Why homebirth?

[Castanet]

I have been reading different threads on MN and the number of people who insist on having a homebirth is astounding. What is so great about it and why are so many people willing to take a chance with the wellbeing of their baby, because if things go wrong, and they do, sometimes, wouldn't you want to have all the medical help and expertise of the best consultants at hand? Just wondering.

Well that's quite a good question. I have had a home birth and a hospital one, I know which I preferred by a long way, and that was the home birth. There are many people who are passionate about it and I wouldn't say I was one of them, because it was frightening not to have much medical provision (and things did threaten to go wrong, I was just lucky) added to that we live about 45 mins from a hospital but although I asked to be transferred, there was no chance as it was just a very fast labour. So it would have been at home whether planned or not.
But the reason I preferred it was basically that in hospital I felt very much that I was ignored and that during one of the strangest and most frightening experiences of my life, nobody seemed to do what I asked, or even tell me what was happening - it was all about hospital protocol and rules.
I felt powerless which added to the fear and stress.
I also ended up with a lot of intervention which I could have done better without.
I had no idea what I should do or what I could refuse. I know it's possible to have a good hospital birth but I sort of feel it's like the cold callers at the door in a way - you end up going along with something because you are not prepared for all the choices or decisions you may be faced with.
At home I felt I was more in control. I could decide better, somehow.
Not sure if that explains very well, I am not quite there yet in understanding 'why' myself, but I do know I preferred being at home.

Thank you flightattendant, for your reply!
I do understand preference for the comforts of your own home but to me it seems a tad selfish, please forgive the directness here. Wouldn't you want to do absolutely everything possible to assure that your baby has the very best chance, even if it means being dictated by the medical staff as to what to do and what not. I trust the knowledge of consultants and the equipment, medications etc. at their disposal to do their best for my baby. I would never sacrifice the safety of my unborn baby for my personal comfort.
And I know women have been doing it for millions of years etc. however why should I shun the help of medical science just to give birth like my great-great grandma did? I'm not criticizing anyones choice, just trying to understand the reasons behind it.

For me it was because I wanted constant one-to-one midwifery care, which you get at home but not in hospital. And I wanted all decisions for medical interventions to be well thought-out rather than knee-jerk responses. And I read all the research - hospital birth is not actually safer, which I find quite scary as it isn't what you'd expect.

And obviously, you don't go ahead with it if things aren't straightforward (well, I wouldn't). When it was thought that baby was feet-first I had a scan to check followed by a cs.

Castanet, a lot of women choose a homebirth because they want to do absolutely everything possible to assure that their baby has the very best chance, and after reading the research they conclude that homebirth gives their baby a better chance than hospital.

see www.homebirth.org

Me, I'm off to hospital for my third cs [sigh].

Nope www.homebirth.org.uk

Thank you for the replays! However, is homebirth homepage really the most objective source of information or could it be slightly biased towards it?

castanet, home birth statistically are much safer. The best way to have your baby safely is with no intervention. In hospitals they have to follow protocols like induction etc.

During a homebirth if you are not 'progressing' as
they label it in hospital, you are given an intervention. At a home birth, you all go for a little nap, which sometimes gets things going again.

It is very rare that things need to be done immediatly and the midwives who specialise in homebirths are very experienced and will know in advance if you need to go to hospital.

I don't think of it as selfish, I think more that you are trying to promote a natural birth. I agree that there is a time and place for everything, ie hospital births, and you have to make your own decisions. But it is by no means unsafe.

I chose a HB for my second birth for the following reasons:

1. I'd had a straightforward first delivery therefore knew that my second was likely to be easy & low risk.

2. It meant I could increase the chnaces of labouring "my way" - ie instinctively and not have to think about when to get in a car & go to hospital.

3. I hoped that I might increased the chances of successful breastfeeding by having a "good" birth.

I did think long and hard about the risks but they were likely to be minimal in my case. I live 5 mins from the hospital. I personally wouldn't have felt comfortable having a HB for my first because of the potential for things to go wrong.

It's probably worth pointing out that I am also a GP who has done 4 years of obstetrics in the past so knew EXACTLY what could have gone wrong, plus was well aware of the limitations of "medical experts"!! Women can and regularly do give birth without needing medical intervention.

HTH

Laith, I am an A&E nurse, and have also seen all aspects of chilbirth, so am very aware of potenetial for risk.

I just think that the hands off approach is so much better. All said the midwife only turned up 10 mins before dd was born, but she didn't touch me, just watched and let me do it all myself.

A very positive experience.

I have had one of each hospital and home and know which one I prefer by a mile. My HB was my second my first was a fast straightforward labour and birth so I knew I could birth a baby.

I had 2 MWs with me throughtout (was only 2h20mins start to finish) got up had a shower in my shower got back into MY clean bed DP brought me tea and toast then we all got into bed for a cuddle, about an hour later DD1 came in too to see her new sister. After a little sleep I was downstairs getting on with it all as usual. No stitches pain or anything.

Compared to the hospital where I couldn't sleep for the noise, felt my privacy was voilated by every man and his dog popping their head around the curtains, having to leave my baby to go to the loo which had another womans blood on the floor, the food was inedible and it was just horrendous to be honest.

At no time was my babies health in danger if it had been I would have been straight to the hospital, being at home contributed to a better labour and after birth recovery IMO.

I can see your point, thank you. Yet, what about all the emergency cesareans and there's a quite a lot of them even on these pages. Surely these women planned to have a natural birth, 'something just went wrong', didn't it? What could have happened if these cases were home births? You can have an elective cs, emergency cs indicates clearly - emergency.

Most c sections are done because of intervention. Ie epidurals, inductions, failure to progress etc. Most of them could be avoided.

Most sections, ventouse, forceps deliveries are done because of epidurals and the women not being able to push anymore.

If you are thinking about a homebirth, do some decent research and you will realise the reasons for them.

not sure if to laugh or cry at the comments about trusting the knowledge of consultants and their equipment and about a hospital birth being 'doing everything possible to give your baby the best chance'..

i had a hospital birth first time, and a home birth the second. i also work for the nhs (in paediatrics) which i admit played a large part in my home birth decision.

i read loads of research (objective, independent, scientific research not pseudo science or propaganda) and came to the opposite conclusion to you castanet.. that for my baby and for my circumstances a home birth was the safest and least risky option.

does this make me 'a tad selfish' and 'prepared to sacrifice my unborn baby for my own comfort'?? i rather think not it seems to me to indicate that i desperately wanted my baby to be born healthy, and i spent a lot of time thinking about and looking into ways that i could help make sure thats what happened!

Castanet -
I suppose it depends on your point of view as to the how much risk you are prepared to take, as to how you view homebirth. I don't think its fair to view women who have homebirths as selfish, as they are only doing what they believe is best for them and their baby, and there is so much evidence that homebirth is just as safe for women with low risk pregnancies.

Personally, I think that the government should be putting their money where their mouth is and instead of talking of maternity choices and options, they should be funding hospitals properly to provide that choice, so that homebirth is a viable option to more women rather than being seen as radical or non-conventional. Have a look at the New Zealand maternity services on the internet to see how it should be done.

As a midwife I have had the privelege to attend homebirths and hospital births and at the moment I work in the labour ward in a big London hospital, and I can assure you that I see the problems that occur in hospital by over medicalisation on a daily basis.

Give me homebirth any time.....

How many weeks pregnant are you Castanet?

I had 2 hospital births and 1 home birth, In hospital i couldnt sleep and felt generally uncomfy!! When i had my home birth, i had him on my bed, then went and had a bath in my bath, made myself a cup of tea, sat and watched a bit of tele while having some cuddles with my new born son then went to bed.... it was great i was so relaxed he was born in 2 hours!! Im having another one this time!

As for the medical treatment, if anything goes wrong at all the midwifes are always on standby to ring an ambulance, and they wont let you have a homebirth if they feel something may go wrong, I.E if you have low iron or blood pressure etc, it takes the tinyest thing for them to not let you have a homebirth.......

Hi Castanet

To quote you: "I trust the knowledge of consultants and the equipment, medications etc. at their disposal to do their best for my baby."

Yes well I trust the medical staff too when things go wrong but in the case of a normal healthy pregnancy I also trust MY BODY to birth the baby naturally. I am very very close to a hospital so I know if there's a complication I can transfer in 10 mins and I also trust the experienced midwife who will I have ONE-ON-ONE care from to see any problems develop with plenty of time to transfer. From all the reading I've done I realise that births don't go wrong in a split second, there is enough warning to transfer in the vast majority of cases. And from reading mumsnet the last few months, I have learned how many problems arise precisely because of too much intervention and people not trusting their bodies to do what they are designed to do perfectly well.

By the way this is my first and I'm actively looking forward to a homebirth (any day now). I'm also philosophical about the need for a transfer because for 40% of first-timers it becomes necessary.

Right now I feel well-informed and have done lots of preparation to give myself the best possible chance of a good birth (yoga, hypnobirthing, lots of reading, staying fit and healthy, hiring a doula, birth pool, etc). Births seem to progress well when the mother is relaxed, and I know that being in a hospital is where I feel most scared and uncomfortable.

lol sweetkitty didnt read the whole post, but i think our experience is pretty much the same

Well, let me add my experience.

dd was my first, born in a hospital. I was doing just fine with my TENS when I arrived. Almost straight away the young midwife took my TENS off me as she said it would interfere with the machines she was hooking me up on to monitor the baby's heartbeat and my contractions.

She then went out and I was left alone with dh.

My waters broke and the pain became more intense. She examined me and said I would probably be in this much pain, if not worse, for hours yet. That frightened and panicked me. She told me to have pethadine - even though it was highlighted in big bold letters by the doctor on my birth plan not to give me pethidine under any circumstances because of my state of mind. If it wasn't for dh insisting that they read this, they would have just gone ahead with that. They then changed my mind and decided that I should have an epidural.

They took all control away from me. They decided what I should have and when. They never reassured me or treated me as a human being, I was cattle to them. They even came in and told me when to push and how long for.

After dd was born I was taken down to the ward and put with a load of women who had not yet given birth, I was the only one with a baby. I was given no support and if I asked for anything they treated me roughly, like I was a major pain in the ass. I was eventually transferred to a midwife only unit but even that was a struggle.

With my second I decided to go for a home birth as I genuinely believed it to be safer for me and my child. I trusted my community midwife 100%. I got to make some decisions concerning my own health, I felt much more in control and relaxed.

I was able to have a natural labour without pain relief. There were no complications and it was lovely to be able to relax in my own home with midwifes who wouldn't abandon us and who didn't treat me like cattle. I believe the baby benefitted too because the whole experience was just so much more relaxing whereas with dd it was just awful, medical, panicky and she was born with the cord wrapped round her neck twice. The midwives even panicked and ended up covered in blood after hacking through the cord to get to her.

If I were to give advice, I would advise a midwife only unit or a home birth. I would never recommend a hospital birth because of the trauma to the mum and baby.

I'd like to share my hospital birth experience.

I got to hospital and was hooked up on monitors. My then DP was told to go home. I was left alone in a room on my own. They told me to have a pethadine injection, plus an injection of something else to stop any nausea. Then they took me off the monitors and put me into an post-natal ward and told me to lay down and wait. Again i was left alone, feel pretty scared and very vulnerable.

When things finally started to happen, my then DP was finally called back to the hospital and i was put into a labour room. It was a horrible room with a bed in the middle - more like an operating theatre than somewhere comfy to have my baby! Again, i was told to lay down and basically do as i was told.

I had to have an episiotomy but they never actually told me why. Perhaps if they'd waited a bit i wouldn't have needed one. When they told me i could start pushing, i was quite surprised because i didn't feel a massive urge or anything.

This time i am opting for a home birth. My worst nightmare is to have this baby flat on my back in a crappy old hospital room. The thought of it fills me with horror.

I cannot wait to have my baby in my own home in a birthing pool, and then to be able to have a shower and a cup of tea, and then snuggle up in bed with our new baby.

I'm planning a well informed home birth for number two

from my research and talking to mw's emergency c sections are usually not emergencies in the case of 'we have to get the mother into theatre now' - its a classification of anything that isn't elective, my aunt had one last year and waited 45 mins for her 'emergency' c section

at home i antipate more support as we'll have an deadicated midwife looking after us which is less selfish than going to hospital and having to share my midwife with another woman in labour like last time - I was left during my transition stage as my mw had to go with her other patient for an assisted delievery, that was more scarey as no one was monitoring my baby

I also firmly believe that I have got married before having a family making a strong commitement to my dh - again not what I'd believe is a selfish decision, at hospital he was kicked out and we were left to fend for ourselves until I discharged myself 6 hours later because I needed my families help - again not exactly a selfish decision

home birth isn't for everyone there are loads of choices you'll make for your baby which people with differ on, I could quite easily say not breast feeding your baby is selfish as your not giving them the best start in life but every woman is different and makes the decision that is best for them and what they believe is right for their baby.

I just wanted to add a little balance and say I had an absolutely fine hospital birth.

My midwife (had the same one from about an hour in for the rest of the birth) was great. She read me really well and left me to it for the large part, intervening only when she needed to.

When I was begging for an epi (having said in birthplan I didn't want one!!) she subtley put me off.

I had no interventions, was left to labour standing up the entire time, even delivering standing up onto the floor!! (M-w gently tried to persuade me onto the bed but backed off when it was clear I wasn't going!)

I would seriously consider a homebirth for the next time having had a straightforward hospital birth, but just wanted a little balance on this thread. Hospital births can be great and you can get great staff and very little intervention.

I can see that all the respondents are strongly in favour of homebirth, based on their experiences and often also based on the fact that the hospital is very close and if anything goes wrong, they can be transferred. Another point everybody is making is their comfort and the postnatal care or rather lack of it at the hospitals.
Yet nobody has made a strong case for the medical emergencies that are unexpected, hence the 'emergency'. With all the respect to midwives, I'd rather have a specialist surgeon/consultant delivering my baby. I can't see clear reasoning amongst the responses for eliminating the accumulated knowledge and assistance of medical specialists. Exactly how can you predict a 'straight-forward, easy birth' anyway?
(I'm talking about large, extremely well equipped London hospital with all the possible specialists at hand, not of small rural one where doctors might lack the experience/knowledge or simply time.)
Again, I'd rather sacrifice my comfort for a few days to make sure the best medical care is available for my baby if he needs it. Thank you for the replies, so far I remain unconvinced though. Have read number of studies, none has answered my question : why choose to forgo all available medical help? Because something unexpected CAN happen!

I had a homebirth with no3 and am planning another this time, not because I insist on it, I had two perfectly fine hospital births, but because it is [theoretically] easier as
a] dp works 5 hours away
b] This is actually the MAIN reason, I am rather quick with the whole labour and birth thing and only just made it to hospital with lo2,with dp working 1/2 an hour away, very stressful.
I wouldn't insist on either a home birth or a hospital birth as both are in a normal healthy pregnancy absolutely fine, nor would I be disappointed with either. You must do what is right for you at the time.

Well, in the event of an emergency, if you are at hospital they still have to get theatre ready and surgeons/consultants prepped up before you can go in.

If you are at home, you get transferred by ambulance and meanwhile they are all ready for you at the hospital. So the lengths of time involved are roughly the same tbh.