Reconsidering a homebirth.

[Deemented]

I'm 21 weeks and decided pretty early on that i wanted a homebirth. I still want a homebirth, but a few things have come up which is causing me to reconsider my decision.

My firstborn twin son had a condition called posterior uretheral valves, which meant he was unable to live long after birth. It also means that if i were to have another boy, then there is a chance that either the same condition could reoccour or if not PUV's then he would be more likely to develop a kidney or renal problem.

I'm going to be having further scans during this pregnancy, just to check everything is ok, but as any problems could develop at anytime, i'm wondering if a homebirth is such a good idea... what if any problem doesn't present til birth, and the baby needs urgent intervention?

WWYD in my situation?

this whole labour-on-you-back-might-just-let-you-walk-for-10-minutes sounds horribly oldfashioned

mine was to known to be a high risk pregnancy; there were concerns about both me and the baby; I gave birth in hospital, with pretty constant monitoring and the midwives were still nagging me to keep active and not just collapse on my back- and this was nearly 13 years ago; but clearly a more progressive hospital

Have just been looking on the homebirth website, and it says that women who have had previous VBAC's are less likely to have a uterine rupture then first time VBACers.

I think i'll contact AIMS and see what they say - after school run though!

Absolutely, Deemented. I've been told that by midwives - if you've already VBACed, not only are you more likely to have another successful VBAC, your chance of uterine rupture drops way below the quoted 1 in 200.

Well i go back to see Mr Consultant tomorrow. I shall be armed with print outs of everything that says that another VBAC after an already successful VBAC is safer the second time round. (That makes sense in my head!)

I spoke to AIMS, but to be honest, the lady i spoke to wasn't very helpful. Just told me that i should write to various people to tell them i no longer want consultant led care and that instead i wanted midwife led care. She didn't actually help me put a plan of action together, to help me to get the birth i want, which is what i thought would happen.

However, i shall go see Mr Consultant tomorrow and see what he has to say for himself this time.

Here are a couple of links that may be helpful to you, in my opinion the consultant sounds like a bit of a wa*er to me. If he is saying no to a home birth because of your previous caeserean then I know where I would rather be, at home with one to one care from a midwife.

www.caesarean.org.uk/

www.radmid.demon.co.uk/midwives1.htm

This was quite an interesting study on the risks of uterine rupture.

www.birthrites.org/uterinerupt.html

Hope this may be some help.