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.

As an ex midwife I will add that:

Healthy mother and healthy baby are the most important thing.

Secondly that in my time as a midwife I have seen technology used to marvellous ends and there is no doubt that there are children around today who wouldn't be here if the technology had not been there. However, I am prepared to say that I bet there are people who should be walking around and who are not because the technology was misused and caused problems. In other words had they been born at home without all the interferance the outcome may have been different.

All the evidence shows that homebirth is at least as safe as hospital birth in normal cases.

From my experience when things do go badly wrong (either in hospital or at home) then the chances of a good outcome are very similar.

Having delivered lots of babies at home - on the odd occasion when we did need to go in it was arranged with the minimum of fuss and certainly without loss of life.

So you are 45 mins from a hospital - let me say it can take that long to get all the relevant people together in a hospital for an emergency CS. No difference.

It's a question of weighing up the pros and cons. If you are someone who doesn't feel safe without that tone and a half of technology around you then give birth in hospital. If you want a less interventionist approach go for a home or birthing unit option. Whatever you choose though do not judge anyone else for their choice. Your body, your baby, your birth.

I agree with Mrs Bond. I think Castanet is reasonable in her desire for a CS although perhaps not very willing to understand the preference of others for a homebirth.

One of my main reasons for wanting CS is that I didn't want to experience the genital mutilation my sister endured as a result of her normal labour. I think that's perfectly valid. If men gave birth and had to face the possibility of the same happening to their "bits", do you think they would feel they had to justify their choices the way we do?

..and yes - elective CS is now a valid choice. Important thing whatever you choose is knowledge and understanding of the decision you are making.
As long as you know all the pros and cons of your decision then relax and enjoy it - nobody else has the right to judge you.

Blimey I have spent most of the afternoon reading this thread ( supposed to be working but what the hell)..very interesting.
I am 2 weeks pregnant and thinking of a home birth, and yes it is my first. I have yet to see my midwife on a one to one, so am open minded enough to talk everything through with her. If anythng comes out of my next scan ( next week), or if anything comes up later on in the pregnancy , then obviously I will go with a hospital birth if it is needed for medical reasons. I have done alot of research on homebirths and as long as everything is straight forward in the pregnancy, then Home is i have been told the safer option for a few reasons.

1. The mother is more likely to be calmer (if this is what she has chosen), and therefore more comfortable with the progressing labour. You are able to have gas and air and pethidine, and transfer into hospital if needed.
2. less chance of infection
3. MOre one to one attention from 2 midwives.
4. less likely of intervention, so baby more likely to be born when actually ready, so less chance of emergency c section etc. The hospital that I am registered to last week was in the news for all the wrong reasons. A woman turned up there in what she thought was premature labour at 22 weeks of pregnancy. There was no one there to see her,no trained staff available, she was left for 2 hours on her own, and eventually gave birth to her baby who then died on her own in the toilet. This does not install me with great faith, and this is a brand new hospital that opened last year and cost £288 million.... It really is a personal choice and one im sure each mother takes with the safety of the baby in mind?! Happy births to all mothers to be..whatever your choice of birth xx

oops that was meant to read 22 weeks not 2!

I'm planning a homebirth with this one if possible, planned one with ds3 but a comedy of errors conspired to prevent it (letter advising of random electricity cuts in our village month baby was due, with no further wrarning- then after MW discussed this and relocated to a birth unit, my iron levels became an issue- we got them up, so all OK then MW took an extra test mistakenly (she did apologise) which was 0.5 too low and that was it - back to the unit that almost killed ds1 and I- firtuantely much improved on y return but they ahd me WORKING on the ward 3 hours after delivery LOL with a pg disabled kid (was working for homestart at that time).

Lots of reasons I really want to go for it this time. Firstly,a s a result of ds1's traumatic birth I would ahte to be in a hopspital alone. Should baby be imminent durings chool hols (as is due) daytime, DH has to take them down to mums, a 2 hour return journey. I refuse to be in hospital aloone- so will be at home, praying for his speedy return (sadly Mum and dad don't drive). If its evening I'll have baby with them in bed. As 2 of my boys are Sn there just isn't anyone else they could go with, a neighbour or friend wouln't be enough.

besides, none of my 3 previous albours have been complicated by anything likely to be repicated at home in a fourth delivery, and I've not yet needed epidural, intervention etc so I have a strong chance, and I would feel a lot safer here.

BTW when DS1 went into distress as a medical emergency, the only Consultant on call (sunday night) was doing a section and too busy to come to see me, luckily i dilated much faster than expected or ds1 wouldn't be here. So the help isn't always there in a hospital if you need it.

Haven't read the whole thread but I chose a home birth as I had 2 hospital births and needed no intervention (no pain relief) and thought I may as well do give birth somewhere I was happy and comfortable

I had a lovely experience and it was so nice to bath in my nice clean bath and sleep in my nice clean bed afterwards

My next pregnancy was a high risk one and I had to be in hospital. All their intervention messed up the birth to the extent that I almost died and my daughter did. She was resusitated and now has cerbral palsy. Even as a high risk pregnancy I truly believe I would have been better off at home and she may not have been disabled. The hopsital admitted it messed up and we have since won a court case

Hospitals have to follow protocol so they interfere with a very natural process

To call homebirthers selfish is out of order

that's so sad houseofhormones.

houseofhormones

my cusin's child died as a result of hospital problems- firstly they missed a heart condition that should have been picked up on the scan, then a few years later whilst there for the damage resulting from the original error he contracted MRSA

well heres a prime example of exactly how shit the nhs is!!!!!!!

Right after my last post on this thread there was an almighty scream from my dds bedroom, it was my ds, then my dd, then i ran in and i screamed......

My 3 year old son had cut the top of his finger off with a metal folding chair! there was blood peeing everywhere and he was screaming so bad he was probably heard 3 streets away. I rang an ambulance immediatly and a fast response car arrived within about 4 minutes. All fairness to this bloke he was brilliant, he wrapped up ds fingers and gave him some morphin. Then the ambulance arrived, and took us to a&e.....

We sat in a small room, just me and my poor ds who was upset bleeding and obviously in pain!! We sat for about 2 hours before a doc finally came and saw us. He unwrapped ds fingers and said ill be back in a minute i need to fetch consultant, came back and he said oh yes that needs sorting out and then he left!!!

One of the nurses came and kind of wrapped his hand up again and sent us to xray which we were there about 10 minutes.

We were then sent to the childrens waiting room where we sat and sat and sat......then the doctor came out and told us that someone hadnt arrived he will be there by 3 o clock.

About 20 past 3 we were finally called and they stitched ds finger after having to give him 5 shots of anestetic, naturally ds was very distressed about this and was very very upset, once they had numbed his finger they had to wait for the specialist, who was in a meeting, meanwhile the nurse is saying we are really under staffed today...

anyway hes all stitched up and they are saying, "well he doesnt need antibiotics anyway" when the specialist strolled in again and said "of course he needs antibiotics!!" so they give him some which i have to go to the hospital pharmacy for and wait a further 30 minutes...

They do not tell me what sort of pain relief i should give him or what i should do to look after the wound etc etc and im sent home.

Now the waiting wouldnt have bothered me to much but there were 3 people in a&e and nobody at all in the childrens waiting room. But i was still there hours, WHY?????

Anyone that wants to tell me the nhs are good now i will tell them to B@@!!@ks

sorry to go on but it has made me so angry! and my poor little boy

sorry that was really long

liketosleep

Horrible experience for you - a+e is a hideous experience having been there with ds on one occasion. However, it all depends on what else is going on. If you were sat there with your poor ds and someone came in having a heart attack they'd take priority - your son won't die from an unstitched finger but somebody having a heart attack could die if not treated urgently. You only saw 3 people but that doesn't mean this is all they were doing - nobody generally knows what is coming in the emergency entrance by ambulance.

Horrible experience and doesn't make the wait and the lack of communication any better but a+e IS sometimes horrendously busy but not always visible from the waiting room.(from my distant memory as a nurse)

Sensible words closetpagen.

That's true closetpagan, emergency cases tend to come in through a separate entrance, clearly they get priority in life or death situations but it can be very frustrating for those in the main room who are not kept updated.

Every single day the NHS saves lives, we must not forget that- OK I suspect ds1's birth contributed in some way to the atypical parts of his asd, but I wouldn't be ehre if they hadn't been there (it was eclampsia) and there are so many cases where mums and babies have survived solely through the skills of some marvellous professionals. But for a normal low risk delivery, given the evidence is that the risks are equal, a woman should choose the environment in which she feels most confident, as a happy confident Mum has the best outcomes. I wouldn't dream of condemning those who choose a hospital birth- how ridiculous would that be- but then I expect not to be condemned for my choices as well.

Yep - communication here was truly appalling. Horrible experience - especially for the little boy left in pain. From my dim past (okay 15 years) I seem to remember that the waiting room people were supposed to be kept informed - clearly this has all changed.. Not good.

Has Castanet left the building?

Ah only 12 years since I was in A&E as anything other than a patient LOL, but communication in the NHS doesn't seem to change, does it?....

Only read first post. So no one could tell me I couldn't leave hospital while not helping me to sort out the problem (feeding difficulties with dd1). Because lots of things that do go wrong go wrong because of hospital interventions (but not all, obv). Because my labours tend to develop very slowly so plenty of time to transfer if want or need to. The midwives are extra careful with you - eg finding excuses for a late scan to check not breech etc. Yes, I did worry about the choice, but tbh it was fantastic.

yes im sorry, i was just really angry, im ok now my boiling blood has cooled, it was just watching my little boy in pain sorry everyone xx

Before having a baby I was puzzled about why people wanted to have homebirths, I never really considered it as an option. I think it would have been hard for me to get my way if I had wanted one. Shame, because after a hospital birth I really like the idea. But I'm old in maternity terms, 37 at time of first baby in early May, 38 now, and my baby was late and had to be induced, and I had a long labour. I felt that being strapped up and immobilised really didn't help, and I've been watching tv programmes about home water births and stuff, I'm so jealous !

havent read whole thread, i have had three babies in hospital. ds1 - great . ds2 - shit. dd - awful, left on mine own most of the time, when dd delivered left laying in my own blood unable to move for four hours, yes four hours. In the end dh had to clear bed and everything as I got so upset at being left. Was to upset to complain, wish I had now.

re the question about spinals, no it is different from an epidural. In an epidural, you inject medicine in the space ouside the sheath surrounding the spinal canal. Medicine concentrations are higher and often continuous through a catheter, but effect lighter (why one can have a "walking epidural"). Good if needed for a prolonged period,bad if needed immediately and only for a short period. With a spinal, we inject medication directly in the spinal canal. Takes effect almost immediately, one time injection, and cannot gradiate the effect (i.e., numb or nothing).

Regarding the consultant, I think that the system here in the States is better. One's obstetrician is usually one's gynecologist (and often used as a woman's backup gp), so s/he would have followed the mum-to-be prior to getting pregnant, during pregnancy, and after pregnancy. Also, most obstetricians here are women, so more sympathetic to our concerns. I remember trying to find a female obstetritian in the UK when I was pregnant with DS, and it was impossible (at least privately). Maybe this skews the outcomes here?

Although the (now retired) female Obs with ds1 was well known as a harridan 9childless and an old maid). The one with ds2 was fab though, maybe all the female ones live in the west country LOL.