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 . . .

good news tortoise...feels like it really is the home run for a few of us now!

Sounds good Mrs Arch I'm just wondering if I should take it in addition to the prescribed tablets A quick google looks like the absorption rate is 4 times as high as the tablets but the dose per sachet is much lower than tablets. Think I'll let the pharmacist work it out for me...too much for my baby brain to handle

Hiya all,

Just registered so this is my very 1st post! So I'm due Nov 13th and am currently 38wks 3 days with my 1st, a little girl. We got the birth pool delivered ( Beautiful Birth Centre ) and my husband's gonna put it up tomorrow, sans water!, just so he knows what he's doing on the day. I chose a rigid one with filter, temp regulater, after much research. Sod the expense as I'll only be doing this the once! If we had the room we'd just keep it up but we're in a ground floor flat, open plan, so it's going in the kitchen for practical reasons.

I'm hoping everything continues to go normally so it all goes to plan on the day but I'm only a 10min drive from hospital if things do go bum up! Now I've finished work I need to crack on with the Yoga and Hypnobirthing CDs, which I've been crap at making myself do, but I know are effective.

I've not had any signs yet, does everyone get these Braxton Hicks thingies and are they just like period pains? Only thing I've had is back ache but I'm not in a rush. In fact, I'd rather be a bit late than early, as I only finished work 4 days ago and would love a bit of me time before the action begins iykwim!

Just copied this post onto this thread as didn't realise it was here and it's right up my street. Hope it's worked!

Morning ladies. I'm trying to finalise my birth plan as I have the MW coming round tomorrow to go over it with me...do any of you have any recommendations of sites with example birth plans...I don't want to miss anything.

Also, do you write an "in case of transfer to hospital" birth plan too or do you just stay positive? I'm at 1.5 pages (in bullet point style) & I don't want it to be long for them to bother reading. I've just written an "Emergencies" paragraph but it feels very negative to include it...kind of goes against the philosophy of hypnobirthing

Hey Honey,

I think there are some sites around, but this was mine for the last 2 births, in case it gives you any ideas for your own. Tried to keep it short so it would get read!

BIRTH PLAN (Ali and Edward)

At home:

-- I would like to remain as mobile as possible during my labour and use my birth pool as my main form of pain relief as labour progresses.

-- I would like to be vaginally examined only when absolutely necessary.

-- I wish to avoid having an episiotomy unless it is believed necessary for the safe delivery of my baby.

In the event I transfer to hospital:

-- I understand increased monitoring could be required but do not want to be continuously monitored unless there is a real risk to the health of my baby.

-- I would prefer to be intermittently monitored using a sonic aid.

-- I do not want a cannula or epidural in place ?just in case? as I feel these will impede the progression of labour.

-- I am aware of the pain relief options and I will ask if I require it.

Second stage:

-- I would like to feel ready to push.

-- I would like the opportunity to be able to push before ventouse/forceps are considered.

Third stage:

-- I am happy to have Syntometrine.

After the birth:

-- We would like to discover the sex of the baby ourselves.

-- I would like to hold my baby as soon as s/he is born with skin to skin contact.

-- I intend to breastfeed so would like to attempt this before formula is given.

-- I wish my baby to be given an injection of vitamin K.

-- I would like a midwife to do the stitches when repairing the damage to my perineum.

BIRTH PLAN IN THE EVENT OF A CAESARIAN SECTION:

-- I would like the option of the screen being lowered to see the baby being born.

-- I would like to hold the baby immediately with skin to skin if possible.

-- We want to find out the sex of the baby ourselves.

-- The baby should stay with me as much as possible.

In the event of the baby needing to go to SCBU, I would like:

-- For my husband to stay with the baby.

-- I intend to breastfeed so I would like this to be attempted before any formula is provided.

Thanks Boobz another homebirther on the December thread recommended the homebirth.org site which I've looked at but seeing your plan is very helpful too & has added some points to mine. :) I'm a bit OCD so mine's 2 pages long, a bit lentil-weavery & will be hilarious if I have a panic attack & insist on being rushed to hospital for a CS

eeek how is the december thread honey? Afraid I kinda dropped off that one (didn't move to November though!), found it all a bit weir segregating the first timers from everyone else.

You'll probably find you'll be led by your midwives. I went through mine with mine last week and she asked me the questions she thought important and wrote them in my notes incredibly succintly (ie VitK baby, BF, aim phsyiological 3rd stage etc) so leave out the adjectives - I think the important thing is to have a full frank discussion with your midwife so she/her team knows what you want. In the event I have to transfer my midwife will come with me and so will hopefully fight my corner against hospital buerocracy (argh sp) but then i imagine I will only transfer if there is an emergency anyway so birth plans will go flying out the window.

Welcome chimichanga - add yourself to the stats. I don't think boobz ever got braxton hicks, and to be honest I know women who've had them since 20weeks and still gone overdue so wouldn't hold anything by it in terms of whether you'll birth on or close to your due date. Keep us updated!

The labour dreams have kicked in - had a terrible night's sleep waking up confused as to whether I was in labour or not, ugh hate that! But then I also woke up convinced I wasn't going to be allowed my homebirth because the zombie apocalypse was coming and all the vampire slayers were guarding hospitals so they weren't letting any women labour at home

Hiya Mousey December thread is going strong...we've had one early birth already & OiMissus is at hospital as of yesterday morning, looks like she might pop soon although she's not due until 2/12 (same as me). I think we might get a flurry of births pretty soon as lots of baby's are engaged, some have lost plugs etc. All very exciting!!!

that is so depressing, I'm due 24th November for goodness sake!

I want my baby

Don't worry...baby will be here soon enough :)

Would agree with Mousey that it's important to be as straight forward as poss, but remember that you may not have the midwife you discuss your birth plan with in the run up to your birth, actually on the day, as happened to me with DD1. "My" midwife knew my birth plan inside out, but she wasn't on duty the day I actually gave birth so the birth plan was looked at by the on-call midwives (who were fabulous, and whom had obviously read it), so am glad it was all down on paper and in my notes so they know what I wanted.

23 weeks tomorrow. So much longer to wait! Argh.

going quickly though boobz...feels like everything's ground to a halt this end

Hovering over the "send" button on letter about homebirth I'm supposed to be sending to the Supervisor of MW's, Director of MWifery, dept of health, MP etc. It's a variation of the one on the AIMS site basically saying I'm not going anywhere if you're short-staffed. MW's are lovely but there just aren't enough of them & it's not good enough that 2 MW's retired last yr & are not being replaced.

On the one hand my MW wants me to complain, says nothing will change unless mums complain...on the other hand, I'm 36 wks, a bit more delicate than usual & afraid that being labelled a trouble maker will somehow have a negative effect on my birth experience. Completely irrational but I'm imagining they'll either send a load of paramedics in their scary luminous outfits or a very old-school Carry On Matron type MW who will be loud & bossy & derail my hypnobirthing attempts. What to do, what to do... :(

DP is being no help...he laughed when he read it & asked why I wasn't writing to the PM too

Hello all,

Baby Lincoln arrived into the world at 1.20 am on 3rd November, weighing a healthy 8lb 7oz.

The birth was the opposite of what we'd planned but we're both doing well. My high BP, and Lincoln being back to back when it came to labour meant that we ended up being continuously monitored and I needed an epidural. His position nearly led to a C section but with the last reserves of my energy and forceps and episiotomy he was born vaginally.

We're both recovering well and despite all the interventions feel like we were looked after really well.

congrats elgoldenflower and welcome to the world Lincoln!!

Congratulations elgoldenflower. Sorry you didn't get your HB but at least you didn't end up with a section. Enjoy.

39 weeks and baby is so far engaged midwife can't feel head any more. Reckons it could all happen in the next week or so. Looking very positive for a HB - nothing at all of concern to her, despite blood pressure creeping up slightly (perfectly normal at this stage of pregnancy she said, and not anywhere near worrying levels) and having slight ankle swelling.

I'm very pleased as officially I am high risk (attempting a HB after c-section) and the NHS would have got me into hospital pdq. My IM has had a c-section herself, followed by a normal birth, so she is very relaxed and confident and so am I therefore. Getting to know my doula well too, so feeling confident in her.

Congrats elgoldenflower.

How exciting MrsArch I had an appt yesterday & got stupidly excited when MW said I was baby was 1-2/5 as it feels like things are finally starting to happen :) I am of your IM...my main MW is lovely but they are stretched down here & there's no way of knowing who I'll get to see on the day. I've been told that one of the community MW's is quite impatient, loud & pushy...if she's on call when I go into labour I think I'm going to have to cross my legs .

Mousey how are you doing? Think you're getting close now? End of Nov EDD? Any signs yet?

wow MrsArch that's good....though don't get too excited in case you still go overdue (am so so wary of getting excited pre due date now because going over is crap enough as it is!)...think I was starting to get engaged with DS before due date, made going over 10days worse! I even had a friend who was told on her due date she was 2 cm dilated, still took over a week for labour to kick off!

I am not engaged at all here - midwife said apparently 2nd babies don't tend to until last minute anyway. No signs at all - BH getting stronger but I know that doesn't mean anything. DH and I had a go last night for the first time in nearly a month, I literally couldn't breath from the BH afterwards!

To be honest, I'm not really in a rush yet, am more than happy to go to due date, still 2 weeks to go, just enjoying being pregnant and taking things easier and am so aware this is the last time we'll do it!

Hi my wife wanted a home birth but she is having twins and they won't let her - I really need some help finding some newborn baby hats for our twin girls due at Christmas - can anyone help??
Thanks
Peter

Mothercare have some lovely 2-packs of tiny hats in pink & cream.

Sorry to hear your wife can't have a homebirth. I don't know anything about twin pregnancies but if she wants support she could look on the Home birth Reference site:

www.homebirth.org.uk/

yeah I have had a few friends in the same twin situation - they managed to have the same community midwife team but couldn't even use the home from home centre - still managed very active and intervention free labours though

I have finally set up our room for the baby - bit of a nesting thing going on (not that I believe that, still positive I'll go at least a week over), but now I want my baby, now the moses basket is right next to the bed!

Ah, must pack hospital bag tomorrow

www.thepetitionsite.com/1/uphold-the-absolute-right-for-women-to-give-birth-at-home/

Petition sponsored by AIMS for those of you who haven't already seen it.

Got my home birth box delivered this week & MW called last night to say my Hb is now 10.5 woohoo...apparently my folate levels still suggest I'm anaemic but they're happy to continue recommending a home birth.

I received a letter from the MP I cc'd on my letter about short staffing of MW's in my area (very positive) but have yet to receive anything from the SoM. My MW has spoken to her manager & apparently they're going to send me a letter basically saying there's nothing they can do & in the event they don't have a MW on call I will have to go to hospital but I'm not bothered since I've already warned them that I won't go anywhere...so there :p

honey I am now playing the waiting game. Have all my hb stuff, now just need labour to start!

Wrt not having enough staff, sounds like you know what you're doing. They have a legal obligation to send someone out to you in labour and you don't have to go anywhere. Staffing is their problem and they can and do use private midwives to cover shortfalls. Just stand your ground. I've not heard of anyone being left to labour/birth alone if they refuse to come into hospital. Good luck!

Our PCT doesn't use a bank of MW's apparently; they try to borrow from neighbouring areas or send paramedics. I'm really hoping it doesn't come to that though.

When your EDD MrsArch?