There is no difference is having a baby at home or in a birth centre. With complications you'll still need sending to a hospital. You are less likely to have intervention at home. I had a homebirth in a hired birthpool with my first. Mws arrived at midnight (at 2 points I had 3!) And baby arrived just before 5am. I had a bit of gas and air.
ah see i had my baby at the MW led bit upstairs so only had to go downstairs if anything happened...
i am swaying towards a homebirth but the ONLY thing stopping me is the fact i just couldnt have a water pool in my home its just not big enough to do that.
part of me is selfish and wants the maternity provision from my hosp, although with no1 i was sooooo lucky, just me on the ward, huge birthing pool room to myself the whole time... i may not be that lucky again, maybe closer to the time i will make a decision. oh my!
People always seem to be confused with statistics and individual examples. The stats say that homebirth is just as safe as a hospital birth but that's because most people who go for a home birth are low risk. Some individuals demand a homebirth despite underlying issues and that's just stupid.
I planned a homebirth with both my children and neither happened, which was a good job because both of them ended up in SCBU fighting for their lives. TBH with Abby there was muconium in my waters so I would have been transferred to hospital whilst in labour and therefore she would have had the same care. Charlie's condition though wasn't obvious during labour or the immediate post-natal period. If I had him at home then he would have been an undiagnosed cot death.
However, despite my experiences, I still believe homebirth is an excellent and safe choice for a huge number of women. I probably wouldn't go for it again but would support any of my friends who did.
My son had to be delivered in theatre with forceps. Had I been at home he would have been extremely distressed. His agpar score was initially 5 as he couldn't breathe properly.
Had I been at home he could have been at very serious risk. If you have a textbook birth I imagine a homebirth would be amazing. The problem is you just don't know what could happen. When my birth didn't go according to plan immediate action was taken to get my baby out asap. That couldn't have happened at home.
Totally agree about lack of resources. My aftercare was shocking with 1 mw for 3 wards. How on earth they want to increase homebirths is beyond me. Very unsafe if they don't have very experienced mw's to deal with them all!xx
It;s a no for me too! I would not be happy about this at all!!!
I can't really comment on choice as I had no choice to have a home birth with either. (Not that I ever would choose it)
I had EMCS with both, my labour with my 2nd went swimmingly - waters broke, laboured naturally (but did have to be induced half way throuhg to get my contractions going stronger), then had an epidural (which I couldn't have if I had a homebirth), pushed for an hour and a half and then he got stuck! Would not budge! Ended in c-sec.
What would happen in a home birth if that happened? I just felt that in hospital all the care was there for both me and my baby if needed. My first ended up in the neonatal ward on oxygen and drips, she needed two blood transfusions within the first few hours of being born. Thankfully she made a full recovery within a week and is a perfect toddler now, but again if I'd had a homebirth I am not sure she'd be here today.
It's so difficult isn't it. If a friend said she wanted a home birth I would find it really difficult to support her given my experiences HOWEVER I do know there are lots of women who have perfectly wonderful home birth experiences and it is every womans choice to have the birth she wants so of course I would have to support my friend.......
its very tricky to determine whether you'll be ok or not as its a lottery isnt it. birth seems to random to me.
even though my first birth went smoothly u cant always know no2 will also.
my husband has told me he doesnt want a homebirth at all as he's frightened from last time (went smoothly but he says if i needed any pain relief or help i would be limited and over an hr from the hosp)
I wanted to come back to this topic, because I met with my midwife yesterday and mentioned the forum discussion to her. I think that some points she made will be of interest and relevant to people who worry that it would be too risky to have a home birth in case something goes wrong.
She said a few very valid points (and by the way, she started off by saying that she is equally happy to attend hospital or home births and that it's the mother's decision, in conjunction with her health care advisor, based on the mother's wishes, how well the pregnancy is progressing, etc.).
She said that research tends to indicate that home births are slightly safer in the sense that medical intervention is avoided where possible, so the emphasis is on safe natural birth rather than speeding things up, intervening (possibly unnecessarily), etc. Bear in mind that I'm in Canada at the moment, and where I live, this research is relevant in my area. She backed this up by citing the specific studies, the results, the composition of the control group, etc.
Her second very reassuring point (for me) is that she said it would be totally irresponsible if she and her colleagues could not react to an emergency situation during a birth without the same training, experience and equipment that would be used in hospital. They are experienced in emergency resuscitation, bring with them IV drips and fluid, can administer oxytocin, deal with unexpected heavy bleeding, issues with the baby, and do bring any other equipment that is needed in an emergency situation. She stressed again that she wouldn't practise without having access to same equipment that would be used in a hospital.
This information is not the same for all midwives practising in all areas (my midwife did indicate that some countries have ''varying'' and ''sometimes lower'' standards / equipment than what the midwives here operate with). So if I were living outside where I am now, I would definitely be asking all the questions I asked the midwife yesterday and would have second thoughts if they weren't equipped (and experienced / trained) in handling emergency situations in relation to the mother and/or baby.
Replies
i am swaying towards a homebirth but the ONLY thing stopping me is the fact i just couldnt have a water pool in my home
part of me is selfish and wants the maternity provision from my hosp, although with no1 i was sooooo lucky, just me on the ward, huge birthing pool room to myself the whole time... i may not be that lucky again, maybe closer to the time i will make a decision. oh my!
I planned a homebirth with both my children and neither happened, which was a good job because both of them ended up in SCBU fighting for their lives. TBH with Abby there was muconium in my waters so I would have been transferred to hospital whilst in labour and therefore she would have had the same care. Charlie's condition though wasn't obvious during labour or the immediate post-natal period. If I had him at home then he would have been an undiagnosed cot death.
However, despite my experiences, I still believe homebirth is an excellent and safe choice for a huge number of women. I probably wouldn't go for it again but would support any of my friends who did.
H xx
My son had to be delivered in theatre with forceps. Had I been at home he would have been extremely distressed. His agpar score was initially 5 as he couldn't breathe properly.
Had I been at home he could have been at very serious risk. If you have a textbook birth I imagine a homebirth would be amazing. The problem is you just don't know what could happen. When my birth didn't go according to plan immediate action was taken to get my baby out asap. That couldn't have happened at home.
Totally agree about lack of resources. My aftercare was shocking with 1 mw for 3 wards. How on earth they want to increase homebirths is beyond me. Very unsafe if they don't have very experienced mw's to deal with them all!xx
I can't really comment on choice as I had no choice to have a home birth with either. (Not that I ever would choose it)
I had EMCS with both, my labour with my 2nd went swimmingly - waters broke, laboured naturally (but did have to be induced half way throuhg to get my contractions going stronger), then had an epidural (which I couldn't have if I had a homebirth), pushed for an hour and a half and then he got stuck! Would not budge! Ended in c-sec.
What would happen in a home birth if that happened? I just felt that in hospital all the care was there for both me and my baby if needed. My first ended up in the neonatal ward on oxygen and drips, she needed two blood transfusions within the first few hours of being born. Thankfully she made a full recovery within a week and is a perfect toddler now, but again if I'd had a homebirth I am not sure she'd be here today.
It's so difficult isn't it. If a friend said she wanted a home birth I would find it really difficult to support her given my experiences HOWEVER I do know there are lots of women who have perfectly wonderful home birth experiences and it is every womans choice to have the birth she wants so of course I would have to support my friend.......
tricky.
even though my first birth went smoothly u cant always know no2 will also.
my husband has told me he doesnt want a homebirth at all as he's frightened from last time (went smoothly but he says if i needed any pain relief or help i would be limited and over an hr from the hosp)
She said a few very valid points (and by the way, she started off by saying that she is equally happy to attend hospital or home births and that it's the mother's decision, in conjunction with her health care advisor, based on the mother's wishes, how well the pregnancy is progressing, etc.).
She said that research tends to indicate that home births are slightly safer in the sense that medical intervention is avoided where possible, so the emphasis is on safe natural birth rather than speeding things up, intervening (possibly unnecessarily), etc. Bear in mind that I'm in Canada at the moment, and where I live, this research is relevant in my area. She backed this up by citing the specific studies, the results, the composition of the control group, etc.
Her second very reassuring point (for me) is that she said it would be totally irresponsible if she and her colleagues could not react to an emergency situation during a birth without the same training, experience and equipment that would be used in hospital. They are experienced in emergency resuscitation, bring with them IV drips and fluid, can administer oxytocin, deal with unexpected heavy bleeding, issues with the baby, and do bring any other equipment that is needed in an emergency situation. She stressed again that she wouldn't practise without having access to same equipment that would be used in a hospital.
This information is not the same for all midwives practising in all areas (my midwife did indicate that some countries have ''varying'' and ''sometimes lower'' standards / equipment than what the midwives here operate with). So if I were living outside where I am now, I would definitely be asking all the questions I asked the midwife yesterday and would have second thoughts if they weren't equipped (and experienced / trained) in handling emergency situations in relation to the mother and/or baby.
I hope this information is useful