Home/water birth?

[VerityLove]

Hey everyone I plan on having a water birth, at home. I'm due in December and I'm 15, so this is my first baby. Anyone have any advice?

 

[trumpetbum]

Hi there, welcome. I'd say do a bit of reading, check out the homebirth and hopefuls thread and this is a good place to start. I think one of our US mums will be able to discuss the logistics of organising a homebirth where you are. Best of luck. Do you have any support for planning a homebirth? It's good to have those around you on board.

 

[claire268]

hey im new to this but fault il have a go at writing to you lol! im also due in December. im thinking of having a water birth as lots of people said its so relaxing!! but i wont be doing it at home has it's 1st time too so dont no whats going to happen, you might not be able to cope with the gas & air and need something stronger & only at the hospital can give you that. But i will definitely get a water birth if it all goes to plan!! Hope you & bump are doing good.

Claire xx

 

[VerityLove]

Claire;
Thanks What day in December are you due?
If I was living in England still, I would definatly be doing a hospital birth, but the way the US does things regarding prenatal care, labor, birth, all that stuff, is pretty ridiculous IMO. I suppose I feel like this partly because my mom is a neonatal nurse, so she's seen both sides of it and I've been taking her advice over anyone's, but in the US, we don't even get a midwife, and it seems as though they have a "schedule" for how a delivery is supposed to go..like..oh, you've been in labor for this long, so we're gonna give you this drug, and if that hasn't worked by this long, you're gonna get this one..and that just doesn't really float my boat, haha. I wanna be able to do things at my own pace, so I'm gonna go with a private midwife who does home deliveries. I'm hoping it goes okay..Good luck to you and yours

 

[trumpetbum]

Sounds like your mum will be a great support which can make all the difference in managing labour and birth. Besides, if you then had to transfer you would already have laboured at home and so hopefully have avoided unnecessary interventions due to someones checklist and stopwatch.

 

[winegums]

wow your lucky you can afford a private midwife! i really wanted one but the cheapest i could find any round here was nearly £4,000. it will definately make all the difference having a midwife and not an obgyn or whatever they are called in the US lol. goof luck xx

 

[nightkd]

Claire;
Thanks What day in December are you due?
If I was living in England still, I would definatly be doing a hospital birth, but the way the US does things regarding prenatal care, labor, birth, all that stuff, is pretty ridiculous IMO. I suppose I feel like this partly because my mom is a neonatal nurse, so she's seen both sides of it and I've been taking her advice over anyone's, but in the US, we don't even get a midwife, and it seems as though they have a "schedule" for how a delivery is supposed to go..like..oh, you've been in labor for this long, so we're gonna give you this drug, and if that hasn't worked by this long, you're gonna get this one..and that just doesn't really float my boat, haha. I wanna be able to do things at my own pace, so I'm gonna go with a private midwife who does home deliveries. I'm hoping it goes okay..Good luck to you and yours

I'm from the UK and opted for a homebirth over here in the US because none of the hospitals around here allow you to birth in a pool...That was a major factor I wanted to incorporate in my labour/birth and it made me mad that I was basically being told I couldn't have the kind of birth I wanted!!!

I found a MW who did prenatal care, delivery and postnatal care for $2300 and she was and still is fab

It seems to me that in the US, a lot of the time, labour and birth is treated as an illness, rather than something natural...Heck I ended up being transferred into hospital after 29 hours at home (exhausted) and they were already talking about C-sections and the possibility that baby was too big for my pelvis! I ended up delivering vaginally after 43 hours of labour and she fit perfectly Why would we be made to grow babies that are too big for our pelvises (I know it happens occasionally, but they suggested C-section pretty much as soon as I got into hospital, pushy much?!)?

I didn't actually have a terrible experience in hospital, like I was expecting, but I still felt a little bit of pressure (was placed under OBGYN care before requesting to be transferred to MW care) to start with - there was some mention of me endangering my baby, even though her heart-rate was being monitored and she was absolutely and utterly content through the whole labour!

It's like...just let me get on with it...if there's an issue then we'll deal with it, not get pushy just INCASE there starts to be an issue!! I stayed at home for 29 hours with no problems, which was much better than going straight into hospital...43 hours of labour and a vaginal delivery...imagine how much pushier they would have been if I was in hospital for all those 43 hours!!

Anyway, that turned into a bit of a rant Good luck for your homebirth - I found the water a huge help, it kept me relaxed and gave me more confidence in dealing with contractions Just listen to your body and do what feels right! I'd also recommend having some gatorade or similar on hand, drink PLENTY of water (I was severely dehydrated when I got into hospital) and just remember that each contraction brings you closer to meeting your baby! It also helps to be able to dim lights (or use candles!) and maybe have some music on if it'll help to you concentrate better (or distract you from contractions )...

I was playing Xbox for a few hours, while sat in my birth pool, having contractions every 5 minutes!!

xxx

 

[Sophist]

Claire;
Thanks What day in December are you due?
If I was living in England still, I would definatly be doing a hospital birth, but the way the US does things regarding prenatal care, labor, birth, all that stuff, is pretty ridiculous IMO. I suppose I feel like this partly because my mom is a neonatal nurse, so she's seen both sides of it and I've been taking her advice over anyone's, but in the US, we don't even get a midwife, and it seems as though they have a "schedule" for how a delivery is supposed to go..like..oh, you've been in labor for this long, so we're gonna give you this drug, and if that hasn't worked by this long, you're gonna get this one..and that just doesn't really float my boat, haha. I wanna be able to do things at my own pace, so I'm gonna go with a private midwife who does home deliveries. I'm hoping it goes okay..Good luck to you and yours

Have you already found a midwife, and checked on the rules for your state? I know some states are stricter than others on what they will allow.

Also, as far as drugs in labor, especially if you have a lay midwife, you can't get gas or anything.

I've had 2 hospital births (planning a birthing center this time around, but legally its considered a home birth still in my state) and they were very different. One was much more managed/scheduled than the other. If your midwife is a Certified Nurse Midwife, and licensed in your state, (instead of being a lay midwife) she will be under many of the same management requirements for your home birth (time limits, etc.) or she risks losing her license.

Good luck!

 

[VerityLove]

Hey everyone;
I'm just gonna kinda reply to everything here, haha. Trumpetbum, yeah it's great that I'll have my mom there and everything. She's really supportive of it. Winegums, to be honest, the cost was never really an issue b/c in the US we don't have a NHS so I would have had to pay rather a lot either way. Nightkd, you're so right about them treating it like some sort of illness. They put you on all these drugs and it almost seems like they try to scare you on purpose so you'll think "oh i cant possibly do this on my own, these wonderful doctors must know everything, I'll just let them take over and do whatever they want." Sophist, yes I've already found a midwife and I know it's okay in my state and all. I know I won't be able to have drugs or gas or anything but I know this midwife and her assistant are both doulas and know a lot about natural pain reliving techniques like massage and acupressure and stuff, so hopefully it goes well I think I'd feel more..accomplished if I could say I did it all natural, you know?
Thank you all for your good luck wishes and advice, I hope you and yours are all doing well

 

[Rmar]

Good luck for your water birth.

Have you watched Business of Being Born? It would be a lot more relevent for those in America. I live in Australia and the hospital system is quite different but I still found it interesting and lots of good info.

A really inspiring book is Birthing From Within by Pam England. I swear, I have mentioned this book on this forum so much. I promise I am not a salesperson, lol, I just really love this book. It goes through natural pain relief from within yourself.

 

[nightkd]

Good luck for your water birth.

Have you watched Business of Being Born? It would be a lot more relevent for those in America. I live in Australia and the hospital system is quite different but I still found it interesting and lots of good info.

A really inspiring book is Birthing From Within by Pam England. I swear, I have mentioned this book on this forum so much. I promise I am not a salesperson, lol, I just really love this book. It goes through natural pain relief from within yourself.

I'd definitely recommend watching the Business of Being Born too, it's very interesting!!

 

[VerityLove]

Rmar, I haven't seen the film yet but my midwife did recommend that I watch it soon, haha.
And I'll definatly check out the book, I've been reading loads so I'll just add it to my list

 

[Sophist]

Good luck for your water birth.

Have you watched Business of Being Born? It would be a lot more relevent for those in America. I live in Australia and the hospital system is quite different but I still found it interesting and lots of good info.

A really inspiring book is Birthing From Within by Pam England. I swear, I have mentioned this book on this forum so much. I promise I am not a salesperson, lol, I just really love this book. It goes through natural pain relief from within yourself.

Rmar, I haven't seen the film yet but my midwife did recommend that I watch it soon, haha.
And I'll definatly check out the book, I've been reading loads so I'll just add it to my list

Birthing from Within is my all time favorite pregnancy book too! Definitely a must read.