"Spontaneous" home birth?? UK

[summer rain]

There is a larger discrepancy here between emergency services staff and HCPs per population than anywhere else in the country so there may be more staff overall but there are less in terms of ratio to the population. They have recently closed loads of fire stations and are due to do the same with police stations so in this area we aren't even going to have a police station at all anymore. They have also closed several maternity units and got rid of quite a few of the community midwives. Under ordinary circumstances midwives here cannot do home visits for normal ante natal appointments at all nor are they allowed to take blood anymore, it has to be a phlebotomist and you have to go to them. I've had one of my children up north and things are far, far more stretched down here and like I said there are other rules and regulations that need to be taken into account, i.e. housing regulations. For many years they have done the home births like this its just how it goes, never caused a problem last time and sure it won't this time xx

 

[Blah11]

No I'm sure it doesn't make any difference either way, just saves the midwife wasting time going to collect all the stuff then set up gas cannisters when potentially a labouring woman needs them.
However if they are that stretched then its unavoidable I guess.
The fire brigade didn't actually visit us anyway and my mw only did 1 home visit on a weekend to check parking and layout of my house etc. She would have done one other to give me a sweep on a Sunday but i had already had him that morning

 

[Pearls18]

I'm in London (West) I found some nhs docs online about my hospital and they mentioned a home visit to find parking and the actual house, not sure about what "stuff" they leave.

 

[MandaAnda]

I'm in London (West) I found some nhs docs online about my hospital and they mentioned a home visit to find parking and the actual house, not sure about what "stuff" they leave.

They definitely don't leave the g&a, and I'm pretty sure they don't leave ancillaries. In Slough, they left a bin bag of ancillaries with the first attending midwife bringing the g&a, and if you need more the second one brings another canister or has to go back to hospital for one.

 

[summer rain]

No I'm sure it doesn't make any difference either way, just saves the midwife wasting time going to collect all the stuff then set up gas cannisters when potentially a labouring woman needs them.
However if they are that stretched then its unavoidable I guess.
The fire brigade didn't actually visit us anyway and my mw only did 1 home visit on a weekend to check parking and layout of my house etc. She would have done one other to give me a sweep on a Sunday but i had already had him that morning

The gas and air and oxygen canisters they use round here are really small (similar size to those canisters for inflating balloons) and its literally a case of screwing in the mouthpiece and adaptor somehow which takes seconds and the adaptors and mouthpieces are stored in the same bag. Well in theory someone took the mouthpieces out of the bag when I had my second youngest but the same thing with the MWs forgetting the mouthpieces happened with my friend in Manchester where they did drop the canisters off but only bring the mouthpiece parts on the day. They bring two canisters in a sports type bag on the day (of the gas and air) not sure how they brought in the oxygen as they never needed to use it. If they need more they can go back to their base and get another sports bag which has everything ready to put together. Because they are so portable midwives around here who regularly attend home births sometimes have a bag of gas and air locked in the boot of their car obviously they then
have hazard warning stickers on their car. Xx

 

[Pearls18]

Not really related...but a friend of mine had a home birth in Wales over the winter, the MW left the entonox in the car and it froze so she couldnt have it, I'd be gutted!

 

[lynnikins]

my HB team left nothing when i was planning ds3's birth all we had at home ( unassisted in the end ) was the pool + hire kit and what we had assembled from our own supplies, the MW gave me a list and id gotten most of the things on it and the ambulance arrived with the cord clamps and sterile sissors and other things from their birth kit including gas and air lol

 

[summer rain]

Not really related...but a friend of mine had a home birth in Wales over the winter, the MW left the entonox in the car and it froze so she couldnt have it, I'd be gutted!

Yep lots of mishaps with gas and air not being useable. It was my worst nightmare but the MWs with second youngest reassured me they never had anything happen then one of the other midwives took the mouthpiece parts from the bag as it seems her bag hadnt had any put in there by whoever puts the bags together, only she neglected to tell the others on the midwife team. My OH said he had never seen me give anyone such an evil look. As the midwives only came five minutes before he was born there was no time for them to get the relevant parts from their base clinic even though it was only a few minutes drive away. It wasn't the nicest experience though it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. They wanted to do my stitches with just a local injected anaesthetic but I knew from past experience that I can still feel everything pretty much with that so I made one of the midwives go back to base for the right mouthpiece adaptors. Needless to say I completely rinsed the whole canister by the time my stitches were done. I asked if I could use the other one just for fun and they said no! Mean sods Xx

 

[summer rain]

my HB team left nothing when i was planning ds3's birth all we had at home ( unassisted in the end ) was the pool + hire kit and what we had assembled from our own supplies, the MW gave me a list and id gotten most of the things on it and the ambulance arrived with the cord clamps and sterile sissors and other things from their birth kit including gas and air lol

Here the only thing they really tell you to have ready is an old shower curtain and some old towels to protect surfaces etc. I got told off for buying a new shower curtain and not using the old one from the bathroom even though the one I bought was a value one and our old one was not something I would want in contact with a newborn as it was rather hideously mouldy and fit for the bin. Also got told off for buying 'new' towels when they weren't new I just looked after them well. In the end I gave birth sitting on the floor on our machine washable viscose rug, which OH put in the machine pronto and it was totally clean again. Overall the lack of mess and rubbish at the end was surprising, it was literally the rug, one pillow (which I sat on after giving birth as my bum was aching from being on the floor) and two or three towels that needed washing, a few tiny dots of blood on the laminate flooring which were easily mopped and everything else got on the disposable drapes that the midwives brought and they wrapped everything up at the end in a yellow bag and took it with them for incineration-except the placenta which we buried in the garden and a wild rocket plant sprung up on top of it that we couldn't get rid of! Xx

 

[irish_cob]

I had no home visit prior to my home birth attempt and no supplies delivered, the midwives brought everything on the day.

 

[television]

I had pack delivered @ 37weeks, which contained towels gloves pads, nothing sharp. No oxygen was delivered. I gave birth on old blanket that was it. MW didn't get to my home in time for birth so didn't have any pain relief. Paramedics turned up in time to deliver babys body. They had stuff to clamp cord and cut it.