Home birth

[zscaler]

Hello!

I wondered if anyone has had a home birth or is considering one? If so, I would love to hear your thoughts!

I’ve always liked the idea of a home birth, and with everything that’s current happening with CV19 it’s more appealing than ever. I mentioned it to my midwife and she says that home births are currently not available but likely will be by December (when I am due), so it’s certainly something we can consider later on.

Obviously all depends on me having a healthy pregnancy and it being considered safe by my midwife, I will be totally led by why she and other professionals think is safe. It was really encouraging to me though that she was positive about the idea.

Has anyone had a home birth experience, good or bad? Would anyone consider one for a first pregnancy?

@TwinkleStars15

Offensive? How?😂😂

And I am supporting. By giving my own opinion. Which is what OP asked for. On a public forum.

@keha thank you for such an informative post!

I had a homebirth with my second, and it was a wonderful experience. However, I definitely wouldn't recommend it for a first baby. It is statistically riskier, and you just don't know how well you are going to cope with it with your first, either physically or mentally. The pain of my first was such a shock to my system and I begged for an epidural (didn't get one 😞). With my second though, I knew what to expect and that was a huge help.

I’m considering a home birth this time but it’s baby number 3 and my last birth was very quick - 2cm to birth in 1.5 hours so I feel like it’s probably my best option this time. For a first birth I personally feel that a midwife led unit is a really good option but having said that I do know lots of people who have had great home birth experiences.

I'm planning a home birth for my first - well aware that I may end up needing but we're only a few minutes away from the hospital. The midwives in my area are very pro home births and have a low transfer rate

Argh posted too soon

*needing to transfer or change my plans nearer the time

@zscaler someone might come along with some more current research and as another poster has pointed out, the outcomes can depend on whether you have a dedicated local home birth team. A big international review recently found statistically homebirth even for first time mums is no riskier, but that did include countries that may have better set ups, like the Netherlands. When you start looking into this, you get very sad stories from both ends of the spectrum. Some people with highly traumatic experiences in hospital who wish theyd had a home birth and people who've very sadly lost babies at home. Personally I tried to ignore these and look at the research. Good luck in what you decide.

OP you might also want to look at this very large international study out of Canada last year, which has added to the evidence base around the safety of home birth. It found no difference in the rate of perinatal death between home and hospital birth for low risk women. There was also no difference for women having their first baby.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(19)30119-1/fulltext

The study I've just posted is the one @keha has just referenced. It includes the UK.

I was open to a homebirth VBAC if things were going well. In the end, we decided (along with my independent midwives) not to risk it and headed in.

Good thing we did- delivery was assisted, I had a third degree tear after his shoulder dystocia and it could all have ended very differently. No one even realised he was 10lbs6 until he was out...

I was reminded of this earlier actually as an American celebrity was in the news today as her homebirth went wrong, also with shoulder dystocia, and the baby died with serious brain injuries 6 days later. Not worth the risk, in my view.

Oh I do agree with Keha that you should look at the statistics and not anecdata like my post above. But likewise, if it all went wrong, would you be able to live with yourself that you’d intentionally avoided being closer to medical assistance? Personally I couldn’t and made my choice accordingly.

I've been told that a home birth would be better for my second as I had a fast labour with my first. I really am going to try my hardest to get into hospital though. I'd want to be within seconds of an operating theatre not twenty minutes or more away from theatre should baby get into trouble.

@Goostacean agree totally with you

@Goostacean I also completely agree. I think in the end this is a decision you think about a lot with your head and have to make with your heart. Where do you feel safest and most comfortable, that will probably be the place you will labour best. Both me and my husband work in the medical profession and actually for us, hospital does not necessarily feel safe as we see a lot of the sad side of things. The job I do involves a lot of risk assessment and this makes me often look at risk a bit differently. After contemplating everything I decided I would be able to live with myself if something went terribly wrong - in the same way I would not blame myself if my child (at an appropriate age) went on a bike by themselves and was killed by a car. But it is all about personal judgement and what you feel happy with. The importance of the research is it shows statistically home birth is still very safe, but you could be the one where something goes badly wrong and you could also be the one who goes to hospital and something goes badly wrong there.

I’d recommend you do some reading around positive birth experiences and home births.
Many people will try and warn you against them, because they see birth as a medical event rather than what it is.. a natural, physiological event.
I personally am not eligible for a home birth. But love reading stories about women who successfully birth at home.
My advise to every mother is birth where you feel the most safe. Your birth experience is important, and you have the choices available to you xx

It is also worth considering how you feel about hospitals. Your stress levels can affect the progress of the birth (sorry, haven’t googled for references but I did read up 10 years ago!). If you get panicked in a clinical environment then it might be better to be at home.

I had dc1 in hospital as I was a 20min drive away. Needed forceps but would have been fine to stay home longer and do a transfer. Dc2 came very fast, 20 min in hospital. Dc3 was planned to be a home birth due to the speed of dc2, but ended up an emergency section very premature.

Also, although it seems like a massive decision when you’re pregnant, (I know I spent a lot of time researching birth experiences) it actually is only one day ish.

I liken it to planning a wedding day when it’s the marriage that really matters. Not that it’s bad to plan, just don’t obsess about it.

I could have written the post right at the start of the thread from @SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius, right down to having a coffee morning at home in early labour with DS3 The only difference is that I only had DS3 at home, my other two boys were born in hospital.

Having a home birth is fabulous, it was truly one of the best experiences of my life, but I wouldn't have considered it for a first baby. I was confident to go for it with DS3 because I'd had two straightforward births before, was very low risk and was positively encouraged to have a home birth by my community midwife.

Do all your research, follow the advice of your midwife, and most importantly make sure your partner is fully on board as you will need their support.

@Keha

But if something goes wrong in hospital it more than likely wouldve gone the same way in a home birth anyway, if not worse?

All of the high risk women give birth in hospital, along with emergency transfers and women from the MLU, planned caesarean etc.

So really the only women giving birth at home are the low risk ones for whom labour has progressed well. And adverse outcomes arent that far off a hospital?

Sorry if I've misinterpreted that wrong but it doesnt look great to me?

I haven't read the previous responses yet so apologise if I'm repeating something! I had a home birth with my first, 2 years ago. I'm more planning my second for October. I had an amazing experience, with a birth pool in my bedroom, the cat on the bed, no internal examinations as requested...I felt very much at ease and safe to do whatever felt right, which I really appreciated. Our area is really pro hb, I had expected some querying of my choice because it was my first but I had nothing but support. I had two fantastic midwives with me, who were both experienced with home births, and the whole thing just felt completely right. I think it would matter hugely if the midwives in your area were less supportive or experienced in home birth, as I've heard stories of some women who've been taken to hospital for no obvious reason other than the midwife on call wasn't trained in home births... I doubt that's common but I would want to make sure it didn't happen!

I'm always very hesitant to share my birth story because it feels like it isn't a thing to talk about, but it's as much a reality of birth as the "trust your body" gang. I too had a textbook low risk pregnancy with not a single complication. My midwife really tried to persuade me on a home birth but I went to the hospital because that's where I felt safest. Like a PP, I then had a sudden and very acute placental abruption leading to crash c section under GA. From the midwife hitting the red button to baby being delivered was 12 minutes, but it wasn't fast enough and her heart had already stopped. I'll never know why but they kept going with the resuscitation longer than the guidelines say and by some miracle they did get her back. She's now 18 months: happy, healthy and (so far) entirely unaffected. There's not a day goes by I don't think about what could have happened. No amount of trusting my body would have saved my baby. It's unpopular to say it, but these things do happen.

@wolfgirrl these studies are comparing outcomes for low risk women only. So they're comparing outcomes for low risk women who planned a hospital birth and low risk women who planned a home birth. Anyone "high risk" at the start of labour is not included.

Both mine born at home. Both beautiful and positive experiences. If you haven't already looked at hypnobirthing I would hugely recommend it. It worked brilliantly for me and I had two pain free births.

I have had 2 home births, loved them, I wish I had my 1st at home aswel but wasn't brave enough at the time. Would defo recommend.

I had my second at home, my main motivator for a home birth was that I really hate being in hospital. It was great (well, as great as childbirth can be, it was really fucking painful!) I knew from my first labour I’d likely be very sick during, so I got some anti emetics in advance from the doctor (I wouldn’t have been able to stay at home without them). It was a straightforward labour, on my bed, with a midwife I had had through both my pregnancies (that was luck of the draw, it was so nice!) The best bit was a lovely shower afterwards, and then a takeaway in bed with my new little boy! I didn’t have a bad experience at all in hospital with my first child, but my home birth was a million times more comfortable and better. Good luck!