You're welcome.

Best of luck,

Sarah.xxx

I had an unassisted birth with my LO, though it was unplanned! It was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced, and I am seriously considering planning an unassisted birth this time round. I'm just not sure that I'd enjoy it quite as much, or be quite so relaxed about it if I didn't know there WAS a midwife on her way, somewhere! But, planned properly, I'm sure it would be even better than last time.. as it wasn't planned I had no one at all, 'in the know' there, I had my OH, and it was his first baby, so he had no birth experience, and I had my sister there as she did photography at college, but again, she has no children and it was her first birth experience... so I knew everything on was on me!!

Here is my birth stpry if you want to read it! http://www.babyandbump.com/birth-sto...han-never.html

Can you tell me more about your reasons for wanting an unassisted birth and not wanting midwives present..? For interest...! I'm worried about giving birth this time around as i've moved and want a homebirth this time (last time birth center) and for some reason I feel like..the midwives here might not be as progressive as where I lived before. I loved my midwife in Cambridge where I had my last...

For me, it's mostly that I believe in the power of our bodies to deliver our babies, and the fact that in the US, it is overmedicalized to the extreme. Women have had babies since the beginning of time, and so long as there are no obvious complications leading up to birth, which I will continue to see my OB up until the end to ensure, there is no reason why you shouldn't be at home. There are actually less risks to mom and baby by doing this in births considered low risk to begin with. Less chance of intervention, need for c section, infection, ect.

I think if OH and I weren't trained to deliver, I would be considering a mw run homebirth instead, but in our situation I feel comfortable without that. I believe that my body is capable of naturally delivering our baby calmly, quietly, and in the position I choose, in or out of the tub, mostly options I don't have at our hospital. We have no water birth, must be in the bed on your back, and there are several people in the room, as well as a high c section rate, pushed episiotomies, and labors induced if not progressing fast enough. None of this is natural, and unfortunately there are no birth centers near by where we would have more delivery options. I really want OH to deliver baby and for us to be the only two present, as I've heard a lot of others say about unassisted birth, if you weren't there to make the baby, you don't need to be there for the delivery. And after birth, I want to let the cord stop pulsing on it's own, let the placenta come naturally, and leave baby unbathed so vernix has time to naturally absorb, all of which are also difficult, if not impossible to accomplish in the hospital. It is such an intimate time, so long as it is not harming anyone, it is what I want for our birth.

Not that I look down on anyone who wants a fully medicated hospital birth led by an OB. Personally, it's just not what I want for our family. But if the doctor has any concern about delivery, or if there are any complications that arise in the rest of pregnancy, I will obviously do whatever it takes to get LO here safely and I hope anyone else considering home birth would also. And if anything were to come up during labor that worried me, we would also head straight to the hospital, but so long as birth is normal and without complications, I feel as though it fits our wishes best, and will be the least stressful for baby also.

Hi there! i know this a rather old thread, but i was just wondering if you had made your decision on an UCB or not? I am thinking of doing this myself. I too am in the states (NH). My insurance flat out refuses to cover a HB MW. And i refuse to go back to the hospital unless their is a true medical need. We can't afford to pay privatly to a MW either (not even on a plan). My insurance will cover a free standing birth center (FSBC) MW though. I have been seeing them and I will remain seeing them until my child is born, however, I am just not sure if i want to birth assisted at the FSBC or if i would rather birth at home unassisted. The FSBC is an hour drive away and i am due during THE WORST winter month of the year. I am not scared about giving birth in the car along the way to the FSBC, but i am worried the one hour car ride will slow my labor. (I had a VERY long and very hard labor with my son, it was 30 hours and 100% back labor, i was unmedicated, it was a water birth and he came out posterior) and so the length of time scares me and i want to avoid anything that is going to hinder my labor progression. Anyways, i am very confident in my abilities to birth a baby on my own, especially since i MCed on my own and because i delivered a sunny side up baby intervention free. I am also a birth doula and a child birth educator and i have my husbands support 110%. To cut to the chase, ive been thinking more and more about an UC...every time i envision it i am at home by myself (with DH and DS) and doing my own thing. I truly feel as if my birth would be faster and better....but this is conflicting to me as i do sincerly trust my MWs...i just dont know how i feel about the commute.

I had an unassisted birth for my 3rd although totally by chance! We were planning ahomebirth anyway but I had no labour and baby was born in seconds without me realising it (the midwife called it a silent labour)!! Even then we had to call the midwife as by law (in the UK) you cannot cut the cord yourself and must wait until a midwife/ other health professional arrives.

I'm reading 'Hey, who's having the baby anyway?' and after reading mamawannabees post I can't believe how much intervention and lack of choice their seems to be in hopsitals in the States, even things such as you must be on your bad in a bed?! I guess we're pretty lucky in the UK

Sometimes I have a dreamy thought that I'd like to hide away somewhere private and birth by myself, must be a primative feeling, I know that it's not a good idea for me personally though!

id not choose an unassisted birth but after having had a natural labour and delivery i really wouldnt be scared going it alone next time if mw's didnt get there in time. i have read birth stories of uc and think there amazing. x

^AAgreed.

I've freebirthed twice. I have no "official" training but that's not to say I wasn't able to train myself. Sure that was quite some commitment but I was committed to having a UC and the biggest hurdle of a UC isn't gaining the knowledge requried to handle an emergency but having the trust in your body and understanding what it needs to birth well. I found the best tactic was to get through the "what can go wrong" stuff well before the end of my pregnancy so I could spend the weeks leading up to birth preparing for a normal birth. Bringing fear to any birth isn't a good idea so debriefing from my hospital birth and medically managed homebirth were important for us. I didn't expect my OH to be my midwife in any way as he was initially concerned I might - to me a freebirth means taking full responsibility myself - my OH was only responsible for supporting me in any way I wanted and transferring me to hospital if I needed medical treatment (we actually lived closer to the hospital than the local ambulance station so we worked out that would be the fastest plan of action if the need arose). I do feel that pregnant women should all be prepared to freebirth - there are no guarantees and women find themselves caught out all the time hence babies being born on the side of the road and funnily enough I"ve yet to read about a roadside birth that had any complications.