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Tell me about home births

Please tell me about your home birth. 

What did you do with older children and pets?

Did you have the option of gas and air?

Did you have a pool? 

What room did you give birth in? Was there a mess?

How quickly did your mw get there when you called?

How did you feel afterwards?

Would you do it again? Do you have another birth to compare it to? 

And anything else you can think of please!

Replies

  • I haven't had one so can't help with a lot of your questions but out plan is to let the pets (2 cats and 1 dog) roam around the house as usual - 1 cat will keep out of the way as she hates anything 'unusual' happening and doesn't like strangers. The dog will stay near-ish so she can check I'm ok, but won't want to be too close (next room probably). The other cat will be indifferent, or might watch from the kitchen worktop Laugh No other children so that's not a concern.

    The midwives will bring gas & air with them. If I want pethidine, I can get it prescribed by my GP and have it in the house ready for MW's to administer, but they cannot bring it with them.

    I'm having a pool - a rigid one. Significantly more expensive, but it has a heater (on thermostat) and filter, so can be set up in advance and no mad panic to fill or heat a pool, or attempt to maintain water temperature through a long labour. Also no fear of cats puncturing the pool!

    We have a kitchen-diner, fairly open plan with just a breakfast bar dividing them. The pool is going to go in the dining room end - we have quarry tiles so no carpets to worry about. There is also a door straight into the garden (and drain) so the water pump can easily empty the pool straight down the drain. We also have a sofa-bed in the garden room next door, so will have that set up as a bed so I can nap in there if labour is long, or deliver on the if I want, or deliver placenta in there. There will be shower curtains and/or towels between the 2 rooms to protect the floor / speed up cleaning, but flooring is laminate so again easy to clean really.

    I am choosing homebirth because of the lower risks to me and baby and the avoidance of falling into the 'chain of intervention' trap (the 'we'll just pop a monitor on' type, which means you're on the bed, which means poor birthing position, which means increased pain, which means more pain relief, which slows down labour, which means they get twitchy and want you on syntocinon, and keeps you on your back, etc etc often ending up with c-section).

    I also know I'll feel more relaxed and rested in my own home, and won't be bunged on an understaffed, busy, noisy postnatal ward with everyone else's noisy babies! Selfishly, I'll have 2 midwives in attendance throughout my labour and birth and 1:1 support for a couple of hours after. No shift changes and random MWs I've never met, no worrying about people popping in and interrupting (even with good intentions) as I'm trying to focus, etc etc, There are loads of other reasons why I feel it's right for us and why I believe HB is the best option for a large proportion of low-risk pregnancies, but I think ultimately you have to feel comfortable with it - if you'd be more anxious without the anaesthetics and consultants immediately on hand, then HB would be a more stressful experience than hospital!

  • Not even expecting yet :( but have been keeping an eye on this post out of interest.

    Mrs 50s - a really good response. I'd never looked at it the way you do (because to be honest, I've never really thought much about it at all, but when I do I dismiss it but after reading your reply and when the time happens for us, I will probably consider it more of an option than just dismiss it straight away).

  • I hope lots of people come along and respond. I've really got my heart set on a home birth. Just the thought of that instead of hospital makes me smile on the inside. Hospital experiences really tainted my previous pregnancy/birth and it took me a couple of days to bond with my son as a result.

  • If anyone wants to read more about personal experiences, 2 websites I've really found useful are:

    http://www.homebirth.org.uk/  

    www.homebirthersandhopefuls.com   (they also have a 'closed' FB group with 1000 members and it's a brilliant group, very supportive and non-judgemental - and as they title suggests, it's for people hoping for a HB who might not actually end up with one for whatever reason).

  • I'll reply properly later when I'm on the iPad but just to say I've had one home birth and I'm planning another. I loved it!

  • Thank you! I've paid them a visit on FB and am looking forward to hearing more.

    Do most homebirth parents use a pool? I am SO not a water baby. I sit in the bath for, like, 3 seconds and then I'm bored. Can't be bothered getting dry again, all that kind of stuff. Is there any advantage to water birth other than it feeling 'nicer'?

  • You don't need to have a pool, but it is really nice and good for pain relief too - but it is not everyone's thing!.

    I had a home birth and my top tip would be to remain open minded - you may need to transfer to hospital and that will not mean you failed.  I had prepared myself for this and think that I was more relaxed as a result.  I was delighted to actually have my home birth in the end.

    In answer to your specific questions:

    What did you do with older children and pets? - don't have any!!

    Did you have the option of gas and air? yep - the midwives bring it with them, although I didn't end up using it as I was ready to push when they arrived

    Did you have a pool? - yep, loved it and would definitely use one again if possible

    What room did you give birth in? Was there a mess?  Use old shower curtains/towels to protect the areas around the pool (if you use one) and the areas you plan to give birth/deliver the placenta.  However there was far less mess that I thought that there would be.I had my pool set up in the dining area of our kitchen/family room near the bifold doors, so it was easy to fill/empty the pool.

    How quickly did your mw get there when you called? First contraction at 12.30pm ish.  By about 2.30pm I was having contractions about every 10 minutes, so I called H the midwife to let them know what was happening as I was planning a home birth. Waters went at 7.15pm and we rang the midwife to update them, and they said that someone would call me back just after 8pm as that was when the new shift came on. By now my contractions were every 5 mins and lasting 1 – 1.5 minutes.

    By 8.10pm the midwife hadn’t called back and H was getting a bit worried that things were going a bit fast as I was now contracting every 3 minutes, so he rang them. They said they were on their way, so H started filling the pool. The midwives arrived at about 8.35pm and E was born at 10pm.

    How did you feel afterwards? Really pleased and it felt lovely to be in my own home,  The best thing was when the midwives left and my H and I went to sleep in our own bed

    Would you do it again? Do you have another birth to compare it to? Yep - no other birth to compare it to!

    Feel free to ask any other questions I will answer them as best I can (from my extensive one birth experience!!)

  • Counter I'm not really a bath person but I loved my pool, the water was such amazing pain relief.

  • What did you do with older children and pets?

    Was my 1st baby and horse lives at local farm. Lol. This time planning to have toddler present (or more likely upstairs in bed

    Did you have the option of gas and air? Yes. Was brought to my house on the day.

    Did you have a pool? 

    Yes, but never got in it as it it never got filled in time. Grrrr.

    What room did you give birth in? Was there a mess? Lounge/diner (we shoved dining table out of the way and setup pool in gap however gave birth kneeling / leaning forward into an armchair

    How quickly did your mw get there when you called? Bout 15mins. 9am ish. (Hospital is 30mins away!) But she was my regular community midwife who was just about to start a  clinic at local doctors surgery. The 2nd midwife arrived about 12pm ish and I gave birth at 2pm

    How did you feel afterwards?

    Thrilled. However I did suffer a 3rd degree resulting into trip to hospital after for stitches, night on a ward - all of which was horrible, and the bit I really wanted to avoid

    Would you do it again? Do you have another birth to compare it to? yes, am planning baby #2 to be born at home.  Have moved house since and baby due at Xmas - we have a real fire so I want to give birth near it. Undecided whether to bother with a pool this time!

    And anything else you can think of please!

    If you decide to hospital, you can. If start in hospital, you can't go home!

  • HorseFan

    If you decide to hospital, you can. If start in hospital, you can't go home!

    Love it!

  • Please tell me about your home birth.

    What did you do with older children and pets? I'm not really sure where the dog was tbh, out of my way!

    Did you have the option of gas and air? Yep, the mw brought it

    Did you have a pool? Yes I bought a birth pool in a box, it was great although I'd always recommend a trial run setting it up. Jude was born in the pool, the water was an amazing pain relief.

    What room did you give birth in? Was there a mess? In the living room, there's cream sofas and carpets and they're all fine. We covered them over and the midwives took all the mess with them. The pool was emptied down the drain in the back yard. He was born at 9.55am and we sat and had early lunch in the same room with no trace of what had happened!

    How quickly did your mw get there when you called? I'm not sure, I progressed quicker than they were expecting, it was my mum that called them back to come as I couldn't speak.

    How did you feel afterwards? Amazing, like superwoman, I thought I could take on the world! Best experience of my life.

    Would you do it again? Do you have another birth to compare it to? Yes absolutely, I'm planning a second home birth.

    And anything else you can think of please! Do it! I loved it, so calm and relaxed.

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