Probably been done many times before, but what do MIDWIVES on MN think of homebirths?

[Flamesparrow]

Everyone has their own opinions, often very strong, on home births. Many based on their own good/bad outcomes, but when it comes to stuff like this, I am intrigued what midwives think.

Both my midwife last time and this time seem very enthusiastic about home birth, was just really wondering what the rest of you feel, and why etc.

What would YOU do for your births?

(This isn't meant to be a pros/cons debate for all of us to squabble on, it really is aimed at the midwives. Oh, throw in doulas too )

mosschops - what I meant is that anaesthetists never see women who manage labour without pain relief so therefore they cannot visualise it being possible.

Women labouring in their own surroundings (who want to be there) rarely need anything other than entonox. In my area women can have morphine at home but very rarely is it needed.

For a successful homebith, the woman needs to be 100% committed to the idea and confident in her abilities. If she has any doubt then that will impact on how the labour goes.

"Homebirth is how it should be.

IF everything is 'normal'"

Sometimes homebirth is best even if everything isn't normal. I had gd (and another problem which on its own would have ruled me out of an NHS homebirth) and chose a homebirth with an IM for my second and my third babies. Although I ended up transfering in with my third after 30 hours at home, I still feel that choosing a homebirth resulted in better outcomes for me and my babies in both labours.

I think that every case needs to be judged individually.

I'm a midwife, 37 weeks pregnant with my second child and have a home birth planned. I had my son in hospital 13 years ago just before I started my training. After 12 years of experience in all sorts of births and environments I think having babies at home is definately the better option with a healthy pregnancy. However the support for this is a bit of a postcode lottery. My community midwife team are trying to disuade me with no good reason apart from their own lack of experience so I have had to ask a couple of midwife colleagues to come out to me when the time comes. Goodness knows what other ladies in my area do when in the same situation- get persuaded to go into hospital against their wishes i expect.
Lou x

Im not a MW and I dont think you are too old to retrain. Think of all the first hand experience you have had with 3 almost 4 DC. I think its important to have MWs out there with the expereince og pregnancy/childbirth/bringing up a family/breastfeeding/bottle feeding etc.

Go for it if you get time!!!!!! Hope to see you on the post natal thread SOON

Well you can tell I have just had a baby and looking at the wrong page whoops sorry

I am a big supporter of home birth and have had one myself so I practice what I preach! With the obvious get out clause of pre-exisiting complications such as pre-eclampsia etc. What I would say though is that when planning a hb women should be mindful of the position the mw is in as regards yours and the baby's safety. Although every woman has the right to a homebirth in theory, it is not safe for every woman and the mw is solely responsible for that.
In reply to kitkatqueen, I have just finished my mw training and am 36, I am not the oldest either. Not too old at all but be prepared for it to completely take over your life at times. I feel like I have just emerged from a tunnel after 4 years (one off to have a baby) and could never have dreamed how difficult but how wonderful it could be. Good luck

"What I would say though is that when planning a hb women should be mindful of the position the mw is in as regards yours and the baby's safety. Although every woman has the right to a homebirth in theory, it is not safe for every woman and the mw is solely responsible for that"

If the midwife has advised that the mother would be safer in hospital and the mother has decided to go against this advice then she has to take responsibility for the outcome. I was advised by my obstetrician and my NHS midwife that a hospital birth was more appropriate for me. My IM and a consultant MW from a large teaching hospital reviewed my case and felt that a homebirth was a reasonable choice. I do feel for midwives having to care for high risk women at home - I wouldn't want to have to do it, but I'm hugely grateful that there are some brave midwives who are willing to put themselves out for women like me!

I feel very strongly - felt it at the time - that in my case the hospital was less safe for me and would have resulted in a poorer outcome, basically because of staffing issues and poor quality of care. I do think that when decisions are being made about these things, the reality of standards of care in the hospital in question really need to be factored in.

I've been a mw for 12 years, my first baby was born in mw led unit in hospital as I had an unexplained bleed at 33 weeks and was gbs +ve. Second baby wonderful homebirth. Third baby underconstruction (17 weeks) and will go for a hb if all well at the end. I have been to about 30 or 40 homebirths, none have been horribly scary, some slightly concerning but all have ended well.

The worst things I have seen have all been in the hospital and most of them have involved women who have had long labours, epidurals, inductions. I have had one woman who had a large bleed immediately after giving birth in a mw led unit and we had to transfer her rapidly, although it was scary she had a high body mass index which is a risk factor for bleeding afterwards, so she would have been advised not to have had a hb anyway.

I definately feel safe being at home as long as all is going well and there are no concerns about the baby.

Not sure if I'm at all welcome as a Neonatal Nurse but I've sadly seen the worst imaginable outcome of when home births have gone wrong. I've obviously seen things go wrong in hospital but I know where I would rather me and my baby be.

I'm not a mw! but 'my mw' frequently try and persuade me to have a HB even the GP tried to last time

the mw who work/have worked in 'my' team have had probably slightly over 50% HB but interestingly more frequent for their second children (I obviously know nothing about their medical history)

bandanna, you kind of cancelled out your point there.

do different things go wrong for homebirths than hospital births.

didn't seem much point to your post?