home birth pros & cons

[shopgirl771]

i dont know what planted the seed but i knew the minute i started toying with the idea of home birth id probably eventually convert to it. i am yet to have a discussion about it with my MW but i am vying very much towards this now.

ive been reading up on hypno birthing and altho at first i was worried about being a distance from all the drs and drugs should anything go wrong i now feel being at home will compliment my hypno birth more.

for those mums who had a HB what were the main pros and cons for u?

 

[Nateh]

home birth pros & cons
Freedom to control your own birth experience. You can set up your surroundings in a way that you are most comfortable. Some women prefer a water birth or the use of aromatherapies and candles.

Cons:
Not all insurance policies will cover homebirth expenses.
There is no epidural analgesia or pain relief available at home if you are struggling with the labor pains.
You will need to be prepared for the messiness of delivery. Make sure you have plastic sheets, plenty of towels, etc. ready to go.

 

[Jayneypops]

Im hoping for water birth at home, and have been doing quite a bit of research since making the decision. From what I can gather (and in my opinion) the pros and cons are:

Pros

- You can be more in control of the labour and delivery and make your own decisions
- Reportedly less need for pain relief as mothers tend to be more relaxed in their
familiar environment
- The ability to play relaxing music, have dim lighting etc
- Less need for medical intervention (forceps, vertouse, c section)
- Gas and Air, Pethedine is still available as Midwife brings it with her.
- Midwife completely dedicated to you rather than being on a maternity ward
- Water is shown to reduce pain effectively
- Babys tend to be born gentler in water and when you're more relaxed meaning you
are less likely to have tears/stitches
- Lower risk of contracting hospital bugs/viruses/illnesses

Cons
- No access to higher level pain relief (Epidural etc)
- If an emergency arises you will have longer to wait while an ambulance is called to
take you to hospital
- The mess! - You will need lots of plastic sheets etc to avoid blood/water marks on
carpets and furniture
- If the baby has any serious problems when born there will be no medical devices
available and you will need rushing to hospital.

For me personally the pro's outweigh the cons, there are some things which vary from country to country, area to area, like the amount of Gas and Air the Midwife can bring with her. Here in Worcestershire they can bring 2 cannisters which Im told is roughly 20 mins supply. Doesnt sound like much, but you actually only breathe it in for a few seconds at a time so its plenty. As with a hospital birth, you may not get the midwife you are familiar with depending on when you go into labour, and who is on shift at the time (we have 12 midwives who cover a rota for the area so it could be any 1 or 2 of those).

No-one can really tell you whether home birth is for you or not, but hopefully by gaining as much info as you can, you will be able to make an informed decision.

(Its worth remembering that home births are only approved if you have a complication free pregnancy. Your Midwife/GP will recommend hospital if you have any health problems, or if the baby is breech etc so dont set your mind on it 100% as things could change and you will need to stay open minded).

Good Luck hun - all the best!! xxxxx

 

[Jayneypops]

By the way - I am also using Hypnobirthing techniques and have ordered a book with CD!

 

[shopgirl771]

thanks ladies. i think i need to write up a list of pros and cons for me. i still need to chat it over properly with the MW but she did say last appointment that im low risk so i could consider it.

ur totally right tho janey. u do need to keep an open mind. i have an underlying condition that means on the day in question i may have to have a c-section anyway!!!!

still interested to hear from other HB-ers.

 

[Jayneypops]

There will be certain pros and cons personal to just you like you say so a list is a good idea. I suppose theres also cost if you were thinking of a water birth (although for me if it means a calmer less painful birth - Ill pay it!)

You can hire birthing pools from £80 - £500 depending on what you go for, or you can buy an inflatable birthing pool for around £120 which is hopefully what ill do.

Oooh another pro I forgot! - my midwife mentioned that one reason many women choose home births is so that their Husband/Birth Partner can be with them at all times. If you give birth in hospital your birth partner is of course with you through delivery but once you have been moved to the maternity ward afterwards, its normal visiting times only, and with hospitals being busy places, many women find they dont really see a midwife, doctor or visitor for several hours at a time (although Ive no personal experience as this will be my first birth).

I think you'll feel a 'pull' towards whats right for you. I didnt really become sure until about 26 weeks, and even now, I may still end up in Hospital!

 

[lilacmonkey87]

From an individual perspective. pros for me were first and foremost continuity of care from the midwives. I'm 24 and had my first baby at home in march, i had no pain relief although during transition i was flapping around in a birthing pool wondering if we should go to hospital as the EPI seemed very appealing but the fact i had one midwife there with me from being examined as 4cm dialated is what got me through the worst of the contractions. i wanted to be in a relaxed and familiar environment, be able to walk around during labour and for there to be no chance that my partner would be sent home, also i have two boxers so it meant they weren't being left on their own. i didnt want to hear other women on the labour ward putting me off or for other women to be able to hear me when i shamefully told the midwife "F'in this and Fin that" during transition. the cons for me would have been few but unfortunately for us (and i dont mean to put you off) my son stopped breathing at 5 minutes old. here is a link for my birth story if your interested. https://www.babyandbump.com/birth-stories-announcements/577525-long-birth-luca-miles-homebirth.html

i would chose homebirth again unless the doc's & midwifery team gave me reason to otherwise cause what happened to us is not common, i made a fully informed choice in deciding home birth but after what happened i have received alot...of well lets just say "raised eyebrows". in the beginning of the post partum period i felt that people were thinking that i should not have had him at home. so these are the cons for me, also as my son was taken to SCBU and stayed there for 4 days - i never got to change his first nappy or feed him for the first time, i felt like i couldnt pick him up without asking and the whole thing was just devastating to me it took along time for me to bond with him and i was eventually diagnosed with PND which i believe might not have been the case had he not needed the trip to SCBU.

X

 

[shopgirl771]

thanks for sharing that lilacmonkey. im glad u did as it gives me some perspective on the decision. so sorry to hear about little luca at the birth. thank goodness hes ok.

its reassuring to hear that ud still choose HB again. i think i can see why u would. it cant be easy having to accept "its just one of those things" but goes to show that things can go wrong yet still be dealt with.

i hope ur PND hasnt effected u too badly - hugs xxx

 

[Sam Pearson]

Homebith vs Hospital offered me

privacy vs public venue
immediate familiy only vx strangers
serene birth space vs hectic setting
own pool/bath/toilet vs shared facilities
quiet vs noise of a public hospital
no travelling during labour vs car journey
no monitoring vs unwanted monitoring
low or no intervention vs cascade of intervention
birthing in my own time vs being on the clock
friendly germs vs foreign germs
being naked vs being dressed
my own bed aaaaah

 

[Greta Chick]

Im hoping for water birth at home, and have been doing quite a bit of research since making the decision. From what I can gather (and in my opinion) the pros and cons are:

Pros

- You can be more in control of the labour and delivery and make your own decisions
- Reportedly less need for pain relief as mothers tend to be more relaxed in their
familiar environment
- The ability to play relaxing music, have dim lighting etc
- Less need for medical intervention (forceps, vertouse, c section)
- Gas and Air, Pethedine is still available as Midwife brings it with her.
- Midwife completely dedicated to you rather than being on a maternity ward
- Water is shown to reduce pain effectively
- Babys tend to be born gentler in water and when you're more relaxed meaning you
are less likely to have tears/stitches
- Lower risk of contracting hospital bugs/viruses/illnesses

Cons
- No access to higher level pain relief (Epidural etc)
- If an emergency arises you will have longer to wait while an ambulance is called to
take you to hospital
- The mess! - You will need lots of plastic sheets etc to avoid blood/water marks on
carpets and furniture
- If the baby has any serious problems when born there will be no medical devices
available and you will need rushing to hospital.

For me personally the pro's outweigh the cons, there are some things which vary from country to country, area to area, like the amount of Gas and Air the Midwife can bring with her. Here in Worcestershire they can bring 2 cannisters which Im told is roughly 20 mins supply. Doesnt sound like much, but you actually only breathe it in for a few seconds at a time so its plenty. As with a hospital birth, you may not get the midwife you are familiar with depending on when you go into labour, and who is on shift at the time (we have 12 midwives who cover a rota for the area so it could be any 1 or 2 of those).

No-one can really tell you whether home birth is for you or not, but hopefully by gaining as much info as you can, you will be able to make an informed decision.

(Its worth remembering that home births are only approved if you have a complication free pregnancy. Your Midwife/GP will recommend hospital if you have any health problems, or if the baby is breech etc so dont set your mind on it 100% as things could change and you will need to stay open minded).

Good Luck hun - all the best!! xxxxx

Sorry, I had to reply and say that 3 out of your 4 cons aren't true.

1. You are no more likely to get an ambulance quicker by already being in a birth centre or have the treatment you need quicker if you were at a main maternity unit as long as you don't live more than approximately 15 minutes away.
2. There is hardly any mess. Within 30 minutes of giving birth you would never have known a baby had just been born on my living room floor and that time included me being given stitches and giving our daughter her first breastfeed and skin to skin. I had one shower curtain and 2 large towels on the floor during labour while I stood and rocked and during delivery while I was on all fours leaning over my birth ball. The shower curtain and towels were thrown out by the midwives and they took the placenta and any medical items (gloves, aprons etc) away themselves.
3. The midwives bring portable resuscitators with them (they obviously don't bring them into the room you're giving birth in as they can be scary and may put people off but they usually bring into the house - ours did and left it in the hallway).

xx

 

[Sam Pearson]

I agree with Greata Chick. There wasn't much mess with my births. I had a waterproof table cloth and two old towels. OH put them into the washer immediately on the cold setting and they were back in the linen closet the following day. No blood got on furniture or the floor at all. Our house was also back to normal within 30 minutes of me birthing - you'd never have known aside from the newborn in my arms. Because our older kids were watching me birth they actually made much less mess playing than usual so our house was cleaner and neater post births than on any usual day.

Although they offered it to us I asked my midwives not to use O2 to rescucitate as it can cause problems and plain old room air is safer and just as effective (unless the baby has heart problems).

In our case we lived closer to the hospital than the ambulance station was situated so we planned to go on our own steam if required as that would have been faster. It all depends on your individual circumstances.

Personally, I saw no pain relief as a pro. Here IMs bring no pain relief at all (not even gas). I didn't want to be out of it during my birthings. If something was so wrong that I needed pain relief I'd want to be in hospital. I found I was unable to cope with the pain in a hospital setting but was well within my comfort zone in the peace and privacy of my own home, labouring actively, using Clary Sage (a uterine tonic which really took the sting out of contractions during transition) and if you have a birth pool that will help even further as you will relax and it takes the strain off your muscles and if you time it right you can take advantage of the expulsion reflex. I find the pain relieving techniques around work best at home adn ar harder to do with an audience in an unfamiliar environment with people coming and going and noise and bright lights etc.

 

[Jayneypops]

Im hoping for water birth at home, and have been doing quite a bit of research since making the decision. From what I can gather (and in my opinion) the pros and cons are:

Pros

- You can be more in control of the labour and delivery and make your own decisions
- Reportedly less need for pain relief as mothers tend to be more relaxed in their
familiar environment
- The ability to play relaxing music, have dim lighting etc
- Less need for medical intervention (forceps, vertouse, c section)
- Gas and Air, Pethedine is still available as Midwife brings it with her.
- Midwife completely dedicated to you rather than being on a maternity ward
- Water is shown to reduce pain effectively
- Babys tend to be born gentler in water and when you're more relaxed meaning you
are less likely to have tears/stitches
- Lower risk of contracting hospital bugs/viruses/illnesses

Cons
- No access to higher level pain relief (Epidural etc)
- If an emergency arises you will have longer to wait while an ambulance is called to
take you to hospital
- The mess! - You will need lots of plastic sheets etc to avoid blood/water marks on
carpets and furniture
- If the baby has any serious problems when born there will be no medical devices
available and you will need rushing to hospital.

For me personally the pro's outweigh the cons, there are some things which vary from country to country, area to area, like the amount of Gas and Air the Midwife can bring with her. Here in Worcestershire they can bring 2 cannisters which Im told is roughly 20 mins supply. Doesnt sound like much, but you actually only breathe it in for a few seconds at a time so its plenty. As with a hospital birth, you may not get the midwife you are familiar with depending on when you go into labour, and who is on shift at the time (we have 12 midwives who cover a rota for the area so it could be any 1 or 2 of those).

No-one can really tell you whether home birth is for you or not, but hopefully by gaining as much info as you can, you will be able to make an informed decision.

(Its worth remembering that home births are only approved if you have a complication free pregnancy. Your Midwife/GP will recommend hospital if you have any health problems, or if the baby is breech etc so dont set your mind on it 100% as things could change and you will need to stay open minded).

Good Luck hun - all the best!! xxxxx

Sorry, I had to reply and say that 3 out of your 4 cons aren't true.

1. You are no more likely to get an ambulance quicker by already being in a birth centre or have the treatment you need quicker if you were at a main maternity unit as long as you don't live more than approximately 15 minutes away.
2. There is hardly any mess. Within 30 minutes of giving birth you would never have known a baby had just been born on my living room floor and that time included me being given stitches and giving our daughter her first breastfeed and skin to skin. I had one shower curtain and 2 large towels on the floor during labour while I stood and rocked and during delivery while I was on all fours leaning over my birth ball. The shower curtain and towels were thrown out by the midwives and they took the placenta and any medical items (gloves, aprons etc) away themselves.
3. The midwives bring portable resuscitators with them (they obviously don't bring them into the room you're giving birth in as they can be scary and may put people off but they usually bring into the house - ours did and left it in the hallway).

xx

Thanks for making me even MORE convinced about having a home birth now!

I know people have different experiences, and I have heard from women who did have quite a bit of mess following a Water Birth (which is what Im hoping for) but if there is mess its such a small price to pay anyway, I wouldnt let that put me off. Also, Im not sure if its down to areas, but im pretty sure when my midwife told me about what they could/couldnt bring with them, resus equipment wasnt one of the things they bring? - I could be wrong.

Either way, there does seem to be more pros than cons to home birthing

Thanks! x