Home birth pros and cons?

[twizzlestix]

I'm only 20+3 with my first and DH and I have begun to think about birthing options. Initially, was all for hospital (well, midwife led unit) but now I think about being left alone post birth I feel quite :(
I like the idea of having our daughter and staying as a family unit afterwards bonding together with DH there to help me bathe etc

Is this naive? Am thinking that perhaps for first I might be discouraged from HB as I am an unknown quantity so to speak but have no evidence for this.

What are pros and cons of birthing at home aside from lack of drugs and will I still get Breastfeeding help before midwife leaves?

P.S Not sure we have room for birth pool does this change HB dramatically? You can see I'm clueless!

Bettybat and Farmerwife it is such a hard decision to make. I too was convinced if labour in hospital and was a bit when mentioned at my 16 wk check as was a bit 'of course I'll go to hospital' but the seed was planted... I feel like the home environment will be less stressful and one I'd feel more comfortable in too.

winky will look into that book for DH, a little bedtime reading for him :)

Once again thank you all for sharing your experiences and opinions with me and the info you've given have definately helped me feel like any decision I make will be better informed.

I had ds at home and he was my first. It was a really positive experience,labour only lasted 6 1/2 hours and I managed pain well. I think being in my own environment helped a lot. Dh spent whole time inflating birthing pool filling it without liner, swearing, draining it, filling it again with liner in this time. By time midwife arrived I was fully dilated and didn't make it from bed upstairs to pool in living room before I started pushing, so all DH's efforts were for nothing!.

You can have gas & air at home but not till midwife arrives because they don't give you the mask in advance in case you have laughing gas parties. Anyway because she didn't arrive till I was ready to push I ended up giving birth with just 2 paracetamol for pain relief. Yes it hurt like hell but it was Ok and I didn't tear so no stitches. It was all very straight-forward. Incidentally I wouldn't worry about midwife arriving late, they were all surprised by the speed of my labour for a first timer. Just monitor yourself well and insist they come when you think you need them. I even think DH being occupied the whole time was a blessing as it allowed me to focus instead of worrying about him worrying about me!

Being at home allowed me to get in the zone. I'm sure that speeded up my labour. I told my contractions, come on pain do your stuff, open me up and let ds into the world. It would have been harder to focus in hospital environment. I think. Having said that I'm now pregnant with twins and have been told that makes me high risk so I have to give birth in hospital. Bit fed up about that but I'm not going to hold out for a home birth cos I've read too many stories about twins needing medical attention on delivery.

Only you can decide based on your research but I would say just as obviously people will come on the thread saying it was amazing for them, you'll inevitably get the "my baby would have died if I'd been at home" stories too - its just anecdotal evidence for which nobody knows what the outcome would have been if different decisions had been made.

For my part, I had both my children at home, no pool either time (I found in labour I had to be standing or at least my torso higher than my pelvis, lying or sitting was agony), pros were:

• a natural process beginning and going through in a non medicalised way
• not being in hospitals which I associate with sickness and death, thereby removing a huge element of fear for me
• not hearing other women in the throes of labour!
• being in MY space, and importantly DHs space, giving us more control of the situation
• one on one care from the same midwife throughout 1st labour, had 2 midwives from the start of second labour as 2nd stage expected to be quick (it was!)
• not having to travel during labour or after birth
• amazing post natal care , in my area your midwife continues to visit you until they are ready to discharge, I didn't ever bother with HV's. Midwives have to stay with you until you've weed and breastfed
• reduced chance of having epidurals and further intervention which I really wanted to avoid
• midwives allowed to get on with their jobs in women led process (no obstetrician breathing down anyone's necks!)
• glass of chilled bubbly!!

Who knows if my experience would have been any different if I'd been in hospital but 1st labour was 3.5hrs established, 2nd was 1.5hours, no tears etc. has and air did bugger all for me though which was a pain in the arse!

Honestly best decision I personally ever made was to birth my first (and then my second) at home. I felt safer, in control, nurtured and encouraged in my own environment. Cannot think of a single con.

Congrats on your pregnancy, and good luck with it all.

I've had two fantastic home births, both of which were classed as technically 'difficult' - ds1 wrapped twice round neck in his cord, born blue and needing to be resussed, and ds2 with a shoudler dystocia and a snapped cord, either of which in hindsight could have gone tragically wrong, but neither of which would have been detected any early or dealt with any differently had I have been in hospital. Difficult births are more common than most of us think but rarely do they result in death of either party thankfully. But ultimately you do have to ask yourself the question, could you continue to walk into the room in your house that your baby died in. And it's something you should also discuss with your partner.

DH and I saw a really great American documentary about home birth made by Rikki Lake of all people. It's called "The business of being born". It does concentrate on the American system, which is much more medicalised and commercialised, but it still makes for informative viewing, though it's quite propagandist!

OP, do you know any paediatricians? I suggest you ask one of them their view.

Yes, everything will probably be fine. But what if something unforeseen goes wrong? Where would you rather be in that instance? At home or in a hospital with doctors, operating theatres, blood transfusions etc?

Risk isn't about the LIKELIHOOD of something going wrong. It's about the likelihood x the impact on you / your baby. How you gauge the impact is up to you but assuming you would gauge it to be pretty negative then it's not low-risk.

I would always recommend a HB if you are having a trouble free pregnancy. You will have two very experienced midwives with you throughout who bring a very comprehensive medical kits with them.

Remember you can transfer to hospital at any time.

I was two weeks late with DC4 (she was my third HB) so there was a slightly higher risk that we would have to be transferred but they were prepared for that.

My first was in hospital. i was lucky as I had two friends with me, both of whom were experienced birthing partners so we managed to avoid hospital protocol and I got to have him with no intervention. However, had the doctors got their way, after two hours of pushing (he took 3) it would have been forceps, cutting, tearing etc and a whole different birthing experience. I believe that this made a massive difference to my subsequent births, and the after care I received at home was amazing. Which I really couldn't say about post-labour ward [grim emoticon]

Everything just seemed easier at home. The babies born at home fed better, whereas I had trouble with DC1, I was calmer, DH was calmer, I could focus on what I needed to do, and I didn't have to suddenly disappear from the other kids so up to a point, they knew exactly what was going on. I think its definitely worth considering, and preparing for, even if you don't go through with it.

Good luck, and a big from me! I would do it all again tomorrow (if I wasn't so old and creaky)

Rhinestone actually it's also about weighing up the risks of being in hospital. A horizons programmer last year showed two tragic deaths of babies in hospitals because there is a much bigger women:midwife ratio so they just weren't able to concentrate on the labours as intensely so spotted something was wrong far too late. You don't know what the outcome would have been had they been at home but one thing's for certain having one on one care from a midwife who's powers of observation have to be very highly tuned they would have been in hospital most likely with enough time for necessary intervention.

The first sign of something going even vaguely wrong they will transfer you in and the hospital is alerted you are on your way. Contrary to people's perceptions things tend to go wrong initially quite slowly in labour so if you have one on one dedicated care there is more chance of you getting the medical help we are lucky to have. Having a home birth doesn't mean you won't have access to care in hospital should you need it.

Sorry, but ranty, just get a bit tired of the scaremongering based on emotive responses and no research. I personally think hospital is riskier than home and trusted my midwife implicitly. You have to choose what feels safest for you.

Also don't ask obstetricians you know, they will always choose hospital because they have a skewed view of the labour process. Ask midwives who see all kinds of labours with all kinds of outcomes. And get to know your community midwife team (another benefit of home birthing )

I will ask my MW definately! Will see her in about 4 weeks but wanted to see what others experiences were so thank you all.

Obstetricians should go with their professional body in recognising that home birth has been proven a safe option, as evidence-based practitioners.

RCOGs issued statements agreeing that home birth should be more widely supported for low risk mothers.

I'm planning a HB with no. two. I chose to have my first in a MW led unit - and I ended up being transferred for final interventions (ventouse.....)
Without wanting to delve into loads of details, my labour was quicker and my baby was bigger than 'expected' for a first timer. And herein lies the problem with MW units or hospital. If you don't go by the 'book' then they will ramp up the intervention. The main issue I had was being given pethidine at 5cm being told 'it will be ages until you're fully dilated so it will be out of your system'....I was fully dilated within the hour. Suffice to say I was still high as a kite, sat in a birthing pool with a MW who was cross because I didn't 'want' to push!!! I was then made to push with every contraction for two hours before being sent to hospital, mainly because I was bloody exhausted by this point. I recal having a monitor put on me for over an hour at a time when I should have been up and active and I also remember lots of internal examinations.

Because of where I live I am no further from our main hospital than if I go to the MW unit - I'd rather spend my labour in peace and quiet at home, free from constant interruptions and montioring. There was a temptation as a first-timer to go with the 'experience' of the MW's at the unit, but they change shift every 4 hrs anyway and however good they might be, they are part of a system and systems have their box-ticking. You are perfectly capable of birthing a baby - the pain is shocking but it is more manageable if you're relaxed and in control.

There is a lot to weigh up, keep thinking and if you do book a home birth doesn't mean you have to have one in the end.

I've had one lovely & one awful homebirth (as well as 1 awful & one nice hospital birth).

I found location not as important as having a supportive midwife & supportive birth partner who know what you want -- those can make or break the situation in my experience (though home is way better for recovery than a hospital ward, hands down nothing beats your own bed). If they are supportive of you, I would encourage a home birth all other things being equal.