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 . . .

congratulations soundbite that is such a positive birth story, you are right to be so proud of yourself, well done! I hope it is a reassuring example for anybody considering HB.

I hope your first weeks are full of lovely times with your new baby.

Congratulations Soundbites! Great to hear another positive hb story.

Have added some of your tips to the to-do/get list. Thank you.

Have lost a bit of momentum as I've got tonsilitis and conjunctivitis and feel crappy. Have had a temperature and yellow stuff oozing from my tonsils, sore ears, a weeping rabbity pink eye and general acheyness. Baby can stay put until I feel a bit better.

Congratulations Titmouse and Soundbites! Your stories are really wonderful to read, it really helps to prepare for all the possible things that can happen.

Can I join the bottom of the list with Dingalongcow and DetoxDiva? - I am due on 10th Sept with DC2 and thinking about a home (water) birth.

Good luck and positive vibes to all you ladies due soon.

Have updated list as I am in housework avoidance mode

Couldn't find any posts about Juwesm, so if anybody knows if she's had her baby, can they update the list?

Also Zorra if you'd like to add yourself.

Lovely to re-read some recent birth stories and exciting to be moving up the DUE list!

ARRIVED:
Girlwiththemouseyhair 31 OCT, BOY, Ethan Christopher. Wonderful homebirth.
Tupperwife 3 FEB, BOY Samuel James. Good hospital delivery as had to transfer due to snow.
Givethedogahomebirth 10 FEB, GIRL Isla Rose.
Helley 12 FEB, GIRL Evelyn Grace.
Laumiere 21 FEB, BOY Gabriel William Thomas Robson. Hospital delivery; had to transfer due to midwives.
Twocutedarlings 28 FEB, BOY Alex.
Captain karvol 7 MARCH, GIRL , 7lb 12oz. Home water birth - drug free with lots of shouting!
Thefearlessfreak 14 MARCH, BOY Patrick. Transfer to hospital due to Meconium.
Boobz 22 MARCH, GIRL Penelope Lucy Reed. Home water birth with very long latent phase!
Gemzooks 22 MARCH, GIRL Zoe Soraya. Home waterbirth.
CEB80 28 MARCH, BOY hospital birth as arrived early 36+2.
Titmouse 29 MARCH, GIRL. Layla Rose. Laboured well at home, transfer to hospital for c-section as baby found to be breech.
Soundbites 14 APRIL, GIRL. Lovely relaxed homebirth.

DUE:
Juwesm Due 1st APRIL. Planning 1st home water birth, Kent.
Gingersarah Due 18 APRIL. Hoping for HB. Live Norbury, London.
KittyCat Due 19 April. Gunning for a HB! Surrey.
Tummum Due 1 MAY. Planning home water birth. 2DC already (4 & 2)
Overtiredmum Due 5 May. Hoping for HB. 1 DS already (June 05).
Belgianchocolates Due 6 MAY. Planning home water birth. 2DC already.
leakyR Due 7 MAY. Planning home water birth. 1 DS already (Apr 07).
Swottybetty Due 29 MAY. Live in Croydon, Surrey. 1 DD already (March 08).
Bumpsadaisie due 31 MAY, DC1, planning home water birth, lives in Cambridge.
Sheenaisapunkrocker due 2 AUGUST, DC1, planning home water birth, West Yorks
Craftyandclothy. Due 4 August. DC2, planning home waterbirth, West Yorkshire.
bratnav. Due 5 Sept. Bristol. Planning home birth. 2 DDs and 1 DSD.
Dingalongcow. Due 8th Sept. Essex. PLanning home birth possibly water. 1 DD already (4yo in June-hospital birth)
DetoxDiva. Due 9 SEPT. Live in Bedfordshire. 1 DD already.
Pebblebeach. Due 10 Sept. DC2 considering home waterbirth.

After a bit of lurking in the April AN thread I see Juwesm has had her baby Congratulations! Hope she doesn't mind me updating her info on the list.

ARRIVED:
Girlwiththemouseyhair 31 OCT, BOY, Ethan Christopher. Wonderful homebirth.
Tupperwife 3 FEB, BOY Samuel James. Good hospital delivery as had to transfer due to snow.
Givethedogahomebirth 10 FEB, GIRL Isla Rose.
Helley 12 FEB, GIRL Evelyn Grace.
Laumiere 21 FEB, BOY Gabriel William Thomas Robson. Hospital delivery; had to transfer due to midwives.
Twocutedarlings 28 FEB, BOY Alex.
Captain karvol 7 MARCH, GIRL , 7lb 12oz. Home water birth - drug free with lots of shouting!
Thefearlessfreak 14 MARCH, BOY Patrick. Transfer to hospital due to Meconium.
Boobz 22 MARCH, GIRL Penelope Lucy Reed. Home water birth with very long latent phase!
Gemzooks 22 MARCH, GIRL Zoe Soraya. Home waterbirth.
CEB80 28 MARCH, BOY hospital birth as arrived early 36+2.
Titmouse 29 MARCH, GIRL. Layla Rose. Laboured well at home, transfer to hospital for c-section as baby found to be breech.
Soundbites 14 APRIL, GIRL. Lovely relaxed homebirth.
Juwesm 15 APRIL, BOY. Hugo George. Hospital birth.

DUE:
Gingersarah Due 18 APRIL. Hoping for HB. Live Norbury, London.
KittyCat Due 19 April. Gunning for a HB! Surrey.
Tummum Due 1 MAY. Planning home water birth. 2DC already (4 & 2)
Overtiredmum Due 5 May. Hoping for HB. 1 DS already (June 05).
Belgianchocolates Due 6 MAY. Planning home water birth. 2DC already.
leakyR Due 7 MAY. Planning home water birth. 1 DS already (Apr 07).
Swottybetty Due 29 MAY. Live in Croydon, Surrey. 1 DD already (March 08).
Bumpsadaisie due 31 MAY, DC1, planning home water birth, lives in Cambridge.
Sheenaisapunkrocker due 2 AUGUST, DC1, planning home water birth, West Yorks
Craftyandclothy. Due 4 August. DC2, planning home waterbirth, West Yorkshire.
bratnav. Due 5 Sept. Bristol. Planning home birth. 2 DDs and 1 DSD.
Dingalongcow. Due 8th Sept. Essex. PLanning home birth possibly water. 1 DD already (4yo in June-hospital birth)
DetoxDiva. Due 9 SEPT. Live in Bedfordshire. 1 DD already.
Pebblebeach. Due 10 Sept. DC2 considering home waterbirth.

Very excitingly I have found a local homebirth support group with monthly meetings nearby.

Nice to have RL support as well as here

Iris Elizabeth arrived this morning at 3.17.
7lb 10oz.

She was born at home but not quite the way I planned.

At 10ish last night I had a very upset stomach, went to bed feeling something was up.

Woke at 1ish with contractions. Let dh sleep until 1.40. Was immediately having 3 contractions per 10 mins.
Moved downstairs and put on TENS and phoned hospital for them to send out community mw at 2.10. I was shocked by how painful the contractions seemed and how quickly they were coming. Coped by standing hanging onto mantelpiece and using breathing techniques from NCT class. 2.50 waters broke and I immediately felt urge to bear down. MW arrived at 3 to tell me the 2nd mw was attending another hb and after examining me I might have to transfer to hospital.
DH got on the phone to my friend to get her to come round for DS and I got on the couch.
After giving up on doppler a quick look told the mw that I was fully dilated and the head was coming. Quickly put a few mats on the floor and 3 pushes later the lovely Iris had entered the world.
No drugs, no birth pool, NO TIME!

Had lots of lovely skin to skin. My friend arrived just as I was delivering placenta. Made coffee for dh and mw and then went home.
Iris fed really well this morning but has been v sleepy this afternoon. Still no poo.

Do you know anyone who wants to buy an unused birth pool?

Congratulations leakyR...welcome to the world Iris! Please can I join the list - am due 13th July and planning home water birth. I've arranged for senior midwife to visit next Tuesday to talk me & dh through how it works locally - we're on Guernsey (no NHS or IM's). It's our first dc and I'm 37 ("older mum"??) and bump is v active & huge already .

Oooh congratulations LeakyR, what a lovely HB for you all.

How much did you want for the birthing pool?

Wow LeakyR what an amazing story, congratulations to you, dh and ds and welcome to the world Iris!!

I hope you all had a lovely chilled weekend (with poo!?), that feeding/sleeping is going well and that you are recovering well.

What does that make your total labour time, 3.5hrs? Out of interest (and not urgent at all, I am sure you have many other things to be doing but how long was your first labour? My dd was 7 3/4hrs from waters breaking to birth, but only about 6 with contractions and I am wondering how long this one will be - although I know that every lady/labour is different, etc.

Oh and welcome and congratulations to mamanicky, I hope the midwife appt goes well and you manage to work out the "system" - I am in France and it definitely does work differently here compared to the UK

Hi there

Mning while bfing-seems like a while since I've done that!

We've had a good first few days. Iris is feeding, pooing and sleeping well. She already seems to be a more chilled out baby than her big brother ever was! This is good news as DS is going to take a while to adjust. He's been a bit rough and grabby at times, Iris has a scratch on her face to prove it! He's still so young it must be hard.

In answer to your questions:

Bratnav - I've got pool, electric pump to inflate and another to pump water out. I was thinking about £65 plus postage.

Pebblebeach - . This time the whole thing, from first contraction was 2 hrs 25 mins.My first labour was about 4 hours from waters breaking to delivering baby, which apparently is pretty quick for a first time. However I had 4 hrs of practise contractions, this time no warning anything was about to happen apart from upset tummy.

Hi LeakyR, sounds like it is all going well so far then

Can you tell me what make/brand it is? I will ask DH about it, have been softening him up about a birth pool for a while now.

Hi there, leakyr glad you're doing well and already remembered how to bf and type one-handed a very usefulskill.

Wow you do have quick labours, I had an upset tum at the beginning of my last labour too, I'll be on red alert this time .

Bratnav I'm thinking/hoping for a home water birth too, I love having long baths at the mo,however my mid-wife who will provide a pool for us... although my friend used one for her home birth and they have kept it and occasionally (when it's warm) fill it outside and sip champagne in it looking at the stars so maybe I'll have to persuade Dh that we should get our own anyway....

Sorry Bratnav. Baby brain!

It's a La Bassine inflatable pool.

Sounds ideal Leaky, can you email me so I can arrange payment etc? For some reason I can never get the MN system to accept payment for CAT

claire at heartshapedbox dot co dot uk

Hello, I'm pregnant with my first and due on 14th July. I am planning a homebirth. Mentioned it to midwife on Monday at 28 week appt - all very positive, but they said they have to come out to our house to do some kind of assessment first (I think to see where I could deliver etc) - I presume this is normal?

Also - and this is a bit of a random question - DH is currently fitting a new kitchen in our house so basically at the moment we don't have a kitchen!! (Am cooking on a 2-burner ring, microwave and our old oven plugged into the wall!) Anyway do you think the midwives will care about this or think negatively about it? Clearly we will have a brand spanking new kitchen by 14th July (at least we better)- but I just feel it looks a bit bad that part of our house currently resembles a building site

Sorry, I'm forgetting my manners. Congrats to all those on this thread who have homebirthed in recent weeks - your stories are so encouraging and amazing.

Hi LittleDoe congratulations on your pregnancy.

I hope someone with more knowledge comes along soon, but from what I have read they come to check that basically you have running water and to see what access is like just in case of ambulance/emergency transfer needed..... so I don't think the kitchen will be an issue (especially as it WILL be completed by July ).

Hello! I have updated the list with my news:

ARRIVED:
Girlwiththemouseyhair 31 OCT, BOY, Ethan Christopher. Wonderful homebirth.
Tupperwife 3 FEB, BOY Samuel James. Good hospital delivery as had to transfer due to snow.
Givethedogahomebirth 10 FEB, GIRL Isla Rose.
Helley 12 FEB, GIRL Evelyn Grace.
Laumiere 21 FEB, BOY Gabriel William Thomas Robson. Hospital delivery; had to transfer due to midwives.
Twocutedarlings 28 FEB, BOY Alex.
Captain karvol 7 MARCH, GIRL , 7lb 12oz. Home water birth - drug free with lots of shouting!
Thefearlessfreak 14 MARCH, BOY Patrick. Transfer to hospital due to Meconium.
Boobz 22 MARCH, GIRL Penelope Lucy Reed. Home water birth with very long latent phase!
Gemzooks 22 MARCH, GIRL Zoe Soraya. Home waterbirth.
CEB80 28 MARCH, BOY hospital birth as arrived early 36+2.
Titmouse 29 MARCH, GIRL. Layla Rose. Laboured well at home, transfer to hospital for c-section as baby found to be breech.
Soundbites 14 APRIL, GIRL. Lovely relaxed homebirth.
Juwesm 15 APRIL, BOY. Hugo George. Hospital birth.
Gingersarah 27 APRIL. HWB GIRL Veronica

DUE:
Gingersarah Due 18 APRIL. Hoping for HB. Live Norbury, London.
KittyCat Due 19 April. Gunning for a HB! Surrey.
Tummum Due 1 MAY. Planning home water birth. 2DC already (4 & 2)
Overtiredmum Due 5 May. Hoping for HB. 1 DS already (June 05).
Belgianchocolates Due 6 MAY. Planning home water birth. 2DC already.
leakyR Due 7 MAY. Planning home water birth. 1 DS already (Apr 07).
Swottybetty Due 29 MAY. Live in Croydon, Surrey. 1 DD already (March 08).
Bumpsadaisie due 31 MAY, DC1, planning home water birth, lives in Cambridge.
Sheenaisapunkrocker due 2 AUGUST, DC1, planning home water birth, West Yorks
Craftyandclothy. Due 4 August. DC2, planning home waterbirth, West Yorkshire.
bratnav. Due 5 Sept. Bristol. Planning home birth. 2 DDs and 1 DSD.
Dingalongcow. Due 8th Sept. Essex. PLanning home birth possibly water. 1 DD already (4yo in June-hospital birth)
DetoxDiva. Due 9 SEPT. Live in Bedfordshire. 1 DD already.
Pebblebeach. Due 10 Sept. DC2 considering home waterbirth.

I will read the list and come back with my birth story.

Birth story here:

mumsnet.com/Talk/birth_announcements/749315-gingersarah-has-Veronica-at-home?rnd=1241340599226

I feel so lucky in how things turned out for me and I am so glad I didn't allow myself to be scared out of HB - which I very nearly did.

Congratulations Gingersarah. What a beautiful story.All expectant homebirthers should read it.

Just realised I hadn't put my birth on the list

ARRIVED:
Girlwiththemouseyhair 31 OCT, BOY, Ethan Christopher. Wonderful homebirth.
Tupperwife 3 FEB, BOY Samuel James. Good hospital delivery as had to transfer due to snow.
Givethedogahomebirth 10 FEB, GIRL Isla Rose.
Helley 12 FEB, GIRL Evelyn Grace.
Laumiere 21 FEB, BOY Gabriel William Thomas Robson. Hospital delivery; had to transfer due to midwives.
Twocutedarlings 28 FEB, BOY Alex.
Captain karvol 7 MARCH, GIRL , 7lb 12oz. Home water birth - drug free with lots of shouting!
Thefearlessfreak 14 MARCH, BOY Patrick. Transfer to hospital due to Meconium.
Boobz 22 MARCH, GIRL Penelope Lucy Reed. Home water birth with very long latent phase!
Gemzooks 22 MARCH, GIRL Zoe Soraya. Home waterbirth.
CEB80 28 MARCH, BOY hospital birth as arrived early 36+2.
Titmouse 29 MARCH, GIRL. Layla Rose. Laboured well at home, transfer to hospital for c-section as baby found to be breech.
Soundbites 14 APRIL, GIRL. Lovely relaxed homebirth.
Juwesm 15 APRIL, BOY. Hugo George. Hospital birth.
leakyR 24 APRIL, GIRL. Iris Elizabeth. Homebirth with a v short labour.
Gingersarah 27 APRIL. HWB GIRL Veronica

DUE:
KittyCat Due 19 April. Gunning for a HB! Surrey.
Tummum Due 1 MAY. Planning home water birth. 2DC already (4 & 2)
Overtiredmum Due 5 May. Hoping for HB. 1 DS already (June 05).
Belgianchocolates Due 6 MAY. Planning home water birth. 2DC already.
Swottybetty Due 29 MAY. Live in Croydon, Surrey. 1 DD already (March 08).
Bumpsadaisie due 31 MAY, DC1, planning home water birth, lives in Cambridge.
Mamanicky, due 13 July. 1st DC. Lives Guernsey.
Littledoe, due 14 July.
Sheenaisapunkrocker due 2 AUGUST, DC1, planning home water birth, West Yorks
Craftyandclothy. Due 4 August. DC2, planning home waterbirth, West Yorkshire.
bratnav. Due 5 Sept. Bristol. Planning home birth. 2 DDs and 1 DSD.
Dingalongcow. Due 8th Sept. Essex. PLanning home birth possibly water. 1 DD already (4yo in June-hospital birth)
DetoxDiva. Due 9 SEPT. Live in Bedfordshire. 1 DD already.
Pebblebeach. Due 10 Sept. DC2 considering home waterbirth.

Hope, LeakyR and Gingersarah, that you are both doing well with your newborns, am seriously clucky at the moment having seen some pics from a friend and a colleague's sil, I can't wait for Sept!

Leaky, eeerr, I think you have a fairly good excuse for forgetting to move yourself on the list .

Gingersarah, thank you so much for sharing your story, it is really wonderful story, so vivid and calm, with the ending I am hoping for (whole family in own bed for the first night, bliss). I hope you are mending well now and getting lots of lovely healing rest.

Hi all -
Gingersarah what a story and sooo well written - hope I'm as lucid when the time comes! Made me weep although am v weepy this week anyway after overload of good (re baby) and bad (re imminent house move) news. Congratulations to you & yours and hope you are healing well?

Dh & I had meeting at home with supervisor of midwives on Tuesday - it went v well I think. I'd met with a local NCT lady who hb'd here quite recently beforehand and she warned me of a couple of things that might come up, so I was prepared to stand my ground on them. All my remaining checkups will be at home now which is v nice. If anyone wants it I can post up the "items to gather for your hb" list she gave me? Let me know?

Bump is 4lbs at 30wks and growing fine. We're booked for another scan at 35wks. Went swimming yesterday and overdid it a bit I think as v v tired today. It really helps my back & hips though and the weightlessness is fabulous - highly recommend it!

Cheers,
Nx

Hi Mamanicky,

Glad to hear your meeting went well. the only thing I would say about your prep is that I forgot to make sure that DP knew about everything I had put together. He was rushing around to find things for the baby when we all had to go to hospital for my stitches, because he didn't see that I had already put her things in the bag. He also missed the rolls I had ready for him / us and spent a very hungry night (I would not have been allowed them anyway because of anaesthetic). So make sure your birth partner knows about all this (it is of course probably overkill to put "cheese and branston rolls in freezer second shelf" in your birth plan).