Too far from Hositpal for homebirth ? Opinion

[Komatsu]

What's your opinion on what's too far from hospital for a homebirth ?
This is my third baby , both my other children were straight forward hospital births . No complications during labour or delivery . I really wanted to have a homebirth with my son but chose not to as we were living in the same house as MIL and I really didn't want her at the birth . This is most likely our last baby and I would love to experience a homebirth . I have a two wonderful midwives and I've found an amazing doula . We bought our farm shortly after our son was born and now live about 35 kilometers from the hospital (37 min drive driving close to speed limit) , too far ?

I haven't discussed it with my midwife yet but I'll ask her at my next appointment (29 weeks) .

 

[melfy77]

I wouldn't do it, but I'm a very ''paranoid'' person when it comes to these things, and so is my husband. It's always the ''what if something goes wrong''. I could never forgive myself if something happened to the baby because we didn't make it fast enough to the hospital. Just like I wouldn't want anything to happen to me and leave my children without a mother. Obviously even in a hospital things can go wrong, but at least you know you get all the care you could possibly need.

 

[Kittycat155]

What options do you have far as ambulance? response time? 37 minutes at speed limit sounds doable given your past history and if you are and stay low risk to me. If midwives are there and have some basic supplies that will cut risk

 

[Komatsu]

The only thing holding me back is the distance factor but I'm not sure it's a reason alone to rule it out . There is a smaller hospital considerably closer (15min) but I'm not sure how equipped they are/what they can handle , something I'll need to ask my midwife at my next appointment .

I have confidence in my midwife team . Midwives in BC are well trained , 4 year degree and are registered nurse midwives . By law there should be two midwives at the birth . All midwives carry oxygen, neonatal resuscitation equipment, IV fluids and supplies, medications for postpartum use, suture and local anesthetics, and various other sterile and non-sterile supplies Studies in BC actually have shown a lower rate of perinatal death for planned homebirths compared to hospital births attended my midwives or physicians .

All my pregnancies and births have been low risk and complication free . My son's labour was a quick 3 hours , drug free . I've never tore or hemorrhaged . Both babies had apgar scores of 9 (hospital doesn't give 10's) . I think overall I'm a good candidate for a homebirth my only reservation is the distance due to the "what if's" . My husband is very supportive of it if that's what I decided to do . I guess I have a lot of research and questions to ask but the more I read the more comfortable I'm becoming with the idea .

Still open to all your input on the issue as I'm far from made up my mind on this .

 

[Pielette]

You sound like a very good candidate for home birth to me

Midwives are trained to deal with everything except surgery (naturally). You will have two midwives with you solely focusing on you and your baby, so if they were to spot a potential problem it will be spotted early and you would be transferred in before it got to an emergency situation.

37 minutes at a normal speed limit would be a lot less with blue lights. Maybe 20-25 minutes. As I mentioned the only thing they can't handle is an emergency c-section. It takes around 30 minutes to prep for the c-section so you would have plenty of time to arrive in that instance.

 

[irish_cob]

Even when I transferred to hospital, by the time I got there I still had to wait ages (about an hour) for an emergency c-section, so if you had to transfer and there was an emergency, it would probably take the same amount of time as if you were already in hospital. There are very few complications with birth that result in an absolute red light emergency which needs something doing about it within seconds, most problems can be handled by competent midwives - and as you say they bring supplies with them - they don't turn up empty handed, and the majority of problems don't just occur suddenly, there are warning signs beforehand, like a long second stage or changes in the baby's heartrate, or whatever, all things which the midwives will be keeping an eye on throughout the labour anyway, so if anything does start to look dodgy you can transfer to the hospital before it gets to be an emergency. I wouldn't be afraid of attempting a homebirth at your distance from the hospital, as someone else said, an ambulance on blue lights and sirens would probably get you there in 20 mins.

 

[Pearls18]

That wouldn't bother me, I had to travel 40 miles (1 hour) for my first labour to get to hospital. It was too far for me to consider home birth first time because I don't know how I would labour, but as I had a quick and straight forward birth with DS I would absolutely do it 40 miles away now. I'm in a new area though. In the uk if anything goes wrong we get taken by ambulance, so a 37 minute journey would be dramatically reduced in an ambulance and wouldn't concern me. With 2 good labours I would feel very confident, but if you are nervous don't ignore that, if you are worrying about that in labour it would effect your focus, I would discuss it with your midwives and doula. Trust in your body though, sounds like it did well last time

 

[Blob]

30 mins is about normal is it not? That's normal around here we are 30 mins and when we move we will be 30 mins from the next one. If its an emergency the mws can get an ambulance on standby before you even know its one. For me we just said that if there was even a small question we would go in before it became serious.
Also remember you can book and organise a homebirth right down until you give birth, you can change your mind and go to hospital even once you're in labour if you change your mine... In the uk.

 

[sue_88]

I'm about 50 minutes from my hospital in the car. I've never been told its too far.

My midwives alert the local ambulance station that there's a Homebirth occurring. Blue light transfer would be about 27 mins (1 straight road) and I've agreed that if they begin to have a small doubt we discuss and go in.

MWs don't let you get to a full blown emergency at home, they are fully trained to watch for and predict potential issues.