Forum home Pregnancy Pregnancy

Home Birth

Hi ladies hope your all well!!

Had my midwife out yesterday to have a look at my house and see if it will be suitable for a home birth and been given the go ahead!! very nervous now, makes it all seem real and very very close!! got 9 weeks left, this past few weeks have flown by!!
Have decided to only have gas and air because they don't recommend pethidine for home births incase baby has a reaction to it, but they say i can have it if i want i just don't want any unnecessary risks!

So excited can't wait to see my little boy!!

Samantha 31wks

Replies

  • Good for you is it your first!!! good luck
  • Thats good news.
    What do they look for to see if your house is suitable? I'm planning on having a homebirth, but the mw hasn't even discussed birth with me yet .. guess she'd better get a move on cause i'll be almost 33 weeks when I see her!
  • Yes it is my first baby, she really just looked at access incase paramedics need to rush me out!! and the size of the room where you want to give birth, in my case it was my bedroom so she just looked at whether they would be able to walk round the bed easily and that there was somewhere to put all their equipment.
    Yes you should mention it to your midwife again so she can do the check and get the ball rolling! if you go into labour before 38weeks you still need to go into hospital so the midwives drop off their equipment when you are exactly 38 weeks!!
    Unfortunately you need to go into hospital within 24 hours of giving birth for them to do all the health checks-but i'd still rather that than having a hospital birth!!
  • Thats not too bad.. wasn't planning on giving birth in the bedroomanyway - partly cause theres not much floor space and mainly cause i'd rather not have a bunch of people in my bedroom!!

    I'll definately pester her on Thursday.. I find it crazy that they don't discuss this sort of thing earlier, especially as the only reason I got on antenatal classes now instead ofn ext month is cause I rang up and hassled them!!

    I do know that you have to go into hospital if you are less than 38 weeks though which makes sense for babys health.. but I didn't know you had to go into hospital the next day - I thought the midwife came out. Definately right though - even that is better than a hospital birth!
  • I know i only found out you need to go into hosp next day when she said yesterday, husbands not too keen coz she said we will be there most of the day! not ideal when you've just given birth!!
    I mentioned a home birth at every antenatal appt so she knew i was serious, so shes known from day 1 thats what i wanted. but she did just kinda brush it off the first few times i said it!
  • You have to go for most of the day? What on earth for?!!! Considering they let people out of hospital 6 hours after giving birth ..what on earth can take all day the day after giving birth at home!

    The mw I saw at 12 weeks for the booking in appt mentioned home births as something to consider when I said we both hated hospitals, but the regular mw has never mentioned it.. I mentioned it when she was on about having the anti-d injections and she brushed it off too. Think I need to pin her down and interrogate her till i get my answers
  • I have mentioned to my mw that I wanted a home birth and she never mentioned she would be inspecting my house... But I have a few more weeks yet.. only 20 today..

    Also I was told something slightly different... I was told the midwives stay for about 2 hours after baby is born and then one mw and a dr comes round to your house following day to do all the checks... all I can say is bugger them if they want to check they can come round to me. I am having a home birth so I dont get told what I can and cant do like they do in hospital and because I dont want to be in that environment... well I shall use the excuse that I dont have a car seat when lo is ere so they will have to come to me....pmsl

    good luck with everything

    Lisa x
  • Its to do the hip scans and things she did tell me but my mushy pregnant brain doesn't retain everything!! lol
    No she only told me at my last visit they would do a home visit, it may be different for other DR's surgeries, she did mention that some docs can do checks but mine doesn't!! so hopefully you guys won't need to!
    She may have told me worst case with regard to how long we will be at hospital-you know what hospitals are like with appts- appt times mean nothing to them! Hopefully it won't be that long-like you say they throw you out after a couple of hours these days!
    Good luck
  • I had my little boy at home 18 months ago. All areas do seem to do things differently so I can only tell you of my experience. I was given equipment at 37wks as in my area they are happy for home births from then on. Following the birth which went to plan amazingly the midwives stayed for tea and toast (breakfast) and then left us to it. A midwife visited us that afternoon and then once a day for a week apart from on the 3rd day when they were short staffed and couldn't make it out so we took our son in to be checked over. All the tests were done in our home by the midwives. After that the health visitor came to meet us and tell us how it works from then on.

    We are planning another home birth in the Spring as long as this pregnancy goes smoothly.

    Well done for being one of the brave ones to go for a home birth. I had lots of people being quite negative when I was planning one with my first but it did all go to plan. I had all the homeopathic, aromatherapy, energy sweets, water mister etc and didn't use any of it. I did drink 4 bottles of lucozade sport though. My husband also bought an inflatable bolster for me to rest on during the water birth and that was wonderful. Make sure you have plenty of towels warming too.

    Lots of luck.

    Samantha
  • i didnt have to go to hospital for checks day after my home birth either (13m ago) im planning home birth for the nxt baby in april, wonder if it depends where u live? i had to go hosp to get the hearing test few wk after the birth but thats it. mw did all the baby checks at home a couple days after the birth. good luck to u ladies nearly due im really glad i had lo at home as i think i mananged the pain much better in a familiar relaxing environment. xx
  • hehe lisa your views are pretty much the same as mine..and I love the car seat argument..although i only live a 10 min walk from the hospital so I can't really get away with taht one!!

    Its nice to hear a positive first home birth story - so many people think you are crazy for wanting a home birth with yoru first, but I know I'll do so much better in my own environment..
  • I'd love a home birth as I'm not keen on hospitals either. But I'm going to go for hospital as I live at my mum's, it's a nice big house but I would not feel comfortable giving birth at home unless it was my own place! I can't believe ur mw's haven't discussed it yet! I had my booking-in appt at 10 wks and she asked me what kind of birth I wanted and wrote it down. x x x

  • Seems like my area likes to make i difficult to have home births!! i'm not put off though! been having braxton hicks all afternoon/evening (at least i hope its BH and not the real thing!!! only 31+4!!)
    Thanks for all your stories/support girlies!

    Samantha x
  • I had a homebirth with my first in 2005 and I did'nt go to hosp after either. Midwife stayed for a few hours and helped me to breastfeed etc but after that we were on our own. Doc came round to our house a few days later to check baby over and the midwife came everyday for the first week, I think (can't remember now it was a long time ago!) Good luck with it all! much better than a hosp birth. I'm having my nxt one in a birthing center but if there was'nt one I would choose home over hosp ne day!! x x x Sarah x x x

    [Modified by: Sarah21 on November 08, 2007 09:18 PM]
Sign In or Register to comment.

Featured Discussions