Home birth

[Littlemissexpecting]

I'm thinking about birth options for dc1 and I've always been really keen on the idea of a water birth. My local hospitals only have 1 birthing pool so although it is fairly common to be able to use it, it's not guaranteed. My mw has suggested I look into a home birth as then it is pretty much guaranteed as i can buy/hire a pool, although a home birth can't be guaranteed!
I'm looking for some honest experiences on home birth if possible. My DH isn't too keen as he worries if I'll need more pain relief I can only have gas and air. We're both worried about the mess (we have cream carpets all over) and that if it doesn't go to plan transferring to hospital may be more stress than actually being in hosp in the first place.
Being in my own environment is appealing, not having to stay in a postnatal ward (although in Nottingham we have the patient hotel at city hosp) and I think if I'm at home I will be less tempted to ask for more pain relief.
Is it common to have a home birth with first dc?

I did, although with dd1 I didn't birth in the pool, but laboured in it. It's amazing pain relief and both my home births are wonderful memories. My Dh was dubious, but having researched extensively, we found benefits outweighed risks, it's particularly brilliant for dads as there are no visiting times

It's not as common to have a hb with first babies as it is for subsequent children but there are plenty out there who have done it.

I've had 2 hbs with no.2 and no. 3. I felt confident about going for it as I knew I could have done it first time around.

While my first experience of giving birth was in a hospital it was still positive but I knew I would have preferred to be at home. DH had doubts but got over these during the course of pregnancy no. 2 especially after he met the community mw at 36 weeks, she put his mind at rest and after DC2 was born he became a complete convert and very pro home birth.

I found I was much more relaxed and calm at home, felt much more in control of what was happening and able to listen to/trust my own body more than when I was in hospital. There's just something about a medical environment and being surrounded by people in uniforms that makes me feel very passive.

I managed in hospital with just TENS - didn't even have gas and air and managed with the same at home.

The main reason first time home birthers transfer into hospital is for pain relief so it is a good idea to think about how you will manage your pain. Don't underestimate how overwhelming the pain of labour can be but equally don't underestimate your own ability to deal with it. I can heartily recommend a book called 'Birth Skills' by JuJu Sundin to help with this - the techniques in there worked a treat for me along with the TENS.

As for the mess - there won't be any. If you give birth in the pool it's mostly all contained. If you're on dry land then you'll have waterproof sheets - we used a tarpaulin covered with an old duvet on the floor and then those absorbent pads that the mws bring with them. Lots of old towels too plus waterproof decorators sheets on the sofa.

The best thing about hb for me was not having to make the 'is it time to go to hospital' decision and that awful drive while in labour, then being in our own home snuggled up in our own bed with the new arrival eating toast and drinking tea within 3 hours of baby arriving. DH was there the whole time and never sent home because visiting hours were over.

I can honestly say my 2 home births were the 2 best experiences of my life.

Excellent thank you. DH thinks we have ages to think about it, but I'm not sure. I'm nearly 26 weeks and think we better start researching home birthing pools if that's what we want.

What MoonHare said! I had DD, my second child, at home in water and it was amazing. I researched the risks first, did a lot of reading and was prepared to transfer to hospital i.e. had my hospital bag ready and in the boot of DH's car jic.

There was no mess and the midwives helped DH empty the pool. We actually borrowed one (with a disposable liner) from the hospital, so ask if Nottingham run a similar scheme.

Finally, I had the option of gas and air but a combination of a hippy midwife, being a bit scared of her and not wanting to make a fuss, and feeling like I could probably manage without it, plus the gorgeous beautiful water, meant that it never got used.

You have to do more prep and tidying afterwards for a home birth, and brief te neighbours, but nothing beats being tucked up in your own bed afterwards rather than going onto the ward. It was bliss!

I'm planning hb w/ first due in a month or so. For some inexplicable reason I've always assumed that if I had a child I'd give birth at home. So, it was a no-brainer for me. I'm also close to the hospital should I need to transfer and the community mw team in my area seems pro-hb and experienced in attending them.

You can rent pools quite late in the day. The place I'm renting for doesn't confirm the booking/ take payment until you've had your 36 wk check-up and then delivers it around 37 wks (you're only allowed a hb with most NHS trusts btw 37 and 42 wks) - so you can always go ahead and reserve it and then if you change your mind it's no big deal. We're renting a birth-pool-in-a-box from Water Baby birthing pool hire. It's £80 for everything (including a fresh liner).

Only you can decide. However, if you book a HB you can decide to go to hospital at the last min without any trouble. You cannot book hospital birth then decide you want to stay home so I'd suggest booking the home birth anyway.

All 3 of mine have been born at home and it was lovely. I believe that even if you do transfer in you are still less likely to have intervention than a woman who is booked for a hospital birth though I have not looked at statistics for a while.

I had my first baby at home and it was a planned homebirth. It was fantastic and definitely recommend it! Loved being at home in my own space, having the one to one care by the midwives and not being rushed by anyone. Less chance of intervention and the midwives pay close attention to you.

A lot of women wait until their second for a homebirth, but there's no reason to if its what you want and you have no complications in the pregnancy. What I will say, is that you think it through properly and have full confidence in your decision. I had a doula to help on the confidence side, and I recommend that. Planning a homebirth for this baby but not having a doula because I just don't feel I need one!

And remember if you do book a homebirth and change your mind last minute to go to hospital,it's a lot easier to do than the other way round.

(you're only allowed a hb with most NHS trusts btw 37 and 42 wks)

No, as has been said on these threads before - you are advised not to have a hb outside these dates in most NHS trusts. Funny how they always seem to confuse the words advise and allow. If you think a home birth is right, it's your decision.

I suppose you could book a hospital birth and then stay at home but it would be more difficult, but after all people do sometimes have fast labours and don't get to hospital in time.

LaVolcan my (very pro-hb) NHS community midwife has said to me several times now that I can only have a hb if I go into labour btw 37 and 42 wks. I guess I can ask her what would happen if I went into labour outside of these weeks and insisted on staying at home. Although, I'm not sure I would do that (insist on staying at home) because I see no real benefit to anyone in forcing a midwife to attend a hb she is not comfortable/ confident assisting in...

People I know who have gone against NHS trust recommendations (e.g. for an overdue breech hb) have done it with private midwives. Interestingly, as another NHS community mw pointed out recently, what this has resulted in is NHS community mws becoming increasingly less familiar with delivering breech babies at home, for example.

Hi CityDweller - legally she is wrong. No one can force a mentally competent woman into hospital. See for example www.aims.org.uk/faq.htm#Question1 or www.homebirth.org.uk/ for more general advice.

I considered a home birth with dc1 but my dh wasn't keen so went for hosp birth. As it was,our dc had serious issues during the birth & we would have ended up being bluelighted to hosp anyway. I was very glad to be in that hosp environment already & would never consider a home birth this time (34wks at mo). I'm not trying to put you off,just giving the other side of the coin.

I also thought I'd like a water birth,but as it turns out even getting in the bath at the very beg of labour made me feel odd-i didn't like it at all which was so weird!

I stayed at home for as long as poss tho & was only in hosp for 2hrs before dc1 arrived. I would second reading juju sundin's book,it really helped me. I also did an NHS class on active birth (now no longer running unfort) & listened to a few meditation tracks from Mindful Mama in the run up.

Whatever you decide,best of luck with everything :)

"You cannot book hospital birth then decide you want to stay home"

Um, I did exactly this less than 5 weeks ago! Although to be fair, we have a fantastic midwifery service here whereby you see the same midwife throughout your pregnancy, and they come to you at home when you're in labour regardless of whether you want to birth at home or in hospital - so I was in a position to make a last-minute decision not to transfer to hospital as I had a midwife present.

I agree, book and plan a home birth - you can change your mind if you want to. I had a pool but didn't ever bother filling it as I wanted to be mobile and upright when the time came. Most people seem to have very positive things to say about water in labour though - I liked the idea but it wasn't for me in the end. We had quite a bit of mess in the room I birthed in, but that was entirely due to lack of planning and preparation - if you plan a home birth, you can make sure everything is protected and you shouldn't have any mess at all.

Oh and we bought cheapy shower curtains to cover everywhere that were easily picked up and thrown away. The midwives will and should take any towels etc that need to be burnt, so that helps with the clean up. Loads of towels and plastic sheeting will keep nice carpets and sofas protected!

Thank you everyone. I really do like the idea of a home water birth. Just got to keep persuading/talking to DH.
Did anyone's neighbours complain about noise etc?

Noise was/is one of my worries too. I live in a flat and don't want to feel inhibited in labour cos I'm worried about disturbing the neighbours or feel self-conscious that they might hear. But, as I approach d-day I've for some reason just loosened up about that. If they can hear - so what! I doubt they'll mind (our neighbours are lovely) and I may let them know in advance I'm planning to birth at home just so they don't worry if they hear weird noises. It also turns out that the estate I live on is a hotbed of hb! Apparently a woman upstairs gave birth at home 3 months ago and I didn't hear anything. But, a year or so ago I'm convinced I heard someone giving birth (v v loudly!) from somewhere nearby, but it didn't bother me one bit.

If you are worried about complaints, just warn them in advance - it would take a particularly mean person to then complain about noise...

Are you supposed to burn any towels that you've bled on?? My DMum washed all my bloodied towels on a 90 degree cycle and they all came up like new!

I asked my next door neighbour if any of them had heard me, she said not... She might have been being kind though! We live in a 1930s semi and the noise insulation is pretty good, but you would think that the sound of someone yelling with all their might (through the effort of pushing, nothing else) for nearly an hour in the dead of night would travel quite a lot... She claimed none of them heard a thing.

I just washed all of my towels too

emsyj sounds like you have a great MW team where you are. Sadly for most people going into labour and suddenly deciding on a homebirth would not be an option (ok technically they can't refuse to come out) because the on call MW provision would not be there with no warning of a HB coming up, because the on call MW does not carry the birth equipment, the packs are put together when a mother hits 37 weeks and kept in her home and so on.

Oh and I gave birth in a top floor flat and in 2 different terraced houses and nobody has ever said anything about hearing me! They MUST have done in one of my houses though, the walls were paper thin and we could hear everything the neighbours did and I bloody well roared through that labour. Very theraputic. I was very quiet with the other 2 but in that one I jsut felt the need to roar she was fucking massive though so I think I was justified.

I totally agree with you Indith that the best option for anyone unsure is to book a home birth and then have the fallback option of hospital - I am very very lucky that this pilot scheme is available here, and also very lucky that my midwife was happy to come out to me despite not being on duty when I went into labour. It was important to her to be with me when I gave birth, so she came to me and spent the entire night from midnight to 6am working entirely voluntarily, and I will of course be giving her some nice gifts to say thank you. She is one in a million.

I can only hope that the 'One 2 One' service goes nationwide eventually. It's fantastic.

emsyj the NHS do not burn sheets or towels used in hospitals, they get sent away to be laundered - even highly infectious ones (following specific procedures of course). So it is fine to wash and reuse towels. Probably best to put the bloodstained ones on a cold prewash with some treatment (soda crystals) before using a hot wash cycle with biological powder to get them properly clean, or you might risk the stains setting, especially on pastel colours or whites!

The midwives definitely took our bloody towels away to be burnt. Maybe different places do it differently, but they were definitely gone afterwards!

My DD was wrapped in my old swimming towel from junior school, which I thought was a nice bit of circularity seeing as she was born in water. We did wash it on a boil wash afterwards, though and then did some serious decluttering a few weeks later.

My neighbours claimed not to have heard a thing, and we lived in the kind of terrace where you could not only hear them hoovering but could even hear them plug the hoover in. And they were not the king and queen of tact, so would have made a lot out of my amazing yelling if they had noticed it.