Birth choices - first timer

[duckling3]

Hi, I am currently coming up to 11 weeks pregnant. Had the booking in appointment with the midwife yesterday. She asked me if I'd decided where I want to give birth which tbh I wasnt expecting with it being so early. In our Area we have a midwife led unit not near the hospital, a midwife unit in the hospital & the hospital labour ward. I've only just started looking into the options, and have ages yet to make any decisions , but it's a bit overwhelming. The midwife unit not near the hospital looks the nicest ( by far) but then there is no option for epidural or doctors onsite if something were to go wrong.

I'm curious as to what factors people take into account when planning where to give birth...especially for the first time.

I've had my first baby very recently. After a lot of research I opted for a home birth with pool. In the end my labour didn't "progress" normally and I transferred to hospital because I didn't dilate past 9cm. However I actually enjoyed and felt really comfortable in the part where I was at home and I think it could have all been a lot slower if the whole thing had been in hospital. Things were also fine at hospital and I needed a bit of help getting baby out so glad I did transfer in when needed. What amazed me was how important it is to be in your zone and how much distractions slowed down or reduced contractions. So, my advice would be to look at where you feel most comfortable and go with your instinct on where you feel safe and happy. Research shows MLU are just as safe as hospital for first time mums. And you can never predict what will happen and what intervention you will or won't need, so I sound try not to worry about that too much.

@kittykat7210 you absolutely DO have a choice where you give birth, it is your legal right. You do not HAVE to give birth in a hospital. It is sad that women still believe that they don’t have a choice in where they have their baby. The way that information is conveyed makes women believe that they don’t have a choice, this is not correct at all.

@TwinkleStars15

I’m not allowed to give birth in a birth centre unfortunately, my first labour had shoulder dystocia, retained placenta and haemorrhaging, any of those reasons mean I wouldn’t be accepted into a birth centre, all 3 means there’s no hope in hell 😂

It's surprisingly common for it to not be a choice.

I wanted the birth centre but their policy was to say no if your had more than the 2 routine scans. I'd had a few growth scans which were all unnecessary/ false alarms but simply because I'd had them it was straight to labour ward.

I'm not telling you this to be negative I'm just trying to help as it really does help to know this stuff in advance and often no-one tells you! I found out when I was in active labour and being told no then being wheeled out of the birth centre was not ideal! If I'd have known in advance it would've been very helpful as I very much had my hopes up.

FWIW I actually had a positive experience on the labour ward and they had a birth pool.

Good luck and don't forget to check your hospital's policies

@kittykat7210 that doesn’t mean you can’t choose to have your baby elsewhere; at a different hospital, at home etc. That just means you can’t have baby in that particular MLU.
Obviously everyone needs to weigh up the pros and cons of each option and make an informed decision, but many women are told they “can’t” have a home birth, when they absolutely can if they wish too. It’s a women’s legal right.