Homebirth (and other natural brithing) Chats

[hippymama89]

Hi Everyone!

My friend told me about this site recently and I'm so glad she did. Lovely to find respectful mums who realise we are all just doing what we believe is best for our children and not saying your an idiot because your not doing what I did.

Expecting my first baby in January and would love a home birth, thankfully my midwife was pretty relaxed about it and said as long as I'm put back on the green pathway it shouldn't be a problem. Just have to see the anaesthetist to say your fine first! I'm in Aberdeenshire and although home births aren't the norm they do have a good community midwife team who seem to be happy to do them. Thankfully my family have been pretty cool about it even my granny who was a nurse said I was better off at home with my own germs! haha!

Anyway just wanted to say hi!

x

 

[NDH]

Hi and welcome . Congrats on your belly bub.

I've never heard of anyone needing approval from an anesthesiologist for a home birth before??? How bizarre.

In case you weren't aware though, in the UK midwives have a "duty of care" meaning it is their responsibility to attend you no matter what, even if you are going against medical advice. in other words, you can't be denied a homebirth for under any circumstances, though they might use language that makes you think they can. For example if you were diagnosed with GD and your consultant said that disqualifies from having a homebirth but after some research you decide you are comfortable with the risks of going against their advice you can tell them you will still be going ahead with your home birth plans anyway (for as long as you are comfortable doing so) and it would be more convenient for them to go along with it so they can do the home bpvisit and bring your delivery pack etc. If you're worried about them making a fuss and stressing you out over it in late pregnancy you can always just ring up in labour and say you're not going in and they can't make you. Same if you go over 42 weeks and decide you'd still rather stay home.

Anyway I'm saying the power is with YOU and ultimately only you get to decide where your own comfort limits are as to whether home or hospital is best under the circumstances. Don't let them take that power from you

 

[tankel]

Oh man, to live in the UK...I hope I don't have to make a rough decision later on biased on some stupid things which disqualifies me from a homebirth legally.

 

[hippymama89]

It's because I have mild spina bifida and a dehydrated disc that they want to make sure they can do an epidural should I need an emergency C section. Otherwise I would be totally midwife led which is what most women seem to be in the UK unless they have complications. (Although most women still give birth in hospital the guidance has changed and women are being encouraged to HB especially with 2nd babies.) To be fair to my midwife when I said I wanted a HB she was all for it and said she hoped she was on call that day.

 

[tankel]

Oh that is great, hippymama. It's aways nice when you and your midwife click.

 

[diz]

Ah, that is lovely that your midwife said she hopes she's on call 😀 I had good relations ships with my pervious two midwife. I'm a bit sad that I've moved to a new area, but my current midwife seems lovely. I'm hoping she attends my birth, but I guess it's luck of the draw for who's on call that night/day x

 

[tankel]

Question: I have been getting awful headaches, do any of you know of a natural remedy?

 

[agentBacon]

Hi Ladies, hoping revive this thread a bit since I do hope for a home birth and wanted to chat about it.

I already have my midwife picked out and will have my first official appointment with her in two weeks. We had a consult last week to make sure we were both right for each other, so glad we're both on the same page!

I'm due in April. Not sure yet if I want to buy or rent a tub. This is my first pregnancy and baby so if any of you seasoned home birthers have any advice or tips you can toss at this newbie it'd be greatly appreciated!

 

[NDH]

Hi and congrats . Its great you've found a midwife already who is on the same page as you

This is my first home birth as well so I can't give any advice from personal experience. But another pool option is to buy a kiddie pool for a fraction of the cost of buying a proper one. Not sure how it compared to a rental though as I imagine the cost varies from midwife to midwife (but here its still over $100 to rent a pool plus then you need to pay $30+ for a liner). There's an aquarium one that is deep enough to be suitable for waterbirths and is highly rated. The main differences is it doesn't have a seat or handles (but not all proper ones do either) or the same number of inner air chambers. But its a great inexpensive option especially for someone who isn't totally sure they want to waterbirth so its less money wasted of it doesn't get used.

 

[tankel]

Hello, agentBacon, its my first as well. I do plan on getting a pool because I always seems to retreat to the water when I'm not feeling well.

 

[agentBacon]

thanks NDH, and congrats to you too! I will defiantly look into the kiddie pool option but my concerns with kiddie pools is the structural integrity when up again a pregnant woman leaning over and against it, would hate to have pool water all over my living room floor, lol. I'm getting a discount from my midwife for paying in cash so I think I am going to buy a small birthing pool. She rents them also but for a very expensive amount and that type of pool is pretty big and I'm a petite girl.

Hi Tankel, I am the same! For some reason water just soothes me, so when I heard that women where giving birth in water I knew I wanted to do that too.

I havent told family of how I plan to have a home birth, I know they will panic and try to talk me out of it so I dont think I will until after the birth - this also covers me in case I do get transferred to a hospital then I will have to deal with "I told you so" from them for the rest of baby's life.
I'm so glad DH is totally into us having the baby at home. So far only DH and midwife will be present during baby's birth. I love my family but they can be a handful.

 

[tankel]

HA my DH's family is the same. However I did get my MIL to read some research about homebirths and now she is ok with it. I'm also not the first to have a homebirth in my family (my mother had one and two of my sisters had them also) so the results are pretty clear and she can't dispute that.

 

[HopefulEm]

Hi all! Loving this thread. I gave birth to my first at a birthing centre and hope to do homebirth this time. I'm leaning towards making it a free birth with the option of calling the midwife in if I decide I need it. The biggest hassle with my first birth was dealing with midwives who didn't agree with my birth plan (no doppler, etc.). Wish the which midwife you get here in Scotland was less random, but then again I kinda prefer the idea of going it alone and listening to my body.

I'm looking for ideas on how to best prepare dd for the birth. I'd like to be able to keep her at home in another room if she is handling it ok. Someone here mentioned showing LO birth videos which I think is a great idea for preparing them.

 

[NDH]

AgentBacon the main one used by a lot of homebirthers does hold up well against a pregnant woman leaning on it. There are hundreds of reviews on amazon from women who have used them for birth people looking for reviews as a regular pool wouldn't know what to make of it I'm sure haha.

HopefulEm I am freebirthing so feel free to ask me anything ice not freebirthed yet but I've been immersed in the community and preparing mentally since October.

If you haven't yet come across ur, indiebirth.com is an amazing resource for anyone planning a freebirth, or just to take charge of their own birth but still have a midwife or even in hospital

 

[tankel]

It took me forever to find a midwife that was ok with me not using the doppler and not getting any ultrasound and I get to pick my MW. Hopefully you can find someone who meets your needs.

 

[HopefulEm]

It took me forever to find a midwife that was ok with me not using the doppler and not getting any ultrasound and I get to pick my MW. Hopefully you can find someone who meets your needs.

Unfortunately it's not really a case of "finding someone". When it comes to the birth one of the team of midwives will come. You don't know who it will be. With my first since the birth centre was not in our region I didn't even know any of the midwives there.

Luckily the midwives I've dealt with during checkups have all been good about my ultrasound/doppler choices.

 

[NDH]

Are there no independent Midwives at all in Scotland? They are few and far between here in Australia so for many.there is no choice, and others have no Midwives for 6+ hours, but there ate even fewer MGPs an hospital run homebirth programs, so the majority of women who homebirth here do so with a private midwife.

Where I am, there is one midwife who services the area and she is based 3 hours away. My last birth was 45 minutes active labour so not a great fit for us lol. The only other options here are freebirth or hospital. The hospital is at least a midwife led unit, but there are only two birth centres in the country - maybe just one actually. Yep its a sad state of affairs here !

 

[tankel]

Really, only 45 mins? I hope to have a labor like that!

 

[HopefulEm]

Are there no independent Midwives at all in Scotland? They are few and far between here in Australia so for many.there is no choice, and others have no Midwives for 6+ hours, but there ate even fewer MGPs an hospital run homebirth programs, so the majority of women who homebirth here do so with a private midwife.

Where I am, there is one midwife who services the area and she is based 3 hours away. My last birth was 45 minutes active labour so not a great fit for us lol. The only other options here are freebirth or hospital. The hospital is at least a midwife led unit, but there are only two birth centres in the country - maybe just one actually. Yep its a sad state of affairs here !

Sorry to hear the options are so limited there. It's a shame how much of the world is hospital birth driven.

In Scotland there is the rare independent midwife, but even if I could find one in my area they are quite expensive and not really affordable.

 

[hippymama89]

Hi,

Glad I'm not the only HB mummy in Scotland! Glad your midwife has been nice. I have a new one next time so hopefully she will be just as nice.

Hx