anyone having/had a home birth against medical advice?

[heth1980]

I've been advised by a consultant midwife that they won't support my home birth because my bump is measuring on the 90th centile and my BMI at booking was 36.4. TBH she's scared the s**t out of me and said there is a higher risk of shoulder dystocia and implied that I will have a brain damaged baby (!)

DD1 was born at 37+1 weighing 7lb 12oz (complication free pg and birth), which they are arguing makes her a big baby, but I wouldn't have said that was big! I had a growth scan last week at 36 wks and the estimated fetal weight was 7lb 4....so assuming baby puts on half a pound a week from now til term, that would be around 9lb 4oz at term. I recognise that that's not a small baby but I wouldn't say it was ginormous either........I'm also aware that growth scans can be far from accurate.

I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced anythimg similar and has any advice......WWYD?

I was booked for a homebirth with my DS, until my fundal height/sugars in urine/BMI suggested that I might be better off in hospital. I was GUTTED as really really wanted a HB but my midwife was not happy about me staying at home.

I went into labour at 40+5, tried to have a waterbirth at hospital but ended up with shoulder dystocia - DS was physically pulled out of me by 2 midwives and had to be resuscitated. Glad I was in hospital in the end as would not have fancied an ambulance transfer while in the 'pushing' stage!

I was pushing for 2 hours, stayed mobile, only had G+A for pain relief etc. tried to deliver in a multitude of positions but none of them worked - ended up on my back with knees to my chest and MW pushing on my stomach. (I always have to point out I was mobile in labour, as it seems whenever I mention the SD, someone jumps in and asks if I'd been laying on my back, as if it's my own fault for not being on all fours etc. )

On reflection, if I had been at home, I think the MW would have transferred me as she'd have realised there was a problem at the pushing stage. I only took 6 hours to dilate to 10cm so a relatively quick labour up until the pushing began.

Sorry this is a bit jumbled, just wanted to give my experience really.

Oh and DS was 9lb 6oz, so 'big' but not HUGE. And thankfully he was/is fine, but we were lucky - it was a true shoulder dystocia, and he was stuck for about 1.5 mins as the MWs tried various maneouvres to get him out. The birth notes made for interesting reading!

"I went into labour at 40+5, tried to have a waterbirth at hospital but ended up with shoulder dystocia - DS was physically pulled out of me by 2 midwives and had to be resuscitated. Glad I was in hospital in the end as would not have fancied an ambulance transfer while in the 'pushing' stage!"

A different perspective on a similar situation: my ds also experience sd after a 45 minute second stage - I was at home. He was stuck for a good 6 minutes. It was resolved by my two midwives working together, who then also resuscitated my ds on the bed in front of me. Both me and ds were fine afterwards. And he was big - a whisker off 11lbs by the time we got round to weighing him the next morning (by which time he'd already peed and poohed). My midwives also had to do several manouvres to get him out - they took it in turns to try different things, including mcroberts with suprapubic pressure.

I was left thinking - 'thank god that didn't happen in hospital'. I've had several friends who've experienced sd in hospital who've been traumatised by the way it was handled, with alarms being pressed and staff pounding into the room, adrenalin surging. I also felt that one of the reasons my midwives were successful at getting him out was because they were so well drilled and ready to deal with the situation - knowing there was nobody to 'pass the buck' to or back them up.

Out of interest NinthWave were your midwives able to resolve the sd without an episiotomy?

No episiotomy, and only two stitches for a small tear, so relatively damage-free!

Dread to think what would have happened if I'd had an epidural - it would have been an instrumental delivery at the very least. As it was, we were out of hospital 5 hours later.

The alarm did go off (SD is a birth emergency, after all) and a consultant was present but it was two MWs who delivered my DS, and they did an excellent job as we were both unscathed by the whole thing.

Also, the MW who delivered him was the community MW who would have been present had it been a homebirth - so also very well drilled in SD etc (she's the team leader for my community MW team). She'd specifically asked to be contacted when I went into labour so she could deliver my baby - as my HB was only cancelled two days before I went into labour, she made sure I was treated as a hopsital transfer and she was able to stay in the delivery room with me the whole time.

I'm well aware that it could have been very different if I hadn't had one-on-one care from a MW I was comfortable and familiar with, all the way through labour.

Brilliant you had such good care Ninthwave. Some midwives are truly heroic!

Tangle - I am very sorry to hear about your loss.

In response to the comment about stillbirths and neo-natal deaths - I don't know stastics but sadly I know 4 people who have suffered from either a stillbirth or neo-natal death and none of these have been anything to do with the birth.

2 of these where women who lost their DC1 in utero after 40 weeks (but before 42 weeks) due to placenta ceasing to function well. Another lost her DC4 at 36 weeks - the cord got very tightly wrapped around the babies leg meaning that it couldn't function properly. The 4th was a neonatal death where the baby had something very seriously wrong with digestion system and couldn't be helped.

On saying that there are always risks associated with birth, home or hospital. In terms of having a HB against medical advise - personally I wouldn't do it (although might seek out 2nd opinion).

In response to Tartyheels - I also have an underactive thyroid, treated with thyroxine - althought this makes the pregnancy higher risk, it does not make the birth high risk. eg at the local birth centre, an under active thyroid only makes you high risk if it is not properly controlled. Other factors eg history of group b strep might make the birth high risk but the pregancy might not be.

In my first pregnancy when I got to 28 weeks, they signed me out of consultant led care as they said I was no longer high risk as thyroid levels under control.

I am hoping for a home birth and I will not let them use this as an excuse... I have had 2 birth centre normal natural births.

Thankyou.

given the thread, I should have added that DD2 died in utero at 36 weeks. I was ill and admitted to hospital and at times my vital signs got very weird and wonderful. The poor girl didn't stand a chance .

Oh, lamb. Really sorry to hear that tangle.
I found Welsh mortality figures that were something like 1 in 200, so you're right, it's much more common than I thought.