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.

those not does

Crikey this has been an interesting morning's debate! Castanet, not sure if you are still reading this but if you are I'd really like to add my thoughts: Firstly, it does seem to me that you are equating having a baby with having a major operation. Yes, there's no doubt if I was having a heart transplant I'd rather be in a major London hospital than some rural outfit, stands to reason, but what I think lots of Mums are trying to get across is that having a baby is not a medical procedure. It really isn't. And it's not about the mother's wellbeing over the baby's either. You seem to have understood that most MNers who have home births are doing it because they are too damn lazy to get out of their own beds and would rather put their baby's life in danger than travel into hospital. It's not this simple, of course. It's not about shunning medical science either. You don't need much medical science to squeeze a baby out in most births - and if forceps and ventouses are the best that medical science has to offer in 2007 then God help us!

Birthing a baby is an incredible, life changing experience which will stay with you forever. How you deal with it and cope with it affects your baby 100%. I don't wish to sound patronising but it's impossible to explain until you have birthed a bay yourself. Your feelings, reactions and behaviour as a mother in the early days are so integral to how you bond with your baby and therefore how your baby feels, that it seems perfectly obvious to me that if you have a terrible time and are totally freaked out by the whole thing, then this will negatively impact on your baby.

Pardon me for saying so, but I think your opinions re hospitals are somewhat naive. Yes you can have a dangerous situation at home, but the same is true in hospital and bless you for thinking you get immediate medical attention in a hospital labour ward! If you are in the Portland then maybe you do but elsewhere I'm afraid you are just as likely to be left in a corridor screaming blue murder - even more so in an all singing all dancing London hospital than in a smaller place. having said all of this I believe you are having twins which is often a different situation entirely.

For the record I have not had a homebirth - it didn't occur to me at the time as I didn't really know enough about it, but as someone who has given birth I feel like I am qualified to defend the rights of those who wish this experience. I was lucky enough to have a fabulous birth in a major London hospital last year with the midwife who cared for me throughout my pregnancy (all NHS, numbers came up in the postcode lottery!) but I came home as soon as possible because the care you receive in hospital is truly substandard, both for you and your baby and if you are lucky enough to have a supportive partner and/or family you are way better at home.

Good luck with your pregnancy and birth...I hope you get the birth you want, the birth that's best for you and your babies because really that's just what all of us want.

agree with nang.

And she's having twins, I'd be seriously tempted to go for a planned c/section with twins.
I didn't like her tone at all, but we shouldn't resort to the same.

Agree. Just because castanet was somewhat antagonistic and rude about homebirth doesn't for a moment mean that she won't be a good mother or that her baby/babies should be pitied.

It really is such a personal decision to make - shame that she didn't seem willing to apply that reasoning to people who make an informed decision to homebirth.

I don't think it's terribly fair to discuss her ability as a mother, but have to add that her reason for an elective c-section was : "simply - I do not wish to be in pain for hours and then have my fannytorn up and feel like a wind tunnel afterwards, Kegels or not."

I chose to have a home birth FOR THE SAKE OF MY BABY. After 2 hostpital births, where an epidural and pethadine were available to me, I chose to give birth at home, with only the availability of gas and air as pain releif. I chose a home birth becasue I believe it was the safest, kindest option for my baby.

Unlike my hostpital births, it was a really lovely experience.

(I would also prefer an experienced midwife to deliver my baby, than a top consultant)

and then she dares to have a go at us for apparently putting comfort before our baby's wellbeing!

Still not sure if she isn't just a wind up tbh.

MorningGlory: is a "spinal" the same as an "epidural"?

What is procedure in emergency C/S if the spinal (?epidural) fails? (See relevant MN thread!).

I thought it took longer than 5 minutes for the epidural to take effect. Also, in UK, I think any CS that isn't scheduled at least 36 hrs in advance is called an emergency C/S, even if it happens some time (like possibly hours) after decision is made to go to theatre.

I knew a lady who had general for C/S because epidural didn't work right. Numbed wrong parts of the body -- another lady had several failed epidurals but (she said) doctors didn't believe that epidurals weren't working, and she had a C/S without a general or an epidural to block the pain.

True TC. Pretty crap reason for an elective c-section and also suggests that I have a fanny like a wind tunnel. Now maybe I am being too kind on myself, but I really don't think it's that bad. In fact, was quite the reverse after dd, but then that was a ballsed-up stitch job in hospital after OK but not entirely pleasant labour.

With ds the homebirth didn't happen because of lack of midwives - exactly why homebirths in my opinion are great because you have at least one on one care, if there isn't a shortage as happened on that particular Friday night.

But I laboured all the way at home and I still get misty-eyed thinking about ds's birth up to the point I got to hospital. And even then there was very little anyone could do to interfere as I was a bit more assertive and was absolutely certain that under no circs (apart obv from health reasons) would we be staying in for any more time than absolutely necessary. I enjoyed that birth. Really enjoyed it - was very special and cathartic after feeling so crap after dd's delivery.

But still - always get rather tense when people say anyone should be pitied or when people question other people's mothering abilities.

Kegels or otherwise, I think it is a bit of a mysoginistic scary tale, all this wind-tunnel (and other famous derogatory descritopns of women's vaginas) business.

I have no argument with anyone's informed decision to opt for an elective cesaerian, double so for twins.

Just for the record, my fanjo is not like a wind tunnel!

On the time issue, when I had DS in hospital, I was asked if I was hoping for an epidural and when I replied in the negative, I was told good because there was no-one available to do it. I was also too far on for pethidine. So I had gas and air. You can have gas and air at home. The journey was long and uncomfortable in advanced labour in the rush hour. So why risk that for a second labour which was likely to be quicker and no more difficult. DS was not an easy birth - I had a two hour second stage, ended up hooked up to a drip and had an episiotomy. But he was also 9lb10 and apart from the hormone drip all the interventions could have been done at home.

DD was born at home with a 2 minute second stage, 45 mins after I rang the midwife - bear in mind that it took longer to get to the hospital than that with DS. A year later my neighbour gave birth in the foyer of the hospital. So I think I made the right decision....

Ladies having a baby is not a competition.
Nor is it supposed to be a lovely experience.
All that matters is that you end up with a healthy baby and healthy mother.

Sometimes it's not that simple, scattyspice. Some women are so traumatised by a birth experience that it interferes with bonding, breastfeeding, etc. It literally haunts them, even though from a medical standpoint both mother and baby are "fine" afterwards. I know someone who waited 15 years to have her 2nd child, because she didn't think she could ever face it again.

Agree that it's not a competition, that posts here shouldn't have harped on Castanet for her choices... although I can sure understand the temptation, considering some of the things she's implied by about other people's choices.

I agree it's not a competition, but disagree that it's not supposed to be a lovely experience. Why isn't it? It hurts yes but why can't it be a wonderful experience. Both mine were and I fully expect to enjoy my 3rd and last birth as much as possible as well.

I have been reading this with consternation. Castanet how can you say that people choosing home birth do so for their own comfort and not that of their DC. That is completely unfair. People choose to have a homebirth because it is BEST FOR THEIR DC - NOT THEMSELVES.

Blooming cheek!!!

It can be a lovely experience Thomcat, but thats not why we do it.
People say 'my granny gave birth at home etc' true, but I bet a lot of them didn't think it was a lovely experience. Our grannies didn't get scans when preg, but not many of us would turn those down.

All that matters is that you end up with a healthy mother and a healthy baby. This is what I was told, after the traumatic birth I had with DS2. If I had not gone into hostpital, not been induced, I would have been mentally, as well as physically healthy.

mrs scarvo.

I guess I've been lucky.

"I would also prefer an experienced midwife to deliver my baby, than a top consultant". I had a lovely experienced midwife at the birth of my daughter. Second stage was going a bit slowly, and they were preparing for episitomy and forceps, when top consultant (who we knew quite well) came in, took away gas and air(!), talked me through giving birth to a 10lb 11 oz baby with no interventions and only a couple of stitches. It's not the post, most of the time, it's the person. The midwife was magic, but if it hadn't been for the consultant the birth would have been much worse.

haven't read the whole thread but what I have read is really interesting.

I am at the opposite end of the spectrum to most on here in that I had a (mainly) elective CS (ended up needing it anyway but I chose it before I needed it iyswim).

It was a lovely experience. However, I can see the sense on here - it seems that intervention tends to set of the cascade that ends in emergency cs and therefore avoiding intervention (even most forms of pain relief it seems) is the best way to go. I never thought I would say this but I can see the sense in the argument that birthing at home takes you away from the risk of intervention.

I would never do it myself because the babies in my family are huge and have huge heads. I do doubt my ability to birth a baby normally and family history suggests I'm right. But if somehow I could know that my next baby was a normal size with a normal sized head, I would be tempted to think about home birth.

Hmm....I'd never have had a homebirth, esp as I had a life threatening condition with my first baby (placeta praevia) - but if the OP thinks that you get cared about by midwives in hospital (or half the consultants)...boy is she in for a shock. My experience of labour with dd left me with panic attacks (now thankfully over) and recurrent claustrophobia (I cannot drink water in the dark, for example, and I have a tooth rotting in my head while I get up the courage to go to the dentist for crown work because I can't bear people working near my face).
I think a planned caesarean with no labour is a much better choice than natural labour and childbirth in hospital.

Yes, my elective (with 1st child) was fantastic. My second experience was a nightmare. Like being tortured.

This is an interesting thread!

I had an Emergency C/S (at 4am) and it took quiet a while to assemble ALL the surgical team. I think if you're within half an hours drive of a hospital you could have traveled and got into the operating theatre within the same time! (as MW would have phoned ahead)

My second baby was Elective C/S - mainly because I was so anxious and felt I wouldn't have got the support and help to have an NHS VBAC.

Castanet mentioned the mothers 'comfort' - IME it is extremely important for the mother to feel comfortable and supported. This can effect the whole outcome.

I do feel if I had opted for a HB first time around my experiences 'might' (can never say for sure) have been different (I was left alone, felt nervous, unsupported, exhausted)

Think we should respect each other choices however and just because Castanet wants C/S doesn't make her a bad mother. The comments about 'wind tunnels' is just a way of justifying her choice - people DO judge you for having C/S

?I take it OP has now left the building?

In case she is reading I am an experienced midwife who choose a HB after: DS1 forceps delivery, massive PPH and undiagnosed cardiac failure (long story but medical team did not pick up my symptoms and link them to my given history of CHD) and DD planned HB but emergency cs due to oblique breech. I am not mad or reckless, I choose the path that I felt would lead me to have the most relaxed and safe birth for the sake of myself and my DS2, my Home Water VBAC was an amazing and powerful experience and I had full confidence that if medical assistance was needed my midwife would be able to handle the situation until I arrived at hospital.