks before that. I know you all hardly wait on tenterhooks for an update from me, who is the LAST to pop next year, but I have been crap, so apologies.s

Anyway, CONGRATULATIONS Selina on the birth of Finn (love the name). Sounds like you progressed really nicely - what an arse you had to transfer for the tear and didn't get the champaigne in bed. Was your first born at home? Did you tear last time? Anyway, am sure you are loved up feeding all hours that god sends - congrats again, and put a photo up on your profile please!

Girlwiththemouseyhair - what a surprise to find you here?! I hope you are feeling fine and that the bump isn't tiring you out too much (along with all the changes afoot). GWTMH is my idol - she had the perfect homebirth with my (our) midwife about 4 months prior to Penelope being born, and I was always trying to emulate her (birth). The fact the her DS was born in warp speed and my DD took fecking lightyears was neither here nor there - we both had such wonderful homebirths that I think we have bored everyone who will listen to tears about the wonders of NHS homebirths (in Streatham!) Anyway, can't wait to see you next week, you will be impressed that I have a bump already (3rd babies have no respect for stomach muscles - even my thighs are chafing already - I fear I am eating for 4, not 2)... Oh, and in answer to your question - send DS1 to Lucy's house, of course!

Hey Kellykettle - I would rather chew my arm off than have my mother at my birth. Which is sad, because I'm applying to universities this year to study to become a midwife, and LOVE all things to do with birth, and have 2 daughters, so I would LOVE to be at my girls' births, so I really hope they don't think the same thing in 30ish years time (but am sure they will....)

jenny - any signs?

KT - sorry you are feeling rubbish... that last week is a killer though, no? All sleepless nights and weeing every 25 minutes. End is in sight though...

Anyone heard what happened to minicorrect or ohandanotherone?

I am updating the list with my official due date and the arrival of Finn. Looking forward to more updates soon!

DUE

minicorrect, due 31 July, DC2
Ohanotherone, due 3rd August DC2
JenniL, due 17 August, DC1
KTisPG, due 20 August, DC3
LearningFast, due 24th August, DC1
MissTriangle, due 9th Sept, DC1
KateeTheBump, due 16 October, DC1
KellyKettle, due 28 Oct, DC2
GirlWithTheMouseyHair, due 24 Nov, DC2
Tortoiseonthehalfshell, due 26 November, DC2
emsies, due 2 Dec, DC2
redheadbedhead, due 23 Jan 2012 DC1
Boobz, due March 2012, DC3

ARRIVED

SelinaDoula, DC#2 Baby boy Finn arrived 5 days overdue Aug 3, quick homebirth but transfer due to tear.

Hello Boobz :) hope you had a good holiday!
Have namechanged as well (from JenniL)

Utterly nothing happening, I'm sorry to say. 40+2 today. So still plenty of time yet. Trying to keep positive, and ignore the texts and phone calls (especially from my mum!). But I'm very impatient and just want to be a mummy now (after 4 years of ttc, I think I'm allowed to be impatient!)
Will let you know when something's happening though :)

Hello All

I'm looking for some advice and am hoping you can help/point me in the right direction. I have put myself down for a hb, although tbh I'm not 100% convinced I will go through with it. but wanted the option iykwim.

So what do I need to get sorted? Any advice?

tia

It's good to hear how you've all been getting on. Sorry for posting once and then being quiet myself. Following the ECV I've been in full on nesting mode and have been cleaning / tidying / sorting stuff left right and centre before baby is due, and not spending so much time on MNet. Knowing the baby was breech before that really seemed to stop me from being able to prepare mentally or physically - so now he/she is head down I'm throwing myself right into getting everything ready at home .

KellyKettle, how are you finding the relaxation CD? I used that earlier in pregnancy and found it great for helping me to sleep. I now have the birth prep one - haven't listened to it as much as I meant to as I keep falling asleep when it's on, but when I have it's been good. Have you sorted things with your Mum? Hope that's not causing you stress still.

Congratulations Selina! Sorry to hear about the complications afterwards... are you feeling ok now?

KTisPG - hope you aren't too uncomfortable and your baby is holding up. Fingers crossed things happen for you very soon.

Jennifer - your comment about the texts and phone calls made me laugh - I had 3 today, from Mum, Sis in law and Mother in law. They were all very sweet and promised not to phone over and over again but I can see that this is just the start as I'm not due until Wednesday.

Welcome to the thread Kateethebump. How are your home birth plans coming along? Our midwife delivered the pool a few weeks ago but we only did a trial run of blowing it up this last week. DH asked me to time him as my Mum had informed us that her 2 labours were quite quick (5 hrs with my brother from first twinge to delivery, and 4hrs with me). By the time DH had blown up the pool with the midwifes super-double action pump he was puffing himself a bit! It only took 10 mins though so he needn't have worried about that bit - just hope the hot water boiler is as good on the day...

Boobz it's lovely to hear from you regardless of your due date - we wouldn't be here if this thread hadn't been started in your honour! Hope you are feeling well and had a lovely holiday. That's great news about you training to be a midwife .

Lovebeingathomeonmyown it makes perfect sense to have homebirth as an option to consider. How pregnant are you at the moment? The first thing to do might be to have a chat with your midwife and see if there is a specific team which covers your area. Also talk to your DH / partner and sound out their thoughts or feelings on the idea. I was pleasantly surprised at how supportive my DH has been . The provision for home birth varies from area to area - in Northants for instance if you are planning a home birth there is a completely separate midwifery team who look after you throughout your pregnancy, whereas in Bucks I understand you stick with your community midwife and only get to discuss home birth quite late on.

Hello peeps :)
Well, I'm still bloody pregnant! 40+5 now... Was supposed to be having a sweep today, but I got a call from the mw on Saturday. She'd repeated my 36 week bloods as she was a bit concerned about my iron levels and white blood cell count (I was fighting a cold at 36wks); my iron's come right back up but the white blood count is very high. So she came round to test me for strep B and UTI's; I'll get the results on Wednesday. We decided that we'd rather have the results before we do anything to kick labour off, and so if it is strep B we can arrange the hospital care (my friend had her little girl 8 weeks ago, didn't know she had strep B, and her LO was really poorly with it, they had to stay in hospital for 2 weeks; I know the risk of the same happening to me if I do have strep B is slim but I would actually go mental if we had to be in hospital that long). Of course, I could go into labour naturally before the results come back, so we're kind of in a limbo, in a way! But the care here is absolutely fantastic from the community midwives, and they've written all over my notes that they are to spend extra time at the house if I have my hb so they can monitor the baby if we've not had the results back.
I'm still v positive about it all though! I thought I'd be going mad if I had to be overdue, but I'm coping ok with it. And I'm not that far overdue now really. The properly crap thing is that my brother is getting married on Saturday, and because she's not here we can't go (it was always going to be tight even if she'd arrived on her due date) but it'll just be impossible - even if she arrived today, by Friday when we'd have to travel down I'd be in the midst of baby blues and I don't fancy spending 4 hours in the car when I'm a weeping, bleeding, leaking mess with a newborn!
Anyway, less about me. KTisPG so your due date has come and gone, what's occurring? And you're not far off LearningFast, hope you get some movement quickly.
Lovebeingathome you're only about 6 weeks off your EDD aren't you? And you're worried about quick labour which is why you've looked at hb, is that right (I was talking to you on another thread a couple of days ago, wasn't I?) what practicalities have you got sorted (hiring a pool if you want one, protection for your bed/carpets/etc)? Boobz has a good list of what's good to have around; the homebirth trust website is great (I'll try and find you a link). I think it's a time to think about what you want from your birth, and aim for that with your arrangements, and talk to your mw team, a lot - I've found mine so useful and so enthusiastic about it all, they keep telling me that I'm not allowed to have the baby until such and such a night because they're on call that night and they want to be there! Just ask any questions you want on here though, and don't feel like you're asking daft stuff, if you don't know the answer then it's not daft to ask!

Hello
Can i join please
Im 37+1 and planning a homebirth, midwife coming to do all the paperwork tomorrow.
(due date 11 september)
I have my birth pool in a box + all the stuff all ready downstairs and sterilised my hose at the weekend!

(Oooh and a friend had her baby at home last night (she woke from her sleep at 3.30am, her DH delivered baby at 3.55am, and midwife arrives at 4.30am!!!)

Its my first baby btw

Thanks LearningFast. I'm 37+4 today so counting down to the magic 38 weeks so thought I'd better start planning a bit

Dh is happy for me to have hb, which will actually be at my mums, only round the corner. She'll come here and look after dd. Mw came roud on thu and did the hb chat and paperwork, although has got to bring something else for me to sign.

hi Jen. Must admit you freaked me out to start with knowing all that . Think it was you who pointed me in this direction.had the same convo with my mw, she actually goes on hols just before my due date so have been told the ideal date as she's on call etc is the 28th, to be polite I said I'd try

Haven't really done anything. Didn't seem much point incase I started before 38 weeks. Was thinking of a pool, mw said some mws in my area 'don't do' water births and some don't like you in the pool at all

What do I want from the birth? To be active, not unattended, healthy and happy baby and me. Quite simple really.

Hello and welcome nanny and reality :)
lovebeingathome -sorry :) I should have put that I was talking to you first, shouldn't I?! I promise I'm not a stalker Your mw's sound a bit random tbh - they "don't do" water births? It's not their choice. If you want one, have one. I know and understand some don't like you to deliver in the pool because they can't judge how much blood you're losing, but again it's not their place to say "no" outright. If you're not getting the back up you think you should, you've got every right to call the Supervisor of Midwives for your trust and discuss it with her. Just bear it in mind.

Tbh I was thinking well how are they going to stop me, I'll already be in it

Well my midwife has just left.

I am now booked in and on the system for a homebirth

just need to collect some pethidine from my GP (that i dont plan to use but want here just in case) and go to the birthing unit to collect my homebirth pack on Thursday.

Im 37+2 now but hoping baby stays put til next thursday!

My midwife has no issues at all with me labouring and birthing in my pool, but then they have always maintained that they dont have issues with that!

Hello everyone, been a while since I posted... Been busy getting everything sorted. Just over 2 weeks to go til due date. Have pool, shower curtains, birth pack all ready to go.
Just was wondering about the pethidine... I saw one midwife who said i should get it in just in case.. But then another midwife said that she and some other midwives wouldnt give it to me even if I had it. As she doesn't think it should be given at home as they don't carry the antidote or whatever if the baby is drowsy because of it.
So I don't know whether to get it or not.. I wasn't planning on using it, but liked the thought of having it 'just in case'. I kind of feel that midwives should either all agree to give it if wanted, or not. As it shouldn't really depend on who is working on the day. But maybe that's not fair as they all have their own professional opinions.
Hope everyone else is getting sorted and has been well. X

Hello all. Still PG and no signs here either. I'm pretending that I'm not due now and am merrily booking up things for me and the DC to do every day - play dates, cinema, lunch with friends etc seems to be working so far this week, as I'm not feeling too demoralised, although I may have to disconnect the phone.

I'm also busy reading up on risk or not of refusing induction as I have a 7 day discrepancy between my dates (of which I'm 100%) and the scan date, so I don't plan to even consider induction etc until I'm 21 days over my official due date. Am also planning to push to keep my homebirth within those dates if at all possible too, although I'm not sure if that will work as the PCTs policy is 37 - 42 weeks for hb.

Misstriangle: My midwife never even mentioned that about pethidine. she just suggested i get 2 lots prescribed from my GP, and that if i needed anymore pain relief then would need to go to hospital.

Im too am hoping not to use it, but my midwife never even mentioned about that drug for baby. she did say the ONLY drugs she brings is gas and air and oxygen.

KT, my dates are also out (but only by 3 days, and i too KNOW my dates) My midwife said if i was 14 days over i could see he consultant, explain my concerns, and so long as consultant happy (ie a little bit of monitioring which is what i would choose anyway) then my home-birth plan can continue until consultant says otherwise monitoring reveals baby needs to be born

Nannyl- from what I can gather as long as they give the pethidine at the right time, i.e not just before the baby emerges then all is well... But if they give it a bit late then the baby can be drowsy and struggle to feed. In the hospital they can give the baby something to counteract this... But not at home. (please someone correct me if I have got this entirely wrong!). Also can't use pethidine before or during the pool.

I know what you mean about the dates being a bit off- after my scan they moved my EDD forward by quite a bit, which doesn't really add up to me date wise. I have my heart set on a homebirth and would be gutted to have to be induced, esp when I think I might be actually due a bit later on. Fingers crossed for everyone x

MissT mine said the same thing.

What's a birth pack?