Homebirth for first baby

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I am a first time mum and looking into home birth . Up until pregnancy, I hadn’t considered home birth at all, however, losing my Dad quite recently and trauma associated with hospitals (in particular heart rate monitoring device’s sounds) has made me want to avoid hospitals through fear that the stress would stall my labour and lead to a cascade of interventions.
With that said, i’m conscious there is a slight increase in risks for home births with first timers.

I’m curious to hear your experiences with home birth, particularly if there were complications. How was this dealt with? Did you feel safe? What were the outcomes?

I’d most like to hear from 1st time mums where the risk is slightly elevated.

Thank you xx

I haven’t had a home birth but I’d consider how far away from hospital you are and what your emergency services provision is like at the moment with wait times in case of an emergency. If there’s generally long waits for ambulances or it’s s long journey to hospital I wouldn’t have a home birth.

I had a home birth with my first. All very straightforward. But we were close to a major London hospital should we have needed to transfer. I hired a birthing pool, which I loved and was all I needed for pain relief.

Liked it so much I had my other DC at home too.

However, I was very relaxed about the whole thing and had no birth anxiety. It was the right choice for me, but I realise it’s not for everyone

I was under the impression an ambulance is on standby? Not 100% though. I think it would be similar to mlbc which I had with 1st pregnancy

An ambulance definitely isn't waiting on standby for a home birth! It would have to be called and classified like any other emergency call.

I had a home birth with my first. I had an independent midwife, all my appointments were at home and never had to visit the gp surgery ever. Was very stress free and relaxed from start to finish.
join a home birth group if you can, hear other birth stories there etc.

I planned a homebirth for both my children.

With my first the midwife came out when I was in early labour but when she listened in to baby there was a deceleration so I went to the assessment unit for monitoring. All ok so I came home. Then when my waters broke it was meconium so I went to the main labour ward for the birth. Not what I planned but birth was reasonably straightforward, no time for an epidural but some concerns over baby's heart rate meant I had an epis (which healed with no problems).

Second baby was born at home, with 3 lovely midwives but due to a complicated tear I ended up with a PPH and a transfer in to hospital. The ambulance arrived within 5 minutes. Was sorted out on labour ward and then went back home that same night!

No there wouldn’t be one just waiting just in case. It would be an emergency call by the midwife and an ambulance would come when it was free. Some areas have huge waits for ambulances at the moment even for life or death situations.

Amazing, join the home birth UK Facebook group. It's probably the best place for info regarding this in the UK at the moment.

Both mine were homebirths. I chose it based on the evidence and that I was low risk not due to fear of hospital. Both were straightforward although number 2 was quicker than expected and had to call ambulance to make sure someone was here before midwife arrived, I had a first responder and 2 ambulances within 10 minutes, but then things slowed down and the midwife arrived before the birth anyway. This was some years back before the current concerns over wait times and we live close to a hospital.

Long post incoming :) I had a homebirth for my first, planning another for my second. Highly recommend! For me home felt the safest place to be, I also struggle with hospital anxiety albeit for different reasons. So sorry to hear about your dad.
There were no complications in my first birth, however I was confident that I was in good hands had there been. I firmly believe that birthing where you feel comfortable contributes to a smooth labour. Distance to hospital may be a factor for you to consider, but midwives call straight through for a cat 1 ambulance if they need it or anticipate that they might, the wait times are absolutely not the same as calling 999.
In terms of risks for first timers, I think this relates to being more likely to transfer in which can be for a multitude of reasons, such as pain relief which needs to be given in hospital. I'd think more about risk factors specific to you and your pregnancy that may impact your decision. But I would always balance those against the risk of being in an environment that you don't feel comfortable in- which are real and valid.
I'd recommend that you look into hypnobirthing if you havnt come across it already. Amazing for learning about natural birth, building confidence, coping with labour and how to make informed decisions re interventions and complications.
Lastly you can change your mind at ANY time, don't feel pressured into making a decision. There is evidence that even planning a homebirth, even if it doesn't happen for whatever reason, leads to better experiences. Best of luck and congratulations!

I will add, I am about a 8-10 min drive from my nearest hospital (rated Outstanding) and my pregnancy so far (touch wood) has been uncomplicated. I do not know what ambulance delays are like in my local area, however.
I also have a choice of midwife led unit or labour ward - so the full suite. Free birth, unless caught out by accident (!) isn’t for me.

My hospital does monthly zoom meetings to explore home birth, suppose my next question is what questions did you / others ask that really
helped you to decide which way to go?

I'd planned home births with both my children but unfortunately both ended up being born in hospital.
With DD1 it got cancelled 2 weeks before birth as I had Strep B.
With DD2 I was in labour and the pool was filling up but when my waters broke, they had medium in so off to hospital I went.

I was practicing hypnobirthing so felt really confident of how I'd cope at home and I had a wonderful home birth midwifery service. All my appointments were at home and really calm.
I'm 15 mins away from to hospital (8 minutes if blue lighted in ambulance) so was happy that if there was a problem, there'd be help quickly.

With the current state of the emergency services, I wouldn't be happy to have a home birth anymore as there's no guarantee you could get an ambulance if needed.

*meconium

I loved having my first baby at home. Continuity of care, 1-2-1 with the same midwife throughout, in the place where I felt safest and most relaxed.

Do still make sure you're well informed about inductions and interventions just in case it comes to that, but hopefully you'd be in for a wonderful home birth.

I had an accidental home birth with my second - despite it being a shock at the time I would definitely do it again if we ever had a third but aim to be more prepared😅 Thankfully everything was straightforward for both of us, but we are only 10 minutes from a hospital anyway and the paramedics were with us in 6 minutes so these are factors I would want to consider for a planned home birth because that’s just where my mind goes. I didn’t have any midwives present for the birth as it was unexpected but the aftercare was lovely.

I recovered so much quicker at home mentally and physically compared to my first hospital birth (which was also during lockdown too so that could have played a huge part too!) Within an hour of having my second (on the bedroom floor, not the comfiest but needs must!) I was showered, in fresh pj’s in bed having breakfast, my toddler happily coming in and out the room showing baby her toys - so if you had the chance to actually plan what you wanted for a homebirth it would be even better, highly recommend! 😅👍

If I had had a home birth with my first, we would be following it with a funeral.

Please think carefully before doing it.

Very glad you’re still here to tell the tale. May I ask what happened? I’ve had some responses from well meaning friends that say just this but without the context, it’s difficult to understand what I need to research or think about. Else, it’s quite an alarming stand alone statement.

I did not enjoy my hospital birth with DC1. Too much clock watching and intervention.

Had DC2 at home, even though DC1 hadn't been straightforward. DC2 was very prolonged and difficult, midwives eventually gave me a time deadline of about 10 minutes when, if nothing was happening, they'd call for the ambulance (my midwife had wanted a homebirth for hers but she ended up in hospital so she understood the situation).

On the 10 minute deadline, I felt the baby shift, midwife asked me if I really wanted him because he was 'as bald as a coot'. She was looking at his forehead.

It would have been a ECS if I'd been in hospital and I argued with many a professional afterwards that I apparently had it wrong, it was impossible to birth a brow presentation at home with no pain relief.

It was a fabulous experience from start to finish. It started about 8am when I was giving DC1 his breakfast, beautiful afternoon in the garden, me on all fours, DC1 rubbing my back saying 'poor mummy'. He went to his grandparents at teatime and I paced and walked and squatted, watched all the soaps, watched a documentary about women giving birth (which was hilarious because I was pushing when they were on the TV!).

Despite the underlying, controlled anxiety from the two midwives, the birth being a bit crooked, it was a million times better than being in hospital. DC2 was born at 10.32pm, next morning, XH had to go to work, my DM who was going to stay had to rush off for an emergency with my DGF and so it was just me, DC1 18m and squeaky new DC.

I absolutely 100% advocate for home births. So long as you're not assessed as at risk, then it's far more relaxing and natural.

I had all of mine at home. Like you, I feel I would have stalled, and the hospitals I had access to could not accommodate water births - which I was able to do at home. All perfect for the first two. Third one swallowed me coni um and stopped breathing when the cord stopped - quickly and deftly given air by one of the midwives (you get two) while the other helped me out of the pool and reassured me. Baby was fine but still a bit "grunty" so we ent into hospital by ambulance to be sure - she was fine (and passed her driving test this week ). Very glad we had them at home.

Baby stopped breathing and had to be resuscitated and then rushed to the NICU. I had massive blood loss.

Lots of people have no problems at all but some do.

I'm sure you will be fine wherever you choose to give birth. I wish you all the best.

Just as a follow up, homebirth is not for everyone and you should be prepared for some negative opinions. Join the Facebook groups, read positive stories and don't let the negativity of others bring you down. It's really an amazing community even if many don't 'get it'. You asked how to make the decision - mine was a gut instinct. Do what feels right for you.

I had all mine in hospital - felt much safer than I would have done at home. With my first pregnancy one of my NCT group opted for a home birth. There was a power cut when she was in labour and baby got stuck so she ended up being transferred to hospital.

First baby was born in hospital (midwife led unit), second born at home.

The homebirth was FANTASTIC - but I was not scared, because I knew I had done it before and could do it again.

With my first baby, I was terrified and the sense of sheer relief at getting to hospital and feeling that I was safe and someone else was responsible for getting this baby out was immense.

I would have considered having a home birth with ds but I had him in the hospital
However, I wouldn't consider it for any future pregnancies because I didn't realise how fast and serious something can happen post birth. I haemorrhaged 24 hours after having ds and still nearly died even being in the hospital. It's scary how things can change in a second
I just couldn't risk it

Just to add, I tore very badly with my first baby and lost pints of blood whilst various people spent about an hour attempting to stem the bleeding and stitch me up. Then had to have a blood transfusion. Glad I was in hospital.