beautiful homebirth.....

[Bimble]

Just a word or 3 of encouragement to anyone considering a homebirth out there! I gave birth at home on 29th Jan to a little girl Beatrix Caroline. I had a waterbirth with 3 lovely midwives -2 with a combined experience of 30 years and 1 student. My partner who was at first doubtful about the whole thing was a homebirth convert by the end of the evening and tells anyone who asks that his girl was born into his hands and that he cut the cord. The whole experience was relaxed and calm and my 4yr old daughter woke up to find her baby sister snuggled up with mum and dad. No stressed out hospital staff, no noisy ward with crap food and no dirty toilets. Delightful!

MumLWLondon, chellesgirl would like the permission to give her nasty hospital experience: oh what the heck here goes:

1. Midwives ganged up on me, while DP was out the room and told me I needed to have lung developing injection and it was hospital protocol. I said NO as baby was coming within the next 12 hrs for sure. Still was literally pressured onto the bed and given injection - 3 midwives around the bed.

1. Midwife telling me that baby was not going to be of good birth weight as early while I was in labor -asked me to guess the weight and I said 5,9 to 5,11 and she said 'no chance' and laughed. DD came out at 5,11.

1. DD birth fine...but was constantly asked if I wanted gas n air, even tho in my notes it said no pain meds, and every time I answered it was a NO.

1. DD whe born was left on the bed inbetween my legs while they cut cord. Wrapped her up and put her in cot, where she was left for 2 and a half hrs with no attention, and DP was told we couldnt hold her. Ped took over 2hrs to assess her then give her all clear -no crying-grunting, agpar aparently 9,9 when born.

1. Started to BF and midwife came over and looked and without saying anything to me turned to other midwife and said 'shes having trouble BFing' so was made to take DD off and try again later. She went out of room and finally we had 20 mins to be 'together' and so she fed.

1. Showers Vile and bloody.

1. DP made to leave hospital after 5 mins of being on maternity ward

1. Toilets incredibly dirty and bloody (asked for them to be cleaned and they said the cleaner had already done it today and wont be back till later).

1. Was subjected to horrid comments from cleaners/passive mostly.

10. confidentiality breached.

11. DD couldnt breathe, EM buzzor wasnt working, had to get up and get midwife, who had to get baby doc, who came to us and asked us what we thought was wrong!

12. Put DD in smelly NICU clothes when sent down with her own. In NICU she was meant to have bloods and x-ray done - never was done - and never was told they werent, found out 15 months later at consultant app.

13. DD fed formula in NICU, when I asked them to come get me to BF her.

14. Lady on death bed, meant to be in ICU, suspected bacterial infection on bed opp me - luckily dd was in NICU, but still other mums and babies on ward. - Never did get answers, though got an apology 6 months later...

15. 1 midwife to 40 labouring women and mums who had babies during the night. Hesr phonecall between midwife and senior - senior wouldnt come up to help.

16. DD not allowed back to me cause not enough staff.

17. Pead pricked DD's foot and then with bloody glove put it in her mouth!

18. Was subjected to midwives telling us that if we took out baby home shed call social services...though consultant told us after that this would never happen and we had a right to discharge her and complain about hosp cond.

and thats just the ones I remember.

sorry guys had to get that one out.

I'm with you Chelle, my Mum delivered my first dd as the midwife told me to "stop making a noise as I wasn't in labour" she then lied about everything that had happened that day and said she was in the room as my dd was born she wasn't and she walked in the room telling us off for pressing the buzzer until she saw my Mum holding my DD between my legs.

My last birth in May was disgusting I was laughed at for asking for an epidural ,I was refused the care I asked for and just treated like a piece of meat TBH.

Sorry Op for ranting on your thread.

congratulations

sounds wonderful, and that last line is oh so true.

what a wonderful memory to start your new life together being parents of two gorgeous girls.

Just to avoid scaring any mums pregnant for the first time and due to have their baby in hospital, not all hospital births and postnatal experiences are as bad as those mentioned here! (not to detract from or belittle the stories given)

After my birth I had a hot shower and was shown to a comfy bed in a small clean ward. I didn't find it that noisy, (my only complaint was that I wanted privacy to bf and they kept opening my curtains! I suppose I was being a bit unreasonable really to expect to have them closed all the time though) The food was okay and the bathrooms seemed very clean to me.

Just take plenty of cereal bars and stuff in your bag in case you give birth at such a time that you miss a meal. I have to admit I never got any tea and toast!

Congrats op, sounds like a lovely birth

Agree with james - yes there are some awful hospital stories out there but not all are bad. I've had two very difficult births but the hospital care with each was wonderfull. Congrats to you Bimble

19. (just remembered this one) didnt get skin to skin with dd as mentioned...but on computer notes, midwife lied and said I had had it straight away.

besides all the horror stories by sister gave birth to her dd there a yr before me and she said it was ok apart from noise and a bit unclean. she chose to give birth there again last yr to her ds and she also found it to be 'okay'. so it is true, i think i had higher expectations of the healthcare in my area been as they are always on about how good it was...for any mum whos having a hospital birth dont be scared these are personal experiences and mine is only linked to one hospital and one team of MW's. and its all personal preference why I would have a homebirth next time. doesnt mean your hospital birth will be like mine or the others. my advice -to not set the bar to high, dont let any med prof tell you what to do if you dont feel comfortable. listen to your instincts.

Congratulations Bimble

I had a lovely home birth 6 months ago and I completely understand your post. My dh too is a hb convert and your birth sounds lovely.

Bibbity - out of order to make such comments on a proud new mums birth announcement. Not the time or the place.

Ladies thanks for all of your comments. Wanted to post earlier but have been getting to grips with the breastfeeding and sleep deprivation that I'd forgotten about! Bibbity I wasn't meaning to scare any first timers going to hospital and I'm sorry if it seemed like an insensitive thing to say. I really just wanted to get across how wonderful the homebirth was. I should also perhaps have said that actually my hospital experience in terms of the actual birth was good just the ward bit afterwards was dodgy and having birthed at home I would reccomend giving it a go if you can.