Homebirth for first baby

[Oceanbeautiful]

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'd speak to your midwife first, it does depend on where you are and staffing levels
I considered a homebirth for my second pregnancy (first labour straightforward, no issues, 4 hours) DH was working away, and I was concerned about childcare and getting to hospital.

Midwife told me I could request it, but almost certainly wouldn't get it, due to staffing levels! I didn't want the uncertainty, so opted for hospital. My friend had a homebirth which was very traumatic and ended with her and baby blue- lighted to hospital (all OK in the end!)

Why were you still in hospital 24 hours post birth?

I had my third baby at home. I'd had a forceps delivery with my first and an easy (but long) delivery with my second. My home birth was easy and amazing, one of the best experiences of my life, but at five hours not quick for a third birth. All my pregnancies were obstetrically textbook.

However, absolutely no way would I have considered a home birth for my first, or even for my second because I'd had that forceps delivery and didn't know if I could deliver without intervention.

I was only ten minutes by ambulance from hospital, but my home birth was 25 years ago when the NHS wasn't in the state it is now.

My advice to you is - have an open and honest discussion with your midwife (mine actually suggested a home birth due to DC2's birth and my history of easy pregnancies). Do your research, be absolutely certain what you are getting yourself into. Get your partner on board, you can't do it without their full support, you really can't. Realise that things change and you might have to go to hospital. First babies are notoriously late and if you go very overdue you need to accept that a homebirth is off the table.

I think if you've had one or two babies before, your obstetric history is known and it's easier to guess what might happen. For example I knew that my labours tend to be long but I'm either early or don't go much beyond my due date and my pregnancies are very straightforward. Also, DC2 was a fairly easy birth (just needed lots of stitches). With a first baby you just don't know. You also don't know what your pain tolerance will be. I needed an epidural with DC1 but coped just fine on G&A with DC2 and DC3.

Just keep an open mind and be prepared for anything.

I had a planned home birth for my first and it was probably one of the worst decisions I have ever made.
There's a reason why hospitals have all that medical equipment and senior medical staff.
It's wonderful to see so many people have had great experiences, but the truth is not everyone is so lucky. I wasn't.

I lost a massive blood at home and had a lot of blood transfusions after transfer to hospital. If I'd been in the hospital I'm sure I'd be saying, "Thank goodness I was in the hospital!" too. But it worked out.

Lots of people have their first baby at home. My stats are outdated but when I had my babies, there was a slightly higher rate of transfer to hospital for first time mothers, but I don't think that means you shouldn't try if you are low risk and have access to a midwife.

I planned a home birth with my first but it went wrong and ended up with a mad dash to hospital (in our car as no ambulances were available). My baby got stuck and I ended up having an emergency c-section. I was so relieved to be in hospital then. As long as you have a good back up plan, it should all be ok. Good luck.
P.s. We hired a birthing pool which was amazing although it completely filled our kitchen. Well worth it.

All in going to say is four home births and the last one was twins who are now 2 then our 3 yr old and our 2 teens and I wouldn't change a thing loved every minute tbh. The personal care was second to none 2 midwives and 4 for the twin birth. I was able to wander about and do my usual stuff until the last half hour on each birth. I wasn't into pain relief,pools etc. our oldest were born in our bedroom the 2nd youngest was born on the kitchen floor and the twins in the living room and then to dive into my own bath afterwards and straight to bed and feed them was amazing. Midwives were awesome wouldn't even know they were there until I needed them as they watched tv in another room. We were all so relaxed and I was the first in our area to have a home birth with twins apparently. They were all quick labours and the midwives reckoned it was because I was in my own surroundings doing my usual things and happier that way. So for me unless there had been a medical problem requiring hospital it worked out all good.

@Hedgerow2 it was agreed in my birth plan that we would stay for 24 hours to monitor ds as I had been on medication during pregnancy
Ds ended up coming really early at 34+2 and needed treatment for jaundice so we ended up staying for 7 days with him anyway

Re the haemorrhage- I was telling the midwives throughout the day I was passing a lot of blood and clots. I was leaving the pads out to show them and they were taking note by all telling me it was normal. somehow, probably lack of communication, and multiple MW in and out, I was missed and they didn't realise how much blood I had lost.
TMI WARNING
Then I went to the bathroom and caught a clot in a sick bowl that was weighed later found to be almost the size of my 6lb baby
That made everyone run me to emergency closing the lift doors on my dp and newborn as there were so many people inside and when the doors shut I didn't think I'd see them again. I still shocked I survived

So yeah not for me. But, I have read of it being amazing for some people and there are ways to do it safely.
It's your body and your choice. Whatever is going to make you feel most comfortable in labour and you can always go to the hospital if you change your mind x

In my NCT class, they advised 50% of first-time mums in our area who attempt a homebirth get blue-lighted to hospital. We didn’t want to take that risk.

3 of my friends have attempted a homebirth. 1 was successful and 2 ended with EMCS. Those 2 also found it more difficult mentally to deal with having such a different birth than they envisaged, so please think about how disappointed you might be if you did have to go to hospital.

I wouldn’t take the fact that you have a low-risk pregnancy as a factor in your decision. It has no correlation to what will happen at the birth. I had a low-risk pregnancy, not even any sickness, and I just never went into labour. Had a failed induction and EMCS.

The very high majority of my first-time mum friends needed some kind of intervention, eg an episiotomy, or even just an epidural as the only thing that made them stop throwing up during labour.

Do you have a MLU at your hospital? That may be a happy medium.

I think it would be lovely to give birth at home, and I would have considered it for my 2nd birth if my 1st birth had gone smoothly, but then 2 of my friends has really quick second births and lost a lot of blood really quickly and had to go to theater, so it’s never without serious risks I don’t think.

Are you serious? with the ambulance services as stretched as they are they have enough to do this?

7 of us from my workplace recently gave birth. 3 wanted a homebirth but all had to be transferred. For 2 it would have been their second home birth, both had to be transferred after the first for stitches. I was tempted by idea of homebirth but medically inadvisable. Just as well, baby got very stuck upon pushing, couldn't even by pulled out by forceps and had to be pushed back up and c sectioned out very quickly. He was also getting distressed during contractions and his heart rate was down in the 70s. Luckily I was having continuous monitoring so it was picked up very quickly. Baby could very much have died if I'd tried to give birth at home!

I wouldn't even consider for first baby. There is far too much that can go wrong in a very short timeframe, both for you and baby. Everyone I've known has needed some intervention with first baby, and in fact, some have saved their lives. And I do not trust that an ambulance would get there in time, given current wait times. You don't have to have any interventions you don't want, and you can wait until later in labour to go into hospital. Surely it's best to assume the worst, otherwise you plan this serene straightforward experience then get disappointed. There's a reason the maternal mortality rate is good in the UK, and that's because of hospitals.

I had a low risk pregnancy right until the end when it suddenly became high risk resulting in a haemorrhage during birth. I was mid twenties, fit and healthy, and wasn't having a particularly big baby so it was a shock.

Things can change very quickly so, for your own mental wellbeing, I'd recommend being comfortable with as little intervention as possible and as much as necessary.

@scaredofff

Sounds like you had a a tough time!

Your initial point was along the line of 'I booked a homebirth but ended up delivering in hospital which was a good job because if I'd have had a homebirth we'd have had a really bad outcome!'

I see these posts a lot, basically saying 'if I'd have birthed at home I/my baby would have died'

However, when people say this they generally didn't end up birthing at home because some big risk factor cropped up or they decided to accept an intervention.

@scaredofff because you had risk factors you would never ever have been advised to birth at home. The reason for you birth complication was very likely linked to the complications and risk factors you had.

Home birth for low risk women is very safe. OP, I urge you to look at the birthplace cohort study.

Of course a low risk pregnancy correlates with the kind of birth you have.

If you have a low risk pregnancy you're much much more likely to have a low risk birth, hence the entire premise of midwifery led care vs consultant led care.

And the above post is also the perfect example of what I just said.

Low risk pregnancy... opted for an IOL which as per usual failed and she ended up with an EMCS.

If she'd have waited for the onset of spontaneous labour at home she very likely wouldn't have had a section.

Things don't often go home when we leave women the hell alone and only intervene in pregnancy and birth when absolutely necessary.

The current section rate at trusts accross the UK is around 47% my local trusts was 46% last month. WHO reccomend it should be no higher than 15%.

All being well during pregnancy, home birth is the way to go OP. You're safer at home in this climate, sadly.

• go wrong

Could not agree more with @houseydncf
I know several people who have accepted induction due to estimated big baby. Cue haemorrhage and 'thank God I was in hospital'
Does anyone take the time to explain ahead of said induction that haemorrhage is in fact more likely during an induction. No of course not. Was the baby big, not at all.
Just this morning I was heavily pressured to induce early, based on absolute rubbish ifs and maybes, no actual risk at all. Never were the process or risk of induction explained, just a long pause where clearly I was expected to say yes please and not question anything.
You are the best advocate for you and your baby.

That’s not really the point i’m making, maybe I worded it badly.

My point is that it’s also very common for you to be a healthy person with no issues in pregnancy, but also need intervention of some kind during the birth. A smooth pregnancy does in no way mean a smooth birth.

I was interested in a home birth but didn't in the end because of additional risks. I think living as close as you do to the hospital would make home birth a reasonable option.
If you do end up in hospital you can ask for the sound to be turned off on the heart rate monitor - I had major trauma around that noise and midwife was happy to turn off the sound - they still monitor you carefully from the screen and I assume there are alarms to alert if there is a problem.

That poster was referring to my story, in which I was induced due to nearly being 42 weeks. Their presumption that i would have gone into spontaneous labour eventually and everything been ok is inaccurate and disgusting to spread on these forums. Going to 42 weeks is high risk due to decline in a placental function, which is why NICE guidelines have recently changed to suggest women are induced around 41 weeks, not 42 weeks.

Just to be clear op, this is incorrect, if i’d have waited for the onset of spontaneous labour, my baby would have died.

I had my first two babies at home. Both were low risk pregnancies and the labour and delivery went well. From what I've read it is never made clear why 40% of first time home birthers transfer but I would guess that most of these are due to pain relief options. There's a great book by becky reed called birth in focus that my midwife recommended that you might like to look at. Overall I'd recommend it as long as you are okay with minimal pain relief. With my third I made the decision to go to hospital to birth him because I had a thyroid issue ... I wish I hadn't now as the post natal experience was abhorrent.