Anyone have a home birth with their first baby?

[chelle85]

I am a FTM currently 27+4 and seriously considering a home birth (I don't plan to have more children so this is kind of only shot of a home birth)

My pregnancy is low risk and I have been practising hypnobirthing and hoping for a drug free delivery.

But being a FTM there is of course this little niggling voice that keeps trying to persuade me it would be safer to just go to hospital. I intend to try to speak to midwife at my appt on Wed but so far she has not been particularly helpful with information.

I feel on the one hand at home I will have undivided attention of midwife (reviews of my local hospital rushing people onto delivery suite as they are crowning fill me with dread) and can be transferred to hospital if needed. I just worry of any 'emergency' reasons for being transferred and how long this would take (20mins from hospital plus wait for ambulance)

Anyone willing to share their home birth stories to help me decide

Positive mindset and being 'empowered' does not reduce the likelihood of complications and emergencies from happening.

If I had a home birth with my first child, my baby would not have survived as she stopped breathing after becoming distressed and stuck. The wait for an ambulance and journey time would have been too long as it all changed so quickly.
Fortunately I was just down the corridor from theatre instead of 20 minutes drive.

Everyone has the right to choose, and obviously a healthy mother and low risk pregnancy means a good chance for a positive home birth experience. Let's not kid ourselves though that practicing breathing and relaxation and generally feeling empowered makes a huge difference to the outcome. It just makes the mother feel more prepared.

We were 25 mins from the hospital.
The ambulance was with us in 6 minutes (DS was with us in 6 mins 30 secs) from placing the 999 call.

Ok, so we were very lucky the service wasn't overloaded. But the care and speed cannot be faulted (whole labour 2 hrs hence not at the hospital).

Only thing I will say is try and swabbed for group strep b, if you do have it you'll need antibiotics in labour. I had no idea about it and wanted a home birth / water birth, but was a carrier. It can cause breathing difficulties or much more serious problems in the baby if they are infected during birth, and will need monitoring for 12-24 after birth if you do test positive. Just another thing to think about. They don't routinely offer it, so ask for one or you can pay around £30 to do one at home.

" Midwives in someone's home do not have the tools to detect "as soon as" - they only have intermittent monitoring"

Yes, and continual monitoring has been shown not to improve outcomes, so what's your point?

OP - I'd go for it. I wanted a hb with my first but in the end was forced to go to hospital as I was overdue. I'm currently overdue with my second and going to attempt home birth again (it's been agreed in advance this time that I will be supported in home birth even though I am overdue).

Yep I've read that study now and it doesn't mention anything about caesarean section times. The risk is not of death to the baby but of death or other consequences, not all of which are life changing. It is worth knowing, absolutely.

I did, 12 weeks ago. I was quite certain from the offset that it was what I wanted to do and the midwives were very supportive. I was low risk, young, fit and healthy. It went well and I didn't have to transfer to hospital afterwards. Being at home to recover was more important to me than being at home for the birth if I'm honest. I could think of nothing worse than DH leaving me in hospital with a brand new baby.

What's interesting, is that although it was a (mostly) wonderful experience, I'm not sure I'd do it again because now he's here I'm so in love with him that I wonder if I put him at risk by being at home and actually feel a bit guilty. I was able to be very pragmatic about the risks beforehand; now, I just think about all the things that could have gone wrong (however unlikely!)

I read The Homebirth Handbook by Annie Francis, which had useful tips and statistics about the risks/outcomes. Good luck with whatever you decide OP!

Jeez. If we're going with anecdata, the absolute worst outcome I know of happened with a low risk mother, second birth in a midwife led unit within a hospital. Unfortunately it didn't really matter where she was, her son died a day after he was born.

There are no guarantees, all you can do is attempt to make an assessment of the risk and make a reasonable decision based on that. I have never been massively pro or anti homebirth but I'm starting to discover why people are campaigning about it. An awful lot of people telling other people how they should assess risk and evidence. I think I'm quite able to do that, ta. And my assessment may differ from other people's - but I'm not choosing for them. I am making a considered choice for me and my child. Op, hope your choices play out as you wish!

Get a doula!! Honestly they are brilliant. I tried a pool birth but it slowed my contractions right down.

If you want a home birth a doula will advocate any of your birth choices.

OP - the NICE guidelines with all the statistical evidence are worth a read - www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg190/chapter/Recommendations

I'm a FTM, 39+4 and low risk and planning a home birth. TBH, I'm personally afraid of giving birth in the hospital! My midwife said the best place to have your baby is where you will feel the most comfortable (obviously this may not apply if you have certain risk factors). For me, that's at home. For others, that in a Birth Centre or Hospital. If you think you want a home birth, you can always book in for one and change your mind later. I don't think you can change your mind last minute the other way around...

I had a home water birth with my first child. I was very overweight at the time but it was being encouraged locally. I dislike hospitals and I'm really pleased I did it this way. I had pethaden on standby and gas and air (turns out it has no effect on me at all). Getting to hospital would have taken 40 minutes by ambulance. There were two midwives present and exh and mother. It wasn't all wonderful and flowery, the cd never went on and the candles were never lit but it was at home with access to everything I wanted and the water helped so much (I was pretty immobile towards the end of the pregnancy) if I were ever to do it again (I won't) I would do the same

Bertie

I did have syntocin once I got to hospital though, then a c section. If I'd started off in hospital I would've started the whole syntocin thing 24 hours earlier but they left me to it for a bit longer while I was at home than what they'd do in hospital.

Oh I see what you mean, then it probably would have made no odds I suppose?

Yeah just one of those things. Its the trouble of childbirth, the unpredictableness. Ideally if I'd have had a crystal ball I could of just gone for an elective section and skipped the days of labour

I still think homebirths are a great plan for lots of women, there's no denying that if you have a straightforward delivery it'd be much nicer to be at home. I went into it very informed and with the mindset that I was reasonabley likely to transfer but see how I got on at home and I still think made the right decision about the homebirth with the information I had at the time (and lack of crystal ball!) but I really wished I'd declined pissing about with the drip and gone straight for a section once I was in hospital - but I wasn't really with it and and feel I was a bit bamboozled by the doctors.

OP. One last post from me to say please have a serious discussion with a doctor on this. Your midwife appears to be pushing an agenda if you have not been told of the massively increased risk to your baby as a first time mother. Get the facts and make a decision then.

Some of these posts are shocking. Posters blithely promising that midwives transfer the second the baby's heart rate is non-reassuring while at the same time "not being monitored every five minutes" is being listed as a benefit of home birth. Things like MAS (which can easily cause brain damage and death) and freaking broken clavicles (associated with shoulder dystopia and hence oxygen deprivation) being dismissed as no big deal - I wonder if the risk was for unmedicated broken clavicle in the mother or father, would it be dismissed so easily.

Someone up thread said " I could think of nothing worse than DH leaving me in hospital with a brand new baby" and has since regretted this view. I would love if that was the worst thing that could happen to any new mother or baby. The sad reality is unfortunately otherwise.

sycamore please post evidence for the 'massively increased risk'.

Sycamore what your saying simply isn't true.

You're

Sycamore you are wrong and talking like a Daily Fail writer. If you want to talk facts then provide the evidence behind your stated ones.

Birth place study. Already cited on this thread. Their summary says: "For women having a first baby, a planned home birth increases the risk for the baby

For nulliparous women, there were 9.3 adverse perinatal outcome events per 1000 planned home births compared with 5.3 per 1000 births for births planned in obstetric units, and this finding was statistically significant."

The risk for your baby is almost DOUBLE. I have no idea why people on here are getting angry with me for pointing this out. If you haven't already had this information very clearly spelled out to you by your midwife when considering home birth, then you should be furious with them.

I know I said the previous one was my last post but I dislike being called a liar.

Sycamore, you are right. The risk is almost double, but it's still less than 1%. I think most women opting for home birth do know the stats... I've seen you campaigning against home birth on other threads. I'm not sure you will change any ones mind. It's a very individual choice and depends on individual circumstances...

I don't think my midwife informed me of these stats, but I easily found them myself. She also didn't inform me of any other stats to do with where I could give birth, adverse side effects of flu vaccines, GTT, Strep B tests, Vitamin k injections, etc. There are a lot of decisions that need to be made around maternity care and we all have to do our own research and ask the medical professionals for advice where we aren't sure. Personally, I found all the decisions a bit overwhelming!

3 babies and 3 x happy home water births (with BMI over 40) - go for it OP!

You try to get insurance for any event that's a one in 1000 risk. You also misunderstand risk - it's not just the likelihood of something (almost twice as likely at home as in hospital) but also the consequence of that risk does materialise. I'm happy to take a one in 1000 risk of getting a fingernail infection from a manicure. I am not happy to take that risk for my baby's life or brain health.

I am not campaigning against home birth. What I want is for people to be given all the facts in making a decision. If they choose home birth then, good for them. But don't you agree that they should have the facts? Not pretend everything is rosy and lovely when something as vital as a baby and mother's lives are at stake? If your midwife did not inform a first time home birth mother of this risk, he or she was acting against NICE guidelines and is in my opinion a disgrace to take a gamble on someone else's baby.

I'd like for anyone who says I have said something untrue to prove that.

It's right there in the NHS guidance @sycamore www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/where-can-i-give-birth.aspx

As for insurance - I have critical illness cover on my life insurance. Apparently there's a 1 in 2 chance (statistically) that I'll develop some form of cancer in my lifetime. I also drive a car, and manage to insure it. I suspect my odds of being involved in a car accident are more than 1 in 1000.

What you are describing is a low to moderate risk of something happening. It is still a risk, but the increase from 0.5 to 0.9 is still a low risk. We engage with much higher risks, with equally serious potential consequences, by driving in cars.

This explains assessing risk helpfully clinicalevidence.bmj.com/x/set/static/ebm/practice/807152.html

TittyGolightly - "It's about the mindset".

I'm probably not meant to tell you to fuck off so I won't, but you are suggesting that women who have interventions didn't want a natural birth enough. That gets my hackles right up.

Well, despite my masses of research on childbirth, and my determination to have a vaginal delivery, I had an EMCS. I had no choice. My baby was stuck and in distress

You are misinformed if you think you can wish pain or complications away. You can't.

Current evidence suggests mind over matter methods don't lower the rate of intervention at all. For example, women using hypno-birthing are just as likely to have an epidural. www.cochrane.org/CD009356/PREG_hypnosis-pain-management-during-labour-and-childbirth

OP - your body, your baby, your choice, but remember there are no guarantees in childbirth.

I'm probably not meant to tell you to fuck off so I won't, but you are suggesting that women who have interventions didn't want a natural birth enough. That gets my hackles right up

That is NOT what I was suggesting at all.