Home Birth Home Visit ?

[Babieseverywhere]

What is a home birth home visit ? I didn't have one in my previous 2 pregnancies. Apparently it will take around an hour !

I told them I will be setting it up just the same as I did for my last birth when the SOM came out to me and she was happy with the setup. But apparently they need to come and look. Also they are not bringing me a home birth bag, apparently things have altered since my last birth attempt (though I am pretty sure my friend had a bag brought to her and she only had her baby a couple of months ago.

Sigh, maybe I am just being paranoid and picky. Certainly worrying as the house isn't ready for the baby yet and the second midwife coming out is the one I made a complaint about last pregnancy and I am so worried they are going to be looking for a problem so they can withdraw support again.

Any pointers with what I need to have in place or what they will be looking at.

Thanks in advance. Off to pick DD up from nursery.

bump

I never had a home visit, the first time a midwife saw our house was when I was leaning over the sofa going ow ow ow! And that's with an HB that was planned from about 25 weeks. No HB bag brought round either.

Sorry - that's not a very helpful reply really. I imagine all they'll be checking for is things like access to water, loo etc near the room you're planning to labour in.

I think they have to check things like parking and night time saftey for the mw. The mw just wanted to know where to park at night and whether we had outside lights, we're quite rural and these are sensible worries. She discovered that she has no phone signal here, but it doesn't matter as we have a landline. Just stuff like that I think. She didn't check that the toilet was clean or anything like that.

they are basically looking to make sure everything is safe for them. they have to do a risk assessment

so, making sure there is access for ambulance if necessary, ensuring you have running water, etc etc. basically making sure it's an environment they can do their job in
all basic stuff but they just have to tick boxes

they'll probably have a chat with you then about the pros and cons of homebirth. I had to sign a thing to say they'd talked to me about all the risks and what would happen if i needed to be transferred and stuff like that

we also don't get a homebith pack to keep here. they bring everything with them when they arrive

No we didn't get a kit here.

The check involved checking access and making notes, drawing a map etc. It was to put up in the midwives' office so that any oncall midwife knew our exact location, where to park, whether an ambulance could pull up easily etc. She asked questions about water and access to the loo, talked to us about what they would need and what they would provide themselves. And then she made a few notes about me to put on file in case another midwife turned up on the day (it was another midwife and the fact that she knew exactly where I was, what I wanted for the delivery and a little bit about my birth partner really helped).

Then we drank tea and ate biscuits.

She didn't look round or check anything or poke about in the loo btw. She came in, sat on the sofa and chatted.

It's nothing to worry about.

Thanks for the information.

Set up is identical to last birth attempt with this hospital and these midwifes boss was happy with it last time, so I should have no cause to worry.

Just a bit behind with the ironing three baskets worth and my back is playing up and I am not up to rushing around, so DH will hoover after tea and apart from that they will have to take us as they find us

Hi,
I am almost 39 weeks and had my HB visit three weeks ago. I second everything thisis yesterday and PlasticCenturion have said. They will NOT be checking that you have done the dusting/ironing/hoovering so don't go mad. Also they know all this will be done when the nesting kicks in anyway .

I also got the impression they wanted to check DH and I weren't nutters and were of sound mind!! MW was very pleased when she saw we had a table and chairs in kitchen and said 'oh that is perfect for me and other MW to have a cup of tea and biscuits at'

I haven't been given a kit either, presume they bring on day but may ask just to check.

Good luck

hippopo, Thanks

Well, wish me well they will be here in an hour or so, let you know how things go later

Hi, how did the visit go? Hope it went well.

It went well, I just hide the ironing behind the sofa (all three baskets of it )

Happy with most of the conversation with two exceptions.

They told me only two staff on at night and if they were already with one mother, I would HAVE to go to hospital

They wanted me to ring as soon as labour started and they would ring to see how things were going

I will not be going into hospital just because they don't have enough staff on call, they knew 7 months ago how many mothers were planning home births and it is up to them to sort out relevant staffing levels. I didn't argue but will be declining to go to hospital on that basis.

Re. ringing them in early labour, I am in two minds. Part of me doesn't want the 'clock' starting to early but they did stress that every labour is different and this one might shoot out (I wish) So still thinking about that one.

Overall good, I think

Hmmm, I would be tempted to wait until the morning shift starts before phoning them then, if you do go into labour in the night.
you will probably have a good idea of how quickly it is progressing and if anything is imminent.

how long was your last labour?

I was in labour 24 hours with contractions 5 minutes apart before transfering to hospital. I had dillated but DS had shifted position and was transverse and stuck, hence the emCS.

First labour, slow labour at home on and off 3 days. 30 hours ish induced nightmare in hospital, followed by couple of days in HD unit for me.

I am a failure when it comes to natural births, oh well another go in 3/4 weeks time