home birth or hospital birth

[shirleyhurst]

Hi I'm new here but I am very much interested about what do you think about home and hospital birth. I am interested to read stories about them.

I am puzzled of what to choose because I want to give birth that doesn't involve huge amount of money but is safe. Any suggestion please?

 

[Pearls18]

I'm assuming this is your first?

For me personally I wanted to be in hospital for my first, I wasn't sure how long labour would take, what pain relief I would want, I didn't think I personally would feel safe at home I wanted to be where the doctors were! (We were 40 miles from the nearest hospital, which was why I didn't feel terribly safe at home). As it happened I had a very quick 4 hour water birth at hospital, water being amazing.

This time around I have the confidence to labour at home, and know for certain I would like another water birth which cannot be guaranteed in a hospital.

I haven't experience home birth yet, but for me it was the right decision to do hospital first time around, and look forward to a home birth this time.

 

[fionar]

I had my first baby at home and this is my second and I'll be having another home birth.

I had a very very easy pregnancy, we live near to a hospital in case anything were to go wrong, and I found an experienced midwife to attend. Labor was MAYBE 6 hours from when I woke up thinking "maybe this is labor?" to when my son was born. Home felt safer, warmer, more secure, and more inviting to me. Having been through labor once now, I can't imagine having to get in my car and go somewhere to labor, I think it would have totally thrown me off. I also can't imagine getting stuff packed up and going home only a day later! I loved being in my own bed with my new baby and not having to worry about anything or going anywhere. Everything was done on our own schedule and it was just very relaxing and peaceful. Can't recommend home birth enough if you're a good candidate!

 

[solitaire89]

Hi My first baby was born at home, and it was fantastic. I wouldn't have changed it for the world! My birth story is linked in my siggy if you're interested.

Cost wise, we could have got away with only buying plastic sheeting for £10 from the DIY store, but as the siggy also shows I used Natal Hypnotherapy and a Birth Pool in a Box. I can highly recommend both!

Safety wise, there are lots of pro's to home birth - reduced risk of PPH, reduced risk of maternal death, reduced risk of shoulder dystocia, increased chance of spontaneous vaginal delivery, reduced incidence of the use of drugs for pain relief (and therefore the associated side affects of said drugs), reduced risk of assisted delivery... etc!

At the end of the day though, the best place to birth your baby is where you feel the most comfortable and relaxed - and if that is the hospital then that is where you should go. If you are at home, but spend the whole time worried about something going wrong (however unlikely that may be), then your experience will not be such a good one. Equally so, be prepared that if you are in hospital that you may be pressured into interventions that you don't particularly want so will need a strong advocate to be with you.

If you have any more specific questions about home birth, just shout!

 

[Kellen]

My husband and I talked about having a home waterbirth, but in the end opted for a hospital waterbirth. Unfortunately my waters burst at home and I was 20 hours into labor before they would let me in the tub (slow to dilate and finally opted for pictocin). So I only got to be in the tub for 4 hours (which was amazing).

Two hours after Teagen was born we had established breastfeeding and were going to be moved to our room when she crashed. She went totally limp and turned blue. Thankfully the nurses were able to get her oxygen immediately and rushed her to the NICU were she was stabilized. She had a secondary infection and low blood sugar.

In the end being at the hospital guaranteed that our baby received the care she needed. The story is not meant to scare you, but to show a positive side of being in the hospital. They were great and completely respected our wishes to exclusively breastfeed and not give her a pacifier.

 

[aliss]

My 1st was at the hospital as I assumed it would be safer and honestly it was the biggest regret of my life, sorry, so many unnecessary interventions, it was awful. I wish it had been a home birth. My 2nd was a home birth, ended in hospital transfer at pushing, and it was a million times better. I went because it was deemed safer to transfer, but I didn't want to go unless necessary.

 

[chicka.chicka]

I've done both. My preference is for home birth, but am not opposed to transfer to hospital when necessary (that's what happened with my last two babies). I've delivered in several different hospitals and each experience has been a little different - some better than others - but overall I have had more positive hospital experiences than negative. I have never had a bad home birth experience, and much prefer to do it that way whenever possible.

 

[television]

Ive also done both, hospital was fine really they just let me get on with it,but I didn't like that everyone had to go once baby arrived. Home birth was quick and didn't quite go to plan basically I didn't call midwife in time, baby was in a hurry. Ambulance was called but all was fine,and lovely being in my own bed with my family around me.

 

[pinkyspears]

Thank you for sharing ladies. I have witnessed a friend giving birth at home last week and I would say, that was fast and easy. Now, I think I'm going with home birth as your opinions are also in favor of it. Thank you very much

 

[madasa]

I did not enjoy my hospital birth. My home birth was wonderful!

As far as I know, we are the only mammals that leave our nest and go to a strange place full of unfamiliar people and bacteria and alarming sights, smells and sounds, to have our babies.

At home, you can usually relax more. The right hormones whizz around your body in the right balance. Leaving your home is the first intervention, the first disruption in the course of a normal labour. This is why many hospitals ask you not to come in too early: they don't want you to disrupt labour early on and risk stopping it completely. They want the process to be well under way so that it's less likely to stall

At home, you are in charge and you feel more able to get more of what you want. Hospitals can leave some women feeling disempowered, impotent, less capable... Not a good way to start out as a mother.

This is not true for EVERYONE, sure! Some people feel safer in hospital and ultimately you need to be where you feel safest and most confident. This is just some of what I have experienced and observed.

 

[shirleyhurst]

Hi Madasa

Thank you for sharing. I think I am now enlightened by your stories. Since I don't have problems with pregnancy, I think I'll go with home birth.

Another issue here is the making of birth certificate right? The hospital birth takes care of it, right? But with home birth, you're the one who fixes it?

 

[aliss]

I don't know about the UK but here, the midwives brought the birth certificate to the house.

 

[Pearls18]

I’m assuming in the UK it will be no different to a hospital, the MW will fill in the humongous amounts of paper work (the MWs joked last time around that bit took them longer than delivering DS!) then when you go to the registration office they have record of it, don’t they contact the hospital (even if you don’t go there I assume we’d be affiliated) to confirm or something?? I don’t remember being given any paper work to take the registration office, we just went to the registration office and I assume they clarify everything and assume it would be no different with a home birth?