Home Birth - any had/planning?

[RainMinusBow]

I'm almost 11 weeks pg with my third.

First two babies (with my ex 12 and 9 years ago) I had in hospital. Not great experiences really with either.

Very keen to explore the option of a home birth this time around but don't know anyone who has had one? Don't think it is commonplace?

Would love to hear from anybody that has had, or is hoping to have one 😊

I had a planned home birth with my third baby. It was truly one of the best experiences of my life & all very easy & straightforward. It was 20 odd years ago now, and home birth was relatively popular & well supported in our area.

I hadn't thought about a home birth until I was discussing my dislike of hospitals with my midwife & she said I was an ideal candidate for one. That led to me & DH researching & discussing the pros and cons. We eventually decided at about 34 weeks to plan for one.

The main things that influenced the decision were:
I'd had two full-term deliveries before, with no complications afterwards. DC1 was born by forceps because I'd had an epidural thanks to a very long labour, and DC2 was a normal delivery.
I'd had three textbook perfect pregnancies with no health issues at all.
I find hospitals very stressful & my labours slow down as soon as I get there.
We lived a short distance from hospital in case admission became necessary at any time.
DH was on board so I had support.

I ended up having a wonderful home birth at 39 weeks, five hours from start to finish (fast for me) with two midwives in attendance & lots of gas & air for pain relief. Oh, and no stitches. It was great.

So I'd advise you to do your research, discuss with your midwife and make sure your partner is on board. That was long, sorry, but I hope helpful. Good luck!

I’m planning on having one this time round and currently 36 weeks. Wanted one with my first but they had to induce early due to low pap-a and small weight gain.

I am so excited for this birth. We have a local homebirth group that have monthly meetups- found them on Facebook so it has been super helpful to speak to others who have been through it. Loads of YouTube videos and stories about positive birth stories, I found helpful. Husband not overly happy but supports me as I so want this.

Talk to your midwife- they can give you lots of advice. And I hope that whatever you choose you have a fab birth.

I'm thinking about it. First baby so can't give any feedback on what it might be like! Most recent study into it says it's no riskier than going to hospital and has lots of potential benefits. I do live very close to a hospital though which adds some reassurance and we have a specialist home birth team in my area. I went to see them and they seemed lovely and very professional. I am going to "book in" for one, but it's fine for me to change my mind any time up until when I'm pushing the baby out, so if I get cold feet a day or two before I'll go down to the hospital.

I’m 28 weeks pregnant with baby no3 and, like you, had two not great hospital experiences with my first and second.

I’m planning on a home birth this time, but we also live fairly close to a stand-alone MLU which is very unhospital-like in its atmosphere so I’m planning to see how I feel on the day!

I’ll hire/buy a pool and prepare everything for a home birth as well as packing a hospital bag for MLU/potential transfer to hospital and then see how the labour progresses. DS (my second) was a fairly quick birth and if this one is similar then I won’t want to go anywhere unless I really have to!